A new retrospective surveys the work of Martin Wittfooth, whose paintings explore our ties to the natural world. The show is hosted at Muroff-Kotler Visual Arts Gallery at SUNY Ulster College, with works dating back to 2012. Among the recent work are a collection of circular works titled “Statis,” with massive mammals floating against blood-red backdrops. The retrospective runs through Oct. 18 at the gallery. The artist created the cover for Hi-Fructose Volume 35 and was featured in Hi-Fructose’s touring “Turn the Page: The First Ten Years of Hi-Fructose” exhibition.
“Martin Wittfooth is an artist whose paintings, drawings, installations and sculptural works investigate themes of the intersection and clash of industry and nature, and the human influence on the environment,” the gallery says. “Many of his works explore the theme of shaman- ism – rituals and practices as old as our species – through which we have attempted to dialogue with nature: the nature outside of ourselves and the nature within. His creative language uses the combination of allegory and symbolism to convey visual narratives.”
See more works on Wittfooth’s site and the gallery’s page.
French pair 
New York artist 
Justin Fitzpatrick’s oil paintings blend influences from Art Nouveau, illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages, anatomical drawings, and elsewhere. The actual subjects in the works likewise move through time, from using the construction workers as visual motif to creatures of the natural world rendered with Victorian flavor.