Beautiful work from prominent Japanese contemporary pop artist Yoshitomo Nara. Unusual, twisted and oft weapon-toting characters, who at first glance can seem simple but shouldn’t be so easily dismissed.
Blum and Poe – www.blumandpoe.com/yoshitomonara/
Marianne Boesky Gallery – www.marianneboeskygallery.com/artists/yoshitomo-nara/
Found some nice pieces including watercolours and “Grandma” (pictured) in the stylistically varied and quite extensive portfolio of Taiwanese painter Julienne Hsu.
Blog – www.jujuhsu.blogspot.com
Website – www.juliennehsu.com
[Via Design Milk]
Contemporary painter and printmaker James Trimmer has very recently redesigned his website and added some nice new prints as well as other bits and bobs including this beguiling, dark piece without a name (shown).
Website – www.jamestrimmer.com
Brighton graduate Sophie Aida has a nice style of painting which is very folksy and naive, with the little subjects taking on a new lease of life with their vibrant yet subtle hues and light-hearted scenes.
Website – www.sophiealda.co.uk
Pyrotechnics is a project by Rosemarie Fiore which exhibits the potential of fireworks as painting implements as well as what seems like a bit of fun. To create these ingenious firework drawings, Rosemarie Fiore sticks fireworks to a long pole and lets them off, which in turn gives a burst of saturated colour which she then pieces together to create abstract collages.
Website – www.rosemariefiore.com
London-based Welsh contemporary artist Sophie Rees recently updated the design of her website, adding some new work at simultaneously. Working with oil paints and c-type printing, Sophie attempts to “challenge conventional ways of seeing” and her work “reconsiders the dichotomy between nature and culture”.
Website – www.sophie-rees.com
Nice collection of peices by California College of the Arts graduate Cathernie Ryan, employing a mixture of charcoal and acrylic to give a smudged and soft feel to her surreal portraits of animals.
Website – www.catherineryan.org
[Via Booooooom]
The duo of Kozy ‘n’ Dan create great colourful, illustrations with a playful twist, like this “homage” to Hokusai, painted for Giant Robot Magazine.
Website – www.kozyndan.com
One of the last great masters of the Japanese ukiyo-e style of woodblock prints and painting, Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s art depicts classical Japanese lore in all its colourful detail. Only shame is the website, which is uninspiring unlike its content.
Website – www.kuniyoshiproject.com
Canadian Stefan Thompson has a beautifully vivid, surreal and sketchy style of painting and drawing, with his work often focusing on animals and nature.
As well as his unique style, Stefan Thompson is relatively unique in that he has a high level awareness of the state of the environment being a environmental science student at Carleton University. This awareness is evident in his approach to art, his work often being done using earth paints which are non-toxic, reducing his effects on the environment.
Website – www.stefanthompson.com
Deviantart – stefanthompson.deviantart.com
