The grotesque miniatures of Korean sculptor Dongwook Lee are not for everyone, and yet his work stems from what he describes as a basic concern for all human beings. Previously featured here on our blog, the Seoul, Korea based artist’s figures are small-scale sculptural works, most measuring no more than 12″ inches high made of Polymer clay, that typically depict contorted human forms. His use of figures has been associated to Lee’s personal hobby of collecting toys, plastic products that he incorporates as the main motif of his art. His shrunken subjects are naked and isolated, and often times twisted to the point where they can hardly be called “human”, representing Lee’s abstract ideas about evolution, in-breeding, or even our own nightmarish perceptions of ourselves. He embodies the idea of physical “likeness” in his most recent sculptures, featuring humanoids with growths of pink-colored mushrooms and massive, heavy lumps of flesh that they are forced to carry. They are intended to be character studies as a means of exploring the increasingly complex concept of identity. Lee currently has a series of four works in the group exhibition “Likeness” at Albertz Benda gallery in New York through February 13th, 2016.
Diana Al-Hadid’s ghostly sculptures, which take influence from historical architecture, mythology, and beyond, are currently inhabiting both a gallery at Frist Art Museum and outdoor gardens at Cheekwood in concurrent exhibitions in Nashville. “Subliminations” collects varying types of work from the artist, with both figurative sculpture and wall reliefs. Above and below interior photos are by John Schweikert.
He teaches digital media at Los Angeles Harbor College, but that doesn't deter sculptor 
Masaya Hashimoto's images of pure white plants might not look like anything remarkable until you realize what they are made out of: the self taught artist crafts them out of the fine bone and antlers from deer near his home in Japan. In some ways, his sculptures are a byproduct of where he lived for nearly a decade, a mountain Buddhist temple where he was given the chance to closely observe the life cycle of plants and flowers like irises and chrysanthemums.
Hyper-realist painter