Marta Abbott
Gabriela Alva
Claire Brassil
Annika Connor
Tom Costa
Jason Cuvelier
Steven Day
Kerry Dean
Teodor Dumitrescu
Micah Ganske
Tracy Goodman
Chad Griffin
Palden Hamilton
Huber and Huber
Ariane Irle
Melanie Jelacic
Chris Jahncke
Jill Jeannides
Shay Kun
Daniela Mueller-Brunke
Zed Nelson
John Otter
Nicholas Papadakis
Joseph Paxton
Jason Peters
Colette Robbins
Woody Shepherd
Omar Thompson
Jennifer Tull Westberg
James Wolanin
Koichi Yamamoto
Carolina Zorrilla de San MartinMarta Abbott is a Czech-American artist currently based in New York. She was born in Amsterdam to an American father and a Czech mother. Growing up, she spent her time between Connecticut, Prague and Amsterdam but when at home in Connecticut, she could often be found sitting in her mother’s studio, watching her paint. It was not long before she realized her own desire to create. Marta studied in Rhode Island, majoring in Fine Arts and minoring in English Literature. During her time at university she spent a year abroad in Paris where inspiration was constantly surrounding her and her body of work started to take form.
Marta’s work is about experi-mentation with mediums, organic forms, light and texture. She takes great pleasure in examining the repetitive yet always varied shapes created by nature and the countless ways to express that examination on a flat surface.
While oil paints were Marta’s first love, she is currently focusing on work in printmaking and photography.
Marta’s work is about experi-mentation with mediums, organic forms, light and texture. She takes great pleasure in examining the repetitive yet always varied shapes created by nature and the countless ways to express that examination on a flat surface.
While oil paints were Marta’s first love, she is currently focusing on work in printmaking and photography.
Even the biggest cities in the world start to feel small if you've stayed in them too long. Gabriela Alva followed the traveling itch in her foot to New York in 2004, leaving her hometown of Mexico City. Today, she travels throughout the different fields found in the Visual Arts in order to appease that itch, gaining accolades and recognition on the way. Winning a photography competition held by Flaunt Magazine and judged by David LaChapelle was just the jumpstart she needed. Since her arrival in New York, she has been invited to participate in shows like the 7th Year Anniversary Auction for White Box Gallery and has been featured alongside acclaimed artists like Marcel Dzama, Keith Haring, Momoyo Torimitsu, and the 29th Small Works Exhibition, up to her latest contribution in the collective art exhibition "Show me yours" in Toronto, Canada.
Unwilling to settle for the constraints of visual alone, she plays with language, the Flaubert-esque clichés, the turns of phrase, as well as schizophonic cacophonies that flirt with sound and music, appealing to the multisensorial nature of the everyday experience. Anything that floats through her mind, she will use for her own private research, work, and further artistic development. One of her current projects is taking classes at different New York art schools like the School of Visual Arts, National Academy of Fine Arts, and Cooper Union, clearly embracing the different atmospheres that are clearly manifested in her work. Gabriela, finding herself in a different Habitat, is constantly trying to portray everything in this new city that seems similar yet with the slight change in focus and orientation, completely different as she readjusts to her new surroundings.
Unwilling to settle for the constraints of visual alone, she plays with language, the Flaubert-esque clichés, the turns of phrase, as well as schizophonic cacophonies that flirt with sound and music, appealing to the multisensorial nature of the everyday experience. Anything that floats through her mind, she will use for her own private research, work, and further artistic development. One of her current projects is taking classes at different New York art schools like the School of Visual Arts, National Academy of Fine Arts, and Cooper Union, clearly embracing the different atmospheres that are clearly manifested in her work. Gabriela, finding herself in a different Habitat, is constantly trying to portray everything in this new city that seems similar yet with the slight change in focus and orientation, completely different as she readjusts to her new surroundings.
Claire Brassil constructs images that convey an immediate sense of pleasure and impish silliness that upon closer inspection reveal complex psychological narratives. Often situated in scenarios of game playing or childish high-jinx, her figures are engrossed in playful moments paused on the brink deterioration or perhaps disaster.
Brassil was born in Maine and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She received an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2006. She currently exhibits with Kathleen Cullen Fine Art in New York and is an artist-in-residence at the Supporting Women Artists Project.
Brassil was born in Maine and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She received an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2006. She currently exhibits with Kathleen Cullen Fine Art in New York and is an artist-in-residence at the Supporting Women Artists Project.
Annika Connor’s paintings depict a fascination with beauty and decadence. They present the viewer with spaces to exist in, which are both alluring and unsettling.
The paintings are infused with mystery and convey a sense of unbalance. Overall, they seem to be fragments from a daydream, and portray a longing for a time of romance and pleasure.
In 2002, Annika received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she studied painting and philosophy.
Since then, Annika has worked professionally as a painter in New York and London and participated in numerous national and international exhibitions.
Reviews and publication of her work have appeared in Art Papers Magazine, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Creative Loafing Newspaper, C-Heads Magazine, and in many other Internet and local publications.
Annika Connor is Swedish-American; she currently resides in Manhattan where she maintains an active studio.
The paintings are infused with mystery and convey a sense of unbalance. Overall, they seem to be fragments from a daydream, and portray a longing for a time of romance and pleasure.
In 2002, Annika received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she studied painting and philosophy.
Since then, Annika has worked professionally as a painter in New York and London and participated in numerous national and international exhibitions.
Reviews and publication of her work have appeared in Art Papers Magazine, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Creative Loafing Newspaper, C-Heads Magazine, and in many other Internet and local publications.
Annika Connor is Swedish-American; she currently resides in Manhattan where she maintains an active studio.
Tom Costa was born in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. He received a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore Maryland, and an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills Michigan. Tom then returned to Appalachia to further develop is personal relationship with painting in an environment removed from the sway of peers and trends, yet connected to the core of his memory. Tom Lived and Worked in Carbon county PA for 3 years until moving to Brooklyn NY in 2007.
Recently Tom has been riding on a wave of the convergence of architecture, death, modern painting, and religious imagery. It feels damn good to him. He's not going to stop. Tom Costa has shown work nationally and internationally.
Recently Tom has been riding on a wave of the convergence of architecture, death, modern painting, and religious imagery. It feels damn good to him. He's not going to stop. Tom Costa has shown work nationally and internationally.
I was born and raised in a sea of sprawling homes, in what is one of many developing suburbs in Colorado. Soon a shining example of American capitalism forced its way in next door, a mega-mall and the quiet out of the way area became a bustling, jumbled up mess of same minded, boring west coast clones. I had to flee; my refuge was an art school in the heart of a decaying city that never recovered from the loss of American industry – Baltimore. A violent, overall glum and disparaging city, I spent four incredible years being educated at the Maryland Institute College of Art. MICA left an indelible mark; it helped create the open minded, yet distinctly process oriented artist that I am today.
Steven Day is a New York based artist, from Newport Beach, California, who also works in London. Steven received his MFA in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1994, and exhibits his work at Pierogi (Brooklyn). His recent photographic/video projects explores how people inhabit urban landscapes and architecture (e.g. "Cranbrook Estate" 2008-2009, "Night and Day" 2008-2009, "GHOST TOWN" 2007-2009, and Upper City" 2006-2008). He has participated in a series of exhibitions between 2007 and 2008 'Emergency Room' at PS1/MoMA (Long Island City, NY), IIeana Tounta (Athens), and Gallery Taiss (Paris), along with 'A$$TROLAND' at Art For Humans (Chinatown, Los Angeles), 'Pierogi Flat Files' at Art Forum (Berlin), 'Whiteout" at Kinkead Contemporary (Culver City, Los Angeles), and 'Surprisingly Natural' at Wave Hill (Bronx, NY). Steven Day was awarded a Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant for Film and Photography in 2009. Recent publications include his photographs of the US Airways Hudson River crash, distributed by the Associated Press 2009; the Phillips Art Expert Forum 'Exploring modern social housing projects through photography' 2008; International Herald Tribune 'Art on Emergency Situations' 2007; and WNYC New York Public Radio: The Brian Leher Show; 'Where Art and Journalism Collide' 2007.
In this series, Whiteout, Ice-cars (1-24) was photographed in Washington Heights outside his studio in northern Manhattan, during a "Thunder-snow" blizzard. The individual photographs are re-structured in a landscape/grid; each block representing a row, and the cars re-aligned as they were parked on the streets.
In this series, Whiteout, Ice-cars (1-24) was photographed in Washington Heights outside his studio in northern Manhattan, during a "Thunder-snow" blizzard. The individual photographs are re-structured in a landscape/grid; each block representing a row, and the cars re-aligned as they were parked on the streets.
Kerry Dean lives and works in London. After studying Photography at London College of Printing she spent the next few years assisting high profile Fashion and Portrait Photographers.
She currently spends her time shooting mainly Fashion and landscapes and is also working on ongoing personal projects.
These pictures were exhibited in her first solo show, "The emptiness of a land with no fences" which was held at The Muse Gallery, London in July 2006.
The prints are part of a limited edition, which have also been published in various magazines.
Her Mongolia project consisted of a two month trip to this beautiful vast country. There she worked on a project involved in the release of Przewalksi horses into the wild, she travelled thru Mongolia, capturing the life of these nomadic people, on an amazing journey.
Her work can be seen on www.kerrydean.co.uk
She currently spends her time shooting mainly Fashion and landscapes and is also working on ongoing personal projects.
These pictures were exhibited in her first solo show, "The emptiness of a land with no fences" which was held at The Muse Gallery, London in July 2006.
The prints are part of a limited edition, which have also been published in various magazines.
Her Mongolia project consisted of a two month trip to this beautiful vast country. There she worked on a project involved in the release of Przewalksi horses into the wild, she travelled thru Mongolia, capturing the life of these nomadic people, on an amazing journey.
Her work can be seen on www.kerrydean.co.uk
I was born in Romania in 1980, before the fall of the iron curtain. My family and I escaped Communism and immigrated to the United States in mid-1980's which shaped some of my earliest memories. In 2002 I received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where my work developed around the broad theme of old and new world nostalgia.
For the most part my work deals with utopist visions, loss and isolation. The images are usually nostalgic in a very literal sense. The word nostalgia is derived from the Greek nostos, meaning "return home," and algia, meaning "pain." The stories run the gamut of human emotions and endeavors implicitly referencing an irrecoverable or fictionalized past. The individuals, objects, and locations have been trudged over by the current of history.
They are the victims of circumstance, human depravity, misuse, war, politics and rebellion. The stories are also of anonymous antiheroes, political, and social misfits cut down in their youth or abandoned in their old age.
Despite all of the above the work is not meant to be depressing. I attempt to make the images as attractive as possible. They show that in hindsight, we can find beauty and wonder in the most desperate of moments and the most obscure places.
For the most part my work deals with utopist visions, loss and isolation. The images are usually nostalgic in a very literal sense. The word nostalgia is derived from the Greek nostos, meaning "return home," and algia, meaning "pain." The stories run the gamut of human emotions and endeavors implicitly referencing an irrecoverable or fictionalized past. The individuals, objects, and locations have been trudged over by the current of history.
They are the victims of circumstance, human depravity, misuse, war, politics and rebellion. The stories are also of anonymous antiheroes, political, and social misfits cut down in their youth or abandoned in their old age.
Despite all of the above the work is not meant to be depressing. I attempt to make the images as attractive as possible. They show that in hindsight, we can find beauty and wonder in the most desperate of moments and the most obscure places.
Micah Ganske was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1980. In 2002 he received his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Post-Baccalaureate certificate from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2003. In 2005 he received his MFA in painting from the Yale School of Art. In 2005 he was the recipient of the Adobe Design Achiement Award in Digital Photography at a reception held at the Guggenheim Museum in New York where his work was also displayed. His work has been featured in exhibitions at Deitch Projects, and Alona Kagan Gallery in New York, NY, the John Fonda Gallery in Baltimore, MD(2003), the Zola/Lieberman Gallery in Chicago, IL(2003), ArtSpot in Atlanta, GA(2003).
We only truly know something through its absence. My work seeks to render the experience of absence and incompletion in a tangible way. A spontaneous paint spill and its subsequent laborious removal... Paint spilled on felt. The spill is meticulously cut out excepting the edge of the paint. The viewer sees the lingering evidence of an exacting cutting process, through the remaining paint and felt, and becomes aware of the negative space left on the wall. The absence of the paint becomes more palpable than its actual presence. According to Lacanian theory, the symbolic phase is the final stage of development where ultimately we all live. Language becomes a necessity as a way of trying to bridge the gap of incompletion, created by the knowledge of separation between “self” and “other”. The making of my work is a way of bridging this gap, it is akin to the need for language to verbally describe it.
Born in North Carolina, Chad Griffin moved to the American Southwest as a child. After squandering his youth on books, he earned his degree at the University of Arizona. He then departed the dusty heat of the desert for the life of the poet.
Afflicted with a thirst for experience Chad became an adventurer, exploring from Africa to New Zealand to South America. A three month trek through Patagonia brought a second education amid the windswept glaciers where his love of travel metamorphosed into a specific passion for extremes--a life embracing the dichotomy of raw physical nature and the constructed city.
Today he still avoids conformity, taking refuge in a life focused on creativity. He strives for vitality in his painting and relies on mountaineering for perspective.
Afflicted with a thirst for experience Chad became an adventurer, exploring from Africa to New Zealand to South America. A three month trek through Patagonia brought a second education amid the windswept glaciers where his love of travel metamorphosed into a specific passion for extremes--a life embracing the dichotomy of raw physical nature and the constructed city.
Today he still avoids conformity, taking refuge in a life focused on creativity. He strives for vitality in his painting and relies on mountaineering for perspective.
Palden Hamilton was born in 1980 in Baltimore, Maryland. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2002, and went on to study traditional representational painting at the Art Students League of New York. There he studied under the acclaimed portrait artist Ron Sherr, receiving a Merit Award scholarship in 2003 and the 2004 Phyllis Mason Grant for excellence in figurative realism. In 2004 he returned to his native Maryland to paint the people and countryside of his hometown, where he is currently working as a portrait artist and freelance illustrator.
The twins Markus and Reto Huber born 1975 in Switzerland, they live and work in Zurich.
Huber.Huber work in different media, the main focus is in art on paper, installations and sculptures.
Huber.Huber graduated in 2005 from the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Zurich. In 2006 they won the Julius Baer Cultural Prize and a grant from the city of Zurich for a residency in New York (2006–2007). They have recently shown 2005 at Bob Gysin gallery in Zurich, 2007 at the new project room “suzie q” from Bob Orsouw gallery / Schöttle gallery in Zurich and at the C. G. Boerner gallery in New York.
Their work will be featured in the publication Project PILOT:3 produced by pilotlondon for the Venice Biennale 2007.
Huber.Huber work in different media, the main focus is in art on paper, installations and sculptures.
Huber.Huber graduated in 2005 from the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Zurich. In 2006 they won the Julius Baer Cultural Prize and a grant from the city of Zurich for a residency in New York (2006–2007). They have recently shown 2005 at Bob Gysin gallery in Zurich, 2007 at the new project room “suzie q” from Bob Orsouw gallery / Schöttle gallery in Zurich and at the C. G. Boerner gallery in New York.
Their work will be featured in the publication Project PILOT:3 produced by pilotlondon for the Venice Biennale 2007.
Ariane Irle was born and lived most of her life in Geneva, Switzerland.
She achieved her BFA in sculpture at Chelsea College of Art&Design, London.
During this time she developed an interest in virtual space versus real space, and first approached animation.
She then decided to learn these technologies and is currently completing her MFA in Design&Technonogy at Parsons, New School University, New York.
In my work, I have explored the relationship we have with reality.
On one hand, our understanding of the world from our experience and our visual perception, and on the other hand, our mental construction of the world, from our knowledge, our assumption, and the images and ideas we interact with as we live.
I first approached this subject through the notion of the point of view. I was interested in underlining the viewer’s awareness of his position in space, the point of view from where he sees a subject, and the way it affects the view he has on it. I was concerned in showing the different perspectives we can have on a subject from different physical angles. It was also an illustration of the different mental perceptions we can have on a subject: the fact that two people can have a different understanding of one situation, for example.
In other pieces I wanted to express the idea of loosing certainty. I have taken images/symbols of stable values used as points of orientation for the world, the map of the sky, and famous buildings, to put them in a situation where they suddenly become unstable and fragile.
I am also interested in the way existing images contribute to our mental representation of the world, how we can reconstruct the world (people, buildings, objects, landscapes…) from the images we have of it. And in reverse how we define from fantasy (and not from imitation of existing objects), images of existing objects.
I have approached animation in some pieces because it allows the representation of impossible images. I was fascinated by the fact that, while compromising reality, the virtual space proposes a space where everything is potentially possible: a non-existing space, in which the rules that govern our world (like gravity, time, distance etc…) disappear.
As a medium, animation illustrates the process of imagination and explores relationships between fiction and reality. I also like the idea of exploring, through animation, associations of ideas, shapes and colors, the path from one image to another, and the idea of memory.
She achieved her BFA in sculpture at Chelsea College of Art&Design, London.
During this time she developed an interest in virtual space versus real space, and first approached animation.
She then decided to learn these technologies and is currently completing her MFA in Design&Technonogy at Parsons, New School University, New York.
In my work, I have explored the relationship we have with reality.
On one hand, our understanding of the world from our experience and our visual perception, and on the other hand, our mental construction of the world, from our knowledge, our assumption, and the images and ideas we interact with as we live.
I first approached this subject through the notion of the point of view. I was interested in underlining the viewer’s awareness of his position in space, the point of view from where he sees a subject, and the way it affects the view he has on it. I was concerned in showing the different perspectives we can have on a subject from different physical angles. It was also an illustration of the different mental perceptions we can have on a subject: the fact that two people can have a different understanding of one situation, for example.
In other pieces I wanted to express the idea of loosing certainty. I have taken images/symbols of stable values used as points of orientation for the world, the map of the sky, and famous buildings, to put them in a situation where they suddenly become unstable and fragile.
I am also interested in the way existing images contribute to our mental representation of the world, how we can reconstruct the world (people, buildings, objects, landscapes…) from the images we have of it. And in reverse how we define from fantasy (and not from imitation of existing objects), images of existing objects.
I have approached animation in some pieces because it allows the representation of impossible images. I was fascinated by the fact that, while compromising reality, the virtual space proposes a space where everything is potentially possible: a non-existing space, in which the rules that govern our world (like gravity, time, distance etc…) disappear.
As a medium, animation illustrates the process of imagination and explores relationships between fiction and reality. I also like the idea of exploring, through animation, associations of ideas, shapes and colors, the path from one image to another, and the idea of memory.
Chris Jahncke was born in New Orleans 1972, he studied at the Atlanta College of Art for his BFA and then went on to recieve a Louisiana State Fellowship to study at the University of New Orleans where he recieved his Masters. This year, he was selected for two Biennials both the Louisiana Biennial and Homegrown, a biennial of the entire southeast at SouthEastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA). He also was included in American Obsessive Drawing, an exhibit in Berlin at Volcker and Freunde.
Who or what influences and inspires you? I find that the Google image search has become one of my biggest sources of inspiration. It rarely lets me down.
Do you have an unrealized dream project? (no matter how improbable, absurd, costly, etc. it might seem) I would like to open an art space deep in the swamp, only accessible by boat. I think this space would also have lots of music performances. What is your solution to artist’s or writer’s block? My solution to artist's block is to go someplace new. I especially like long road trips for this. It’s easier to think while driving. I don’t know why.
Who or what influences and inspires you? I find that the Google image search has become one of my biggest sources of inspiration. It rarely lets me down.
Do you have an unrealized dream project? (no matter how improbable, absurd, costly, etc. it might seem) I would like to open an art space deep in the swamp, only accessible by boat. I think this space would also have lots of music performances. What is your solution to artist’s or writer’s block? My solution to artist's block is to go someplace new. I especially like long road trips for this. It’s easier to think while driving. I don’t know why.
Jill Jeannides was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in Lake Forest, Illinois.
Jill has studied at Vanderbilt University and the American Academy of Art in Chicago and in graduate in 200 from School of the Art Institute of Chicago with Bachelors of Fine Arts in Painting, Textile Printing and Art History.
In addition she has attended summer classes in Aix-en Provence, France, and Chautauqua, New York.
In 2002, Jill moved to Vienna, Austria where she produced a short film, Vienna Beef.
Jill has studied at Vanderbilt University and the American Academy of Art in Chicago and in graduate in 200 from School of the Art Institute of Chicago with Bachelors of Fine Arts in Painting, Textile Printing and Art History.
In addition she has attended summer classes in Aix-en Provence, France, and Chautauqua, New York.
In 2002, Jill moved to Vienna, Austria where she produced a short film, Vienna Beef.
If ever you visit her Williamsburg, Brooklyn apartment, you might not know where to look; a royally dressed Infant of Prague doll sits upon a desk next to film equipment, a taxidermied Lesser bird of Paradise overlooks the bed, a cat curls up on top of a terrarium that houses a live millipede and hanging canvases of different degrees of finish are mixed upon her collection of art, insects, and fauna. With the Melanie Jelacic's sculptural and painterly environments create an intimate correspondence between the organic and the man-made, the zoological and the sociological, the historical and mythological, high-art and the every-day. The effect of her work is less akin to the taxonomic order of the contemporary natural history museum than to the Renaissance Wunderkammer, or wonder-cabinet, where the order of oddity prevailed and nature's anomalies were casually but deliberately allied with the marvels of new technology. In discussion with the artist about her art the conversation is deeply rooted in science but always emerges to become emotional and nonsensical. The constant pendulum between fact and fantasy keeps her ideas in motion. In these quixotic private collections, select earthly artifacts were displayed together in relationships that exposed their unlikely likeness and unexpected strangeness. Similarly, Jelacic's materially ecclectic and broadly allusive pieces function like small, personal collections, or curated worlds; in them, familiar methods of knowing produce newly clarifying results, and so-thought well-known objects are endowed with a sense of interior life, at once elegantly unfathomable and imaginatively evocative.
Shay Kun is an Israeli born New York based artist. He earned his B.F.A. at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem (1998), and went on to earn his M.F.A. from Goldsmiths College in London, England (2000). Kun have been showing extensively in the past few years nationally as well as on the international circuit.
The works are an infusion, a hybrid of absurdities. Drawing on the sublime in western culture, capturing the grandeur of nature while acquiring a 'new look'; they are transformed into a juxtaposition of nature and its human invaders, who appear in the guise of adventure seekers. The contrast between these characters and their stylized environment is abrupt and offensively inadequate substitute of noble bearing that filled their place in painting of the past centuries.
The works are an infusion, a hybrid of absurdities. Drawing on the sublime in western culture, capturing the grandeur of nature while acquiring a 'new look'; they are transformed into a juxtaposition of nature and its human invaders, who appear in the guise of adventure seekers. The contrast between these characters and their stylized environment is abrupt and offensively inadequate substitute of noble bearing that filled their place in painting of the past centuries.
Daniela Mueller-Brunke is a London based fashion Photographer. She was born in Namibia, attended her first two years of school in South America and finally grew up in South Africa. She studied Photography in Port Elizabeth, then moved to London where she assisted top Fashion photographers. She started photographing nudes 11 years ago, partly out of fascination for the human body in the landscape and the lonely figure it cuts being stripped naked, partly as a rebellion against growing up in a very religious country with great contradictions in its society and laws and partly out of fascination that others trusted her to take their naked picture. She began shooting her current project a year ago and it is still a work in progress.
London based photographer Zed Nelson was born in East Africa, and studied photography at Westminster University.
After establishing himself as a documentary photographer, receiving almost every major award in that field, Zed Nelson has increasingly moved into portraiture and long-term conceptual personal projects. Through acute social observation, Nelson’s work exposes our own weaknesses, fears and desires, presented in images that are at once both challenging and sympathetic.
His seminal project was Gun Nation, a disturbing reflection on America's relationship with firearms. This work was published as a book, exhibited internationally, printed in magazines worldwide and was awarded the Visa d'Or (France) and awarded the prestigious Alfred Eisenstaedt Award (USA).
Nelson’s work has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, London; Tate Britain Gallery, London; the Kulturhuset, Stockholm; and the Newseum, New York.
He is currently completing work on a new book.
After establishing himself as a documentary photographer, receiving almost every major award in that field, Zed Nelson has increasingly moved into portraiture and long-term conceptual personal projects. Through acute social observation, Nelson’s work exposes our own weaknesses, fears and desires, presented in images that are at once both challenging and sympathetic.
His seminal project was Gun Nation, a disturbing reflection on America's relationship with firearms. This work was published as a book, exhibited internationally, printed in magazines worldwide and was awarded the Visa d'Or (France) and awarded the prestigious Alfred Eisenstaedt Award (USA).
Nelson’s work has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, London; Tate Britain Gallery, London; the Kulturhuset, Stockholm; and the Newseum, New York.
He is currently completing work on a new book.
John Otter was born and raised in San Diego, California, where he began his art career as a printmaker. He then received his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, during which time he was also accepted to the New York Studio Program. While in art school, John transitioned from printmaking to painting and drawing.
His works are primarily abstract, often juxtaposing geometric design with atmospheric colors. Otter's use of color ranges from brooding dark tones to frolicking neon, while his linear designs shift from right angles and repeating stripes to fluid curves and biomorphic forms.
His works are primarily abstract, often juxtaposing geometric design with atmospheric colors. Otter's use of color ranges from brooding dark tones to frolicking neon, while his linear designs shift from right angles and repeating stripes to fluid curves and biomorphic forms.
The works in this ongoing series of metaphorical portrait paintings strive to capture signature moments in the lives of people with whom I’m familiar. These moments - that in a flash of recognition remind us of the individual’s unique charm (often times revealing life-changing states of mind) - are ultimately expressions of universal human qualities.
In my attempt to explore these archetypes through metaphor, I have chosen to represent each vignette as a montage rather than a literal portrait, while still retaining it’s original narrative. By layering imagery culled from the public domain along with my own drawings and photography, it is my intention to introduce as much shared reference as possible: creating a portrait that is both familiar and yet not.
In my attempt to explore these archetypes through metaphor, I have chosen to represent each vignette as a montage rather than a literal portrait, while still retaining it’s original narrative. By layering imagery culled from the public domain along with my own drawings and photography, it is my intention to introduce as much shared reference as possible: creating a portrait that is both familiar and yet not.
Joseph Paxton grew up in Wales surrounded by farmland, where from an early age he developed a close interest in the animal world. He graduated with a BA Hon’s in fine art from Newcastle University in 2005. He currently lives and works in London.
His work takes the living energy of the animal and expresses it through a representation which becomes a living entity in itself. Though figurative, the work is not intended to be completely anatomically accurate; muscles and limbs are often depicted in such a way as to exaggerate a characteristic of the animal.
He attempts to create a more confrontational interaction between the viewer and the work by producing his pieces on a large scale. Life size sculptures of hounds instantly take on a much more real and threatening dimension.
Another way of expressing the physical behavior of the animal is through the use of materials. Quick application and a wide variety of spontaneous and bold marks transfer his energy into the work giving it vitality and flow of movement.
The artist wishes the viewer to feel that they are sharing the space with the animal. To create a work that bridges the gap between being in the presence of a living force and a three dimensional image is his main aim.
His work takes the living energy of the animal and expresses it through a representation which becomes a living entity in itself. Though figurative, the work is not intended to be completely anatomically accurate; muscles and limbs are often depicted in such a way as to exaggerate a characteristic of the animal.
He attempts to create a more confrontational interaction between the viewer and the work by producing his pieces on a large scale. Life size sculptures of hounds instantly take on a much more real and threatening dimension.
Another way of expressing the physical behavior of the animal is through the use of materials. Quick application and a wide variety of spontaneous and bold marks transfer his energy into the work giving it vitality and flow of movement.
The artist wishes the viewer to feel that they are sharing the space with the animal. To create a work that bridges the gap between being in the presence of a living force and a three dimensional image is his main aim.
My installations investigate the relationships of actual space, environment and materials with the viewer's inherent and often programmed opinions of them. My goal is to challenge intrinsic perceptions by suggesting that the objects of our reality are not always what they seem. I use found objects because they help redefine prescribed meanings and values, especially when assembled into entirely different structures. The question I want the viewer to ask is, "Are these familiar objects just as recognizable when serving an entirely different purpose? And just as important, does their transformation modify their value?" In the instance of 110 used tires reconfigured on the surface of an 12-foot sphere, the viewer is challenged to assess the evolution of the tires from once functional objects, to castoffs and the substance of a structure, whose existence within a functional space is itself transient. Equally significant is the alteration of the space in which the "new structure" is installed. The installation creates a chaotic moment that appears to be a natural occurrence and thereby tests the pre-existent purpose of the space. People encounter such installations as a speed bump in their perceived reality. Once the installation is removed, the memory of that "bump" is a lingering consciousness of the limitations we impose when restricting reality to face value alone.
Colette Robbins was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1980. She received her Bachelors of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2003. She has been included in group shows at the Center for Art and Culture in Aix En Provence, France (2002), the J. Bank Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland (2002), the Mount Royal Station Exhibition Space in Baltimore, Maryland (2003), the at Buff Space in Brooklyn, New York (2003), Parson’s the New School for Design Exhibition Space (2005/2006), and an upcoming group show Slow Dance at Heidi Cho Gallery in Chelsea (February 2007). She will be graduating with her Masters of Fine arts from Parsons the New School for Design in May 2007.
Woody Shepherd was born March 17, 1980 in Greensboro, NC, though lived most of his childhood outside Birmingham, Alabama. He obtained a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (2003), with an emphasis in painting and drawing, and a MFA from Yale University (2005) in painting and printmaking. Since 2005, Shepherd has lived in Logan, Utah, where he is an assistant professor of painting and drawing at Utah State University. Shepherd's studio is based in Logan, where he continues to work on his paintings.
Omar Thompson, of Miami, Florida currently teaches Ceramics and Humanities at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida. His portfolio and art interest cover the mediums of Ceramics, Mixed Media, Computer Graphics, Cast Resin Sculpture and Digital Photography. His work is inspired by historical, political and social movements on the worlds stage with the aim of increase awareness and hopefully change.
Jennifer Tull Westberg was born in 1968 (year of the monkey) on Long Island, NY and currently lives and works in NYC.
While studying at the Rhode Island School of Design (BFA Painting1990) she developed a mixed media style of portrait painting and began her experiments with sculpture and photography. Since then she has combined these three disciplines to create significant bodies of work.
Growing up the child of two teachers, a musician father and historian mother, she was consistently encouraged to express herself artistically. Children and dolls appear often in Jennifer's work as foils reflecting recurrent themes of physiology/physicality, nature's elements and magick.
She is a toy prototype fabricator by trade and is in the process of creating a line of organically sculptural jewelry.
She has exhibited work in galleries and various spaces in NYC and Providence, RI.
While studying at the Rhode Island School of Design (BFA Painting1990) she developed a mixed media style of portrait painting and began her experiments with sculpture and photography. Since then she has combined these three disciplines to create significant bodies of work.
Growing up the child of two teachers, a musician father and historian mother, she was consistently encouraged to express herself artistically. Children and dolls appear often in Jennifer's work as foils reflecting recurrent themes of physiology/physicality, nature's elements and magick.
She is a toy prototype fabricator by trade and is in the process of creating a line of organically sculptural jewelry.
She has exhibited work in galleries and various spaces in NYC and Providence, RI.
American Artist James Wolanin has attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City and is also a graduate of the duCret School of Art where he graduated Cum Laude in 1999. He developed his unique approach through studying and experimenting with different styles, including Cubism, The Russian Avant Garde and Urban Street Culture. These early influences can all be found in the Artist's work.
"Composition and color are the building blocks to one of my paintings," says the Artist, "To me, Realism is a means to an end. Pushing past the boundaries of Realism is something I challenge myself with everytime I paint. I am costantly propelling my work toward exciting new places for the viewer and me." As James Wolanin's art mutured, the Artist's work began to evolve into a simplified more graphic style. "I started to become more interested in the human figure, but not in a traditional sense. I began to see the figure in an elementary manner, I realized that even if the face is broken down to it's most basic of forms, it still conveys emotions. While I was exploring the human figure, I also began to experiment with language. I single word or phrase added to a piece can be very powerful. A visual poem, an extra element that forces the viewer to contemplate different meanings of a particular painting."
"Composition and color are the building blocks to one of my paintings," says the Artist, "To me, Realism is a means to an end. Pushing past the boundaries of Realism is something I challenge myself with everytime I paint. I am costantly propelling my work toward exciting new places for the viewer and me." As James Wolanin's art mutured, the Artist's work began to evolve into a simplified more graphic style. "I started to become more interested in the human figure, but not in a traditional sense. I began to see the figure in an elementary manner, I realized that even if the face is broken down to it's most basic of forms, it still conveys emotions. While I was exploring the human figure, I also began to experiment with language. I single word or phrase added to a piece can be very powerful. A visual poem, an extra element that forces the viewer to contemplate different meanings of a particular painting."
Koichi Yamamoto was born in Osaka, Japan. Studied printmaking at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon, Bratislava Academy of Art in Bratislava, Slovakia, Poznan Academy of Art in Poznan, Poland and University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
He has taught at Utah State University between 2000~2006 and currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Delaware. He has exhibited works in Poland, Slovakia, Slovania, Bulgaria, India, UK, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Canada and the US.
He has taught at Utah State University between 2000~2006 and currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Delaware. He has exhibited works in Poland, Slovakia, Slovania, Bulgaria, India, UK, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Canada and the US.
Spanish born, award-winning fine art photographer, director, cinematographer Carolina Zorrilla de San Martin has, for the past 15 years, traversed the globe capturing the evocative images of pregnant women and their birthing rituals for her joint documentary and book project Expecting the World. Zorrilla de San Martin's work signals an evolutionary sociological change in the way pregnancy is portrayed in the western hemisphere.
From the most sanguine, whispery-soft expression of femininity in her maternity photos,
Zorrilla de San Martin next segues to Art in the Shadow of Death, a pictorial-cum-documentary film that manifests the ultimate in masculinity. The photographer's images of the adrenaline-laden, gold-spangled spectacle of Spanish matadors in the bullring present a multi-pronged juxtaposition of life versus death, of blood-spattered ghastliness and balletic, life-flushed beauty. Choosing sepia as a hue to maintain cohesiveness in her photographs, the tones remain bountiful—rich reds, glimmering gold's, bold blacks. In capturing such vivid images of matador and bull, Zorrilla de San Martin has managed to elevate what outsiders might consider a controversial sport into one of the highest forms of artistic poetry.
From the most sanguine, whispery-soft expression of femininity in her maternity photos,
Zorrilla de San Martin next segues to Art in the Shadow of Death, a pictorial-cum-documentary film that manifests the ultimate in masculinity. The photographer's images of the adrenaline-laden, gold-spangled spectacle of Spanish matadors in the bullring present a multi-pronged juxtaposition of life versus death, of blood-spattered ghastliness and balletic, life-flushed beauty. Choosing sepia as a hue to maintain cohesiveness in her photographs, the tones remain bountiful—rich reds, glimmering gold's, bold blacks. In capturing such vivid images of matador and bull, Zorrilla de San Martin has managed to elevate what outsiders might consider a controversial sport into one of the highest forms of artistic poetry.
