Korin Faught “Voices of the Lake”
On September 3rd Los Angeles based artist Korin Faught opened her latest solo show “Voices of the Lake” at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City, CA. The show features 9 new paintings with the inspiration of multiples; something that was inspired by manipulated images from a photo-shoot and fits with her attraction to “…symmetrical imagery of filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick. So after playing around with the photos and seeing these doubles, I was like, ‘Oh! I like this!”. Along with the multiple figures in each piece, another trait to the work is that each figure is submerged at some point in water, which allows for reflections of the figures adding more to multiplicity the works have.
The color palette used in these works adds to the dream-like quality, and the energetic and often loose brushwork helps to give the paintings a surreal tone. In some cases they almost look like a single cinematic frame was captured. The show is open until September 24th, and can also be seen on the galleries homepage. The site Platinum Cheese also did a studio visit with Korin shortly before the show opened.
Truly, Madly, Deeply – oil on wood 64" x 48"
Still Waters – oil on wood 41" x 25"
Hold Tight – oil on wood 96" x 48"
The Self-Dissections of Danny Quirk
Danny Quirk is an award winning artist working out of Springfiled, MA. He received his BFA in Illustration from the Pratt Institute in 2010, and has plans to get his Masters in Medical Illustration. Along with his medical works he is also inspired by military themes and might even want to go into editorial work for current news events. Either way he goes, Danny is a very talented painter with a unique eye. I was surprised to see that he mainly uses watercolors, and uses them in a very painterly way similar to what one would achieve with oils or acrylics. For this post I am focusing on his “Self- Dissections” series, his statement gives some insight into the series: “Aspiring to become a medical illustrator, these works were done in my senior year at Pratt Institute. Always having been interested in anatomy/the body, decided to do a series of paintings combining Classical aesthetics with a surreal approach. I plan to work on this series for about another 6 months while I am taking prerequisite courses for graduate school requirements, where I intend to become a medical illustrator.”
The drawings of Kevin Llewellyn
An artist working out of Los Angeles, Kevin Llewellyn attended the Ringling School of Art and Design, Art Institute of Chicago, and studied under Calvin Stroble II. His work is very much inspired by classical realism and has cited such artists as Bouguereau, Van Dyck, and Ingres as influences. While he has many classical influences, Kevin is also inspired by punk rock, music, and underground culture. The human figure is his most constant inspiration, and to this date he has filled well over 50 sketchbooks. While Kevin is exceptionally talented with oils, I wanted to focus on the graphite drawings he has produced. His style of drawing is energetic, elegant, and the works have a certain glow to them.
Focus: Damask infused portraits of Carlo Galfione
Carlo Galfione is an artist working out of Torino, Italy. He is a portrait artist that works primarily with oils, however his works can also be seen as mixed media. What Carlo does to make these works unique, is instead of painting on a primed surface that is one solid color, he paints on top of fabric that has a damask pattern printed on it. The pattern can then show up in the work wherever Carlo sees fit. The patterns can be a strong force in the painting, or be a subtle element to the work only showing up in light amounts.
I have always been a fan of damask patterns, and love the idea of using it as an ingredient in a beautifully rendered oil painting. Click the images for a bigger version, and head over to Carlo’s portfolio to see even larger versions of the works.
Happy Birthday, Oil on damask fabric 118cm x 40cm 2009
Nothing But Flowers, oil on damask fabric 60cm x 90cm 2008
Trentadue Racconti, oil on damask fabric 200cm x 150cm 2008
Twins, oil on damask fabric 200cm x 150cm 2009
Art of the Day: “Morning Light” by Jeremy Lipking
“Morning Light” was originally shown at the San Francisco Art Fair by Arcadia Fine Arts. The painting is oil on linen, 39″ x 49″. This painting, along with most of Lipking’s work shows that he is one of the best working artists today. I believe that all art should be seen in person, and as stated on the Arcadia blog is important “to truly see the movement of brush strokes and fluidity of paint application”.
Dan Witz “Mosh Pits, Human and Otherwise” @ Jonathan Levine Gallery
Dan Witz is a painter based out of Brooklyn New York whose career spans the past 30 years. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design and Cooper Union in New York receiving his BFA in 1980. He has received multiple grants, fellowships, and has had his work exhibited throughout the world. Recently Dan had a solo exhibition at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York. The show was entitled “Mosh Pits, Human and Otherwise”, and continues a series that Dan has been working on for the past 10 years. Prior to becoming a realist painter, Dan was a member in a post-punk band in the 80′s. This influence of music and art is perfectly married in the “Mosh Pit” series, and can be equally seen in the animal pits also featured at the show, as they hold the same intensity and claustrophobic feel as the human mosh pits do.
Dan’s painting style is based on old master techniques, which allow his “trompe l’oeil” style portraits to come to life. He recently introduced digital techniques to his style, such as photographing his subjects and then printing an a-chromatic under-painting on canvas. Along with the “mosh pit” style painting, Dan also showed a couple of portraits which show that even with one subject Dan has an intense realistic style filled with emotion and power. Take a look at the full exhibition at the link below.
ABC No Rio, Oil and Digital Media on canvas 55.75 x 96 inches
Tony Hooded, oil and digital media on canvas 20 x 15 inches
Man of Sorrows, oil and digital media on canvas 20 x 15 inches
The pencil works of Paul Lung
Paul Lung is a business design consultant that works out of Hong Kong, he is also an extremely talented photo-realistic pencil artist. Paul uses a 0.5mm mechanical pencil to create the portraits seen below. Not only does he draw portraits of friends and family, but pets as well. The level of detail Paul is able to achieve is staggering; especially when looking at the hair and wrinkles on the flesh of the figures. I would love to see some time-lapse videos of one of the drawings being made, however Paul does add some process shots of new work to his Facebook group. Check out Paul’s homepage, and at the bottom you will links to a few portfolio sites as well as social networking sites.
Profiles: Tran Nguyen
Tran Nguyen is an artist currently working out of Georgia. She attended the Savannah College of Art and Design, and received a BFA in Illustration. Since graduating her work has been shown in a variety of galleries such as London Miles in the UK, Thinkspace Gallery in Los Angeles, and Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York. Tran works most often with acrylic, colored pencils, and graphite. The figures seen in her work border on photo-realistic, and a slight distortion one would see in Mannerist works. The hands and faces are a bit more illustrative, and they occupy space with abstract shapes, color, and dreamy representations of objects and places.
Tran recently opened a solo show at Thinkspace Gallery entitled “The Synapse Between Here and There”, which featured 17 new works of art. Full color works, monochromatic drawings with acrylic and graphite as seen below, and process sketches made with only graphite. I like how consistent her her style is with each type of medium, and the emotion that can be seen in the figures. She states on her portfolio page that “I find interest in illustrating the universal emotions we come across in everyday living, emotions that are tucked away deep inside our psyches”. Out of the new works in her solo show, I was taken most with three acrylic and graphite works, “Confronted With An Over-exposed Marquee”, “It Feels Like a Pallid Empathy”, and “The Moon Is A Foul Intention”. Each painting is on Rives BFK, 11″ x 14″. Not only are these works beautifully executed and striking in design, but they seem to occupy both contemporary and classical spheres of inspiration. The chiaroscuro used really helps to push forward the idea of deep down emotional value she strives for in her works.
RIP Lucian Freud , Age 88
On July 20th, Lucian Freud passed away at age 88. As state din a previous post, Freud along with my love of figurative work, was the impetus to create this website. He was an exceptionally skilled painter, and showed that figurative works could not only be breathtaking in execution, but had the ability to penetrate the viewer and remind us of not only our mortality, but what one person could achieve had they dedicated their lives to the pursuit of it, as Freud did with painting. The Telegraph states that the death of Freud not only marks the death of one artists career, but “the death of the idea that it was felt to be perfectly natural for an artist to concentrate day after day, right up until the time of his death, on the demanding task of portraiture, requiring his models to make themselves available for long hours of sittings, sometimes far into the night.”
To a certain extent I disagree with this statement. While many contemporary artists do not spend as much time with models, or using live models at all, I do not feel that figurative art will take a negative direction. I firmly believe that even more artists will move over to figurative works, and adapt the classical ways of doing things, if not in technique and materials, but at least in the pursuit of painting. The ability to capture the human form, with all of its flaws and perfections, and fears and hopes, all wrapped up in one painting that will survive longer than the artist who created it. Freud is one of many that no doubt pushes many of these artists forward, and as long as there are art lovers, publications, and art blogs such as this one, the new crop of artists will make their way into the public eye more and more.
Thank you Lucian Freud for the inspiration. Here is a short selection of some of my favorite works.
Timelapse drawing with Panpastel by David Jon Kassan
Panpastel, a company based out of Pennsylvania, recently filmed David Jon Kassan using their unique products to create a portrait. The time-lapse video shows David’s working process, and gives a small look at the Panpastel tools at work. They are basically pastels that are in trays, much like makeup, and the tools are also not unlike makeup brushes. Along with the pastels, David appears to be using charcoal pencils to round out the details in this portrait.