Rebecca Yanovskaya’s Mythological Tales Rendered in Ballpoint Pen, Gold Leaf

Rebecca Yanovskaya uses ballpoint pen and gold leaf to craft mythological retellings and otherworldly narratives.The Toronto-based artist moves between personal gallery work and illustrations. Among her influences, she counts “decorative arts, neoclassical and Pre-Raphaelite arts, and theatrical costuming.”

“Despite most artists in her genre using digital and traditional painting tools, she has made the choice to construct her pieces with ballpoint pen and gold leaf,” a statement says. “As one of the only primarily ballpoint pen artists working in fantastic realism, her work is easy to identify. A combination of epic scope and moody atmosphere define her signature style, in what can be described as the ‘Art of the Sublime.’”

Yanovskaya’s clients include Magpie Games, Easton Press, Princessa Productions, and Royal Canadian Mint. She’s had recent shows at Haven Gallery in New York and Arch Enemy Arts in Philadelphia.

Topics

ballpoint pen, gold leaf, Rebecca Yanovskaya

ballpoint pen, drawing, Nuria Riaza

June 11, 2014

Nuria Riaza has an interest in anachronistic visuals — the elegant, female profiles with low-slung chignons and the elaborate facial hair fashions of yore. Her ballpoint-pen drawings — which span impressive lengths, sometimes nearly human scale — strip these elements found in old family photographs away from their contexts. She slices them up as if they were collages, using pens instead of scissors to remix the photorealistic elements. Marble-smooth skin adopts the literal qualities of the material, swirling with a monochromatic pattern of blue and white. Faces become transformed into kaleidoscopic visions, as if we were viewing them with insect eyes. The artist and illustrator does not dwell on the past: She appropriates it for her hallucinatory visions of a bizarre future.

Mario Maplé’s Pen Drawings Explore Beauty, Discomfort

ballpoint pen, drawing, Mario Maplé

October 27, 2018

In Mario Maplé’s ballpoint pen drawings, the artist moves between conventional beauty and the grotesque. The works are deceptively complex in their elegance, the soft lines of the subject the result of tedious work in ink pen. The artist will also occasionally mix in watercolors to emphasize his distortions.

Pamela Wilson’s Haunting Oil, Gold Leaf Paintings

gold leaf, oil painting, Pamela Wilson

November 10, 2016

Painter Pamela Wilson pushes her absorbing, eerie imagery with a mixture of oils and gold leaf, crafting shimmering images of isolated subjects. Wilson's paintings stir in the often off-kilter expressions of her subjects and overall otherworldliness of the setting. Wilson is part of a new show at Australia's beinArt Gallery. "Jamais Vu" pairs the artist’s work with Kit King and Oda, a husband and wife duo that collaborates on oil paintings.

Brad Kunkle’s Gold Leaf Paintings Featured in New Short Film

Brad Kunkle, documentary, gold leaf

March 15, 2016

There is a magical quality to Brad Kunkle's paintings that is difficult to capture online and in print alone. The Brooklyn based painter combines oil painting with gold and silver leaf to create ethereal visions of women, often in a state of transcendence or as if they are on some spiritual quest. We first featured Brad Kunkle in Hi-Fructose Vol 25, who seeks to go beyond the limits of the ordinary human experience. Looking at his art requires a deepening of our perceptions, and to filmmaker Brennan Stasiewicz, it holds a humanizing power.

Rebecca Yanovskaya’s Mythological Tales Rendered in Ballpoint Pen, Gold Leaf

Nuria Riaza’s Evocative Ballpoint-Pen Drawings

Mario Maplé’s Pen Drawings Explore Beauty, Discomfort

Pamela Wilson’s Haunting Oil, Gold Leaf Paintings

Brad Kunkle’s Gold Leaf Paintings Featured in New Short Film

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