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The New Contemporary Art Magazine
First featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 26, Dunedin, New Zealand based artist Sarah Dolby has always created character driven portraits. Her paintings combine aspects of traditional portraiture with her own whimsical narrative. In her most recent work, Dolby has been exploring concepts such as time, anxiety, nature and death and the challenging role these play in our lives. "My internal world is quite chaotic," she says, "and I often only find peace when trying to make sense of this through my work."
Vania Zouravliov (HF Vol. 16) mixes elements of innocence, sexuality, beauty and decay into his intricate, colorless illustrations. Russian born and currently based in London, Zouraliov's begins each piece without sketches, allowing the narrative of his dark universe to flow as the work progresses. From an early age, Zouravilov was inspired by The Bible, Dante's Divine Comedy, early Disney films, and North American Indian imagery.
They are "the girls behind the lace." This is how Okinawa based painter Mao Hamaguchi describes the young subjects of her romantic paintings. Her Gothic Art inspired images are painted in a soft and delicate style, where we find Contemporary aristocratic girls peeking through veils or shrouds and lace curtains. The symbol of lace is used throughout Hamaguchi's art. Lace is a sensual fabric, often associated with intimacy and pleasure, as well as wealth, once among a household's most prized possessions. Hamaguchi embraces all of its nuances, using them to emphasize the qualities of womanhood.