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The New Contemporary Art Magazine
Baldur Helgason’s animation-inspired oil paintings actually function as a “self-portrait,” as the artist has created an avatar of himself that he places in situations that have notes of art history and contemporary living. Through the more exaggerated and duplicated aspects of this character, he’s able to explore cerebral and personal themes.
To mark the recent 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," oil painter Hyeseung Marriage-Song crafted largescale paintings that are influenced by both the classic book and the mythology of the golem. The artist collaborated with writer Tommy Zurhellen, who offered his own retelling of the story, each pulling from those timeless psychological themes in different ways.
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.
Natalie Featherston’s realistic oil paintings deceptively appear as mixed-media collages, as she faithfully renders the textures of each element of her source. She builds each of the collages that serve as a basis for her paintings, and she says the former part of the process is just as a fun as the latter.
Chris Peters, an artist who emerged out of the Pop Surrealist movement, has used A.I. in a new way to create paintings of landscapes that don’t actually exist. Using an algorithm "capable of 'learning' and 'predicting,'" Peters fed the system a trove of curated landscape paintings. Soon, the A.I. was able to produce new digital images, and after processing and curating those landscapes, Peters painted his favorites in oil.
Lola Gil’s stirring painted narratives and portraits return in a new show at Roq La Rue Gallery in Seattle. “Thirsty” collects several recent works, including continuations of her portraits in which subjects are reflected through vintage glass figurines. Gil was recently featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 48. “Thirsty” kicks off at the gallery on March 8.
Painter Kisung Koh's realistic, yet spiritual creatures return in a new show at Thinkspace Projects. These enlarged subjects set walk “become emissaries of a spiritual dimension,” the gallery says, and force us to examine our own place in nature. "Way of Life II" runs Feb. 2 through Feb. 23 at the gallery. (Koh was last featured on HiFructose.com here.)
Oil painter Matthew Cornell captures quiet, nighttime moments on an intimate scale. Without figures, he’s able to create townscapes and scenes that feel wholly lived in, yet carry a particularly ghostly quality. Recent work show how streetlights and other sources offer a mysterious glow to the proceedings.
In Adam Giroux’s cerebral oil portraits, the painter uses ornamentation and extraction around his subjects. "Motivation" is a major theme in his work, exploring how one navigates the strange world we inhabit. He uses both realism and touches of abstraction in this work.
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.
Oil painter Wolfe von Lenkiewicz collapses art history and reconfigures some of its most beloved works, reassembling each piece with unexpected elements. In doing so, the artist examines the ideas of greatness and our categorical notions within the history of painting.
Seamus Conley's recent oil paintings offer a convergence of reality and digital fantasy. In that latter world—and in materialism—there’s a hope for fulfillment that Conley explores. His recent body of work is currently on display at Andrea Schwartz Gallery, in a show that runs through Dec. 21.
Painted on wood, the textures of Agostino Arrivabene's surreal works garner new, striking qualities. The above piece is one of the newer works on similar natural canvases from the artist, who was last featured on HiFructose.com here. Arrivabene's experimentations also includes work on conglomerate mineral and other woodland findings.
John Brosio’s oil paintings introduce towering monsters and pop cultural elements into the everyday, whether it’s a giant crab or a Big Gulp. The artist has a knack for mixing terror and humor, leaning on his talents in realism to add both components to the work. Elsewhere, he takes a childlike approach to rendering these beasts, reaching back to the sketchbooks packed with dinosaurs and fictional creatures as a child.
Oil painter Aldo Sergio uses traditional tools to create “glitches” on classical still-life and portrait works. Sergio’s work follows other artists utilizing mix of contemporary distortion and centuries-old influences, yet his work stands apart in his convincing rendering of both aspects and his specific concepts arising out of this approach.
Tony Pro’s figurative work ranges from classical to reflections on pop culture, with the latter offering a look into the painter’s sharp humor. Series like "Sarcasm" take contemporary figures and recontextualizes them both with elegance and in parody. A bio cites his schooling at California State University, Northridge and studying under Glen Orbik has pivotal in the formation of his practice.
Julie Heffernan’s oil paintings imagine habitats and situations formed in response to environmental collapse. "When the Water Rises: Recent Paintings by Julie Heffernan,” a new exhibition coming to the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, offers these recent pieces. It runs Sept. 22 through Dec. 30 at the venue.
Artem Rogowoi’s oil and gold leaf paintings offer quiet, yet rich moments. In works like "Chamomile," the artist's rendering of elements such as hair or a bed of leaves carry unexpected textures. And each carries a fantastical quality, even when packed with everyday elements.
The oil paintings of Liora Ostroff, with varying textures and contemporary imagery, call upon the history of the form. With her lush environments and occasionally morbid edges, she navigates humanity in both vulnerable and surreal terms.
Horacio Quiroz’s rich, disconcerting oil paintings manipulate and toy with the human form. In an upcoming show at Booth Gallery, "Polarities," his latest experimentations are displayed, whether on the canvas or in an installation of works on paper (including poems, sketches, and more). Quiroz appeared in Hi-Fructose Volume 46 and was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
The oil paintings of Dino Valls balance the bare vulnerability of his figures with surreal touches with deceptively elaborate embellishments, from the transforming compartments of his triptychs to constellation-bearing freckles. In some ways, the Spanish artist continues a thread and approach forged by European masters; elsewhere, his psychological additions feel contemporary. He was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
The bold, dynamic oil paintings of French artist Cedrix Crespel use atypical perspective, a graphical approach, and abstractions. The subjects and backdrops recall the femme fatale of comic books and street art. In a statement, the artist offers insight into the ever-present female form in his works.
Sasha Gordon's vivid oil paintings feature touches of the surreal, exploring themes such as mental illness and sexuality. The artist, currently a student at the Rhode Island School of Design, has moved from intimate, realistic portraits to more conceptual, perspective shifting work recently. Works such as "I Left The Night The Dummy Crashed The Gordon's Volvo" offer seemingly personal narratives with several elements to unpack.
In her manipulations of the face and artistic form, L.A. Bryson creates oil portraits that find humanity in distortion. Her paintings are at once elegant and chaotic in execution, her dedicated “wet-to-wait” process requiring singles sessions between 6 and 10 hours in duration. With her toying with the texture of oils, the artist is both a sculptor and a painter.
Hannah Yata's paintings explore both nature and the subconcious, with vivid, vibrant scenes. The work can feel both romantic and and allegorical, with a recent set of works embodying both in "Exile" at Phaneros Gallery in Nevada City, Calif. This body of work explores the story of Adam and Eve in a way true to Yata's form. Yata was recently featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 45.
Claire Scherzinger builds worlds in her paintings, crafting alien ecosystems that offer metaphors of our own Western lives. The recent series "Exoplanet: Arca-45672," in particular, has scenes with a distinct palette and lifeforms whose narratives beg to be deciphered. Works like "Baptism before the vacuum cloud storm" shows a ceremony both familiar and curious, rendered in oils and spraypaint.
In Tom French's series "Parallax Paintings,” the artist’s fractured, stark approach has stirring effects. The artist limiting his palette adds to the cerebral nature of the work, with figure and abstractions blending in elegant cacophonies. In a statement, the artist’s work is described as looking at a spectrum, rather than a single state of mind.
The work of Margaret Curtis moves between provocative and quiet moments, each reflecting both on our current social climate and the act of painting itself. She has said that her process is “a geological process of layering and erosion.” In a statement, she offers some insight into the more consistent themes in her paintings over time:
"A Student's Dream," the central oil painting in Mario Moore's new show, is inspired by the artist's recent surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. "Recovery" kicks off at David Klein Gallery in Detroit at the end of the month, and in the show, the artist looks at how African-American men experience recovery from hardship and trauma.