Secret Still

As someone who has been a lover of amphibians and reptiles since literally before I can actually remember anything, I’m not hard to convince that snakes are beautiful. From their fluid movement and delicate texture, to their bright color and silent nature, there’s a lot to be loved about the real inspiration for the word sibilant. So I practically giggled with glee when I found Mark Laita’s collection of photographs titled “Serpentine.” Laita takes amazingly brilliant photos of these incredible animals, capturing their beauty and their character. The execution is simple and elegant and supremely successful. I’d like a giant, full-color print of one of these to put on my wall and stare at, but I will just have to settle for the book that’s coming out in Fall of 2012 like all the other poor schlubs. Fine, that’s fine, I’m gonna turn those pages back and forth until the whole thing falls apart in my hands.

Mark Laita: Serpentine

I’ve got your ass covered.

Come Truise - Brokendate

Fiji Vignette 3/3

Dagdraumar

MK12 ZeroFilm NYC Open

Young Jerks: Mural at the Ace Hotel

Erato - Call Your Girlfriend

Because I’m going to be gorging myself along with millions of other Americans in the coming week, I will just leave you with the work of Laurie Lipton. If you examine every detail of one of her paintings per day, you still won’t be done looking at all of them by the time I come back. Visual feasting is a great compliment to stuffing your belly, so put your eyeball’s fatpants on, piglets.

Laurie Lipton

Or as my dad would say, “Vidyas.”

Black Lips - Raw Meat

Mike “Herman Cain” Tyson

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Two

Com Truise - Brokendate

Apple Galette

Macro Kingdom III

Apparat - Black Water

Communion

Handmade Protraits: The Sword Maker

Just because your last name is the same as a diabolical financial con job, doesn’t mean you can’t succeed in life. Emiliano Ponzi takes a cursed moniker and covers it in delicious layers of illustrative goodness, topped with solid textures, and slow roasted in a mind that loops through visual metaphors like a spider monkey on cocaine. The result is a visual meal that leaves you full, happy, and probably ready for a nap on the couch with your pants unbuttoned.

Emiliano Ponzi

Occupy Narnia

20 Hz

Future Proof

Billykirk

I Believe I Can Fly

Baroque.me

World’s First Manned Flight with an Electric Multicopter

Reign of Art

Mobius

Murmuration

And now I give you pictures of people with catfish. You’re welcome.

Catfish

Today’s tomorrow is yesterday’s next week.

Making of the “Holy Flying Circus” Title Sequence

The Adventures of Tintin

Machine

Fott: Better than breakfast

A Handy Tip for the Easily Distracted

Quantum Levitation

Portal: No Escape

When Saints Go Machine - PARIX

Koi

Phantogram - Mouthful of Diamonds

Long time comrade in arms Tessar Lo tipped me to a new solo show he’s opening at Jaski Gallery in Amsterdam. The show, titled The Dying Wishes, opens to art lovers everywhere, or at least everywhere in Holland, on Saturday, October 22. What I love about having been in and around this community for so long is that I’ve gotten to watch artists’ styles change over time, watch their works evolve. Tessar is definitely on of those whose work has evolved, and equally as definite is that the evolution has brought new complexity and depth. There is an odd juxtaposition in that depth, as the compositions themselves have simplified in some ways, like in the representations of the figures, which have slowly become more childlike and primal. This simplification is, however, a source of power for the paintings, similar to Chagall’s work. Even better is that Tessar is still a young man in his prime, and on this track he’s set to become an even greater artist as time goes on. I, for one, can’t wait to see where he goes next. As for where you should go next, the answer is simple: Jaski Gallery on October 22 from 4-7pm. Until then here are some preview images to tide you over.

Mixed Media? Collage? There are so many words that can mean almost the same thing, and things get more and more blurry in some sectors as technology progresses. I have no idea what label to use for Alex Cherry’s work. But I have a lot of adjectives for describing it: chaotic, transitional, dramatic, beautiful, subtle, and powerful. That list goes on and on. So, pragmatically speaking, it doesn’t matter what kind of label is attached to his work, just so long as the adjective ‘good’ or one of its many synonyms finds its way into my brain when I see it. That is definitely happening, so problem solved.

Alex Cherry