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The New Contemporary Art Magazine
Anna Park’s charcoal drawings are kinetic and absorbing, each scene embedded in crowd activity. The action seems to move between revelry and violence, the faces of her subjects distorted and disappearing. The artist also integrates varying sensibilities into these works and moves between cartoonish and realistic rendering.
The lifesized, realistic portraits crafted by Joel Daniel Phillips currently inhabit the Fort Wayne Museum of Art in the new exhibition "Charcoal Testament." With pencil and charcoal, the artist’s subjects have moved between the impoverished and the reality and the aftermath of nuclear testing near the Western coast.
Armed with charcoal and graphite, Amandine Urruty continues to craft scenes packed with characters and surprises in every corner. In recent works, the artist’s Victorian sensibility gorgeously renders both human and pop-cultural figures alike. Urruty was featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 44.
In illustrator David Álvarez’s recent charcoal works, the night is a character that walks the countryside. “I Dreamed I Was the Night” is the name of that latest series, a collection that will presumably comprise another story for the Mexico-based artist.
Felix Dolah uses diluted charcoal to craft his minimalist, ghostly drawings. These figures, often gangly and dilapidated, come in sparse singular or as heaps of crowded, writhing characters. Elsewhere, he applies the same material to photographs, adding grim accents to archival images. He's said that although early in life, he drew knights and monsters, "now I draw more monsters than knights."
Cape Town artist Michael Amery shares his concerns about human impact on the environment in his series of drawings, Trees by Man. In charcoal, pen and India ink, the artist depicts forests grown for commercial use, much like the ones found in his native South Africa. A graphic designer with a background in advertising, Amery is interested in how consumerist culture is tied to man's exploitation of the natural world and its effects on our planet's vulnerable ecosystems.
Joseph Loughborough is a British artist currently based in Berlin. His haunting figurative works, made with charcoal and gold leaf on paper, draw inspiration from philosophers Albert Camus and Søren Kierkegaard to explore notions of struggle, isolation, and absurdist belief as they relate to the human condition. Check out more of his work on his Tumblr and Flickr.
Stephanie Buer has been exploring the decay and evolution of cityscapes since studying at College for Creative Studies in Detroit in the mid-2000s, where she began to pursue a career in painting and drawing. In her charcoal works, these urban scenes garner a sense of desolation, stripped of even fading hues or sunlight. Buer was last featured on Hi-Fructose here.
England based artist Dylan Andrews uses light and shadow to portray emotion in his drawings. His monochromatic charcoal portraits build up to a dramatic intensity that is almost surreal. Owing to the drama and atmosphere in his pieces is the use of black and white high contrast of tones. Pattern and texture is another aspect of the work that he uses to explore the emotional possibilities. The shadows on his young subjects' extend the reality of the image beyond the page, a reflection from an object we cannot see. 
Based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Anouk Griffioen creates haunting, mural-scale charcoal drawings that offer glimpses into lush, overgrown places where humanity and nature seamlessly connect. The human subjects of her work are merely guides for viewers to immerse themselves in the sublime landscapes. It's as if Griffioen is inviting her viewers to imagine themselves as her often faceless characters. There is a fashion-conscious aspect to her work as well: the svelte, model-like bodies strike casual yet glamorous poses, wearing smartly tailored outfits that camouflage with their surroundings.
Portland-based Korean artist Samantha Wall draws perceptive representations of women who exhibit a range of emotions and attitude. Her experience with ‘multi-raciality’ between living in Korea and now the United States inspired her latest drawings, “Indivisible” but it has roots in her previous works. Her simple yet profound drawings are the result of her own experiences and feelings. Emotional desire creates moments of hyper awareness, a characteristic specific to human nature. Wall believes that how we position ourselves in the world directly relates to our bond with others. Read more after the jump.
Do you dream about flying? Brooklyn artist Leah Yerpe draws what she dreams- highly detailed, lifesize floating forms that seem to fly off the paper. Some of her artworks are over ten feet high. In contrast to their impressive scale, Yerpe’s choice of materials are simple; black charcoal for her larger works, and a single mechanical pencil for smaller studies. “I enjoy using the human figure in my work because we cannot help but project on and relate to it,” she shares at her website. Yerpe’s passion for dance is evident in the ornate shapes she creates with twisting arms and legs, and intertwined torsos placed against a white background. In dance, abstract emotional expressions have different movement characteristics. Yerpe is also conveying a range of emotions through her compositions. See more after the jump!