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Category: Figurative

Spiro-Graphics: Kim Kirk Nielsen

Tell me you remember Spirographs? That ubiquitous toy that combined the worlds of math and art and captured the imagination of many an artsy kid. Danish born, Paris based artist Kim Kirk Nielsen adds his own spriroriffic drawings to appropriated imagery, adding graphic punch and curves in all the right places.

I love the way Nielsen is using these spherical forms to emphasize certain areas of each image, as well as playing with scale as in the last piece to create a surreal, dreamlike scene. The Fibonacci like spirals that echo the patterns of lace doilies ( an ongoing theme in Nielsen’s work ) provide an interesting graphic foil to the photographs he’s chosen to manipulate. That’s it, I’m going to track down a Spirograph and start drawing all over everything!

To see more of Kim Kirk Nielsen‘s work, please visit his website.

Images found via the artist’s website and his Saatchi Online portfolio. Artist found via Saatchi Online.

July 7, 2014
Dream States: Marie Rosen

Mr. Forager and I love to share dreams. I’m not just talking about the speculative, what if, kind of dreams, but the productions put on by our subconscious while we’re sleeping. If either of us has an interesting or unusual dream, we always share it. The work of Belgian artist Marie Rosen has the same surreal, things are not quite what they seem feeling, so often found in our dreams.

Flat planes and barren landscapes defy reality and keep us from knowing for certain how the elements of each piece fit together– landings leading to nowhere, tiny feet gather beneath a giant covered table. It’s that same incongruity that so often leads us feeling out of sorts following a particularly vivid dream. Things seem almost real, yet we know they are only imaginings.

To see more of Marie Rosen‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website. Artist found via Art Hound.

June 30, 2014
Summer Lovin’: Elizabeth Lennie

Summer is officially here! ‘Tis the season we take to the water! Perhaps as an escape from the heat, but even more so, we are drawn to watery places this time of year because of the calming effect of water upon our souls and spirits. In summer, we give ourselves permission to pause and it’s tough to be stressed and harried when gazing out over the ocean’s horizon. Toronto artist Elizabeth Lennie captures the way summer draws us to the water and out of our depths.

While Lennie’s portfolio is filled with more typical watery palettes of blues and greens, it was to these warmer pieces that I found myself most drawn. Something about these peachy tones reminded me so much of the slowing down we do in the summer time. Perhaps they recall the glow of sunset over a day spent in nothing but play, with no plans to stop any time soon. A day when we let ourselves linger, whether on the beach or simply over dinner on the patio at home, we relish relaxation in summer, a lesson we could all carry over into every other season.

To see more of Elizabeth Lennie‘s work, please visit her website. Mr. Forager & I have lots of waterside backpacking and camping planned for this summer. How are you relaxing this summer?

All images are via the artist’s website.

June 23, 2014
Artsy Lately: Lee Price

This artist’s work always gets me. Not just because it’s incredibly gorgeous and highly skilled, it is. But each piece is filled with so much emotion and narrative, it’s like a beautiful punch in the gut. I first featured the paintings ( that’s right, paintings!! ) of Lee Price way back in January 2012 while I was writing Artist Watch posts for Escape Into Life. The work effected me so much that it took another three months before I could write a full feature for the blog.

These new pieces are similar to Price’s older work, in that we still see isolated women in the bed or bath, but the work has evolved to either a more positive or more sinister perspective, depending on your interpretation. We still seem to see a woman in struggle, yet these seem much more subversive. Instead of a woman surrounded by the detritus of a cupcake binge, instead, we’re confronted with women enveloped by artificial representations of treats or even more telling, an empty bowl.

We have such a powerful relationship with the food and drink we consume. It literally has the power to nourish or destroy. And in the world of fast, highly processed food and GMOs, the choice of what we eat has never seemed more fraught with danger.

To see more of Lee Price‘s work, please visit her website.

All images via the artist’s website.

June 17, 2014
Jesus Leguizamo

I’ve been seeing a lot of articles pop up lately on the importance of our online profile photos. It seems that we make snap judgements about the people we see online based solely on facial expression in profile photos ( duh? ). In his paintings, Colombian artist Jesus Leguizamo obscures the faces of his subjects, blurring all expression. There seems to be a trend in art and photography of obstructing faces.. in these days of status updates and selfies, are we all just sick of ourselves?

In some of Leguizamo’s work, the faces are completely obliterated, leaving nothing but what’s left of the figure to clue us in as to who they are. In others, the result is a bit more haunting, as we see just enough expression to leave us wanting to know more.

In all the social media swirling around us, it’s tempting to want to put it all out there, to share with the world everything we’re doing and thinking.. and it seems there is a Pavlovian type effect that happens when we do. Sharing and getting a response makes us want to do more. But when do we cross the line over into sharing too much? Is it best to lay it all out for the world to see or retain a bit of mystery?

To see more of Jesus Leguizamo‘s work, please visit his website and his portfolio on Saatchi Art.

Second image via the artist’s website. All other images via Saatchi Art.

June 9, 2014
Associated Memory: Lindsay Stripling

In a lot of ways, our lives themselves are made up only of memories. Whether our own memories or the remembrances people have of us, those recollections make up the way we others see us and the way we perceive ourselves. In her gouache paintings, San Francisco artist Lindsay Stripling emphasizes memory and perceived realities.

Taking inspiration from vintage photographs, Stripling’s portraits represent an entrance into another world, perhaps a reality or memory different from our own. It’s funny how, you can never have visited a place, yet have a feeling of it merely from associations like film, photographs or stories. How often have we found ourselves in a spot, knowing consciously we’d never been there before, yet having an unshakeable feeling of familiarity?

Memories of our loved ones can be much the same, over time, our associations may change, changing our perceptions and skewing our memories. Our memories are sifted through a giant sieve, so that only the strongest impressions survive.

To see more of Lindsay Stripling‘s work, please visit her website. Lindsay has several pieces currently for sale on the Buy Some Damn Art website– make sure to check them out!

All images via the artist’s website. Artist found via Buy Some Damn Art.

May 27, 2014
Fogged In: David Ryle

There are so many things I’d never experienced before living on the West Coast. In Florida, I don’t think I ever experienced “marine layer“, these air masses create the most beautiful foggy formations above the coastal waters. Of course, everyone loves bright, clear skies, but there is a mysterious beauty to life seen through a fogged lens. In his Steam Portraits series, photographer David Ryle creates these sensitive captures of portraits seen through or looking through a curtain of steam.

We all have our days when it feels like we’re moving through the fog. Bogged down, without a clear vision of the road ahead. What’s so lovely about these portraits is that although the subjects are seen gazing through the vapor, in most cases much of the haze is already depleted. There is something incredibly hopeful in that– to know that although we may be temporarily socked in, slowly, surely, the fog will lift and all will be revealed.

To see more of David Ryle‘s work, please visit his website.

All images via the artist’s website. Artist found via I Need a Guide.

May 21, 2014
True Confections: Stefan Dunlop

You know that phrase, you get more flies with honey? Candy-coated truths always seem a bit more digestible. Whether its revealing political truths through comical satire or historical truths in frosted palettes as in the work of Australian artist Stefan Dunlop, difficult ideas can be approached more easily from a less threatening perspective.

Dunlop’s simple use of form and bright pastel palette immediately draw the eye, thinking we’re in for a fun ride. But his subject matter and old master-like composition lead us to want to investigate a bit further. There is a darkness lurking beneath that cotton candy surface.

To see more of Stefan Dunlop‘s work, please visit his website.

All images via the artist’s website. Artist found via The Jealous Curator.

May 14, 2014
Wild Women: Jennifer Nehrbass

Just last night over a glass of wine and chocolate marscapone cheesecake, Mr. Forager and I were talking about where I saw my studio work going and I told him I didn’t really have a desire to become a figurative painter. And then this morning I came across the work of Jennifer Nerhbass. In her work, the New Mexico artist explores “The relationships of women to themselves and their environment”. Ok, maybe I’ve changed my mind.

As women, we get so caught up in society’s idea of what we should look like and who we should be. We find ourselves spending hours looking for that perfect little dress, even when we’d rather be outside. Since we’ve been traveling, I’ve been slowly stripping away those artifices I’d built up for so long. That closet filled with shoes, many of them rarely worn. Drawers filled with make-up and perfume. I’ve learned that Mr. F sees me at my most beautiful when we are hiking together– not in heels but hiking boots, no makeup, hair usually a mess. But what he’s seeing is the inspiration and peace that fills and recharges my spirit and soul. We so often forsake that for ourselves.

In her work, we see Nehrbass’s women often out of place in the wild, like they’ve suddenly been plucked out of their urban existence and somehow landed in the midst of wilderness. I see so many parallels with how we live as modern women and these paintings. We become so obsessed with creating beauty in ourselves that we lose touch with the life and beauty around us.

To see more of Jennifer Nehrbass‘s work, please visit her website.

Second image via Mirus Gallery, all other images via the artist’s website.

May 12, 2014
Who We Inherit: Marie Hudelot

One of my favorite things about babies and children of family and friends is looking at them and seeing how their parents come through. Whether in their physical attributes or personalities, it always amazes me to see glimpses of parents or grandparents in a new unique little personality. In her Heritage series, French artist Marie Hudelot explores the cultural heritage between an East and West family legacy, specifically France and Algeria.

Just as we are each conglomerations of generations of hereditary history, in Hudelot’s conceptual portraits we see symbolic aggregations to create emblematic figures. Faces covered, the figures could be anonymous representations of previous generations. How much of who we become is influenced by those who came before? Whether genetic or cultural, we are all in some way the product of past generations.

To see more of the work of Marie Hudelot, please visit her website.

All images via the artist’s website. Artist found via Trendland.

May 9, 2014

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artistic pathfinding by lesley frenz

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