Sarah Weber is a Chicago based artist that is making some really nice work right now. Aggressive graphite mark making, cutting ,burning, layers of of vellum and globs of gold coalesce into really physically engaging drawings. Bouncing between subtle reference and pure abstraction,and producing a lot of work, this is an artist to keep your eye on…More after the jump
Justin Brown Durand is an artist/musician from Northampton MA… and he has some seriously strange output. Pink deformed giants dancing naked with swollen hands and little faces. Twisted distorted characters that look a tad bit insane. See more of Justin’s work after the jump listen to his amazingly weird music too at Heart Pump Arts.
In 2002 Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada moved to Barcelona where he began his ‘Identity Series’. Gerada was drawn to the beauty of old surfaces and wanted to blend photo realistic images of anonymous locals to question the controls imposed in public space, and the use and abuse of iconic faces to sell us products and ideas. He decided to apply the same approaches used by advertising, such as strategic positioning and size, but with the intention of creating a poetic counter commentary that fades away with beauty. The Identity Series is about initiating a dialogue with a local community through art. These portraits transformed local, anonymous residents into social icons, giving relevance to an individual’s contribution to the community and touching upon the legacy that each life has to offer.
Gerada chose charcoal for its transparency and ephemeral quality. He involves the visual narrative of the textured wall instead of covering it. These time-based portraits gradually deteriorate. They become a metaphor of the fading of life, of fame and of the things we first thought were so important. The creation of the “Identity Series” is also an act that is environmentally sound and at the mercy of the natural world. The pieces fade away like the warmth after an embrace. The photo realistic drawing is only an aspect of the piece. The importance of the piece is the whole process of creation, destruction and memory. Watch a video of Gerada in action after the jump.
Matthew Woodward’s large scale drawings are truly examples of “beautiful decay” with violently drawn, torn, erased, and collaged decorative motifs that one would find on old industrial buildings of yesteryear. These floral and elaborate patterns and flourishes are taken through an intense process of aging where Woodward attacks the surface like an artistic jackhammer mining the paper for undiscovered imagery. The result is a brutal and rich surface that is continuously falling apart, being built up, and of course beautifully decaying.
Diggin’ on these illustrative ink and watercolor works by James Ulmer. His repetitious, almost vintage-looking characters roll on and on across the page in a flood of really earnest, straight-up human appeal.
According to the artist’s website, we can look forward to seeing his work in a group exhibition at Grass Hut in Portland very soon. Read more »
Julie Weitz’s 2011 multimedia series of masked figures are deconstructed meditations on the human body that are folding, weaving, morphing, and collapsing onto one another like a jigg saw puzzle that has no beginning nor end.
Mia Pearlman’s site specific cut paper installations are ephemeral drawings in both two and three dimensions that blur the line between actual, illusionistic, and imagined space. Sculptural and often glowing with natural or artificial light, these imaginary weather systems appear frozen in an ambiguous moment, bursting through walls and windows, or hovering within a room.
Pearlman’s process is very intuitive, based on spontaneous decisions made in the moment. She begins by making loose line drawings in india ink on large rolls of paper. Then selected areas are cut between the lines to make a new drawing in positive and negative space on the reverse. Created on site by trial and error, a 2-3 day dance with chance and control takes place during each and every installation. Existing only for the length of the installation, the weightless world totters on the brink of being and not being, continually in flux.
is a printed book series and daily art blog with a focus on experimental, grotesque, and groundbreaking art.
hat methi: these pictures are very... hat methi: these pictures are very...
pepa prieto: Thank you very much ! Amir+...
easton: Genius. I do not throw that term...
Ben: Awesome and devastating….
mark: they remind me of R. Crumb drawings
Amy gee: I love the softness of this art
Sadie F: perfection.
bill: cool images, nice interview!
Kris Bazen: These are INSANE!!! Made me...
