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.
TOBA Gallery, which has exhibited the artist’s work, describes his practice as exploring “the possibilities of the human figure, deforming it and achieving unique disfigurements as a two-dimensional sculptural exercise.” The Mexico City gallery was founded by the artist Smithe, whose work has been featured on the Hi-Fructose blog.
See more work from the artist below.
Uli Knörzer’s gorgeous colored pencil portraits are rich with detail and humanity. The artist moves between familiar and lesser known subjects in his work. Each is given his or her own space, Knörzer using negative space and abstracting garments to extract the figure’s personality.
Annita Maslov brings her pen and ink drawings to Beinart Gallery in the upcoming show “Arcana,” depicting scenes from mysterious worlds steeped in the supernatural. Maslov is an illustrator and tattoo artist inspired by mythology and the occult. Her work is known for its distinct dotwork.
Australian artist