THE CONFIDENCE OF A PORTRAIT Layer after layer of paint, Mary Jane Ansell builds up her paintings, her figures varying from being gentle and careless to the ones who are bold and confident. The process begins with a light charcoal sketch and then the artist builds up a monochrome grisaille underpainting. She uses an indirect […]
CONTEMPORARY SURREALISM AND MEXICAN CULTURE Gustavo Rimada’s paintings are full of bold colors, stylized skulls and faces with high cheekbones and sharp eyes. “It’s sort of a blend between contemporary lowbrow and modern, and it’s starting to take more of a surreal aspect,” Rimada said. “I’ll start presenting it as surrealism now — a contemporary […]
A FATALISTIC AND IRONIC APPROACH TO LIFE The new liberated generation of artists from St. Petersburg unburdened from a necessity to win back the achievements of the avant-garde from the official culture. The artist Gregori Maiofis comes back to ‘age-old’ staged black and white photography and ‘traditional’ Russian themes. To produce the images that convey […]
HAUNTING LANDSCAPES Andrea Kowch’s work could be described as the creative legacy of Andrew Wyeth and Alfred Hitchcock. Her haunting rural settings mask mysterious backstories. But Kowch has invented her own brand of powerful, moody symbolism with enigmatic, unfathomable characters, a rich autumnal color palette, and tense, mysterious scenes. “It’s almost like characters on a […]
