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The New Contemporary Art Magazine
Lars Calmar’s figures, often bare and grotesque, carry a humanity that feels at once humorous and sincerely tortured. Even when using animals alongside his baby-like creatures and hulking brutes, the ceramic works feel as wholly human, though primal, in emotion. The artist’s sculptures have been shown in galleries and museums across the world.
Longtime followers of Japanese artist Kazuki Takamatsu may already know his process: painstaking gouache layers that recreate scenes first imagined on 3-D computer software. Yet, in his latest set of striking paintings at the Corey Helford Gallery in Los Angeles, the otherworldy nature of Takamatsu's work is what again draws viewers into this haunted world of hologram-like characters. The solo show “Decoration Armament" opens this Saturday, and it features some of the HF Vol. 33 cover artist’s most ambitious and engrossing work yet.
Hula is the moniker of artist Sean Yoro, who creates massive, delicate murals above waterways and alongside abandoned structures. The self-taught painter was raised in Oahu, where he engaged with the ocean as a surfer before embarking on a path in street art and tattooing. Today, he creates his massive figures in oil paint and creates pieces across the world.
Dennis McNett, creating works under the moniker "Wolfbat," creates wild woodcarvings, sculptures, and installations A new show at Heron Arts in San Francisco, titled "Hallowolfbat," is an ornate, largescale adventure into McNett’s practice, with some of the creatures crafted for this show up to 10 feet tall. At the opening, the street was closed off and rock act High on Fire performed.
VILE’s illusionary murals often use the artist’s own moniker as windows into fictional places, whether a continuation of the inhabited space or another dimension. Elsewhere, the artist presents figures that live along the contours of a room or outdoor locale. In recent years, he's participated in projects in Germany, Portugal, London, and beyond.
The sculpted figures and paintings of Carlos Ramirez are constructed from a slew of materials and found objects. The Mexican-American artist reflects on "inequalities within Mexican-American communities and champions the common man as underdog." The artists counts among his influences: tattoo art, Oaxacan sign painting, vintage revolutionary posters, and much more.