Long Beach artist Alex Gardner creates acrylic scenes with ink-black figures set against pastel backdrops. The artist intends to “de-inviduate and universalize” with this approach toward his subjects, one statement says. Part of the work’s excellence is found in its subtly, playfully reflecting and juxtaposing texture and color. The artist wouldn’t use the phase “surrealist” in this scenes, instead reflecting widely relatable themes in his work.
“In these paintings the artist charges the familiar with poignancy, highlights the details as important, and paints figures that all genders and races could see themselves in,” a recent statement says. “Mimicking snippets of classical painting—from an El Greco hand to a Pietà carry, a crucifixion foot, a Michelangelo muscle group—he is not just inserting his contemporary identity into art history, but also opening up these art historical perspectives for all viewers to connect with.”
See more works from the artist’s below.
Serge Gay Jr. offers a love letter to resort city Palm Springs in his new show, "P.S. I Love You," at Voss Gallery. Bathed in sunshine and a Mid-Century Modern sensibility, the works are a stirring blend of acrylics and graphite. “Popularized in the 1930s as a fashionable getaway for the Hollywood elite, the human-built utopia has become a haven for creatives lured to the vast desert as an artistic escape and source for inspiration,” the gallery says. The show, which begins on Oct. 11, runs through Nov. 2 at the San Francisco space.
Setting soft and supple nudes against graphic patterns and textures, Brooklyn-based painter 
Painter Rodel Tapaya ties the current social climate of the Philippines to the mythology of the past. In a recent show at 
Four months after it was announced that