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The New Contemporary Art Magazine
Paul McCarthy's work traverses sculpture, painting, installation art, and film, and all are showcased in his new show, aptly titled "Mixed Bag." The show at Xavier Hufkens in Belgium, running through May 25 at the venue, takes over both of their gallery spaces. From his malformed figures to recent political reflections in video, the 73-year-old's work from the past two decades is shown.
Cesar Piette’s analogue paintings carry the texture and sheen of digitally created Pixar characters. The artist uses a blend of paint techniques, between traditional layering and airbrush approaches. Before that, the artist has first designed these characters via sketching, digital modeling and adjustment, and then goes to work on the final painting.
David Altmejd's mindbending sculptures return in a new show at White Cube Hong Kong. In "The Vibrating Man," running through May 18, the artist offers his transforming figures and busts, each its on unsettling, yet absorbing mutation. Instead of any given piece having its own meaning, the artist has said he prefer “it to be able to generate its own meaning.” Altmejd was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
Nathaniel Mary Quinn’s affecting mixed-media portraits recently returned in the show "Always Felt, Rarely Seen" at Almine Rech in Brussels. As with past work (Quinn was last featured on HiFructose.com here), there's a collage-like look to the work, though all aspects are sourced through materials at the artist's hands. Yet, as the gallery says, there’s been a more personal evolution in recent work.
Exploring the reality of "distorted or inaccessible memories," Eliana Marinari applies several layers of aerosol acrylic paint over ink and pastel drawings. In the artist’s “Recognition Memory” and “Recollection” series, portraits and still-life works are given this treatment, respectively. The resulting work is both haunting and brings reflection on our own limitations, as viewers.
In a new show, two decades of work from the Australian illustrator-painter Shaun Tan are offered, spanning both his child-oriented characters and more mature narratives. “Untold Tales,” kicking off at Beinart Gallery on March 9 and running through the end of the month. Tan's survey includes oil paintings, colored pencil and pen, pastel, and more.
In Leonard Greco’s theatrical “Fairyland,” the artist uses a variety of mediums to offer a world both fantastical and deeply personal in nature. In a show currently running at MOAH:Cedar, viewers can explore “Fairyland” for themselves.
Slimen El Kamel’s transcendent paintings are informed by both memory and folklore. The Tunisia artist uses acrylics, embroidery, and other media to craft these multilayered works, each inviting the viewer to unpack his crowded visions. His painting have been said to question “social constraints and the absurdity of violence.”
Sisters Caitlin Duennebier and Nicole Duennebier currently have a collaborative show at Simmons University's Trustman Gallery. Caitlin Duennebier's fantastical practice encompasses sculpture, drawing, and other media, while Nicole Duennebier, a painter last featured on HiFructose.com here, crafts work with the sensibilities of 17th-century still-life with unexpected subjects. "Love Superior, a Death Supreme” runs through March 18 at the space.
In David Santiago’s stirring portraits, freckles become gilded stars, part of a constellation intended to remind the viewer that “nothing is by accent.” The artist has an upcoming show at Stranger Factory, titled “24k,” that collects the newest work in this vein. Each painting is crafted on a wood panel, with the grain showing through the subject’s flesh.
In Marc Burckhardt’s paintings, the artist’s work tethers classical influences to contemporary comic and pop art. In a recent show at Paul Roosen Contemporary, “Fault Lines," his newer mythological explorations are shown. Burckhardt was last mentioned on HiFructose.com here.
Surreal and haunting, Yuichi Ikehata creates works that begin as figurative wire sculptures and garner new life via digital flourishes. The Japanese artist’s meticulous process ensures that it’s difficult to tell which parts of the structure are part of the tangible framework. The final product, though elegant, seems to convey a world in which we’ve lost and eroded ourselves to technology.
Max Seckel’s dwellings and landscapes, rendered in acrylics, gouache, latex, and spraypaint, invite viewers to make their own observations. The New Orleans painter rendered his lived-in environments without depicting any figures in his works. Yet, in each, there’s a certain humanity depicted and reflection inspired.
Gabriel Barredo’s meticulous mixed-media sculptures and installations are made using found objects. The artist’s pieces are at times created to move, their writhing interworkings appearing both organic and mechanical in nature. Works like "Madamadam" (top), startle even in their stillness.
Chicago-born artist Kayla Mahaffrey crafts portraits of subjects enveloped by pop totems and surreal elements. Her works are rendered in watercolors and acrylics, each oozing with vibrancy and candy colors. Her practice moves between illustration and fine art.
Evren Erol’s mixed-media sculptures appear to exist in states of change, dissipating or entering into life. Blending acrylic painting on polyester and wood, the artist is able to convey figures that are seemingly liquid in nature. And while cerebral in concept, the work’s most striking quality is how visceral that transformation appears.
With a distinct, fluctuating sense of depth, James Mortimer's mixed-media paintings move between the fanciful and the unsettling. Some of his more packed scenes recall the enormous paintings of Bosch, with a penchant for both delight and grimness. The work often is rendered in oils, yet the artist also mixes in acrylics and watercolor.
Blending painting and drawing, Julia Faber pits nature against the real-life robots that emulate its creatures. The Vienna-based artist contrasts realistic, painted backdrops or animals with stunning linework. In the past, Faber’s work traversed humanity’s own periled social structures and history. This new body of work appears to explore our effect on the world outside of our physical bodies.
Neva Hosking to craft biographical drawings on scraps and unexpected surfaces is rooted in a time long before having her formal training, yet that practice has endured. This approach “built an understanding that a broken and fractured viewpoint often presents a more accurate and multi-faceted view of whatever subject needs to be explored,” she says. The result shows a prism that represents a complex, ever-changing humanity.
The acrylic paintings of illustrator Sasha Ignatiadou carry a vibrancy and visceral detail. The artist’s work tends to leave viewers on guessing on the origins of his creation, which outside of her acrylic work, moves between watercolor and digital approaches.
Crafted in Chinese ink and mineral pigment on silk, Shoichi Okumura's gorgeous compositions blend figurative and floral elements. After moving to Tokyo with his parents, Beijing-born painter would garnered global in his studies. Today, the artist’s received multiple awards for his absorbing, large-scale pieces.
The mixed-media paintings of Betsy Walton carry surreal, vibrant scenes, with characters that meld into each other and their natural backdrops. A current body of work, titled “Psychic Landscapes,” gathers new views into her dreamlike worlds.
Though undetectable from afar, Bryan Valenzuela's drawn forms are actually crafted from thousands of small letters and words. These collections of words are a script tailored to each work, whether on the page or adorning a public wall. The artist also works in textiles, acrylic paint, and collage into his practice.
Damon Soule’s dazzling, psychedelic mixed-media work has seen major evolutions during the past 20 years. In a new retrospective show at Mirus Gallery in Denver, we see those progressions in vivid detail. The show runs Oct. 6 through Nov. 14 at the gallery. Soule was the cover artists for Hi-Fructose Vol. 17.
Nick Cave's soundsuits and objects, created with upcycled materials, explore both identity and social issues while entertaining in their vibrancy. In a new exhibition at Orlando Museum of Art, “New Cave: Feat.,” a survey of work mostly created within the past decade is displayed. Cave was featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 20.
The disturbing, dreamlike figures of Cajsa von Zeipel are crafted in mixed media. The artist's practice moves between polished, bronze creatures and ones created with materials like resin, fiberglass, plaster, styrofoam, steel, synthetic hair, wood, and more. Many seem to be involved in their own narratives, experiencing feelings of terror, ecstasy, or in transit.
The mixed-media paintings of Hueman return with a new show at Mirus Gallery. "Veiled Intent" collects works crafted with acrylics, spray paint, and stretched fabric. The artist says that figures in this series are "merely shadows or ghosts." Hueman was featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 43.
Raquel van Haver's mixed-media scenes on burlap, using materials like oils, charcoal, tar, wood, and more, offer riveting and socially conscious narratives. The works carry notes of street art and historical references, crafted in relief-style, varying planes. The artist was born in Bogota, Colombia, and she's currently based in Amsterdam.
Serena Cole blends watercolors, colored pencil, and other materials in her stirring portraits, deftly adding provocative elements in the contours of her subjects. In recent works, the artist "considers each piece an avatar of herself," a recent statement says, with self-portraits that reflect on different experiences of being a woman today.
In his first solo museum exhibition, Chuck Sperry offers an array of his pop-infused, post-modernist works. “All Access: Exploring Humanism in the Art of Chuck Sperry" opens on Sept. 14 at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. Running alongside this exhibition is "Litmus Test: Works on Paper from the Psychedelic Era,” a survey of Wes Wilson, Victor Moscoso, and others, with blotter sheets from Sperry, Mark Mothersbaugh, H.R. Giger, and more.