Anthony Pontius sneak peek

Anthony Pontius is another artist who I can't believe had previously escaped my all seeing eye. His fantastic work is darkly dreamlike...it has the look of a classical painting dipped in a surrealistic wax bath. Here is a sneak peek at two paintings (oil and ink on panel) I'm getting for the upcoming "Cabinet of Natural Curiosities" show at the Roq next week, and I'm booking him for next year as well.

Ryan Heshka

Ryan Heshka has a show in LA at Secret Headquarters bookshop. Here is a link to the show!
I am a HUGE fan of Ryan's work...I love his colors and the way he captures so perfectly that 50's era sci fi pulp weirdness, while keeping his own look.

Jennifer Zwick- "The Explorers"

Click to enlarge

I love this photograph by Jennifer Zwick. I don't know much about her but I instantly was besotted with this image.

On Collecting

I just read this nice quote about collecting art...

"[We are] privileged caretakers. Regardless of the anguish or difficulties of a day, simply returning home to sit quietly with these pictures soon dispels all worries and fears and regenerates us for whatever lies ahead."

- Marshall Hatch, on his Morris Graves paintings.


Xiaoqing Ding "The Golden Apple"

Seamonsters!!

I love seamonsters! Check out the video below that I yoinked off Supertouch to see a fun hologram sea creature menacing Tokyo:

(Sorry- it's been taken down!)


My favorite is the classic multiple loop monster


Back in the 2nd century AD if you wanted to look tuff you put seamonsters on your helmet.

Dan Brereton

I am seeing a light at the end of tunnel as far as all the stuff I have to get done...but in the meantime here is some lovely spooky cheesecake by illustrator/comic guy Dan Brereton. All his work- even the muscle bound rotting monsters, are wonderful. Beautiful line work.

Jean Delville

"Parsival"

One of my most favorite artists of all time is Symbolist painter Jean Delville (1867-1953). Hopefully I'll write more about him later...I'm totally under the gun with a bunch of deadlines, but hey- can't neglect the blog!
You can see a big assortment of his paintings here (menu is on the right side of the page)


"Idol Of Perversity"


"Parsival"


"Satan's Treasures"

Malcolm McLaren- Madame Butterfly (1984)

God- this is a blast from the past. I loved this track when I was fourteen. It broke down the Madame Butterfly song for me pretty well, which I was curious about, because when I was going to the Covent of The Sacred Heart I was just discovering that looking freaky might be kinda cool, so I began dying my hair black and wearing enormous plastic earrings (very much against the school uniform code). The headmistress would take an exasperated look at me and say "Hey, Madame Butterfly, get those chandeliers out of your ears."

Stephen Rothwell

Dig the mutant-victorian-apocalyptic works of Stephen Rothwell. Lots of shades of Lovecraft and Terry Gilliam.



Found on Boing Boing and Dark Victoria

Not Yours

I just ran across this art blog called "Not Allowed To Like". I thought it was funny.

Chris Conn

After over ten years in this business I find it's easy to get a little jaded, so it's always amazing to see new work that gets me inspired. Lately I've seen so many artists come out of woodwork with art that is just jaw-droppingly amazing, like Chris Conn. Former tattooist turned painter- his work is a mix of tattoo imagery, soviet propaganda graphic sensibilities, and demi-monde lushness. I adore it.

Junk and Foibles

Darren Waterston "Gothic Arch" Click to enlarge

So I was in this fancy antique mall the other day (the same site as the Fuseli debacle) perusing expensive trinketry, when I started thinking about perceived value. I think a dealer had some Prada bags or something in their case, and I was thinking how even though it's a trendy and "desirable" thing (fashion-wise) I would never ever spend 2k on a designer handbag even though I would use it everyday. However, I would spend that on a painting and think I got a deal. I might spend $300 on a toucan skull, but not on a pair of jeans or a fancy piece of cookware (that stuff I buy for cheap). Contrarily, I'd rather spend more money on an antique chinese table (or better yet, snag one at a garage sale), rather than buying a perfectly good table at IKEA. This is due to my perceived value of things. I want stuff that not everyone else can go and buy, which is why as much as I love, say, IKEA, I get nauseated shopping there picking out the exact same things a million other people are picking out. The same way I would never want and expensive handbag any shmoe with money to burn could buy (not to mention the fact those bags are actually cheap pieces of crap). Perhaps I am a snob. Pretty much all my money goes to paintings and travel. What do you consider a worthwhile expense?

Chris Roth

Chris Roth is an animator and artist living in Brooklyn. While he has a painting coming up in the "Cabinet Of Natural Curiosities" show next month, I had to show you this fantastic stained glass piece he did for Gallery 1988's "Tribute To Stan Lee"- amazing!

Brian Despain sneak peek

"A Vexing Quiet"

Brian Despain is another artist I work very closely with. To be honest, I can't even remember meeting him for the first time, which is weird now that I think about it. Anyway he's a part of the gallery now, and his career is really taking off, due to his superb painting technique (much richer in person), combination of humor and pathos, and of course, robots. His last show at the Roq was hugely successful and he's got all kinds of interesting people seeking his work. We are going to be offering 3 brand spankin' new prints of some of his latest paintings (seen here), should be available online in a few weeks...
More on Brian soon!


"The Exchange"


"The Discovery"

Pop Baroque

Paintalicious blog has a write up about painter Gervasio Gallardo (above), which made me start thinking about the amount of "Pop Baroque" art by modern painters that I've been seeing lately...here are a few off the top of my head...

Colette Calascione


Cristina Vergano


The great Donald Roller Wilson

Femke Hiemstra sneak peek!

This piece by Femke is entitled "Mr Macabre" and is for the upcoming "Cabinet of Natural Curiosities" show at the Roq in Feb. Gorgeous. It's really hard for me not to buy everything she does. I'll do a longer post on Femke soon.

Matt Groller

I like this painting by Matt Groller. His site looks mostly to contain commercial work but this one stands on it's own. I like it's flapperish, southern gothic feel.

Albert Penot

In honor of Ms Nurmi I thought I'd post "goth girl" art today...this one is by painter Albert Penot (1862-1930), strangely I could not find much about him online...

RIP Vampira

Awww...
RIP Maila Nurmi aka Vampira, the original undead vixen. All those gals, Vampira, Morticia, Lily Munster, have a special place in my heart.

Shawn Barber/ Michael Hussar

This past weekend Concept Art held a huge workshop event here in Seattle, in which they invited 40 some artists to give lectures and demos for students. I dropped in to say hi to artists Shawn Barber and Michael Hussar and to take some pics...


Shawn has a few tattoos.


Shawn at work


My favorite Hussar piece that I saw there...


Yeah, he's got a little talent.


Hussar must emanate a vortex of mystery because none of my pictures of him turned out...this is the best one and it's pretty bad.

Bizet- The Pearl Fishers

It's not visual art but this is too awesome not to share. I'm not the most knowledgeable opera fan, but since I was 15 I've adored and am continually blown away by the duet from Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers". The clip below has english translations, but I think the best way to listen to this is with your eyes shut and listen to the singers voices soar and weave around each other (hang on to 1:43 when it gets REALLY good). Totally sublime. I never get sick of it. Hope you enjoy it!

Travis Louie

Travis Louie! He's the new hotness. His incredible, meticulously rendered paintings of Victorian era monsters and chimeras have brought him acclaim and attention from all over the art world. When I had his work at my booth at the Aqua Art Fair in Miami people went CRAZY for him. Jpegs just don't do the work justice, unfortunately. Many people who first look at sometimes don't realize they are looking at a painting as opposed to a digital image! Anyway- this is a guy to watch- I get emails from people wanting his work every day. He has a blog as well.

Marion Peck

My homegirl Marion Peck has some new paintings on her site...they are very different to her latest series...more in keeping with her older, dream inspired paintings.

Arthur Wardle

While looking for some online info about Frantisek Kupka I stumbled across this lovely image by an artist I'm unfamiliar with, Arthur Wardle. Apparently he was renowned for painting dogs, and is widely reproduced. Some of his stuff is a little treacly...but these are pretty cool. ("The Enchantress" above, "Sleeping Leopards" below)

Frantisek Kupka

Frantisek Kupka (1871-1957) was a painter who worked in various styles including abstract and cubism, but I like his more allegorical work, like these pieces, "The Path Of Silence" (above) and "The Black Idol" (below). I like their epic atmospheres.

Jim Blanchard

One of Seattle's best kept secrets is bad ass artist Jim Blanchard. In terms of a tight line no one else comes close. He has a blog!

Sweet

I just got offered, and accepted, an "Editor At Large" position at my favorite art magazine, Hi Fructose. This means I'll be able to write about art more than I already do. I'm really excited and really proud to be some of the first staff the magazine has taken on.

Maria Merian

Maria Merian (1667-1717) was an artist who did studies of the natural world, mostly botanical or insect related. Her work proved very helpful from a scientific standpoint, but it also has a very charming air about it as well.

Johnny Crap

Time to throw a little Lowbrow up here. One of my fav's of the Lowbrow greasers n' monsters guys is Canadian painter Johnny Crap. His new work is a little more refined- but here's some older work. I picked up this one:



I couldn't NOT get it- it has all the elements I love, hearses, tikis, dracula, and evil hot chicks with white stripes in their hair.