Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Giovanni Forlino’s Surreal Characters and Scenes

Giovanni Forlino’s vibrant paintings and drawings move between dreamlike scenes, grotesque characters, and wild creatures of the natural world. His surreal, monstrous subjects, in particular, fill the space as if they are on the cusp of breaking out of it.

Giovanni Forlino’s vibrant paintings and drawings move between dreamlike scenes, grotesque characters, and wild creatures of the natural world. His surreal, monstrous subjects, in particular, fill the space as if they are on the cusp of breaking out of it.

“As Max Gimblett’s studio manager for the past ten years, Giovanni has immersed himself in traditional and modern Zen painting,” says a statement on his site. “In his own practice Giovanni has moved from ink drawings to fully realized paintings depicting lush colorful scenes of birds, plants and other natural forms. Giovanni has collaborated with many distinguished poets and painters such as John Yau, Lewis Hyde, Alan Loney, Matt Jones and Max Gimblett. Giovanni’s work has made its way into numerous private and public collections worldwide, including the Getty Museum and the Guggenheim.”

See more of the artist’s recent work below.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Currently on view at Gauntlet Gallery in San Francisco is "Au9usto" — as the title suggests, a playful group show featuring nine artists with a penchant for experimentation. There's the dark surrealism of Wednesday Kirwan, a fully-functional guillotine sculpture by Sam Lamott and heavily tattooed vintage celebrity portraits by Cheyenne Randall. Bennett Slater offers an irreverent take on neo-Classicism, Justin Hopkins distorts perspectives and Rebecca Adams takes us into a Richter-esque time warp. Take a look at some of the works in the show and catch the exhibition on view through September 20.
Portland, Oregon-based painter Jeff P. (who goes only by his first name and last initial) remixes traditional scientific illustration techniques to create psychedelic images inspired by nature. Home to Native American peyote ceremonies and multitudinous wildlife species, the southwestern desert has always been a site of escape and self-discovery in the American psyche. Jeff P.'s colorful, surreal paintings of snakes call to mind these connotations. While his early work resembled flash tattoo designs, his latest paintings utilize the ornate patterns of various snake species to create colorful, dreamlike designs.
Liam Barr explores our tendency to disrupt the natural world’s intentions in his surreal paintings. In particular, his recent series looks at how humans remove the horse from its backdrop and hold it as our own possessions. Further, one gallery says, “idea of symbolism reflecting an aura of pathos, displacement and insight into contemporary New Zealand life.”
Polish-born, German-based designer and illustrator Sebastian Onufszak has created graphics for dozens of big-name clients — from Karl Lagerfeld to Starbucks — but in his personal work, he pulls out all the stops. Onufszak's chaotic drawings and paintings look as if the lid of his subconscious was taken off completely. Characters are piled together in an orgiastic cacophony of faces and limbs; every color of the rainbow is used liberally; loud, seemingly meaningless text is scrawled everywhere that it can fit. Calling his style dreamlike would be an understatement, as few of us have dreams quite this vivid.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List