artsy forager

Posted on February 13, 2015

It might surprise you to know that Mr. F and I are kind of homebodies. At night, any way. We get out during the day, hiking, adventuring around each new town we find ourselves in, but we often like to just spend our evenings at home with a nice dinner and a bottle of wine. I do get the itch sometimes, though, and tell Mr. F that I need a night out. There is something about being out when the sky is black that feels special. It’s that sexy I’m-out-on-a-school-night-after-curfew kind of feeling.

The work of photographer Carla Berger captures the alluring provocative quality to the night time. Her blurred, often closely cropped images are like fleeting glances into a film noir world. A world filled with seductive characters and intrigue. Proof that sometimes we all need a little escape into the night.

All images are via Carla Berger’s Instagram. Follow her for gorgeousness in your IG feed!

Abstract Art Daily Artsy Paintings

Posted on February 12, 2015

Although most of us aren’t required to wear them, many of us hide behind them. I’m talking about veils. They are often present even when we aren’t aware of them. We use our veils to hide our authentic selves– maybe it is a certain personality or brand we project through social media, or a laugh that is just a bit too loud, or gossiping about others to avoid talking about ourselves.

Our veil may be attractive, heck, it may even be the reason for our popularity, but what happens when the veil gets a tear? Who we truly are can’t be hidden forever, even as we try to recreate a different version of ourselves. Glimpses peek out again and again, until soon, the curtain we hide behind is obscuring, not what others of us but how we see the world.

Paintings by Australian artist Rowena Martinich. To see more of the artist’s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Abstract Art Daily Artsy Paintings

Posted on February 11, 2015

We live in a world in which everyone seems to be competing for attention. So many are shouting look at me, look at me! And it is often the shouters that get the attention, because well, our attention is more easily gained by a blow horn than by the soft whistle of a bird. These paintings by Mel Rea seem to revel in hushed strength.

Softly atmospheric with bright punches of color, Rea’s paintings remind me of those foggy early morning hours when the world is only just awakening.. The softness of the lifting darkness punctuated by the light of early risers, the occasional screech of brakes or blast of a horn jolting us from the stillness and into the rush of day.

To see more of Mel Rea‘s work, please visit her website.

All images via the artist’s website and Huff Harrington. Artist found via Steller’s Gallery.

Daily Artsy Figurative Paintings

Posted on February 10, 2015

Some occasions in life seem all about the expectancy. When I was young, those days leading up to Christmas or a summer vacation were filled with hope and excitement. Even today, I get giddy thinking about what is just around the corner! For me, these monochromatic paintings by Rhode Island artist Rebecca Mason Adams capture the feeling of those moments in wait.

Whether it is waiting to spring a surprise or hoping for the phone to ring, something about the way her figures are in a sort of tense repose, often receding into their darker backgrounds, as if waiting for a cue to begin. It’s difficult, isn’t it, to push through and stop waiting? Some times we don’t have any choice but to wait, but often we are the ones to hold ourselves back, fearful that the anticipation will be sweeter than the reality.

To see more of Rebecca Mason Adams‘ work, please visit her website.

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

Daily Artsy Photography

Posted on February 9, 2015

While much of the country is still slogging their way through snow and ice, here in Northern California, the rains have returned. But the other day, I was caught by surprise by the first cherry blossoms beginning to make their appearance on our backyard branches. I find myself checking every day to make sure they haven’t been washed away with the rains.

These large format works by photographer Nick Knight, with their melting liquidity, seem to be disintegrating before the eye, just as the rain beats upon the new blooms of a coming spring. The colors run with a painter’s touch, some petals fall but others remain strong. We don’t always know why some flowers are allowed to remain on their branches while others spill to the ground before they’ve even had a chance to fully bloom.

To see more of Nick Knight‘s work, please visit his website. More from the Flora series can be seen at Show Studio.

All images via Show Studio.

Daily Artsy Photography

Posted on February 6, 2015

Mr. F and I chat frequently about our ideal spot. But we often wonder, does our ideal really exist? I mean, I’m sure it does, but will it be in the cards for us when the time comes? The photographs of Finnish artist Sandra Kantanen explore the idea of a vanished paradise.

As the artist’s photographs reference the vanishing idyllic landscapes of China and Japan, often Mr. F and I think about whether a perfect little spot we’ve found will remain that way forever. We have a particular favorite, wonderfully isolated and beautiful, but we’ve seen it gaining exposure and fear what may happen to it. We hope that development may be kept at bay, but we may very well find that one day we return to find our ideal being slowly erased.

To see more of Sandra Kantanen‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Abstract Art Daily Artsy Paintings

Posted on February 5, 2015

If you’ve ever worked in or hung a gallery, you might be familiar with the way paintings “talk” to each other. When hung in the same or adjacent space, works of art interact with one another, echoing or contradicting each other’s shapes, colors, and textures. In her artist statement, Brooklyn artist Robin Feld describes her desire for “the marks on the canvas to talk to each other..”

Layers in paint parallel a conversation between people– there are quiet whispers followed by bursts of laughter, tension and release, hidden secrets and deep emotion. As some relationships are more tumultuous and passionate, others are more refuges of peace and calm, so too, can paintings be.

To see more of Robin Feld‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Collage Daily Artsy

Posted on February 4, 2015

What’s that quote about the strongest tree is the one that bends instead of breaks? I can’t remember it exactly and Google isn’t cooperating. But I’ve been thinking about flexibility a lot lately. Maybe it’s a product of getting older, or more likely, it comes from the way Mr. F and I live and how much pliability is required.

These collages by Matthew Shelley with their cantilevered angles give the photographic elements present a new perspective. Landscapes are turned on their head, yet it seems natural. Just like with any other circumstance, we adjust our perspective. And the more easily welcomed a new aspect, the more we are able to withstand the change.

Check out Matthew Shelley’s website to see more of his work.

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

Daily Artsy Photography Still Life

Posted on February 3, 2015

Do you believe in fate? I haven’t decided yet whether I do or not. If it is true that events in our lives are predestined, then it must be true that “fate is a cruel mistress”. This series of photographs by Ann Woo of a facedown playing card drove home to me the idea that we never really know the next card in the deck.

I find, though, that it isn’t the hand we’ve been dealt, but how we play it that is the faithful test of who we are. We’ve watched our best friends deal with crushing blows that might have destroyed others, yet they continue on full of grace and courage and love. Cancer patients unwilling to be a victim fight back with everything they have. A son turns tragedy into a life’s work in order to prevent others from the same pain. We may be dealt a full house or a just a pair, but if we know best how to play the cards in our hand, we can still come out a winner.

To see more of Ann Woo‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Daily Artsy Figurative Paintings

Posted on February 2, 2015

These days, I find myself feeling grateful quite often. The fleeting nature of life has never been more apparent, which seems to make it easier to find moments of bliss. Perhaps because the darkness is lurking, the light shines more brightly. The work of French artist Fanny Nushka Moreaux, with faded hues and gossamer figures, reminds me how very tenuous is our own existence.

Perhaps it is due to our transient lifestyle these days, our desire to seize every opportunity. Since we never know when we leave a temporary home whether we will return to the area, we tend to make sure we’ve seen as much as we can. There isn’t much laying around on the weekends– there is too much to do, too much to see! In many ways, we are so fortunate. Living in one place, it is easy to stop paying attention to the world around you, to take it for granted. And the people, too. Live like you never know when you’ll see this world again.

To see more of Fanny Nushka Moreaux‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

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All posts are written by Lesley Frenz, unless otherwise stated. If you would like to repost something you see on Artsy Forager on your own blog, please provide a link back to the original post. All artwork images are the property of the individual artists, please link to this site or theirs when reposting and credit the artist appropriately. Artsy Forager contains some contextual affiliate links. An affiliate link means that I receive commission on sales of the products that are linked to in noted posts. So if you click on a link and make a purchase from an affiliate site, such as Mantle Art or Great.ly, then I may make a commission from that purchase. Those affiliate links may also be found on my Pinterest page. Artsy Forager reserves the right to delete any comments deemed as inappropriate. Play nicely, please.

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