Japanese artist Kosuke Ajiro paints and sculpts diorama scenes that immediately sucked me into the details. I love how loose his painting style is and all of the quirky imagery that comes off the end of each brush.
As we did last October, this month Design Crush will highlight art that swerves a little left of ordinary and leans more towards eerie. We’re starting off both the week and the month with the oil paintings of Andy Denzler, whose works might make you think of paused video or part of a horror flick. His style blends photorealism with the abstract through alternating bands of imagery.
New Hampshire-based Michael Dandley‘s overexposed gouache paintings feel a lot like the Indian summer much of the U.S. is experiencing right now – hot and dry. Most of his images focus on the human imprint being cast upon nature, though some are simply nature in all its unabashed glory.
Between her wildly reimagined celebrity portraits and creatively mouthy text overlays, Ashley Longshore‘s paintings are definitely out there. From former presidents dressed in modern day couture to a classic Audrey Hepburn silhouette changed up every which way, her art can definitively be filed under pop.
My paintings are representative of the world I see around me. I am inspired by pop culture and things that I find intriguing. I really like to combine the use of words and images in an unexpected way to create a smart, colorful bold statement. Most importantly my love of color is what really makes my artwork “POP”. My paintings are statement pieces that are a reflection of the experiences I have in my life.
It’s no secret that our relationship with our bedroom is an intimate one. Painter Karen Ann Myers is out to explore the psychological complexities behind that thought, while also inspired by the cult of beauty in mass media. Each overhead composition includes many of the same elements – a bed, a patterned rug, a wood floor, a dresser or chair, a bedside table, and oftentimes a phone – along with a woman in various stages of undress and emotion.
Harriet Damave’s hand-painted porcelain cat brooches caught my eye several months ago and they’re still on my mind. Her technique – painting cobalt oxide on unglazed bisque – is rather unusual, she likens it to watercolor paintings because of the super absorbent surface. There are a number of other lovely items available in her shop – Harriet’s Blue and White – but I’m counting adding one of her pins to my jacket this fall.
Our Pittsburgh Maker Profile series has been on extended hiatus for awhile now. This area is so rife with creativity that I feel I’ve been doing it a disservice, simply highlighting one maker a month really isn’t enough. So this September I’ll be highlighting a few dozen instead! You’ll know it’s a Pittsburgh creator by the little seal above that will mark each post.
I first became aware of the flora-meets-fauna art of Ashley Cecil last spring when she created a line of scarves that sold at the Carnegie Museum of Art. She paints from live observation at renowned institutions, and marrying realism with abstract modern backgrounds is her signature style. Those two things alone garner loads of interest for me, but what makes it all work so well together is Ashley’s innate understanding of color and the way she knows when to keep it reigned it or go all out. She’s also working to save birdlife with an innovative window film that helps birds see the surface rather than fly into it injuring, or even worse killing, themselves.
Radical Women by Banquet Workshop
String of Pearls by My Deer Art Shop
Dreamy Houses by Kimberley Dhollander
Start With Yes by Anthony Burrill
Pink Roses on the Table by Pratt Creek Art
Starting Somewhere Now by Chipper Things
Black Lodgepole Pine Tree Ring by Linton Art
Modern Watercolor by Nancy Knight Art
Posted In create, graphics, illustration, mixed media, painting, paper goods, photography, prints, round up, series
Creating with a palette knife is one of the most amazing things to me. In this case it’s Salman Khoshroo‘s expertise of musculature and the human body on full display with his mastery of wielding a full knife of paint that has me in awe. If you notice, Salman’s using multiple colors with each swipe which suggests that there’s nearly as much work going on before he touches the canvas as after. Oh, and they’re large scale.
Los Angeles-based painter Seonna Hong creates some truly mesmerizing work. I’m entranced by the way she focuses on both the big picture with those grandiose landscapes, as well as the attention to detail that’s paid the tiny people and animal figures. The best of both worlds, indeed!
