Art MoCo: Painting Archives

Painting

Painting | Apr 22, 2008

Richard Moon’s portraits are creepily disturbing, as though the sitters have no idea the results will be such as they are. Features are exaggerated and colours distorted, yet the subjects gaze in pleasure at the thought of being immortalized. There is a soft focus to further add to the odd aspects of these portraits. One does not know whether to laugh at the homely side of these beauties, or to feel sorry for them. After all, they do look awfully cheerful.

Artist: Richard Moon
+ markmooregallery.com

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"Head Under Heels"
Posted by sabine7

Painting | Apr 21, 2008

Viewing Richard Moon’s oil paintings is like looking at photos that have been transformed by time and brushstrokes. The old-fashioned children pictured in Head Under Heels almost appear to be in what one might consider a dream, although there is something about the little boy that shows he feels the weight of the little girl on his head. The girl with buck teeth lets her yells echo through the tunnel, as the children put on their gas masks at school. The three images could almost be part of the same dream.

Artist: Richard Moon
+ richard-moon.co.uk

"Deep, Dark and Beautiful"
Posted by sabine7

Painting | Apr 18, 2008

Natasha Kissell’s recent work includes paintings that mix it up a little by incorporating disparate elements that that fit perfectly onto a specially conceived landscape. Modern architecture is nestled in with the chalets in the mountains, as elephants graze in the snow or penguins jump in place. Cacti join the alpine meadows, and we look far off into the distance, unsure of what the view really is, or whose perspective it belongs to.

Artist: Natasha Kissell
+ natashakissell.com

"Little Smush"
Posted by sabine7

Painting | Apr 16, 2008

Watercolour on mylar, watercolour on paper, oil on wood – whatever the medium, Jenny Laden makes colour a true protagonist. The circles that add fluidity to the hair in Little Smush are a playful component of the piece, but at the same time, essential. The rainbow swirls of Lady’s turban lighten up the look in her eyes, and Laden makes the viewer feel that indigo curls are the ones to want.

Artist: Jenny Laden
+ jennyladen.com

"Temporary Home"
Posted by sabine7

Painting | Apr 15, 2008

Kelie Bowman’s surreally domestic watercolour paintings are of seemingly simple characters who are house-headed or closely involved with trees, such as the young woman who moves right in. Themes of relationships, good and bad, are pervasive, as in Merger where a couple combines households before the action does them in. One woman smokes out her gossipy neighbours, but in a fairly gentle way that almost appears polite. Bowman’s work expresses feelings we often share, of being trapped or frustrated, and allows us to picture a “what if” scenario.

Artist: Kelie Bowman
+ cindersgallery.com

"Nature Morte"
Posted by sabine7

Painting | Apr 9, 2008

The Nature Morte series of watercolours by Tom Liekens is very much connected to the traditional still life scenes of sideboards groaning with game. But the kill has been left outdoors to lie stiff on the forest floor, no matter what time of year. When will the hunter come along to retrieve the plunder and cook up some tasty venison, pheasant or hare? Liekens brings the work of the Flemish masters such as Frans Snyders into a contemporary framework, where still life may well translate into nature morte, or dead nature.

Artist: Tom Liekens
+ galeries.nl

"The Boss"
Posted by sabine7

Painting | Apr 3, 2008

Although we know that many of Malcolm Bucknall’s subjects are half-human and half-animal, we cannot help but stare, not knowing whether to suppress a smile or accept that sneaky, uncomfortable feeling. It’s good and well for Bucknall to present creatures that are mostly human, save for the head, or a bird crowned with the head of a puppy dog, but we just cannot know what they are thinking. It is best to be polite and go along with it all, for we must admit that we cannot stop looking.

Artist: Malcolm Bucknall
+ dbermangallery.com

"Pop Tarts"
Posted by sabine7

Painting | Apr 2, 2008

American Still Life is the name of a new series by Chicago-based painter Pamela Johnson. Huge canvases (many are five to six feet in height) of massed comfort food flaunt our culture back at us; mass consumption is not only comfort, but the way we live. Yet, Johnson is so skilled that the heaps of ice cream sandwiches, Pop Tarts and cupcakes do not repel, but do offer a sort of soothing nostalgia that too often carries over to the present. The more we consume, the more we make ourselves, and everything around us, sick.

Artist: Pamela Michelle Johnson
+ pamelamichellejohnson.com

"The Greatest Show on Earth"
Posted by sabine7

Painting | Mar 28, 2008

Born fifth in a family of nine children in New York, Tim Weldon later relocated to New Mexico, but it was only when he left that it grew on him, leaving him with a palette of colours he uses in his vivid paintings. His work begins as a word that spawns an image that then takes on colours and a beat and a life of its own. Weldon allows his inner child to guide his brush and the results cover a world that sprinkles childhood with maturity.

Artist: Tim Weldon
+ bergelli.com

"Halo"
Posted by sabine7

Painting | Mar 21, 2008

Xero is a Melbourne-based painter whose new series, Flight Zero, is a collection of airline safety paintings in a pop style that mimics the laminated in-flight safety cards found in the pocket of the seat ahead. Xero reminds us of the changing status of airline travel, which has gone from “glamour” to “get there”. Now the focus is on safety and the sad hope of doing it as simply, and sanely, as possible. (Halo or crown of thorns?)

Artist: Xero
+ offthekerb.com.au

"Disbelief"
Posted by sabine7

Painting | Mar 20, 2008

Martina Nehrling’s work is an explosion of colour and with this comes tremendous emotion. The profusion of brushstrokes and colour is so lively that it is hard to avoid thinking that there is a strong connection with life itself. Nehrling succeeds in putting forth the very chatter of the chosen colours as they interact to combine as a group on solid ground. There is such powerful energy in these paintings.

Artist: Martina Nehrling
+ zggallery.com