Secret Still

Silent, tense, cataclysmic. I made a list of adjectives to describe Rob Voerman’s paintings and those three topped the list. It won’t take you very long to figure out why. Voerman’s work seems like a film without dialogue where strange factories belch out destruction; you can almost hear a single violin sawing back and forth on a high sharp note, increasing the tension second by second. With such a strong sense of mood, I was pretty much smitten from the first glimpse. I actually felt myself getting a little frantic just from looking through each piece. I don’t know how to describe any better than the three words at the beginning of this post, so I won’t try.

Rob Voerman

French inksmith Bruno Leyval’s work has given me a whole new respect for ink as a medium. Not that I was lacking in the first place, but he’s moved it up to some superhuman schema. Combining ink, a little spraypaint, and what I’m gonna guess is coffee or tea, Leyval creates his grungy, dripping, high contrast work. Almost all of his pieces are portraits, leaving that term pretty loose, and most of them feature strong figures from the history of the black community. It’s something about the looks they have on their faces that moves Leyval’s work from just ink mastery to real, poke-you-in-the-feelings art. Apparently I need to learn French, because those smooth talking cats are coming out swinging lately.

Bruno Leyval

I saw that Chris Dent had described his work as information rich. I would probably nominate that as the understatement of the year. Every one of his illustrations is so saturated with linework that it makes my eyes shake a little. No, seriously. The long term effects of LSD are real, kids. But Dent’s linework isn’t the only reason that he’s highly sought after so early in his career. He also captures some part of the essence of whatever place he illustrates. From all of his work there is an understanding of the city and its movement. It’s drawn from the city not of the city. Or maybe I’m reading too much into things. I do that sometimes. Here’s the best thing though: I could look at a piece of Dent’s work all day and still not read everything there is to see.

Chris Dent

I’ve heard of Punchgut. I’ve seen plenty of his work. Why then have I not shared the genius with you? I don’t know. Why are you always asking me questions? How does that feel? I didn’t know that he was so close to The Drive-By Truckers, so that brings us a little closer since I was an Athens resident for so long. I’m not sayin’ I’m packing up to move to North Dakota to start a group shower with the guy, but we’ve got some shit in common. Another thing we have going for us is that I really like his crazy ass work as well as his not crazy ass work, and he really likes making it. Anything beyond that really doesn’t matter. Find out all you need to know about the art of rock on his site.

Punchgut

Beauty inspires me. And I report about what inspires me. It doesn’t have to be some grand scale, awe inspiring majesty or anything, as long as my mind grapes spark when I see it. KOMA, the online portfolio of Andy J Miller started a couple of brushfires in my right brain. There isn’t an assload of work on there so far, but what there is has lots of tiny little details that I’m really feelin’. Welcome to my brain, Andy. Take your shoes off, make yourself comfortable. You want some grape juice or something?

Andy J Miller

It’s always a surprise to me when I come across an artist whose work I like, and then while reading their bio I find out they live on the same tiny island that I do. Weird. Proximity aside, I liked Jorge Mascarenhas’ work before I even knew we were residents of the same city. His painting style is smooth and evocative in a good post-impressionist style, and his subject’s complexity comes from their interactions and expressions rather than from the whole composition. All of his images seem like they’re viewed through some soft, Mediterranean light and distilled into a moment caught in time. They could go on forever just the way they are. It’s painting for quiet, French jazz.

Jorge Mascarenhas

It’s probably not a coincidence that Jason Shawn Alexander, in his bio, mentions the Blues, and that when I first saw his paintings I immediately got a Muddy Waters song in my head. Alexander’s work just looks like it hums along a sweaty slide guitar chord, singing its pain and prosperity through a haze of smoke. You can tell that something bad is happeneing to or around his subjects, but also that they’re just people so it can’t be bad forever. His gritty, drippy, and dark style lends an ominous air, like a fresh grave, and the subject’s poses humanize the whole thing. This is the whole package.

Jason Shawn Alexander

New York artist Jennifer Sanchez is an abstract artist, not because of the visual images that she produces, but because of the concept that she explores through them. She is passionate about space, and what could be more abstract than something that exists intangibly so that the whole universe can exist tangibly. As any Taoist will tell you, it’s the empty jar that most readily serves its purpose, it is defined by what is not in it. Sanchez creates static images that invoke a dynamic space through chaos and curves. For those of you that don’t like to mix your brain with your eyes all the time, her work is also beautifully bright and full of geometry, so it will please the simple aesthetes as much as the blind philosophers. Ok, maybe not blind, but you know, probably bottle cap lenses or something. And just like that I lost the thread of this whole thing.

Jennifer Sanchez

Magnum P.I. walks into a bar, starts making out with Lonnie Anderson on top of a giant Caleco Vision covered in rainbow stickers. Now take that sentence and melt it down into its composite elements, shake those together and pour them across a sheet of smooth wood. This has got to be the process David van Alphen uses when he paints. His work is a golden tan, a crisp new leisure suit, and a gold chain away from actually resurrecting disco. I bet he could bring it back if he chose to use his powers for evil. Lucky for my delicate ears van Alphen has chosen to make paintings to cuddle up with on your giant fur rug. Damn, I can actually hear Barry White growling in the background.

David van Alphen

I could make a whole site devoted to various Flickr users who have incredible photos, but that’s not what I’m after. In fact, I rarely mention Flickr photgraphers because it’s so easy to find them all without my help. Sometimes though I come across a photographer whose work I really dig, and I get the jones to spotlight ‘em. Such is the case with Drew Murray aka diothedog. Drew is a couple of years younger than me, and relatively new to photography, but he’s already built up a nice set of photos. He uses depth of field really well, and has some great light in his shots. He’s even managed to get some good portraits, which are, in my opinion, the hardest part of photography. SHit, he even has abstraction and color on lock. Dude has skills is what I’m saying. Don’t take my word for it, use those pretty peepers of yours.

Drew Murray’s Flickr