Personal piece - Mixed media - ‘The Halloween Banquet’ / “The Fortune Cookie Hunter”, Mixed media on wooden panel in vintage tin can

Here are a some example pieces by Dutch artist/illustrator Femke Hiemstra, who’s work is currently on display (Through May 3) at the Roq La Rue gallery, seattle (with Travis Louie). Am sure you will agree Hiemstras paintings have an incredibly unique and quirky Lowbrow style that evokes the work of Mark Ryden and Robert Williams. Here is an excerpt from her show:

(Amsterdam) meticulously tight, jewel like mixed media paintings are homes to a dark, lush fairytale land where inanimate objects come to life and frolic with animal neighbors. Gingerbread men hunt for elusive confections, persian cats attended by moths smoke opium pipes, and flowers extract their revenge on insect tormenters. Femke uses typography in her work, using words and phrases from various languages and letters in her paintings to further enhance the narrative while still retaining a playful sense of mystery, or as a visual device to frame in the scenery, as if you were looking at her world through a secret window. Drawing from a range of influences, from firework wrappers to Japanese woodblock prints, Femke’s use of both pop culture detritus and child-like fantasy create a vibrant playground for the imagination, with each piece looking like a cover for a fantastical adventure book, which is left up to the viewer to imagine the story inside. She will be exhibiting 12 original paintings and several drawings.

On her website Femtasia, Hiemstra sells prints, shirts and buttons, and while it all looks to be of excellent quality, I’m most impressed with the button designs. You can see more of Hiemstra’s charming paintings from the show after the jump. more…

Mark Ryden - Allegory of the Four Element, Oil on panel, with art created frame, h: 94 x w: 114.3 cm - 2006

In an attempt to explain the art movement Pop Surrealism, Kirsten Anderson, the owner of Roq La Rue Gallery in Seattle, gives us her perspectives by firstly differentiating between both Pop Surrealism/Lowbrow terms. From a really interesting interview in My Art Space….

“When I first got involved with this movement a decade ago it was called “Lowbrow”. That term was used by Robert Williams to describe his own work and the work of the artists who sort of orbited him. It was meant tongue-in-cheek, but also it stayed in usage because it unapologetically stated that this art was not trying to appeal to overly academic art critics. At the time, I think people involved knew something big was happening but the prospect of this work (with the exception of Robert Williams) ever appearing in museums or scholarly treatises seemed very remote. Now that is very different, this whole scene has become a whole different animal so to speak”.

“In the late 90’s the scene was small and mostly confined to Southern California. Juxtapoz magazine was in circulation and really helped shape what was starting coalesce as a “movement”. Juxtapoz focused on figurative and narrative art with a big dose of cartoony freak appeal, but they also celebrated artists who were outstandingly technically proficient, whether that meant an underground cartoonist or someone like Mati Klarwein or Ernst Fuchs. Being unshackled from what everyone else thought was pretty liberating and allowed a lot of room for artists to work within. Out of this scene came artists like Mark Ryden, Camille Rose Garcia, Glenn Barr, Liz McGrath, Shag, Tod Schorr, and Tim Biskup- all of whom are wildly different yet share some undefinable something that links them. That undefinability has been the main problem with “naming” this scene.”

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Arlequin by Claude Verlinde - Harlequin Stamp on natural vellum of Arches white.
Format 48 X 33 cm. Signed and numbered by the artist.

About Paris-based, Galerie Michelle Boulet:

Since its launch in 1990, Galerie Michelle Boulet has specialised in decorative Trompe-l’oeil easel painting focusing on the best known contemporary artists of this movement, enhanced by works of fantasy, hallucinations, visions and surrealism. Every year, the gallery hosts an average of six solo exhibitions of contemporary artists while also boasting a permanent exhibition featuring selected paintings from former and future exhibitions.- Galerie Michelle Boulet Intro

This post shares with you one of Galerie Michelle Boulet’s favorite French artist: Claude Verlinde. Am quite sure many people reading this post have ever even heard of. In spite of that, I consider him as an undisputed master of visionary art and a Surrealist par excellence genius, really up there with Dali and Magritte. There are a number of reasons I say this, but most point to his innovative, imaginative and technical skills. His highly detailed canvas’ are fantastically loaded with whimsical fantasy type imagery, as as well as more darker portrayals that focus on death.

La déchirure by Claude Verlinde - Harlequin Stamp on natural vellum of Arches white.
Format 48 X 33 cm. Signed and numbered by the artist.

(via CompletelyLost’s Journal)

Visit Galerie Michelle Boulet to see more of Verlinde’s imagery, as well as a host of other fabulous contempory artists work. You might be interested to know prints of Verlinde’s incredible works are available. Some of my Verlinde favorites follow the jump. more…