When we were children the world held an amazing amount of magic for us in each day. With open eyes we observed things we couldn’t yet comprehend, and perhaps because of that, we could appreciate it even more. Watercolor artist and illustrator Daniel Mackie’s fanciful animal illustrations remind me of those times of wonder, filling his unique creatures with the wild, colorful habitats they would occupy in an imaginative and wondering mind. [Read more...]
With the heavy influence of Mexican art evident in the work of the artist Curiot, it’s surprising to know that he grew up in the States and only began to experience art “south of the border” a decade ago. Now his works are filled with Day of the Dead references, tibal symbols, geometric designs and figures eluding to myth and legend. The now Mexico City based painter and street artist recently sold out his first US based solo show at FFDG in San Francisco’s Mission district, where he displayed 11 new works in his captivating style. [Read more...]
Viewed from the back, Olga Ziemska’s Stillness in Motion is only a bush of twigs, or at the most a tied bundle; but walk around to the front and you come face-to-face with a womanly figure cut with precision into the round wood sticks. Such is the case with much of this artists surprising work, at once looking familiar and then changing into something wholly unexpected. [Read more...]
Sometimes walking into an art gallery is anything but inviting. We enter into a space often as quiet as a library (or quieter), find expensive art with little or no clue to its meaning… and all of it has a strict “no touching” policy. That’s one of the many charms behind Edinburgh based Bec Wonders’ recent exhibition – as its name perfectly expresses, viewers were invited to “Step Inside” the artwork itself. [Read more...]
If you live in almost any city around the world for very long, you’re bound to see a new skyscraper fill the skyline, slowly rising to impressive heights by the methodical assembly of cranes perched on its peak. Architectural firms are now so adept at creating these massive structures that even complex examples like London’s new Shard can seem to spring up overnight, surprising you one day as you round a familiar corner and glance skyward. In a way, our modern world isn’t that far from the towering worlds we have here, imagined by the Belgian master of comic art, François Schuiten. [Read more...]
It’s a huge structure, but it weighs only a small fraction of most things its size. That’s because the floating tube featured here is built out of 8,000 sheets of rice paper, 800 shafts of bamboo, and cotton. Chinese abstract artist Zhu Jinshi installed the 12-meter long hanging structure, called Boat, last month at Art13 London, a new international art fair where the highly experiential piece featured as the centerpiece for the show. [Read more...]
The work of Eyvind Earle is truly timeless, looking so current it could have been painted yesterday by a mature artist we’d flock to gallery openings for… but Earle passed away almost 13 years ago. His lifetime of work continues to inspire with its imaginative, dreamlike scenery; confetti-like array of colors across the canvas; and for the many influential film works he helped create. If these landscape paintings look familiar, we’ll tell you why. [Read more...]
James Rieck has made a name for himself over the past years by drawing us in to explore his hyper-real portraits – images that at once seem like snapshots of real people and simultaneously make us questions our presumptions with their too perfect colors and tones. It’s like those moments after a convincing dream when you have to think: “did that really happen?” Now Rieck has released new works based on a recent uprooting from his long-time residence and studio in Baltimore, Maryland and his subsequent move to expansive and seemingly infinite Los Angeles, California. As he puts it, his new paintings are themed around “self-imposed dislocation.” [Read more...]
Korean artist Seung Mo Park uses an unusual medium to create his fantastically detailed portraits: wire. The process is one of painstaking addition and subtraction, cutting wires away from his layered mats to reveal a figure or face. To create the works, Park superimposes pieces of square wire mesh or layers of individual wires, later cutting and bending them to release the image he sees hidden inside. It’s a process much like stippling in reverse, and translated to a highly unusual format. [Read more...]
Dog and cat owners already know this, but dressing your pet up in fashionable clothes is perhaps the best entertainment you’ll have. Yago Partal takes a cue from these pet owners and transfers it to something a little more exotic, the zoo. His recent series Zoo Portraits, sees creatures from giraffes to wolves getting spiffed up in trendy clothes; from suits to Hawaiian shirts. It’s one ridiculously fashionable menagerie. [Read more...]
