Elena Kalis

Elena Kalis does water photography, and though some of her portraits are reminiscent of stock-photos of a families way-too-unrealistically-happy-vacation, most of her work lurks somewhere in the ethereal. Where she really lets her imagination flow uninhibited is the work I love the most – like her series of Alice in Wonderland portraits and where she plays with the surface of the water as a sort of portal.  Most people know me as a sucker for color, and Kalis’s work certainly doesn’t ever disappoint there….

Check out her site for much, much more!

http://www.elenakalisphoto.com/

Tip Toland

Tip is a caricature artist, capturing unique human moments and the personalities that invoke them. Each one of the sculptures she creates, using stoneware and coloring with chalk pastels, has such an immense character its hard not to get involved with each piece like you would a stranger on the street. Truly fabulous work.

http://www.tiptoland.com/

Rubber House Animation

A really great Australian animation studio – go to their website to see some more fantastic work!

Gotye- Don’t Worry, We’ll Be Watching You- official animation from Gotye on Vimeo.

 

AND……

 

Gotye – State Of The Art – official film clip from Gotye on Vimeo.

 

DEAR GOD THERE’S MORE!

 

The Big Winner from Rubber House on Vimeo.

 

See more at:

http://rubberhousestudio.com/

Max Ernst

Max was one of the founding fathers of surrealism and Dadaism, being part of a tight circle of artists friends such as Dali, August Macke, Jean Arp, Man Ray and long-term friend/wife Dorothea Tanning.

I love his work because his shapes are so solid – at first glance you think you are seeing reality, but upon closer inspection there is nothing but imagination and abstraction. It truly feels like a dream looking at his work.

There isn’t any official collection of his work online, but Google does a perfectly good job of acquainting you with him…

Konstantin Novosadov

Konstantin hails from Russia, and according to his DA account (http://jackaloope.deviantart.com/), his favorite cartoon character in Pete Puma. I feel this is relevant information.

So, one great thing about international artists is that they have a completely different itinerary often for their work – they are inspired by a whole group of artists that we haven’t heard of (and vise versa). Not talking about “masters” per se, but general talent pools shift from area to area. Therefore, these works are fresh and new and explore grounds I haven’t seen here in the US – hitting every key value of art spot on while still having tons of fun.

Enjoy!

http://novosadov.blogspot.com/

Edward Cao

Though he seems to rarely leave his comfort zone, I am so happy in this little world Edward Cao has created that I don’t mind too much! I feel like I also may not be smart enough to pick up on some symbolism here, but I still really enjoy these images. I’m definitely a fan of animals in darker contexts, so I can’t wait to see more.

http://edwardcao.com/

David Allan Peters

So here in the San Francisco Bay Area we have the Oakland Art Murmur, where the first Friday of every month downtown Oakland closes its streets and opens its galleries (also included: really great food trucks and booze). During this months show, I found quite a lot of fabulous local artists to exhibit, and I will slowly filter through them as the year progresses. Most of these shows are open longer than just the one night, so I highly suggest heading down to check them out.

David Allan Peter’s work is pretty great once you realize how they are done. As I figure it, he layers many colors of acrylic ink over each other and then slowly cuts it away in various shapes and depths to reveal the layers underneath. They are just as amazing to view from the side, where you can see the topography and hundreds of layers of ink laying on top of one another. (The last image, however, appears to be ink with collage.)

I believe he works the same way for his sculptures -meticulously layering each color over one another.

His work can be seen at the Chandra Cerrito Contemporary gallery. (480 23rd St., Oakland)

His official page:

http://www.davidallanpeters.com/

And a gallery page that has a more in depth collection of his work:

http://marcarranaga.com/home.html/David_Allan_Peters.html

 

 

Sterling Hundley

Just stumbled upon him today – cannot believe I haven’t seen his work before. Sterling works as a teacher at The Illustration Academy, and is a member of the Society of Illustrators. He works out of Richmond, VA and has recently published a monograph of his works that is really worth checking out named Blue Collar/White Collar.

http://sterlinghundley.com/

 

Bill Cone

So, I definitely have a soft spot for “plein air” painting. Sitting in a studio forever and noodling the same work for countless hours has never been something I could stand. There is a lot of disdain for open air painting, perhaps as something too cliche or “artsy fartsy” (to use the technical term). It is something very different from studio painting, that much is true, and it definitely takes a certain type of artist to stand up to it, but I feel like it is always a wonderful experience to get out and appreciate your own planet a little more. Its easier to “feel” the heat in a painting when you are feeling it on your own back while executing the work….! (But, perhaps the sunburn and sweat IS a little overrated….!)

Bill Cone is simply a phenomenal artist. He works in pastel on colored paper, and while some of these are not plein air works but rather done from photos from the location, the magnitude of his talent cannot go unnoticed. I recently went to his show down at the Studio Gallery here in San Francisco (which, I HIGHLY recommend seeing if you are in the area. http://www.studiogallerysf.com/Bill_Cone_12.php He is doing a live talk on Thursday, and if I weren’t already going open air painting that day in Carmel, I would go!) It is a fairly large show, and though his works aren’t one that necessarily NEED to be seen live, it certainly helps to get lost in his incredible edge control and colors.

 

http://billcone.blogspot.com/

Shane Prigmore

Some really great designs from a fantastic professional animator: Shane has worked on so many amazing films, its hard to not notice his influence in them. From Iron Giant to Coraline, he really brings life to simple designs that really pack a punch.

http://shaneprigmore.blogspot.com/