artsy forager

Category: Figurative

  • Life, Lived Larger: Andrew Salgado

    Life, Lived Larger: Andrew Salgado

    For many, our life may seem filled with adventure.  And at times, it is.  But most days, its a normal sort of existence, the kind that consists of work, laundry, dirty dishes and too much tv.  These large scale paintings by Canadian artist Andrew Salgado have made me stop and think about how to live a bigger life.

    Now and Forever by Andrew Salgado Modern Painters by Andrew Salgado Subject by Andrew Salgado Stare by Andrew Salgado Year of the Silencer by Andrew Salgado

    I’ve always been a small person.  Always a little slip of a thing ( until getting married that is, Mr. Forager put curves on me! ), one of my long time best friends who towers over me has always called me “Little One”.  Because next to her, I was always the little one!  But this littleness isn’t just physical.  I have a naturally shy, retiring nature, the complete opposite of a “larger than life” type of personality.  I don’t hate the spotlight, but I don’t go out of my way to seek it out, preferring to be the one behind the scenes, these days behind the computer.

    These large scale portraits by Salgado are full of texture and vulnerability and delicious messiness.  Sometimes, I think we let our quest for control and order get in the way of a bigger life.  It’s so in my nature to stay safely in my shell, coming out only when coaxed, like a little hermit crab.  But where is the adventure in that?  How many of us will be able to look back on a life lived largely and to its fullest?  I’m striving against my own temperament in my quest but its a fight I’m willing and eager to take on.

    To see more work by Andrew Salgado, please visit his website.  Salgado has solo exhibitions coming up in 2014 in South Africa, New York and London.  You can also follow the artist on his Facebook page.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Weird Figurations: Jansson Stegner

    Weird Figurations: Jansson Stegner

    An artist who draws upon art history for his inspiration then gives it his own unique, modern spin speaks my language and immediately draws my interest.  The work of New York artist Jansson Stegner reflects his attraction to the “weird figurations” and exaggerated forms of artists like El Greco, Schiele, and Ingres, yet infuses them with distinctly contemporary style.

    Volleyballers VI ( Tulane ) by Jansson Stegner Great Plains by Jansson Stegner The Nature by Jansson Stegner Artist in His Studio by Jansson Stegner The Peacekeeper by Jansson Stegner

    Unlike historical portraiture, these aren’t portraits of actual people.  The artist creates a conglomeration of figures in order to arrive at the figure to fit his vision.  Elongated limbs, distorted torsos and amplified eyes give Stansson’s figures a caricature like quality, yet the portraits somehow have more gravitas for it.

    If you’d like to see more of Jansson Stegner’s work, please visit his website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Freedom in Flight: Simon Birch

    Freedom in Flight: Simon Birch

    As you read this, Mr. F and I are enjoying a week of being footloose and fancy free, currently somewhere along the West Coast between Manzanita, OR and Eureka, CA.  Every time we pack up the car to head out on an adventure, the moment the wheels turn out of the driveway, the feeling of elation sets in.  We’re FREE!  No cares, worries temporarily forgotten, we are flying toward freedom.  In this series of paintings by UK born, Hong Kong based artist Simon Birch, the artist depicts figures in flight, soaring through the air, destination unknown.

    Simon Birch Simon Birch Simon Birch Simon Birch Simon Birch

    So figures jump decidedly, slicing through the atmosphere, while other seem to be falling, floating even.  There seems to be a metaphor in there for the way we approach freedom.  Some of us go all in, taking the bull by the horns so to speak, going for the gusto and lots of other cliches, just simply soaking up all we can from what freedom has to offer.  But others, just sort of fall into it, being gently guided as if on a breeze.  Which type of freedom do you practice?

    To see more of Simon Birch‘s work, please visit his website.

    Artist found via My Modern Met.  All images via My Modern Met.

  • Stillness Therein: Virginia Mak

    Stillness Therein: Virginia Mak

    Moments of quiet reflection seem too frequent and far between these days.  Today, I’m packing up the last of our belongings as we prepare to leave Western Washington tomorrow morning.  Stillness in the physical and especially mental sense has been eluding me for weeks.  So when I spotted photographer Virginia Mak’s work, the sense of peace she captures completely spoke to my own harried mind.

    Virginia Mak Virginia Mak Virginia Mak Virginia Mak Virginia Mak

    In these painterly photographs, we see figures moving toward or looking forward to something or somewhere.  There is a sense of peace and hopefulness that what we are looking for may be just around that bend or approach our doorstep any moment.  Figures are keeping watch, looking ahead, ready to move.  So am I.

    If you’d like to see more of Virginia Mak‘s work, please visit her website.  Artist found via isavirtue.

    Top two images via Bau Xi Gallery website.  All others via the artist’s website.

  • Confused Identities: Winifred Johnson Brewer

    Confused Identities: Winifred Johnson Brewer

    Its so easy sometimes to lose sight of exactly who we are.  Circumstances bend and shape us in ways we didn’t foresee and then one day, we glance in the mirror and don’t recognize the face looking back.  The work of Los Angeles based artist Winifred Johnson Brewer seems to address issues of confusion in the environment and within ourselves.

    Winifred Johnson Brewer Winifred Johnson Brewer Winifred Johnson Brewer Winifred Johnson Brewer Winifred Johnson Brewer

    On her website, the artist recounts a story of confusion happening among honeybees.  Although the bees are not attracted to artificial light like moths might be, the artist witnessed the insects circling a bare lightbulb in her studio, then dying in a pool on the floor.  The bees seem to be forgetting their very innate nature, then suffering the consequences for it.  How often have we done the same?  Lost sight of our own talents or goals in order to fit in or succeed?  If we continue to don our masks, our real selves are likely to go the way of the honeybee.

    To see more of Winifred Johnson Brewer‘s work, please visit her website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Life, In Abundance: Naomi Okubo

    Life, In Abundance: Naomi Okubo

    It’s so easy to forget how good we have it.  We get so caught up in what isn’t going right in our lives or what is challenging us that we neglect to remember how very full of wonder and sparkle life is.  The work of Japanese artist Naomi Okubo is so full of layered jubilant pattern that you can’t help but remember your lost joie de vivre.

    Naomi Okubo Naomi Okubo Naomi Okubo Naomi Okubo Naomi Okubo

    I love that it feels like you’ve walked into the middle of some kind of fabulous party, completely with confetti and streamers.  The flat layering of texture and pattern give her paintings a collage like feeling to them, snaps of life pieced together to create irresistibly charming work.

    To see more work by Naomi Okubo, please visit her website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Foggy Gazes: Alyssa Monks

    Foggy Gazes: Alyssa Monks

    Here in the Northwest, we’re no strangers to the rain.  Months and months of time goes by seeing life through a haze of drizzle and mist.  Although the rain can be a bit tedious, Mr. Forager and I are always struck by the beauty it brings out in the way the landscape becomes distorted.  In her work, Brooklyn artist Alyssa Monks began with hyperrealistic depictions of women bathing and now finds the figures being pulled into a more abstract world.

    Blind by Alyssa Monks Still Wet by Alyssa Monks White ( study ) by Alyssa Monks Squeeze by Alyssa Monks Chance by Alyssa Monks

    Always interested in the distorting characteristics of figures seen through a veil of water, steam and glass, Monks’ latest work is pushing the figures further into the mist, leaving the figure secondary to the surface behind which she hides.  As the tall cedars peek out timidly from the fog, so do these figures seem hesitant to reveal themselves, adding the voyeuristic feel of Monks’ work.

    You can see more of Alyssa Monks’ work on her website and Facebook page.  If you’re near Rockville, MD, the artist will be giving a lecture and conducting a workshop with Capitol Arts Network this Friday and Saturday, November 8th & 9th.  You can find more information on the Capitol Arts Network website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Longing for Eden: Lauren Matsumoto

    Longing for Eden: Lauren Matsumoto

    Being nature loving outdoorsy types, Mr. Forager and I sometimes discuss what it would have been like for Adam & Eve– to dwell peacefully with wild animals.  Mr. F hopes that being able to interact safely with wild creatures will be one of the perks of heaven.  He really really wants to hug a grizzly bear.  In her mixed media work, New York based artist Lauren Matsumoto uses unexpected elements to focus on nature and how we relate to it.

    Matsumoto_Oracle Observatory Matsumoto_mushroom patch Matsumoto_winter bloom Matsumoto_Pet Matsumoto_Flowerburst

     

    The artist uses female figures from vintage erotica among playful and whimsical flora.  But  there is an element of the looming industrial age, as planes, satellites, and automobiles threaten to intrude and destroy our love affair with nature.  How often do we completely unplug?  No wifi, no cell phones, no cable t.v.  It’s definitely easier said than done, but maybe if we try it, we can recapture some of that peaceable kingdom that once was.

    Please visit Lauren Matsumoto‘s website to see more of her work.

    All images are via the artist’s website and Facebook page.  Artist found via Uprise Art.

  • Defaced: Rogelio Manzo

    Defaced: Rogelio Manzo

    When you look in the mirror, what face do you see?  Not a trick question!  Do you see your own visage as it actually is or do you tend to see the face of ten, twenty years earlier?  We often think of faces as unchanging, until a glance from just the right angle shows us the mortality of time marching across our faces.  In his work, Mexican artist Rogelio Manzo deals with the fragility of life and notion of beauty by deconstructing and distorting the faces of his subjects.

    Nicolasa by Rogelio Manzo Nicanor by Rogelio Manzo Rogelio Manzo Lupe II by Rogelio Manzo Juanjo by Rogelio Manzo

    As a society, we’ve become so obsessed with the idea of youth and perfection as beauty– that the end result seems to be that we are ending up with a homogenized standard of attractiveness.  The unique face, the one with a bent nose or not-quite-perfect teeth is reconstructed through surgery and orthodontia to fit the idealized “normal”.  We all begin to look the same, losing our sense of what makes us each rare and uncommon.

    If you’d like to see more of Rogelio Manzo‘s work, please visit his website and Facebook page.

    All images are via the artist’s Facebook page.

  • In Celebration of the Mundane: Giordanne Salley

    In Celebration of the Mundane: Giordanne Salley

    We love our adventuring, we truly do.  But there’s somehow something even more special in those ordinary moments we spend together each day.  Comfort and joy in our routine, the way we “assume our positions” at the sink following dinner, he rinses, I fill the dishwasher.  How I know that I’ll get a kiss each night before I close my eyes.  It makes me think that these moments, not the big ones, are the ones we miss most.  New York artist Giordanne Salley captures the warmth and life in her paintings that I think so many of us forget is there in the every day.

    Yellow Sink by Giordanne Salley | artsy forager #art #paintings Penny by Giordanne Salley | artsy forager #art #paintings #cat #quilt Friends by Giordanne Salley | artsy forager #art #paintings #quilt #love Cat Under the Table by Giordanne Salley | artsy forager #art #paintings #cat Family Dinner by Giordanne Salley | artsy forager #art #paintings

    I love her use of texture and pattern– real life is layered with complexities and real homes don’t always look perfectly trendy and spotless.  But if we’re lucky, we are graced with a roof over our head and every day life is filled with people we love.  The next time you find yourself ready to complain about those ugly kitchen cabinets or wishing you could just redecorate that living room, remember, it isn’t the place you live that matters, it’s who lives there.

    Want to see more of these charming paintings by Giordanne Salley?  Please visit the artist’s website.  

    All images are via the artist’s website.