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."
Carlos Tardez has a talent for portraiture across two- and three-dimensional forms. Yet, it’s in his sculptures that the surreal nature of his works becomes visceral, whether evoking laughter, intrigue, or both. These small figures are often paired with normal-sized, found objects. These interactions create strange narratives.
Opening June 25th, Archimedes Gallery will be showing 25 new wood fired ceramic & cast bronze sculptures by Eva Funderburgh and 6 new paintings by Josh Keyes. Special events include, two different Josh Keyes limited edition print releases offered in-house only, starting at 10 am Saturday, June 25th along with Josh and Eva doing an artist demonstration from 2pm - 4pm followed by an artists' reception from 5pm - 8pm. See preview images of the show after the jump!
Jessica Joslin is the creatrix of a curious menagerie of hybird creatures, composed of a varied anatomy of bone, glass, leather and metal, meticulously assembled to look like real specimens. Her work recalls a sense of the Victorian era's obsession with detail and death and yet retains a playfulness attributed to circus shows of trained animals performing gravity defying feats. Hi-Fructose was recently able to interview the artist, take a look at her intriguing responses after the jump.
Malaysian artist Umibaizurah Mahir's meticulously crafted ceramics are almost exclusively in the form of stylized, comical creatures, like three dimensional hand-made cartoons. The complex psychology of her collectible "toys for adults” places them at the intersection of man, society and nature, where nothing is what it seems. Like Collodi's "Pinocchio", these naughty objects are often on the run, trying to escape on hand-painted ceramic wheels and wings, climbing their pedestals or breaking out of their frames.
Richard Colman is well known for his paintings of colorful human figures bending and twisting into abstract compositions. Featured here on our blog, Colman's new works explore the intricacies and curiosities of human relationships in bold and geometric displays. Similar to the frontalism style seen in Egyptian art, the heads of his figures are usually drawn in profile, while the body is seen from the front. The San Francisco based artist recently exhibited in the rotating Los Angeles exhibition curated by Roger Gastman, "W.I.P." (Work in Progress), which closed over the holiday.
Mexican street artist and illustrator "Smithe" creates intensely detailed images that combine biological and mechanical motifs. Featured here on our blog, Smithe's art is a visual collage of everything that he loves; a mix of comics, animation, film, street art, science fiction, but mostly spontaneity and fun. Like his murals, his illustrations portray strange figures and pop-culture characters in a state of deconstruction. They stretch, distort, and melt into the floor, other times falling into a thousand little particles of themselves. Smithe explores the source of such madness in his latest body of work, "Fisuras de la Materia" ("Fissures of Matter"), currently on view at Celaya Brothers Gallery in Mexico.
Hi-Fructose Vol. 27 cover artist Erik Jones paints alluring figures that he juxtaposes with dynamic, abstract strokes of bright colors. He seeks to find the right balance between his realistic style of painting figures with abstraction in his work. Jones recently made his European debut with his latest body of work, titled "In Colour" at Dorothy Circus Gallery in Rome. The title makes a references to the vibrant colors that surround and enhance the intensity of his female figures, likened to a hurricane. With these new works, Jones deepens his exploration of gesture and abstraction to an almost chaotic effect.
Painter and illustrator Allois has said that she wants her paintings to reach her viewer's "deep inside"- a place that "will feel familiar, but it won't be." The title of her new series, "No Particular Night or Morning", hints at the surreal world that inspires her, the place where our dreams and nightmares live. Her moody seascapes are populated by "The Keepers", humanoid creatures covered with fur. Dressed like royalty, "The Keepers" pose for portraits. Disturbingly seductive, they gaze at the viewer with golden eyes. Allois' most cheerful paintings depict the least human figures; pale, amorphous blobs with slender limbs wear enlightened smiles. The artist's journey through the unconscious ultimately reveals themes of beauty, desire and the path to happiness.
Virginia MOCA is pleased to announce "Turn The Page: The First Ten Tears of Hi-Fructose", a ten-year retrospective celebrating the artists from the pages of Hi-Fructose Magazine, will travel to the Akron Art Museum in Akron, Ohio and will be on view from February to May 2017. This unprecedented exhibition of the 50 foremost contemporary artists of our time will open at Virginia MOCA this spring, May 2016, featuring a variety of media including sculpture, installation, painting, ceramics as well as interactive community outreach and satellite exhibitions. A wide selection of educational programming, film screenings, panel discussions, master classes and events will provide the public an opportunity to interact with the art and artists in exciting new ways.
As the saying goes, "the best things come in small packages". Philadelphia gallery Arch Enemy Arts has challenged artists to create their smallest works to date for their annual group show, "Small Wonders". For its fourth installment in a row, "Small Wonders 4" features over 75 small pieces by artists from all over the world, including 64 Colors, Alex Garant, Brian Mashburn, Caitlin Hackett, Caitlin McCormack, Craww, Hanna Jaeun, Maria Teicher, Matthew Greskiewicz, and many more. As with previous showings, all the work is sized under 12 inches.
Portland based artist Eric Wert, first featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 32, is known for his larger than life and visually intense still life paintings of plants and food. Though his style is hyper-realistic, there is something about his portrayal of the vibrancy and ripeness of his subjects that makes them more appealing than life. Wert makes every day florals and foods like grapes and tomato look beautiful and evocative with a certain wildness. He has said, "I want to create an image that one can be lost within. To me, still-life painting is about looking intensely. It's about intimately exploring a subject." For his current exhibition at William Baczek Fine Arts in Massachusetts, Wert created a smaller series featuring hydrangea, lilies, pansy, iris, and figs in luscious, glistening still lifes.
Oil painter Vasilis Avramidis, first featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 26, produces modern portraits of isolated landscapes, often depicting architecture in states of overgrowth. At the time of this interview, Avramidis confessed that he has settled in to his third studio location this year, a small studio in northern Greece. It is here that he has been putting the finishing touches on a new group of dramatically lit scenes based on memory and the overlooked. According to Avramidis, these paintings are as much about creating a familiar sense of place within a moment as they are about the absence of humans within the architecture. His latest works will be on view at The Contemporary London, located at Space W10 which opens on November 13th.
St. Louis based artist Cayce Zavaglia (covered here) hand-embroiders portraits of family and friends using wool thread. Her technique is surprisingly painterly and realistic, mimicking the effect of oil painting, her first discipline. Zavaglia recently debuted a new series of both hand-embroidered portraits and paintings based on the reverse images of her embroideries. Titled "About-Face", her new work is now on view at Lyons Wier Gallery in Chelsea, New York.