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The New Contemporary Art Magazine
This weekend, Richard Heller gallery in Los Angeles will present a much anticipated new series of paintings by Japanese artist Hideaki Kawashima. The show title "Back and Forth" refers to the artist's interests in change, both in life and stylistically. His signature portraits of boys and girls have always employed a light and secular imagery. In other words, uniform ghost-like beings with only subtle inidivuality. Here, Kawashima elevates his subjects to what he calls 'symbolic images', with more color and details than before.
You may know Doc Hammer for his work as co-creator of Adult Swim’s The Venture Bros. He’s also an accomplished New York based painter, influenced by 19th century classical art. At that time, Symbolism was popular in Europe as an intellectual style of painting with gothic components. Hammer’s “Saints” series, which shares a similar aesthetic, will exhibit August 2nd at Century Guild gallery in Culver City. It is his ongoing series of oil paintings that portrays modern, dark haired women with a streak of antiquity. There is an anger and sadness to his work, a visceral feeling, with careful studies of Caravaggio-like light on the sitter’s skin and bra. See more after the jump.