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The New Contemporary Art Magazine
“Mothmeister” is the moniker of the duo behind surreal, fantastical, and unsettling portraits of lonesome clowns and other creatures across varying backdrops. They call their fictional universe Wounderland, a place where the Instagram culture is reflected in drab, masked figures often accompanied by stuffed and mounted animals, a product of the two's fascination pf and collecting habits in taxidermy.
Argentina-born, Barcelona-based painter Peca crafts paintings, drawings, and stop-motion films in which fictional creatures roam and cosmic, surreal scenes unfold. In this exclusive peek inside her sketchbook, this imagery is mixed with typographic elements. And although Peca’s work may seem otherworldly, there’s an introspective, autobiographical quality to these images.
Australian artist Lucy Hardie’s pen and ink creations are crafted with a fine stippling technique, resulting in enchanting and surreal scenes. Mostly self-taught, the Melbourne-based artist cites H.J. Ford, Matthias Grunewald, Ivan Bilibin, and the Old Masters as influences. Hardie was last mentioned on HiFructose.com here.
The faces of subjects in Björn Griesbach’s “Hollow Children” are smudged in graphite on mylar, save for the wide grins rendered ominous in the process. The German illustator, based Hannover, has a knack for evoking specific moods with pops of colors and detailed renderings, but this series offers a simpler, bleak approach. Griesbach was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
Zolloc is the moniker of Austin-bred, New York City-based artist/animator Hayden Zezula. When HiFructose.com last checked in with the Tumblr-lauded phenom, we called his gray-toned, mutant baby-filled GIFs “chill-inducing.” Many of the GIFs in this piece take on a more abstract form, vague structures that bubble and evolve. There’s still an organic aspect to those creations, and somehow, the artist’s work maintains its ability to be both absorbing and inspire uneasiness.
The warped and surreal nature of Paul Kaptein’s sculptures are even more startling when you consider the medium: Kaptein hand-carves each piece from wood. And the “glitchy” aspect of the works is heightened by gaps and holes present throughout, in a sense emptying the figures of their worldliness. And with names like, “With the Poise of One Entering a Black Hole for the Third Time” (shown above), there’s both a humor and cosmic quality to the Australian artist’s work. Kaptein was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
Hell’O, also known as Hell’O Monsters, is a collective of Belgian artists who use individual talents to create work within a cohesive, bizarre fictional world. The trio was born out of Jerôme Meynen, François Dieltiens, and Antoine Detaille meeting in the 1990s, and they populate their works with hybrid beasts taking part in both humorous and bleak narrative scenes. The works shown below are examples of the group’s acrylic paintings.
The laser-cut digital prints and pins that comprise works by David Adey, an artist based in San Diego, can be pulled from hundreds of Web or print outlets. Yet, together, they create cohesive, kinetic pieces like the powerful “Starbirth,” consisting of lips bursting out from the piece’s epicenter. All of the individual pieces are painstakingly pinned to a foam board.
There’s a wild energy to Jon Fox’s work, present even when subjects stand still and stare at the viewer. With Fox’s oil paintings, specifically, the works burst and crack in defiance against the medium. And in each corner, a symphony of apparitions, with Japanese, geometric, and otherworldly influences, offers a new entry point.
The name “Albarrán Cabrera” is a moniker for the Spanish duo Anna Cabrera and Angel Albarran. The photographers have produced work together for the past two decades, showcasing across the world and tackling new challenges and techniques together under one name. And for each new theme, the duo finds away to show each’s singular vision within a broader idea.
San Francisco-based collage artist Travis Bedel aka Bedelgeuse creates astounding anatomical collages that splice together bones, tendons, and organs with flora and fauna. His collage work, mostly a hybrid of analog and digital techniques, takes on a surrealist quality as human anatomy seamlessly intertwines with crystals, flowers, and feathers. Deeply moved by the mysteries and potentialities of the human body, Bedelgeuse’s work revels in the relationship between humanity and nature.
Clouds of smoke appear to take on strange and beautiful shapes in French photographer Gilles Soudry's images. He calls them "Volutes", referring to the smoke's hazy and spiraling effects, and some have described looking at his work like being transported into a dark otherworld, while others appreciate its cinematic qualities (we saw Donnie Darko's rabbit "Frank"). Like a sort of x-ray colored Rorschach Test, these reactions to Soudry's photographs demonstrate his unique ability to mystify his viewers.
The beinArt Surreal Art Collective has announced a compelling stretch goal after an extraordinary beginning to their Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign. With additional contributions, they hope to open a beinArt Collective Gallery and Shop. A real-life creative hub which would focus solely on strange, surreal and imaginative figurative art. The artists of the Collective have rallied together and contributed an extraordinarily long list of rewards for backers, including original artworks, limited-edition prints and books! These generous, heavily discounted deals will only be available for the duration of the campaign, which will finish in 8 days!
Matt Linares "The Second Key Master"
Tattooed doves and pygmy giraffes, singing harpies and suited wolverines are now on display at Portland's Antler Gallery as part of "Unnatural Histories IV." The exhibition, as previously reported earlier this month, is the fourth edition of a major group show featuring work by 27 artists who merge human with animal to create fantastic creatures. Some are whimsical like Redd Walitzki's "Pygmy Mountain Giraffe," which the artist describes as being particularly fond of "salt water taffy left behind by careless tourists" and Morgaine Faye's "Wadjet," the Egyptian god and protector of kings and women in childbirth. To accompany her single rainbow winged bird, Faye wrote a poem detailing the omnipresence of her imagined "Protector of the Pharaohs."
Tokyo based Tomoo Gokita paints in a monochrome, abstract style that is simple but haunting to look at. His ongoing black and white gouache series plays on the idea of traditional portraiture. For his next solo show "Bésame Mucho" at Honor Fraser Gallery, Gokita continues to blend this line between figurative and abstraction. If his images feel strangely familiar, it's because he borrows them from vintage film stills, 1970s magazines and photos. Check out our preview after the jump.