Though their work can be described as digital art, Ransom & Mitchell are very hands-on with their process. To create the fanciful worlds that they photograph, the San Francisco-based duo sews original costumes, makes props and builds sets. Experts in studio lighting, they imbue their works with a magical ambiance, only adding digitally-painted details to render that which can't be done in real life. For the upcoming group show "Rough & Ready Sideshow" at Bash Contemporary in San Francisco, Ransom & Mitchell will be exhibiting a new series of photo-illustrations that hearken back to circus freak shows. While there are obvious ethical issues with sideshows themselves, the artists's vintage-inspired new works are loaded with nostalgic humor, kitsch and illusions. Aunia Kahn, Stefanie Vega and Alexandra Manukyan will also be participating in the exhibition. The opening reception will be held on October 11 and the show will be on view through November 8.
There's something intrinsically horrifying about seeing the familiar mutated, spliced and perverted. Caitlin Hackett, Robert Bowen and Dave Correia's work certainly has this shock factor in common. The three artists, who are showing together in "Dark Matters" at San Francisco's Bash Contemporary on May 31, look to nature as their inspiration. But rather than depicting butterflies and daisies, their work collectively alludes to a world that's been polluted, mined, stripped of its forests and impregnated with nuclear waste.