Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Vonn Sumner’s Ambiguous, Resisting Figures

Vonn Sumner’s ambiguous characters, often seen in makeshift costumes, are part of an ongoing narrative that the viewer is invited to dissect. Are they enthusiastic hobbyists? Deadly serious vigilantes? What is obvious is the painter’s ability to evoke mystery and elegance through these unlikely heroes. Sumner was last featured on HiFructose.com here.

Vonn Sumner’s ambiguous characters, often seen in makeshift costumes, are part of an ongoing narrative that the viewer is invited to dissect. Are they enthusiastic hobbyists? Deadly serious vigilantes? What is obvious is the painter’s ability to evoke mystery and elegance through these unlikely heroes. Sumner was last featured on HiFructose.com here.


“Through this playful ambiguity, Sumner’s cast of characters draws us into their cryptic narratives, as seen in the cabal series of wall portraits,” a recent statement says. “Defined as a group of people united in some close design together, a cabal promotes their private views or interests, often through intrigue and in secret. This plays into the idea of secret societies, although Sumner’s series of portraits are more humorously enigmatic than sinister.”

See more of Sumner’s recent work below.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Painter Adrian Cox continues to expand the mythology of his hybrid Border Creatures in "Awakenings." Opening at Beinart Gallery on April 6, the show takes us inside the Borderlands and the latest narratives involving his fictional race of creatures that are in harmony with the natural world. This show features a new being, named Penitent Spirit, dwelling his lush world. Cox was featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 47.
Primarily using newspapers and tape, Will Kurtz creates everyday, life-sized people and animal companions. The artist, a native of Flint, Michigan, is able to convey flourishes of realism, even with these unlikely materials. The artist, now based in Brooklyn, says his work hinges on capturing moments in time.
Polish painter Ewa Juszkiewicz subverts canonical portraiture by playing with viewers' expectations. Poised damsels that evoke Renaissance-era nobility stand with their hands clasped and their faces replaced by oyster mushrooms, cockroaches and shrubbery. It's as if in spite of all the pains these ladies have taken to appear proper and civilized, nature has reasserted its dominion. Juzkiewicz is specifically interested in portraits of women and uses her work to study the ways women have been presented over the course of European history.
Tasha Kusama explores the projected self vs. reality in her striking oil paintings. Toying with dualities, the artist explores the soft and hard edges of coming of age in the current cultural landscape. The painter says these recent works are partly inspired by being a parent:

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List