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:
“As a mom of two teenage girls at this point in my life, I often try to imagine life through their eyes,” the artist says. “Life through selfies. Quantity over quality. Instant vs. delayed gratification. Yosemite vs. the mall. As we get more and more inundated with the STUFF of life, the hundreds of thousands of $2.80 jewelry pieces at Forever 21, the never ending abyss of images of the internet … I’m exploring what it is like to just BE in this time of ‘life online’– our projected selves. I am interested in the dichotomy of our inner life vs. our outer life.”
See more of her recent work below.
There’s a shapeshifting quality to the paintings Ricardo Estrada, whose subjects are physically inhabited by cultural iconography. The Los Angeles native specifically focuses on Chicano culture, whether in his murals or acrylic paintings. Each carries intricate brushwork that allows Estrada to transition between differing textures and planes of reality.
In Taylor Schultek’s riveting oil paintings, an urban structure is as much a character as his human subjects. The connection between humanity and environment is often at play, with the art of graffiti often in progress. The artist's own history in graffiti and graphic design seem to converge in building believable backdrops.
Swiss artist