Brin Levinson’s paintings depict worlds in which humans have lived, but now animals seem to rule. These ghost towns, with similar landmarks and industrial vibes to the city the Portland resident calls home, imply that mankind’s abuse of the land and its creatures resulted in its exit. These works appear in a new show from Levinson, titled “Anthropocene,” which now hits Antler Gallery in Portland. The show lasts through Nov. 22. Levinson was most recently featured on HiFructose.com here.
The artist says he begins the process of creating a new work with photos, using either found ones or snaps he’s captured. Levinson says the oil painting typically takes shape organically, with the animals coming into play later, after the backdrop and perspective is established. He says he doesn’t often sketch the ideas first, as the finished product rarely resembles what was envisioned.
Some of the paintings feel born out of sobering reality, while others inject surrealism into the mix with sea animals that float openly through the cityscapes or creatures posed together in stoic cooperation. Even with drab skies and rundown and eroded urban environments, there’s a serene quality to several of the scenes.
Chapel Hill artist 
Like Adams and Eves freshly banished from the Garden of Eden, 
Justin Fitzpatrick’s oil paintings blend influences from Art Nouveau, illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages, anatomical drawings, and elsewhere. The actual subjects in the works likewise move through time, from using the construction workers as visual motif to creatures of the natural world rendered with Victorian flavor.
Painter Edward del Rosario's theatrical, yet controlled tableaus carry cross-cultural references. Often in the artist’s work, each of the characters seem to have their own narrative or motivation, creating a piece teeming with both humor and surprising complexity, once absorbed.