Evren Erol’s mixed-media sculptures appear to exist in states of change, dissipating or entering into life. Blending acrylic painting on polyester and wood, the artist is able to convey figures that are seemingly liquid in nature. And while cerebral in concept, the work’s most striking quality is how visceral that transformation appears.
“The thoughts and the concepts shaping his statues and his own existence according to the conditions are described as the reflection of the change in subconscious,” a statement says. “It produces within the framework of basic metaphors like the concepts of change, transformation, contrast, rejection and acceptance.”
See more of Erol’s work below.
America, supposedly the land of freedom and democracy, has become incarceration nation. Almost one out of every hundred Americans is now in prison, the largest percentage of any developed country in the world. Artist Gil Batle was born in the Philippines, but he spent over 20 years of his life in the prisons of California. One would think that prison is punishment enough, but as Batle discovered, inmates also face violence, humiliation, and racial segregation. His saving grace was his ability to draw.
Masaya Hashimoto's images of pure white plants might not look like anything remarkable until you realize what they are made out of: the self taught artist crafts them out of the fine bone and antlers from deer near his home in Japan. In some ways, his sculptures are a byproduct of where he lived for nearly a decade, a mountain Buddhist temple where he was given the chance to closely observe the life cycle of plants and flowers like irises and chrysanthemums.
