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The New Contemporary Art Magazine
Oil painter Alex Garant, also known as “Queen of Double Eyes,” brings a new collection of works to Arch Enemy Arts in Philadelphia. “Viscera,” which kicks off Friday (Jan. 6) and runs through Jan. 28, features four new paintings and three ink studies. The ink works are intended to represent a broader trinity of life: mother, daughter, and spirit. Garant was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
Canadian artist Alex Garant's "double-eyed" portraits, featured here on our blog, have become instantly recognizable for the dizzying effect they create. Her style of overlaying her subject's features like eyes and lips produces multiple images that are captivating but admittedly, also challenging to look at; for some, her works create phantom images, and even the feeling of being intoxicated. Her new series of portraits, titled "Wakefulness", is inspired by how our brains enter into a state of consciousness when we wake up.
A new group exhibition at Last Rites Gallery in New York is looking at how 4 different artists style the human figure: Alex Garant, Sarah Joncas, and collaborative artist duo Kit King and Corey Popp (aka "Oda") make their subjects more exciting and complex by enhancing their portraits in various ways. Whether through color, line, shape, or dramatic composition, their subjects undergo a certain transformation in their works. Their collective exhibition, "Transfigure", currently on view through October 3rd, explores this idea.
Canadian artist Alex Garant paints realistic portraits that capture her subjects in multiples. Using traditional portrait techniques, her oil paintings combine graphic design elements with abstraction in great detail. Looking at her work is like getting lost in an optical illusion, where colorful patterns are key to holding the composition together. Among her stylistic inspirations, she credits early ink printing, Pop surrealism, Baroque tapestries and themes found in retro kitsch. This is especially apparent in her use of image superposition, where her subject's 70s-esque big lips and eyes are enhanced.