Stuart Holland‘s stirring charcoal drawings and watercolor works packed Arch Enemy Arts this month in a show titled “Elsew(here).” The Idaho artist crafts quiet, cerebral scenes, each its own introspective and metaphysical exploration. The show ends on June 1.
Ukraine-born, Paris-based artist Nikolay Tolmachev crafts provocative watercolor paintings showcasing a knack for elegance and wry humor. The artist’s practice also delves in illustration, recently providing work for a release of the classic narrative poem “Kateryna” by Taras Shevchenko.
Nature has once again reclaimed the world in the watercolor scenes of Robin Crofut-Brittingham, whose lush textures reveal surprises upon inspection. The artist, whose work has been exhibited in both U.S. and Canadas, crafts new, mystic figures that seem to have evolved adorned with nature’s texture. The use of watercolors underscores the elegance of the flora and fauna she’s depicting.
Moving between works on paper and ceramics, Cathy Lu explores cultural identity and traditional Chinese art in her work. Many of her pieces contain dozens of young female characters, scaling classical vases and metaphoric lifeforms. The artist offers some insight into what she’s traversing in her work:
The massive, frenetic scenes painted by Fredrik Söderberg pull from mythology and art history. Using watercolors and taking notes from cultures across the globe, he uses a knack for lush environments to pull together otherwise disparate elements. Works such as “Krigarens väg / The Warrior’s Path” (below), blend the gruesome with the elegant.
The watercolor paintings of Turkish artist Yiğit Can Alper carry a ghostly quality, their creatures disappearing into sparse backdrops. Alper’s drab figures and structures seem to be part of a dilapidated world. And the textures of the material render each component as a temporary apparition.