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The New Contemporary Art Magazine
Bendt Eyckermans offers paintings in mid-narrative, often based on an actual event or memory in his life. Yet, as our mind often does, the result of recreating those situations is both distorting and delicate. Recent paintings by the artist were showcased in a show at Carlos/Ishikawa in London.
The otherworldly and the archaeological converge in the deity-like sculptures of Huma Bhabha, who uses a blend of materials and found components to create her figures. The Pakistan native's practice has also included photography, drawings, and printmaking. Recent museum and gallery shows have offered intimate looks at her figures, in particular.
Despite their headlessness, Samara Shuter’s figurative work teems with personality and vibrancy. The approach of blending realistic bodies with flat, graphical forms continues a thread recalling the likes of Kehinde Wiley and Jenny Morgan. Meanwhile, Shuter’s work carries its own bombastic quality and subtle, cerebral nature.
In Ian Cumberland’s recent work, the painter adds sculptural and illusionary touches to his hyperdetailed portraits. The work also plays on the idea of portraiture itself, with screens and text underscoring a self-awareness in his work. Cumberland was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
Artistic duo Coarse’s recent, entrancing sculpture “States of Matter” comes in two editions of the character Noop: "Trance" and “Cosmos.” The former is a lighthearted, jaunting visit to the beach, while the later takes on a more ominous narrative as Noop moves through water. The pair's sculptures, entrancing in both details and unexpected narratives, take on a markedly seasonal tone with this release.
Nature has once again reclaimed the world in the watercolor scenes of Robin Crofut-Brittingham, whose lush textures reveal surprises upon inspection. The artist, whose work has been exhibited in both U.S. and Canadas, crafts new, mystic figures that seem to have evolved adorned with nature's texture. The use of watercolors underscores the elegance of the flora and fauna she’s depicting.
In Jessie Makinson's oil and watercolor paintings, the artist looks at how women are represented in both pop culture and art history. Melding backdrops and figurative forms, the artist toys with the contours of both, with dense and elegant results. Recent work on gallery walls integrates that sensibility in fascinating ways in these spaces, her women and mythological characters emerging behind hung pieces.
Even when he's playing with classical motifs, there's something unmistakably current about the sculptures and drawings of Thomas Lerooy. In recent work, his characters have cherubic bodies but golden skulls as heads. The effect is both humorous and slightly menacing, as these youthful creatures scale surfaces around the room.
Ellen de Meijer’s new paintings show how contemporary norms and social mobility has come at the cost of our planet’s health. "#CO2," a show opening at UNIX Gallery on April 11, shows characters at times taking small measures to protect themselves from the elements, while the greater threat to all looms. The gallery says that in this show, viewers can find “a collection of stoic, uncomfortable characters unabashedly displaying their wealth.”
The sculptures of Kim Won Geun depict underworld characters with unexpected vulnerability and humor. Often crafted in wood or epoxy resin and acrylics, these works range in size, yet have garnered fans across art fairs in handheld heights. The artist’s work recently turned heads at CONTEXT Art Miami in December.
In Cristian Blanxer’s painted portraits, dynamic scenes inhabit the contours of the human form. This framing device offers a look at humanity on two fronts: one in the face of danger or hardship and another in more quiet, solitary moments.
The lush paintings of Xiao Wang carry cerebral themes and unexpected hues. The tension conveyed in these works comes from both the artist’s rendering of each subject and the unexplained narratives contained within each. All of these aspects, along with his knack for realism, create a cinematic sensibility in Wang's paintings.
In recent work, Andrew Salgado’s paintings blend figurative and abstract elements, while sneaking in allusions to historical artists and contemporary practitioners. As his approach to work has changed, the London artist says the paintings take new directions as he works, saying that having no set plan “offers greater challenges but I think yields better results.”
In the recent paintings of Jenny Morgan, the artist continues to create penetrating portraits that are both vulnerable and surprising in her choices. The artist’s foundational excellence in realism is enhanced by her subversions of hues and form. Morgan was featured in the cover story for Hi-Fructose Volume 39.
Mariajosé Gallardo’s stirring oil paintings carry both centuries-old influences and qualities of contemporary illustration. The Spanish artist often pairs modern characters with creatures both of and beyond this world. And as a statement suggests, her lush backgrounds have deep roots in art history.
Sun-Hyuk Kim’s sculptures may resemble manipulated tree limbs, yet the artist's work is in welding and cutting metal wires and pipes. The result are ethereal figures that impress on any scale. The South Korean's startling creations have appeared in gallery and museum shows across the globe.
Toronto painter Sarah Cannon creates vulnerable, yet startling paintings of female subjects, often set against and inside natural backdrops. The artist’s vivid hues and linework are often rendered in oils. Below, however, the artist also experiments with digital methods with the “Fish Tank” work.
Iranian artist Afarin Sajedi crafts stirring portraits of women that explore their role in society and pull in iconography and notes from global cultures. In an upcoming show at Dorothy Circus Gallery, the first solo effort in the U.K. for the artist, she offers recent paintings. The show kicks off March 8 and runs through April 6.
Salman Khoshroo builds figures out of electric wire, with the resulting character being made for both close inspection and movement. His reflections show the ties between the human machine and the manmade machine. And his kinetic sculptures, in particular, tell of the inherent ability for motion in both of these.
Troy Coulterman’s sculptures bring the sensibilities of comic book art to life. Though no direct narrative is assigned for the viewer, the characters and forms appear ripped straight from the pages of pulp and sci-fi tales. Coulterman was last featured on HiFructose.com here. Next month, the artist has a new show at Beinart Gallery, with the above piece included in the mix.
In recent work, Gil Bruvel carefully arranges pieces of wood, with startling faces emerging. This is just one example of the sculptor’s work, which also spans metalworking, oil painting, and several other mediums. The artist’s larger sculptures, in particular, tend to render the human head in unexpected ways.
Russian painter Andrey Remnev pulls from both centuries-old approaches and current, graphical influences. Yet, the artist says, the material he uses are decidedly classical in nature: “As painters of the past, I use natural pigments bound with egg yolk.” Remnev was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
In Michael Tole's paintings, such as "Diana and Actaeon: Backwards and in Stiletto Boots," the painter recasts mythological scenes through a contemporary lens. In this effort, Tole touches on gender and other cultural issues. The artist says that wardrobe pieces in the above painting are taken from the 2018 Moschino spring/summer line.
In Jesse Mockrin's recent paintings, the artist quotes depictions of women and violence throughout the history of art, taking influence from Baroque work, Renaissance etchings, and other eras. In "Syrinx," currently running at Night Gallery, the artist crops these influences and places them side by side. (Mockrin was last featured on HiFructose.com here.) The gallery says that “she first category considers images of women under duress, while the second category reclaims the condemned figure of the witch as a feminist forebear.”
In "Exit Reality," oil painter Ana Bagayan offers encounters between humans, extraterrestrials, and hybrid lifeforms. The show runs Jan. 4-27 at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, offering a collection of sparse, mysterious works. Bagayan was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
In the paintings of Enric Sant, rivers of humans swarm across the canvas or empty into crowded masses. In the past, his fascination with flesh saw an output of grotesque figures. In recent work, he creatures gigantic, living objects from hundreds of bodies.
Vonn Sumner’s ambiguous characters, often seen in makeshift costumes, are part of an ongoing narrative that the viewer is invited to dissect. Are they enthusiastic hobbyists? Deadly serious vigilantes? What is obvious is the painter’s ability to evoke mystery and elegance through these unlikely heroes. Sumner was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
Instead of capturing a single moment in time, Clive Head’s oil paintings reveal multiple perspectives and actions within a single setting. Tracking a complete, single figure within works like “To the Silence of Tiresias,” below, is difficult, yet the broader humanity of that place and a wider timeframe are revealed upon inspection.
Filipino artist Leslie de Chavez explores imperialism and religion of his native country in his distinct oil paintings. These textured scenes carry both a bleakness and arresting luminosity, with a tone that tethers the allegorical to the gritty. A recent show at Arario Gallery Shanghai offers both installations and canvas work from the artist.
In Michael Villagante's recent oil paintings, the artist's distinct texture and ability to evoke past masters and mythology shine. A recent body of work, under the title of "Higher Ground" in a recent show at Art Verité in his native Philippines, takes his work in a direction that offers more peace than turmoil, even as the human body is overtaken by the surrounding elements.