In the recent paintings of Jenny Morgan, the artist continues to create penetrating portraits that are both vulnerable and surprising in her choices. The artist’s foundational excellence in realism is enhanced by her subversions of hues and form. Morgan was featured in the cover story for Hi-Fructose Volume 39.
“Although classically trained as a figure painter, Jenny Morgan is breaking with the labor-intensive preciousness associated with the realist approach,” says MOCA Jacksonville of the artist. “Technically intricate with a haunting quality, Morgan’s paintings experiment with psychological visual realism, obscuring the physical to expose the spiritual. She obfuscates the portraits’ meticulous details by annihilating their likeness, stripping away layers like physical and spiritual wounds, while retaining a striking intimacy. Like an archeologist, she digs to discover the subject’s identity.”
See more of her work from recent years below.
Italian artist 
Nichole Rae Klein’s oil and egg tempera paintings blend ordinary beings and unearthly flourishes. Those timeless materials, in particular, add a tension to the artist’s scenes and portraits. The painter says her process is time consuming, but the “slowness provides me enough time to look around the scene and notice what my subject might have missed during their attempt to keep everything under control.”
In Aryz's recent, enormous murals, the painter is able to emulate the loose traits of a pencil or crayon sketch. The effect is deceptively simple, with the artist's broad strokes and figurative decisions creating a kinetic and striking final product. The artist was previously featured here, showcasing a style that varies from his current approach.