Author: JL Schnabel

Artist Leslie Ann O’Dell creates stunning photographs paired with hand painted embellishments. The otherworldly subjects are shrouded in layers of natural elements, adding a grounded tone to the ghostly figures. View more images after the jump.

Artist Click Mort creates ‘recapitated figures’ using the parts of different, pre-existing ceramic figurines to create quirky new hybrid statues. Often imbued with narrative humor, the seamless figures also hold a sense of nostalgia as most of the figures source parts from past eras. View more of the kitschy figures after the jump.

‘Ephemeral Antidotes’, a solo exhibition by artist Arabella Proffer, recently opened at SF’s Articulated Gallery. The large body of new works explore medical superstitions and the gruesome treatment practices of the past. While the paintings focus on Proffer’s signature style of imagined portraits that juxtapose old world aesthetics with flourishes of modern identity, this series is charged with a subtle confessional slant as Proffer spent time researching the horrors of past medical practices while convalescing from an aggressive form of cancer that caused the removal of part of her leg. This traumatic experience is chronicled in the obsessions and afflictions of her subjects to an intriguing effect. View more images of the new works after the jump.

We recently had the chance to visit artist Christine Wu’s studio in Los Angeles, where she currently preparing for her upcoming show 'Shhh...' at La Luz De Jesus Gallery next month where she’ll be showing alongside Soey Milk. (recently featured here) Her organized studio was filled with white texts adhered to the walls as both instructions and inspiration, as new works in progress freckled the walls and floors. Imbued with a subtle yet tentative sexuality, the figures of her paintings are captured in states of flux, often appearing as occupying the same space with multiple versions of themselves. View more images of her studio provided by Daniel Rolnik after the jump.

Recently opened at NYC’s Jonathan LeVine Gallery, ‘Hybrid Thinking’ explores the intricate yet different experiences we share concerning nature and how we react within its landscapes. Curated by Marc and Sara Schiller of Wooster Collective, the 6 street artists represented in ‘Hybrid Thinking’, including Herakut (Vol 17), Sit and Hyuro, all originate from different countries, markedly none of which are from the US. Coupled with these varied national sources, each artist investigates how humans and animals converge to form a hybrid identity in a variety of mediums including paint, sculpture and assemblage. View opening night photos and images of the works after the jump, here on Hi-Fructose.

Artist and writer Guy Laramee’s recent series, ‘The GreatWall’ features landscapes and shrines carved into the pages and spines of books toa stunning effect. Exploring the notions of culture and how it dissolves overtime, this series in particular focuses on the current anxiety over the imminent loss ofprinted books.Through these technological advances, the artist questionswhether anything essential will truly change as our cultural identity shiftsonce again. View more images after the jump.

Opening this coming Saturday at Philadelphia’s JinxedGallery is a solo exhibition of new sculptures by artist Sarah Louise Davey.Featuring the mounted heads and disembodied limbs of the ceramic figures, theworks explore the dichotomy of grotesque humor and beauty in the nuance oftheir facial expressions and poses. Often accompanied by odd pieces of hardwareembedded into their hard skins, the figures hold confrontational gazes with theviewer, inviting them into a narrative, playful dialogue. View more images of thequirky sculptures after the jump.

Currently showing at NYC's Munch Gallery is ‘Next To The Sea’, athree-person show containing new work from David Hochbaum (whose studio we recently visited here), featuring inspired meditations on the sea. The works explorea range of mediums, including photo constructions, neon sign lighting, snips oftext and a large installation of ships merged together. These choices incite avisceral experience of textures, images and language that seamlessly form around astunning narrative of the experience and burden of dreams. View more images ofthe new works after the jump.

In his ‘Cement Eclipses’ series, artist Isaac Cordal sculptssmall figures in cement and arranges them in subtle, public scenarioswithin urban and desolate landscapes to be found by the watchful passerby. Cleverlyplaying off city architecture, natural elements and disaster locations, thefigures are fashioned in military uniforms or business attire and engage in motionlessactivities that utilizes their chosen environments, creating an incredibleminiature world that draws at times a somber yet intriguing parallel to ourown. View more images after the jump.

 ‘Punk Rock Rainbow Sparkle’ opened this past weekend at JonathanLeVine Gallery to an eager crowd vying to see the NYC debut from L.A basedartist Natalia Fabia (who is currently featured in our current issue, Vol. 22) Thenew paintings, based on East Coast culture and style that Fabia examined duringa three-month stay, bear the signature marks of her previous exhibitions. Filledwith intriguing ladies unafraid to reveal their bodies and attitudes, thesettings showcased the gritty, hardened edge of the East beneath the colorfulvision of Fabia. View more images of the new work and opening night photosafter the jump, here on Hi-Fructose.

By replacing the ink ribbon with paint blocks on an antique typewriter, artist Tyree Callahan has created a new conceptual instrument (it's mechanics don't allow it to actually paint) in which the notions of paint and words converge. Initially started as an experiment to apply watercolor text to a work in progress, the project grew to the resulting object, aptly named the chromatic typewriter. As far as technicalities, the artist states “I also tried to incorporate things that would offer a significant suspension of disbelief to the piece. The ribbon, for one. At the moment, it is a slice of a stellar spectrum analysis of our sun. An homage to the one thing that really makes art what it is in the universe: light. The keyboard's spacebar also incorporates the idea of 'negative space.'" View more images of the manipulated typewriter below.

Armed with a muted color palette and an eye for sophisticatednuance of movement, Zurich based artist Andy Denzler creates contemporaryworks that challenge our perception of composition. Oscillating betweenabstract and figurative painting techniques with a photographic edge, thestunning works capture clipped moments of everyday life, often lifted from massmedia sources. The resulting blurry images, created by the smearing of paintwith a spatula, disfigure the identities of the featured subjects, speaking toboth the distorted quality of memory and the physicality of paint textures. View more of the works after the jump.

Educated in Australia but currently based in Japan, artistSean Edward Whelan creates figurative pencil drawings based around architecture. Culling inspiration from the shrines and temples of Japan as wellas Edo period wood block prints, the drawings feature kinetic figures erectedfrom these ancient structures of safekeeping and worship. Engaged in various stances,the cities housed within their forms remain stable, illuminating the longevityof the original structures. View more images after the jump.

Opening on January 13th at WWA Gallery is a largegroup show, 'About Face', centered on traditional portraiture. With over 35 talented artists including Hi-Fructose featuredartists Laurie Lipton, Charlie Immer and Van Arno participating, the showpromises to be diverse in style, technique and thematic tone. Take a peek atpreview images after the jump.

Artist Lucy Gaylord-Lindolm’s oil paintings reveal a strangepotion of Old Master technique and surrealist notions. Centralized femininefigures are plucked from their respective eras and re-envisioned in oddscenarios. Their skins are replaced with a mask of plastic band-aids or a network of tubing while rubyred slippers appear gigantic and ominously hover above the streets of Venice.View more of the works after the jump.

Inspired by historical wars including WWI &the American Civil war, Brooklyn based artist Allison Sommers will bepresenting her newest body of work, ‘Potter’s Field’ at L.A’s ThinkspaceGallery on January 7th. Featuring her signature style of miniature scalepaintings composed of gouache on paper, the clusters of creatures, eitheremployed as soldiers, beasts or nurses amongst others are engaged in action indarkened, war torn landscape. Illuminating the scale and inventivenessof Sommers who will also be showing one of the largest pieces she’s created todate, several of the smallest works are housed with antique matchboxes. Hi-Fructose recently had the opportunity to visit Sommers’ studio, take alook at her curious collections and a preview of the new work after the jump.

Imbued with a strong sense of tactility, the paintings ofMonica Cook allure the viewer with their convergence of slimy creatures andslippery food with an odd erotica portrayed through the bare skin andposes of the fleshy subjects. The incredibly masterful paintings play with thetension between attraction and repulsion with realistic portraiture; the ooze of an octopus coats the bare skin of a figure who holds the aquatic creature onher head, while a pile of bodies engage in seemingly sexual acts amidst crushedfruit and wet tentacles. These surreal situations lend themselves to the primaland bizarre actions of the subjects, who always appear on the verge ofconsumption or destruction. View more of the works after the jump.

Joining a lingering threat of doom with injections of vivid color,Berlin based artist Jonas Burgert captures a world in which its inhabitants arecollected in troupes. Costumed in ribbons of colors that evoke the circus and jubilance,the figures appear to be part of a tribe always engaging in movement, whetherwalking through paint splattered hallways, hanging from tree limbs or strugglingto not be swallowed up by ominous sink holes. This movement suggests an anxiousnarrative, as the figures appear to either be surviving or readying themselvesfor battle. The contrast of the bleak tones used for the landscapes and thesurges of neon worn on both the figures as well as their accouterments adds anintriguing element of whimsy to otherwise bleak portrayals of an imagined worldnot so far off from our own. Viewmore of the works after the jump.

Often appearing fragmented or disproportionate, South Korean artist Young-Deok Seo’s sculptures featuring the human form are created entirely from welding metal chains together, link by link. Posed in moments of psychological distress evidenced by the open cavities and missing limbs or heads, the works explore the experience of man in tandem to an industrial based society. Skinned with materials that are often forged and used expressly to chain and lock objects, the artist suggests a slavery to these materials which in turn, has become engrained in our modern identity. View more of the works after the jump.

Sculptress Meredith Dittmar recently opened a new solo exhbition ‘Now You See It Now You Don’t’ at Mexico City’s Fifty24MX Gallery. The forty + works rendered in the unlikely material of colored polymer clay, is executed in a unique style akin to carved reliefs found on the inner walls of temples or within old churches.

This choice imbues the work with a sense of reverence for the past, specifically focusing on ideas of nature, the afterlife and personal evolution in the face of peril. Created over a 15-month period that was fraught with intense personal experiences including the death of a parent and the birth of twins, the works explore the cyclical landscape of life and death framed in the vivid colors, patterns and mythology of Mexico. View more images of the new work after the jump.

The dual solo exhibitions of artists Sam Gibbons &Stephan Doitschinoff recently opened at NYC’s Jonathan LeVine Gallery this pastSaturday night. With a focus onbright colors and repetitive patterning, the shows diverge in their themes; Gibbons’works focus on symmetrical compositions of massacred cartoons while an amalgamationof spiritual practices exists within Doitschinoff’s works.Manipulating objects such as hand cut wooden panels or books and ribbons, each show features works employing three dimensional aspects that add an interesting texture to the themes and narratives within the respective body of work. View more images ofthe works and opening night photos after the jump.

UK based artist JKB Fletcher creates hyper realistic oilpaintings featuring tightly focused compositions of women painted in the familiarcolors and designs of comic book super heroes. Often sensual in nature, thewomen appear nude and abstractly painted in these familiar costumes, imbuingthe work with a sensual tone that conflicts with the hyper masculine traits ofeach superhero. Rendered in a masterful technique that questions the differencebetween painting and photography, the magnetic works also questions the concept ofsuper heroism and how these moral codes can be applied to modern society. Viewmore images of the work after the jump.

Recently opened at NYC’s Last Rites Gallery is the dualexhibitions of new work by Scott G. Brooks (previewed here) & Fred Harper.Featuring a union of darkly nuanced portraits, exploring macabre twists on theart of storytelling & mechanics converging with the heads of beautifulwomen. View more images of the artwork and opening night photos after the jump.

Featuring vivid scenes of gatherings of people and beasts,artist Jeffrey Vincent fills his work with a juxtaposition of color andmovement. Contrasting these joyous landscapes are strange additions that add anunsettling foreboding to the work. Featureless figures shrouded in blackconfront a group of people cocooned in vibrant robes while a tall beast crashesa party filled with bizarrely helmeted partygoers. Appearing as dreams gonesour with anxious apparitions, the work is successful in both it’s subjectmatter and composition as well as it’s execution. Paint is wildly applied and yetretains a measure of control while color is expertly balanced, adding to theintensity of the imagery. View more of the work after the jump.

Beginning in March of this year, an anonymous artist beganleaving incredible, whimsical book sculptures in specific locations associatedwith books and reading in Edinburgh, Scotland. Tucked in bookcases or nestled in windowsills, each sculpture examined both the use of books as art objects as wellas illuminating the act of reading to spark the imagination. Pages were woven and frayedinto wings, teacups and cakes were carefully molded into shape and bindingsadded structure to houses and medieval scenes of knights and dragons to create smallwonders for those lucky enough to happen upon them in their chosen settings.Once each sculpture was discovered, the fever grew for answers and people wereleft wondering when the next “book” would materialize, causing a renewedinterest in libraries and book fairs. While the artist’s identity has yet to berevealed, her works serve as an inspiration. View more images of the mysteriousbook sculptures after the jump.

Currently showing at Houston’s Rice Gallery, L.Aartist Ana Serrano presents her unique vision of city life, ‘Salon of Beauty’ inthe form of a whimsical construct of an imaginary neighborhood housed withinthe space. While the vivid colors and blocky fonts of the store front signssuggest a heightened play on childhood fort making, the collectivedetails and inclusions of a barred strip club and liquor store add subversive,adult elements to the network of vibrant ‘buildings.’ As social commentary, it suggests thedelicate tension of how we must protect ourselves and our property from ourneighbors while retaining an environment that engages it’s inhabitants with thelure of beauty. View more images of the exhibition after the jump.

Presenting internal conflicts and social anxieties within manipulations of the body, Swedish artist Anders Krisár creates stunning, psychological sculptures. With an intriguing focus on the physical form, the sculptures relay subtle messages addressing identity, health care and consumerism. Hints of violence and melancholy are juxtaposed with witty and strikingly executed patterns, whether as a disembodied torso that appears to be woven together, or a lifeless suit stuffed with cocooned shirts. View more of the works after the jump.

Tucked within a second floor studio, Baltimore based artist Sam Gibbons (HF Vol. 9 cover artist) creates subversive tangles of cartoons, illuminated by a rich mastery of color. Blending the innocence and immortality of children’s cartoons with unsettling references to the Manson murders, the controlled shape of each piece suggests a nostalgic labyrinth of experience. Recently we had a chance to stop by Sam’s studio to preview the artwork and ask some questions as he worked toward his December 10th opening of ‘ Directed by Kilroy’ at NYC’s Jonathan LeVine Gallery. View more studio images and read the full interview after the jump.

Mining the shadows of his psyche, artist Scott G.Brooks takes inspiration from his work as a children’s book illustrator tocreate a foreboding narrative exhibition, ‘The Luckiest Widow In The World And Other Tales Of Misfortune,’opening on December 3rd at NYC’s Last Rites Gallery. His figures,bearing signature anatomical exaggerations of the body, are set in far darker world than in previous works as the 'tales' focus on inner and outer manifestations of demons aswell as captured scenes of misfortune. The figure centric compositions unfurl apotent mastery of atmosphere and setting, where characters cast in perviousworks now meet with the moment of their doom. View more preview images fromthis anticipated show as well as studio shots after the jump.

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Conjuring unique mythical atmospheres, artist Steven Kenny creates vivid portraits highlighting the turbulent relationship man has with nature. Focusing on this arcane struggle, figures, often females, are compositionally centered within natural landscapes or are paired with natural elements such as crowned nets of spider webs, equestrian torsos or collared by pale birds and squirrels. The exquisite oil paintings showcase his mastery of the medium whilst the narratives strive to “turn the lens around to look inward upon the stewardship of our own emotional, intellectual and psychological landscapes” in relation to the natural worlds in which we inhabit. View more of the luminous works after the jump.