Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Watch Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins Create Hi-Fructose Vol. 41’s Cover

The cover for Hi-Fructose Magazine Vol. 41 comes from painter Greg “Craola” Simkins, an artist based in Los Angeles. In this post, you can take a look at how he created the piece that would become this cover. See those photos and a video below. Simkins was last featured on HiFructose.com here.


The cover for Hi-Fructose Magazine Vol. 41 comes from painter Greg “Craola” Simkins, an artist based in Los Angeles. In this post, you can take a look at how he created the piece that would become this cover. See those photos and a video below. Simkins was last featured on HiFructose.com here.


[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlp4bxdY_qE&w=600&h=415]

In a statement on his website, the artist clarifies how he comes up with his imagery: “As our imagination takes over, we tend to leave what is ordinary and go outside of ourselves to visit these places. This is why I paint and what has inspired me over the years to grow as an artist. It is the constant search for what else is on the outside.”




Before embarking on a career as a full-time artist in 2005, Simkins worked as an illustrator for clothing companies and other brands. He also worked on video games like “Tony Hawk 2X,” “Spider-Man 2,” and “Ultimate Spider-Man.” Among his early influences, as a kid growing up in Torrance, Calif., Simkins cites cartoons, animals, stories, tattoos and “mind-numbing trips to grandma’s house.”



Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles

Amy Hill - "Apathy"

New York-based artist Amy Hill puts her contemporary spin on the work of 15th century painter Hans Memling in her series of oil paintings titled Seven Deadly Sins. Hill is known for adapting the styles of early Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting and placing historical subjects within modern day settings. On her website, the artist writes, "I chose these eras because of my stylistic kinship with their artists, which allows me to carry on a kind of dialogue with them... I have chosen portraiture as it is a genre that runs through art history and allows me through poses, gestures and fashion detail to make social, psychological and anthropological statements about my subjects."

Anna Weyant’s stirring paintings offer both autobiographical imagery and universal examinations of life’s stages. Recent shows, like "Welcome to the Dollhouse" at 56 HENRY, are contemplative and elegant in execution. That show, in particular, was a showcase of the artist’s cinematic sensibility.
Kehinde Wiley's (Hi-Fructose Vol. 29) opulent portraiture subtly stirs the status quo. As an American artist, Wiley honed his craft in accordance with a legacy of Euro-centric art history that left him simultaneously awed and alienated. One would be hard-pressed to find a grandiose portrait of a person of color in the works of the Renaissance masters in the Met or the Louvre. This is the motivating factor of Wiley's oeuvre: to elevate images of average people of African descent through his ornate depictions, exposing the singular beauty of his subjects through dramatic compositions that evoke the Baroque period.
Matthew Ivan Cherry, a Boston-based painter, creates oil portraits that ooze with vulnerability and a erratic, yet cohesive style. He uses his subjects, often met on the streets or on social media, to explore issues of individuality, gender identity, and the inherent beauty of the human form. Certain projects, like "somewhereX,” are tethered to Cherry’s upbringing as a Mormon. The project features enormous portraits of LGBTQ mormons (whether active or inactive), including Cherry himself.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List