Beijing based artist DU Kun incorporates his passion for rock music into his new oil painting series titled “Revels of the Rock Gods”. His works, which just debuted at Mizuma Gallery in Tokyo, Japan, are monumental portraits of rock musicians that appear carved out of mountains, cliffs, oceans, stones, trees and waterfalls. His first profession while he was in art school was as a rock musician himself, and has since frequently demonstrated his musical prowess. The artist began working on his “Gods of Rock Festival” series in 2014, creating the works out of his own experience with rock music. Du Kun often paints the four elements of earth, water, air and fire, and puts them in mysterious atmospheres that creates a mystic, misty air. In one of his early paintings “Who Lit Us”, there are candle-shaped buildings melting in the middle of a city, a horrifying and yet beautiful image just like the rock stars depicted in his Tokyo exhibit. The five musicians’ faces in this series are comprised of Buddhist temples and other traditional Chinese architectural structures, treating his subjects as if they were divine creatures overlooking sacred lands.
DU Kun’s “Revels of the Rock Gods” is now on view at Mizuma Art Gallery in Tokyo, Japan through February 13rd, 2016.
Oil painter and performance artist John Robinson crafts cerebral, wistful, and, at times, humorous self-portraits. His works, often rendered in monochromatic tones, sees the artist donning masks and contraptions that speaks to his current reflections. Elsewhere, he re-imagines moments of art history through his distinct filter.
