Like many artists of their generation, English brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman allude to an incredible amount historical reference in their work. This is particularly evident in a series (aptly) named “Hell” (1999–2000), of which portrays an apocalyptic vision of hell on Earth as war, Nazi atrocities, concentration camps, and mass executions with thousands of miniature figures taken apart and put together again. These were arranged in nine glass cases laid out in the shape of a swastika and later destroyed by the artists. Dinos Chapman is reported to have shrugged off the loss, saying, “We will just make it again… It is only art.”

See more from this series after the jump more…

Self Portrait - 2003. 70 x 60 x 12 cm - silicone, pigment, hair, fabric - Self Portrait is a fully three-dimensional,
but spatially compressed, wall sculpture. It appears distortion-free only when viewed directly from the front.

Evan Perry alongside Aerial #2 - 2006, 269 x 152 x 33 cm - silicone, pigment, hair, aluminum

Evan Penny’s eccentric portraiture transforms the figurative tradition into contemporary observations on the nature of representation. His lifelike sculptures and photographs tantalize us with vivid allusions to reality, while emphatically affirming their fictional demeanor. When faced with one of Penny’s incredible people, we may not believe what we see. - Joe Houston

Working in a similar ‘hyper-realistic’ sculptural style to Ron Mueck,Canadian artist Evan Penny creates some very realistic molded and dye-painted silicone figures, implanting real hair one strand at a time. His figures are mostly head-and-shoulders busts at twice life size or larger. Penny’s technique for these is very similar to artists such as Mueck and other artists who make props for movies; constructing molds for the silicone by modeling clay by hand. These are meticulously-detailed through the painstaking creation of body imperfections such as scars, blemishes - these offer Penny an exploration into human corporeality and fallibility. Interestingly, Penny combines facial characteristics from a variety of sources to create composite portraits. Accompanying photographs (as in the L. Faux series) emphasize the difference between the visual information we believe to be authentic and what actually exists in space. more…

City View , 2003 - Light, Aluminum, Shadow - Permanent display at the 2nd floor of Nanba Parks Tower, Osaka, Japan. Commissioned by Nankai Railways Inc. Description: The numbers scattered on the wall, lit from the right, cast a silhouette of a woman.

Kumi Yamashita’s an extremely fascinating artist from Japan. She works mostly on installation pieces that’re constructed by using a host of obscure materials to trace figures in the most unlikely ways. In it, she questions all our expectations, by challenging our perceptions of predictable relationships between solids and their shadows. For example, on the wall, illuminated by a single light source, we can see an arrangement of numbered 3-d blocks. These appear to be scattered haphazardly on the wall, however, this is certainly not the case. Yamashita has carefully arranged these so that each casts a particular shadow which, when taken with all the other precisely placed objects, amazingly adds up to the illusion of a lifelike form of the human body. Incredible stuff. For more info about her art, visit Yamashita’s site.

Backseat Driver, 2007 oil on board/rearview mirror/air freshner

Honeymoon Sweet | Seeing Red, 2006. Oil on canvas / 11 x 14

Am loving the work of Chicago-based artist Ken Keirns. His bio reads: “Ken Keirns was born on the thirteenth of November. Shortly after that he decided that growing up was not such a good idea. He has always wanted to be an artist, except for that short-lived stunt man period when he was nine.”

From “Hot Babes” painted on board and framed inside Fisher Price Toy TV sets to wickedly designed doors with whores, there’s really no limits to Ken Keirn’s talents. Most of his artworks depict women, spectacularly characterized with long necks and rather large heads. And, more often than not, each female portrayal transmits an array of sensations, in all art flavors: this could be either painting, illustration, sculpture,animation, book or a very beautifully smooth doll.

Keirns’ incredibly diverse artworks are part of Subtext’s “The Witching Hour” exhibition which is on right now, until November 1st. Many of his pieces showcased there, you can see after the jump. Along with some works originally shown at the Hot Babes In Toyland Show 2007, Chicago, IL. more…

He so nearly captures that extra bit, what we call the soul or spirit, that flame inside that makes us ourselves. He takes one to the very edge of the idea of life, calls into question what it is to be a person, what it is to be human. - Marina Warner.

• Ron Mueck

Ron Mueck is an Australian hyper-realist sculptor working in the UK. His incredible sculptures of creepy, grotesque, mottled skin and uncannily gigantic proportional figures have adorned the Millennium Dome as well as Charles Saatchi’s living room for a number of years now. It would be fair to say, Mueck’s one of the leading contemporary artists of today.

His early career was as a model maker and puppeteer for children’s television and films, notably the film “Labyrinth” staring Bowie. Mueck moved on to establish his own company in London, making photo-realistic props and animatronics for the advertising industry. This eventually led him to conclude, “photography pretty much destroys the physical presence of the original object”, and so he turned to fine art, in particular, sculpture. more…

Moist As A Snack Cake

This fiberglass and silicone sculpture is just under 7 feet tall. This was my first real attempt at silicone. I wanted to achieve a true cartoon realism, not hyper real. The silicone is soft to the touch in contrast to the hard fiber glass. Also the combination of flat and gloss finishes is something that I will continue to do from now on… - Colin Christian

• Colin Christian

Pop surrealist Colin Christian creates fantastic, larger than life pin-up girl sculptures. These are made out of fiberglass and silicone and they’re typically around seven feet tall. Silcone by the way, is a very difficult material to use but one that helps Colin achieve his goal of true cartoon realism, a line drawing made flesh. more…