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The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Tag: surrealism

In John Jacobsmeyer’s parallel reality, pop culture and art history collide with the backdrops of his suburban youth. In his third solo show at Gallery Poulsen, titled "Locus Colossus," he offers new paintings and linocuts with these startling convergences. The show runs through Feb. 15 at the  Denmark venue. (Jacobsmeyer was last featured on our site here.)

Henry Gunderson's new solo show at Derek Eller Gallery, titled "It's a Great Time to be Alive," explores how an “image-saturated culture” is deeply embedding itself into our psyches. Running through Feb. 2 at the New York City space, the show features a self-portrait of the painter, “It’s Hard to See from Where I’m Standing," seen below.
In Chris Austin's surreal paintings, the overlooked giants of the ocean make their way across landscapes and suburban settings. His recent show with Antler Gallery, titled “Unfamiliar,” offered new work from the artist, who often focuses on the elegance and plight of nature and its inhabitants.
In the hands of KT Beans, a seashell takes on unsettling qualities. The sculptor says she creates "oddities for humans of the future”: Teeth, eyes, and other human body parts and organs emerge out of unexpected places.
In his debut show at Jonathan LeVine Projects, Lynyrd Paras offers a set of oil paintings that explore the primal and emotional feelings stemming from total bombardment. “Attack of the Wounded Surface" is on view online through Dec. 31. Paras, a Philippines-based artist, has previously seen his work featured in shows throughout Asia.
Christian Vincent’s paintings carry whimsy and melancholy, the artist playing with light and perspective in scenes from the everyday. Surrealism is typical in Vincent’s work, yet at varying degrees. The overall essence plays into the function of memory and how we fill in details with the perspectives of both then and now.
Lee Jinju's riveting scenes, with cascading planes and perspectives, offer both intimate symbology and an invitation to draw your own associations. In some works, solitary figures inhabit these geometric confinements; elsewhere, the artist renders just enough objects to draw a viewer into its orbit.
Oil painter Lindsay Pickett crafts distorted cityscapes that are at times taken from the artist’s dreams. His influences range from Dali and Bosch to sci-fi illustrators like Wayne Barlowe and Jim Burns. The key to crafting these pieces is not just subverting physics, Pickett says, but walking the tightrope of making them somehow convincing.
Kyle Cobban has said that the sensibility of his surreal drawings are rooted in his career as an instructor, observing students exploring their own stories. Recent work, in particular, seems to be examining the relationship between his subjects and the concept of "home." His drawings on Priority Mail envelopes further underscore this concept.
Ryan Bock's new immersive show at Ki Smith Gallery takes influence from the 1921 German horror film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," transforming bed frames and other "functional items made non-functional" in a dream-like environment. We’re given an exclusive first look at "Somnambulist," which opens on Oct. 26, in this post. Installation shots for the exhibition were taken by photographer Roman Dean.
In his riveting, surreal ink drawings, Peter Striffolino builds new creatures from humanity’s building blocks. Though the Los Angeles artist's practice encompasses these drawings, paintings, and animations, we'll be taking a look at his ink work in this post. In his monochromatic work, Striffolino’s talents in texturing and linework is on display.
Sasaku Kusuriyubi’s wild characters and scenes carry both joyful and otherworldly qualities. The artist, garnering praise on social media from the likes of James Jean and Yu Maeda, seems to take influence from both anime, mythology, and a broader pop sensibility.
On scraps on paper, the drawings of Turkish artist Razi Razavi seem to apparate in a ghostly manner, the artist’s sparse details having both uneasy and captivating effects. Each visage carries its own, private narrative, yet many stare directly into the viewer’s eyes. As you’lll see below, the artist’s practice also extends to painting, yet maintains similar qualities.
The work of surrealist Igor Morski combines analogue and digital approaches. His illustrations often contain their own secret messages and mythologies. Yet, there’s still something baldly universal in his subjects, whether unraveling or confined to contained within a seemingly endless wall of compartments.
Alessandro Fogo’s oil paintings reach back through time, taking a deep inspiration from history with stirring results. There's a sense of ritual in many of the Italian artist's recent work, with connections so numerous that the end result is a broader look at our human history.
Miki Kim’s psychedelic and at times, humorous illustrations blend pop elements across cultures. The artist, who also works in the tattoo industry, creates her bold imagery with fluid linework and soft palettes, both underscoring her absorbing and psychedelic concepts. She has created tattoos and illustrations under the moniker Mick Hee over the past few years.
Manuel Zamudio's oil paintings deftly blend realistic portraits with elements of street art. The Texas artist’s work comes to us through our Submission page (here). Over the last few years, Zamudio has shown his work through Texas and Mexico City.
The cerebral paintings of Chris Mars pack a new show at Copro Gallery, with a collection of surreal works that very in both size and scope. His new solo effort kicks off on May 11 and runs through June 1. (Mars was last featured on HiFructose.com here and here.) Works such as "Relativity" (below) show the artist's knack for embedding visages in the contours of structures.
Rafael Silveira’s surreal world expands in new paintings from the Brazil-based artist. The artist was most recently part of the "Mother & Child" group show at Dorothy Circus Gallery, with the below painting, “Trifacial Mother,” featured. Rafael Silveira Silveira was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
Photographer Ben Zank crafts surreal portraits that are strange and at times, humorous. The subjects captured by New York City-based artist are often shown without faces, their visages disappearing into foliage or smoke, or otherwise, buried into the Earth. Instead of depending on the human face, Zank says that “the image itself is the emotion.”
In a mid-career retrospective exhibition at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Esao Andrews offers paintings that span his career. "Petrichor," curated by Thinkspace Projects, looks at the riveting, pop surrealist output from the artist, over the past several years. The exhibition kicks off next month on May 10 and runs through Aug. 4. Andrews is featured in the Hi-Fructose Collected Volume 2 Hardcover.
Paco Pomet’s paintings at first resemble the vintage photographs he sources. Yet as the viewer absorbs the works, Pomet’s reality-distorting touches emerge. The artist’s current show at Galleri Benoni, titled “No Places,” offers his latest, surreal paintings. The show runs through May 10 at the gallery.
Painter Adrian Cox continues to expand the mythology of his hybrid Border Creatures in "Awakenings." Opening at Beinart Gallery on April 6, the show takes us inside the Borderlands and the latest narratives involving his fictional race of creatures that are in harmony with the natural world. This show features a new being, named Penitent Spirit, dwelling his lush world. Cox was featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 47.
The surreal worlds painted by Nojus Petrauskas offer both otherworldly creations and everyday inhabitants. With no stated narrative and rich information across the canvas, the works of Petrauskas warrant repeat viewing. Though, with a knack for horror, the paintings aren’t always friendly.
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.)
Liam Barr explores our tendency to disrupt the natural world’s intentions in his surreal paintings. In particular, his recent series looks at how humans remove the horse from its backdrop and hold it as our own possessions. Further, one gallery says, “idea of symbolism reflecting an aura of pathos, displacement and insight into contemporary New Zealand life.”
Akishi Ueda’s surreal sculptures meld creatures and structures in unexpected ways. The artist pulls from both fantasy and science in building his clay creations. And around each corner of the piece comes a surprising bit of life, tucked inside the contours of his strange animals.
In AEC Interesni Kazki's first solo show in France, the surrealist painter offers both new, stirring works and previous pieces with "Déjà vu & Jamais vu,” or "already seen and never seen." Running through Dec. 26, the show opens Friday at the Paris-based venue Adda & Taxie. The artist was last mentioned on our site here.
Fernan Odang's surreal paintings and drawings explore the social and political issues of today. From sexual themes to absurd portraits of political leaders, there’s both a terror and humor in each of his paintings, often cast in a single hue that underscores the horror of the proceedings. The self-taught artist currently resides in Manila.
Shudi Liu’s oil and acrylic paintings are both cerebral and playful in nature. The artist disassembles both the body and familiar objects, creating scenes that appear ripped from dreams. And in a single work, this discombobulation seems to come with elation and solitude.

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