Masako Ando is an artist from Japan, whose work probes the interval between reality and unreality in search of moments that give rise to a picture. Using only pencil and oil paints, Masako paints children, animals and plants on porcelain-smooth canvas surfaces. The motifs surprising delicacy and subtle colours become apparent only through close examination of the various nooks and crannies within the picture. Her works are characterized by delicate lines, multi-layered colours and a depth that seems to draw the viewer in.
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Observing his own anxieties and awkwardness, Michigan born artist, Michael McConnell creates visual narratives that examine loneliness, responsibility, and choice. In his work the innocence and vulnerability of children and animals is constrained. Working with paint, taxidermy and other various materials, the stories unfold in the space between memory and nostalgia, and focus on the tension between youth and maturity.
Check out more of Michael's work on his website here. At first glance these images look like photographs, but if you take a closer look you soon realise they're actually paintings. Californian-based artist, Pakayla Rae Biehn creates photo-realistic overlapping imagery that explores and mimics the effects of her own visual disability that causes her to see double. Using oil and acrylic, the above works are recreations of images taken by Alex Welsh, Marija Strajnic, Kendall Paulsen, Max Tomlinson, Chloe Aftel, Sabino Aguad, Jean-Pierre Guenec, Tamara Lichtenstein, Jeff Enlow and Tanya Prilukova.
Check out the rest of Pakayla's work via her website. Anya Brock is an Australian artist and illustrator exploring the connection between amplification and emotional mark making witha bold use of colour and strokes. Her choice of subject matter, technique and work titles address the rawness of vulnerability and living with an open heart. From sensuous, sexual and innocent faced girls to tactile, drippy birds, Anya is drawn to the fragile world beneath the facade. Anya notes Jean Michel Basquiat and abstract expressionists Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell and Clifford Still, as well as Australian painters Brett Whiteley, Abby Mcculloch, Karlee Rawkins and Kate Shaw as her biggest influences.
Pop over to her website to see more. Federico Saenz-Recio is an American-Argentinean artist living in Williamsburg, New York. His abstract paintings incorporate instinctive childlike doodles over a grid, where the journey of life is celebrated by juxtaposing contrasting elements: Freedom vs. Control. In a struggled fight they randomly spread and intercom with each other. It is this journey that Federico manifests with the instinctive and unfinished, celebrating human imperfections and investigating the problem of simplicity.
You can see more of Federico's work via his website. Emma Uber is a painter from Ballarat, Australia. After studying and pursuing a career as a graphic designer, she soon realised her true passion was for painting and soon returned to her art. Impressionist portraiture and the playful colors, themes, and décor from the 60's and 70's influence her painterly style. Flowers and intense vibrant hues give her work a romantic and lively quality when combined with the emotion of her female subjects. Combining detailed realism with chaotic drips and brush strokes, she creates richly layered portraits that are both meticulous and carefree.
For more on Emma and her work, head to her blog. Anna Emilia is a painter and tree-lover living in Finland. Having grown up in the small town of Leppävirta, surrounded by strawberry fields, lakes and pine forests, Anna now enjoys finding the connections between nature and the ones living in it. Her work consists of beautiful, delicate line drawings and watercolours, filled with life, warmth, and humor.
You can see more of her work here and buy selected prints here. Miranda Skoczek is an Australian artist living and working in Melbourne, Victoria. Miranda's practice is a constant search for beauty, and an historical and symbolic palimpsest of the history of image making, and the history of her own making. Embroidery, folk art, Chinese and Japanese prints, Mughal miniatures, Islamic architecture, and popular culture are some of the cultural references which permeate throughout her portfolio. The works are designed to effect the viewer, to transport them to a sometimes whimsical mythological space, an atmosphere saturated in colour and emotive forms.
You can check out more of Miranda's work via her website. Kirra Jamison is a Melbourne based artist represented by Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane and Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne. Her series of gouache drawings on paper explore themes of colour, mystical narrative, decorative patterns and intricate detail. Kirra is continually moving forward and diversifying her body of work through new mediums and new series, each even more intriguing than the last.
To see more work visit Kirra's website. Erik Mark Sandberg is an LA based freelance artist with a quirky sense of humour and an even quirkier body of work. Our favourite project by Erik would have to be 'Hairy Children', a series of paintings that explore ideas of acceptance, beauty and "the complex effects of contemporary pop culture on children". Erik graduated from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena in 2002, and has since shown his work in both solo and group exhibitions all over the globe.
You can see more of Erik's work on his website and instagram. |