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The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Author: Attaboy

Illustrator-turned-fine artist Janice Sung’s figures seem at home amidst natural settings, whether in a lily pad pond or a garden, floating like a near-translucent milk specters. Her recent gallery showing at Gallery Nucleus in Los Angeles, the first using physical media by the artist. We asked the artist a few questions about her new body of work and about transitioning from digital to physical media. Click the above already and read the hifructose.com exclusive interview.
As a tribute to this “most wonderful time of the year” artists Lauren YS and Makoto Chi have created twenty-eight works (and a mural) for their new “Five Poisons” exhibition. We’ve interviewed the artists about the work. Click image above to read it, or else.
With a mix of dark humor and an impressive skill at creating inviting, yet dangerous worlds, the artist known as Bub has caught our eye. Click above to read our new interview with the artist and his new body of work, before it's too late.
We live in strange times and artists Michael Kerbow and Mike Davis both have something in common: they use surrealism and time travel to address modern and existential issues. Click above to read the Hi-Fructose exclusive interviews with painters Mike Davis and Michael Kerbow about their respective solo showings.
Artist and animation director Joe Vaux paints what he likes. His personal work is teeming with impish demons. His cheerful hellscapes are populated with lost souls, sharp toothed monstrosities, and swarms of wrong-doers. And yet, there’s an innocence to all of this. Click to read the Hi-Fructose exclusive interview with Joe Vaux.
Vibrant and bold, Oscar Joyo’s latest body of work which was exhibited at Thinkspace Projects in Los Angeles, vibrates the retina; while delving into his childhood memories childhood in Malawi and themes of Afrofuturism.
Something interesting happens when when artists like Alan and Carolynda Macdonald, who have the painting fundamentals mastered, decide to subvert expectations and perplex a viewers expectations conceptually. Click to read the Hi-Fructose exclusive interview.
Former illustrator turned full-time painter Gregory Hergert’s work has been described as “urban Surrealism”. He paints non-traditional themes in a traditional manner, yet allows the medium to shine through the often brutal settings depicted in his work.
Opening June 25th, Archimedes Gallery will be showing 25 new wood fired ceramic & cast bronze sculptures by Eva Funderburgh and 6 new paintings by Josh Keyes. Special events include, two different Josh Keyes limited edition print releases offered in-house only, starting at 10 am Saturday, June 25th along with Josh and Eva doing an artist demonstration from 2pm - 4pm followed by an artists' reception from 5pm - 8pm. See preview images of the show after the jump!
Legendary Kustomizer George Barris was a true original who lived life on his terms. Several folks will remember his one of a kind creations like the infamous Batmobile of the 1960s television series Batman, Munster Coffin Cars and Drag-Ula, not to mention scores of insane four wheels, and hovering vehicles-turned-hot rods into motoring artful master pieces. Grease monkey fabricators like Barris, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and Von Dutch inspired several generations of Lowbrow artists like Coop, Robert Williams, the Pizz and more. Plus, they made watching those stupid-fun television shows of our youth more outrageous than ever. "Rev In Peace", George Barris.
While the world celebrates the Olympics, which are taking place in re-purposed parts of London, sculptor Wilfred Wood (featured in Hi-Fructose Collected Edition vol.2) reflects on the anniversary of a less joyous event in London: last year's riots and, more specifically, their participants. Wood lives in Hackney (where the majority of the London riots happened), which is now host to many events for the Olympic games. See more after the jump.
We just had the last 12 Hi-Fructose Book Bundles packed up in flat rate boxes. If you haven't gotten the two books yet, here's a great way to get over 550 pages and 75 artists all in one place with priority shipping included!
Michael Salter's gigantic robots make from Styrofoam packaging materials were featured in the earliest issues of Hi-Fructose. His stark towering sculptures and mutated logo paintings are simple, attractive, but always poignant. Check out a few videos of Salter creating his sculptures at his museum exhibitions and more!

I keep looking at Korean painter Ho Ryon Lee's paintings waiting for them to move. Double exposures are often used in photography as a way to simulate movement and mood. But these paintings make me feel like a dirty old man and make my eye bounce from the edges to the center and back to the edges again. Does their perfectly painted beauty seem to initially hide their pervy upskirt tease factor? By the time your brain figures out the layered image/motion, you get trapped in a shame stare spiral for looking. 

If only the world was as cool and compositionally interesting as depicted in the art works of Ragnar. It's exciting to see the normally pixel pushing artist, whom we featured many years back in Hi-Fructose vol.4, make one of a kind originals on canvas. His stunning mix of contrasting off-kilter color combinations paired with an impeccable design sensibility has made him a sought after artist for many years. Take a look at Ragnar's studio and a few pieces from his duo show with Scott Tolleson show at Stranger Factory here! - by atta

We first premiered artist Yoko d'Holbachie in print in 2007 as the cover feature of Hi-Fructose vol.6 with a stellar lineup including Jordan Crane, Audrey Kawasaki, Jonathan Viner, sculptor Ron Muek, Marion Peck, and more. A string of group and solo shows followed for the Japanese pop surrealist. Five years later, the artist will finally visit the U.S. in person for her latest solo exhibit :My Strange Goddess" at AFA Gallery in NYC. D'Holbachie's candy colored monstrosities drip with saccharin from the shadows of some bug like cream-filled world. They're grotesque and alluring at the same time. See the work on April 29th and don't miss the opening for a rare appearance of the artist at the show! Check out previews of the show here!

This interesting topography style mapping of street art Barcelona looks like it could lead to many interesting Google-like statistic thermodynamic style results. Or perhaps, just a handy tool for law enforcement to crack down on unregulated creativity and/or vandalism. From Katrine, the curator: "While living in Barcelona, inspired by each corner that I turned, I began to carry my camera with me at all times." Read more after the jump.

We first covered Gary Taxali's work in Hi-Fructose Vol.4. Since then, the artist has been nominated for a Grammy, his work has made an appearance on Canadian currency, and he's released olde-timey toys and a new monograph entitled "I Love You, OK?." Taxali's mixed media style often incorporates found items from book stores, worn out book pages and endpapers, and he creates hand crafted layered pieces that look printed, stamped and annotated, while still letting the soul of the original aged canvas shine through. He has a new show at The Outsiders Gallery opening May 4th. See more images after the jump.

Multi-media artist Ted Vasin's blog looks to be evidence photos of a person on a hallucinatory bender; a mix of electronic equipment, newspaper/magazine clippings, wires, medical marijuana, dildos, and art supplies. While that's fun and all, it wouldn't be worth investigating or mentioning if the end result wasn't such a fantastic body of provoking art works.

Michael Page was last featured in Hi-Fructose vol.19. Images from his upcoming April 14th showing at White Walls in San Francisco appear to be electric. Bursts of glowing color seem to pulse at the viewer. Abstract bursts and realistic figures and backgrounds seem to collide with energy. We don't want to give too much away but here are a few previews of his new body of work! Page's Élan Vital will feature thirty paintings and six drawings, as well as an installation.

Melissa Cook does extremely realistic graphite drawings. But this particular series of plastic bag self portraits are extra frightening.

Says the artist: "The Vacuum series ascribes to the devices of melancholia in order to explore society’s fascination with violence, death and insanity. In this series I create a fictional, tortured persona in order to fulfill the stereotype of the tragic artist. Within my avatar, I am able to exaggerate the characteristics of the crazy, unstable, melancholic artist in order to question its glorification and validity.”

Photographer Carlie Armstrong took a trip to the studio of one of the lynch pin's of Portland's Art Community, the endearingly enduring Bwana Spoons. Bwana is known for creating eye-peeling cell vinyl paintings, resin cast sculptures, curating powerfully humorous shows with artists like Martin Ontiveros, Skrappers, J.Otto Seibold, and Tim Biskup. Spoons is a dynamic force in the art world and we're happy to show you an exclusive look at where so much of that black magic happens.

Renee French's drawings do a difficult thing; they are quiet and mysterious yet powerful at the same time. She creates wonderful graphic novels, many published by Seattle's Fantagraphics. But, I find that each panel/page can certainly stand on/tell a story all on it's own.Enjoy more of her drawings after the jump!

fortune

We last covered Eric Fortune's paintings in 2009 with Hi-Fructose Vol.13, and soon after with his piece for the Hi-Fructose Anniversary show. We thought it was high time to check on what he's been up to. Fortune's ethereal layered drip technique is painstaking, but the moody results are spectacular.Here's a few recent works from Fortune and we can't wait to show you previews form his upcoming show at Labasse Projects Gallery. 


I've always loved road-side attractions and restaurant mascot characters. Especially fond when the characters,usually a burger-faced man or knife-wielding pig, voraciously devours itself. And don't get me started on my affection for lobster bibs.These very fiberglass effigies are pure American, and they dart our landscape like castles strewn around the English country-side.But nothing I've ever seen could prepare me for Tony Tasset's "Hot Dog Man." He's a urine-dripping pork bi-product monster. He is what you eat, just follow the mustard trail to this over-stuffed, shriveled testicle smile with the Robert Crumb-esque "Keep on Trucking" Stance."Tasset's other works, playing on emoticons as threat levels and garbage heaps, are equally fantastic, bold and humorous. Take a look at "Hot Dog Man" and a few other works after the jump.

We'll be kicking 2012 off right with a new Hi-Fructose New Contemporary Art Magazine vol.22 in January.

In this stand-out issue we present: a major feature on Aron Wiesenfeld's amazing drawings and paintings, we interview the notorious street artists Trustocorp, go hooking with the paintings of Natalia Fabia, are taken aback by the powerful wooden sculptures of Gehard Demetz, battle nature with the paintings of Ryan McLennan, and get inflated beyond capacity with the insane sculptures of the legendary Irwin Wurm.

Then, we put a spotlight on the new work of Esao Andrews, explore decay with the uneasy houses of Ofra Lapid, plunge into KOZYNDAN's new show, then go swimming into melancholy with Double Parlour, and finally, we present to you the work of our cover artist Winnie Truong!

Plus much more of what you come to expect from us at Hi-Fructose.

Subscribe today here!

And see previews of our Hi-Fructose vol.22 here!

Hi-Fructose will be releasing four exclusive wood prints to correspond with signings for this year's SDCC. We previewed Alex Pardee's last week, and here's a look at Buff Monster's tasty offering. Each is limited to only 50 delectable prints, is expertly silk screened on wood and will be made available at the respective artist's signings. Stay tuned for the complete Hi-Fructose Booth schedule and release info, and click here to see a larger detail image of the print. Next up Junko Mizuno and Joe Ledbetter!

Hi-Fructose with be presenting an Oasis of Chaos at the 2011 San Diego Comic Con,featuring signings, art-centric exclusives, book launches, exclusive appearances, and selections from the Pressure Printing archives.

We're also doing a stunning series of expertly printed wood prints from five amazing artists!First up is this from Alex Pardee, whom we first featured in Hi-Fructose Vol.1 way back in 2005!Alex Pardee's print is 11"x14", limited to 50 signed and numbered pieces, with each one being a bit different depending on the grain of the wood. See a larger image of the print andPardee signing them at HF headquarters here. They will be available exclusively at the Hi-Fructose Booth on Thursday, July 21st at 2pm.

I have no qualms about telling everyone I know that nobody does art prints like Denver's Pressure Printing. Nobody.

They're artisans who carefully plan out each detail of the editions they make. They cast frames from 19th century framesand add little stands. They tea stain and etch, they pressure print for texture on handmade archival paper. Their certificates of authenticity are nicer than most fine art prints. Printer's "chop"? Intaglio? What the hell is that? They'll educate you.

Their latest release is this Todd Schorr's "Amphibian Frontier" and it's three and a quarter feet tall. Available here, check out some additional images after the jump.

"Controversy has been trumping craftsmanship since the beginning of Modernism. I like a little controversy, but I'm always awed by good craftsmanship..." --Charles Krafft, Hi-Fructose vol.19

We have a great exclusive interview with Disasterwear® sculptor Charles Krafft by acclaimed filmmaker Morgan Spurlock  in the latest Hi-Fructose Magazine now on stands.In it they discuss Krafft's roots an artist, the pros and cons of controversy, his work with Michael Leavitt (like the piece above), his Spone® urns made of literal human bone china,Jack Kerouac, and more. Here's a few great Krafft works. Be sure to check out the interview on the new issue on stands now.

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