Evolution of Language, Oil on birch, 30 x 20 inches | Lost Constellations - Oil on Birch , 40 x 30 inches

San Francisco born (raised in Los Angeles) Tara McPherson is a painter, poster artist and freelance illustrator based out of New York City. She creates art about people and their oddities, her characters exude an idealized innocence with a glimpse of hard earned wisdom in their eyes. Recalling many issues from childhood and good old life experience, she creates images that are thought provoking and seductive. People and their relationships are a central theme throughout her body of work. Tara exhibits her paintings and prints in fine art galleries all over the world. Her site is here, and her first solo exhibition: Lost Constellations at Jonathan LeVine Gallery is currently showing. From the LeVine….

The painted portraits in Lost Constellations depict adventurous super-heroines from an alternate universe, crossing dimensional planes of time and space. McPherson considers the idea of parallel existence through the use of multiple views or angles on a subject, inspired by the Einstein cross (a phenomenon caused by gravitational lensing) while her series of bodily transfigurations convey principles on the physical manifestation of thought. A reoccurring cast of female characters appear in various states of action—fighting battles and growing toward self-discovery. Using her signature bold and graphic style, Tara’s imagery explores love, loss and loneliness through variations on strength, vulnerability and female empowerment. Concepts of non-verbal communication and the evolution of spoken language are explored as well, along with an interpretation on the circle of life—represented through transitional properties of water particles: gas, liquid and solid.

How Easily They Fly Away, Oil on birch, 30 x 24 inches

Somewhere Under The Rainbow, pink & turquoise, Oil on birch, 24 x 12 inches each

German (3-D Cover artist) Fredy Wenzel, specializes in some SciFi, Fantasy and PinUp style art . His extensive use of post work in each poser rendered image is utterly incredible. Need more convincing? Well, I’d suggest following the jump to see more of these fantastic 3-d works. Incidentally, Fredy Wenzel prints are available at his deviant art shop. more…

Corazan Coaster, 18″ x 24″. Acrylic on masonite 2006

STEP RIGHT UP, folks. Feast your eyes on this collection of bizarre oddities guaranteed to amaze! I am of course talking about the extraordinary up and comer in the Pop Surrealism/Lowbrow scene, (Florida-based) Michael ” Pooch” Pucciarelli. His intricately detailed paintings feature carnavalesque worlds, usually in which characters are sent on careening rollercoaster rides through worlds populated by movie monsters, skeletons, and underground pop culture icons. Pooch allows himself the freedom to explore various cultural symbols, but also keeps inspired by digging deeper into those respective subjects.

Big Bob’s Dream Vacation, giclee on canvas. 30″ x 24″ / 3113 pencil on vellum

Keep the Loonies on the Path, acrylic on masonite. 36″ x 18″

The Roq la Rue gallery called his art “a visual cocktail mix of Mexico’s Dia De los Muertos imagery, a bit of Bosch and Brueghul and MC Escher’s’ architectural elements with a shot of tattoo culture, shaken and stirred, and served up in a souvenir tiki skull”.

His newest works reflect his constant exposure to Florida theme parks, where surreal carnival ride “facades” reflect the false fronts of modern society. Meaning aside, Pooch’s paintings are created to hold the viewer’s attention, which is quite a challenge in today’s TV and computer age. Pooch’s technique is intensive, he paints the devil in the details. His earliest influences were artists like MC Escher, Dali, and HR Giger. Holding the old masters in high regard, Pooch has a strong respect for painters of the Flemish age such as Bosch and Van Eyk–plus modern artists like Todd Schorr, Joe Coleman, Mark Ryden, and Robert Williams, all of whom honor the tradition of highly detailed symbolic works.

See more of Pooch’s outre paintings after the jump. more…

Early Bird | Bad Ideas

Nathan Ota is an extraordinary painter/illustrator from Los Angeles. His work is full of wonderfully edged wit, sharper quality and wonderful colour palate that makes it stand out from similar styled work. From his bio…..

From an early age, Nathan T. Ota always found himself drawing pictures over doing his homework by copying various cartoons, comic books, photographs and old punk rock flyers. Nathan’s first influences started from looking at his older brother’s Frank Frazetta calendars and Vampirella comics. His mother, also an artist, and Father encouraged and supported his love for art at an early age. In the mid 80’s, he discovered graffiti art as a medium to express himself on various public spaces in Los Angeles. This influence still permeates his personal work today.

Ota works as a freelance illustrator and teaches at Otis College of Art and Design, CA and Santa Monica College, CA. He has illustrated several of Henry Rollins’ spoken word CD covers including; The Boxed Life, Big Ugly Mouth, Sweatbox, Live at McCabe’s and Human Butt. A partial list of clients include; The Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Virgin Interactive, Capitol Records, and 2.13.61 Publication.

Robo

Don’t forget to check out Nathan’s sketchbook section of his site - a highlight for me (seemingly common theme). Buy some solid prints here and view more of his illustrations after the jump.

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Vegetarian Girl (Detail). 2007, oil on canvas

Ling Jian studied painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, moving shortly thereafter to Germany where he still lives and works. He has exhibited extensively in Germany and throughout Europe (FIAC, Art RAI Amsterdam). His work was included in the group exhibition, Scent of a Woman which traveled to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Having gained prominence with his series entitled, ‘Communist Sister’, Ling Jian has explored the evolution of Chinese cultural identity as symbolized in many of his fantastical images. The women, depicted in a provocative and highly sexual style, are at odds with the conservative and rational reality of the true Communist female soldier. In creating this hypothetic, and very clearly contradictory set of images, Ling Jian addresses the wider issues at stake for the Chinese people, and in particular, the role of women in this changing society.

Show me what you have, 2007, oil on canvas

See more of Ling’s work after the jump. Happy Valentines Day to ALL paintalicious readers. more…

The Disasters of War - (2003) Size: 45 x 59.5 cm - charcoal and pencil on paper

“My art began as a repository for all my negative emotions. I was a perfect, cute little girl in a perfect, cute little suburb in New York and didn’t know what to do with all the dark, fearful shit that was swirling round in my head. If I hadn’t found an outlet, I would have exploded like a firecracker.” - Laurie Lipton

Inspired by the hyper-realistic paintings of the 15th-Century Flemish masters, Laurie Lipton has developed a unique, decidedly painterly graphic technique using a permanent-point pencil. At first glance her drawings look like photographs, upon further inspection many thousands of distinct, precise, cross-hatched pencil-strokes, build up the rich and monochromatic tones. While working exclusively in black and white (“because those are the colours of memories and phantoms” she says) her unsettling and macabre images resonate a slanted psychological realm where rooms are ghost traps filled with yearning souls, secret fears and disturbing memories……

Love Bite - Charcoal and pencil on paper, 137 x 96 cm, 2002

Click here for more info on the artist Laurie Lipton. You might also be interested to read a Beinart interview with Laurie. Follow the jump to see some more of Lipton’s exquisite mastery. more…