Author: Jane Kenoyer

Visual artist Yuni Kim Lang has a fascination with masses of hair and she creates sculptures and photographs from this very unusual medium. The jet black hair contrasts dramatically with with the pristine white tones of these stark gallery spaces. The hair is either physically exhibited in gallery spaces, represented by her large scale photography, or worn by models. Comfort Hair (the first featured work) is a large sculptural wig that was inspired by cultures in history that have preserved hair or obsessed about hair as a symbol of status or wealth. See more after the jump!

On September 15th a giant polar bear puppet entitled Aurora was the main focus of a performance protest meant to raise awareness for Greenpeace’s international day of action and the protection of arctic wildlife. This enormous puppet that weighs close to 3 tons was designed by Christopher Kelly. It was walked through the streets of central London powered by 15 puppeteers and 30 volunteers all who were needed to operate the mechanics of this people-powered puppet. See more after the jump!

Artist Erik Thor Sandberg creates fine oil paintings depicting loosely woven narratives that touch upon dual natures found within the inner human psyche. His compositions are filled with symbolism and carefully crafted to display select vices and virtues to the viewer. See Erik Thor Sandberg’s painted scenes of vice and virtue after the jump!

Californian painter Ho Jae Kim is currently a student at Rhode Island School of Design. As an undergraduate he is busy working on completing the BFA Painting Degree Program. Here is a look at his stormy works on paper done so far this year. These paintings and drawings, that seem to be full of violent outbursts of emotions, take on anthropomorphic characteristics representing subltle hints of lucency drifting in smokey abstracted darkness. See more after the jump!

After after months of hard work artists employed by the French mural company CitéCréation created what could be the worlds largest mural to date. CitéCréation employes over 80 artists who are doing large scale mural projects worldwide. This mural depicting trees, anmiamls, and outdoor vistas was inspired by a local zoo. The mural covers the walls of the Wohngenossenschaft Soldaritaet Coop apartment complex and spans a 5 acre capital city block located in Berlin, German. The artists involved in this project have submitted their work to the Guinness Book of World Records for the title of the largest outdoor mural in the world. See more after the jump!

Artist Nathan James work’s depicts strangely glamorized faces within his oil paintings that melt and flow together becoming detatched from a viable reality. His body of work entitled Creepshow represents popular culture from a more pessimistic viewpoint. In addition to exploring iconography he is interested in depicting the underclass, the forgotten failures found in society rather than the easily accessible imagery of the beautiful and the successful. Although he was born in Canada, James is currently living and working in London. See more after the jump!

Fine artist Yeesookyung creates beautifully deconstructed vases. Yeesookyung learned his art practice from a ceramic master who taught him methods and techniques used to reproduce fine Korean ceramics. Within his work such as Translated Vase he incorporates ceramic trash, aluminum bar, and infuses them together with epoxy covered in 24K gold leaf. Yeesookyung gets the "ceramic trash" from rejected objects that don’t meet the standards of masterful reproductions. See works created from 2002 through 2011after the jump! 


Today we have the privilege of looking inside of Australian-born fine artist Mark Whalen's (better known for his pseudonym Kill Pixie) studio space located in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for his elaborate puzzle and labyrinth compositions that seem to capture the bizarre nature of the human experience and compress it into tightly woven narratives that reflect the artists everyday experiences. His glossy resin-covered paintings are glimpses into meticulously crafted fantasy worlds filled with squirming characters, bold color schemes, and continuous geometric patterns. Whalen was featured here on Hi-Fructose last October for his solo show entitled Portals at Merry Karnowsky Gallery in Los Angeles. Read the full interview after the jump!

Jane Radstrom is a painter from Austin, Texas, who creates figurative double exposure drawings and paintings. She captures expression and complex gestures through layering multiple versions of the same figure in a single setting. Her unique timelapse techniques illustrate movement and become a deeper exploration into her subjects' mannerisms and body language. The expressive marks that make up her paintings are a mix of pastels, oil paints thinned with paint thinner, and a wax medium blended on smooth paper. See more after the jump!

Painter Alejandro Sordi from Buenos Aires, Argentina, creates illustrative pop surrealistic paintings of decadent monsters within unsettling yet humorous narratives. He primarily works with oil and acrylic on canvas and begins most of his paintings with a loose drawing. Whithin these boldly painted scenes that have titles such as The Older Wizard and Octopus Girl, the artist eludes to a larger narrative and the viewer is only allowed to witness a small portion of what seems to be the begining of a grander tale. See more after the jump!

Artist Sophie Ryder’s current exhibition entitled Monumental lives up to it’s name. This exhibition features her wire sculptures of monumental size and is on view through September at the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol. Her sculptural forms, also referred to as wire drawings, are primarily metal skeletons constructed out of wire that are then covered with what the artist refers to as wire 'pancakes' to create the overall body of the sculpture. Ryder's works are inspired by human, animal, and mythological figures and are created in a style that follows in the footsteps of folk art traditions. See more after the jump!

New York based artist Cai Guo-Qiang creates amazing artworks that leave an impact. His bold works have gained him international recognition. He makes site-specific works and incorporates unusual materials. Head-On is one such installations featuring 99 wolves charging into a transparent wall. He is also known for detonating an array of firework explosives that leave an very distinctive residue behind. The residue from the explosions become art artifacts and have been diplayed in prominent museums and gallries around the world. Cai Guo-Qiang primary mediums are gunpowder drawings, explosion events, installations, and social projects. See more after the jump!

A body of work entitled aire was recently created by contemporary artist Angela Lergo. She is a performance artist located in Span who specializes in intrepretive sculpture. The winged feet of aire are made up of ground stone, synthetic resin, oil painting, steal, feathers, and marin salt. This iconic symbol of track and field originated from the Greeks gymnastic games. This same symbol featured here in her aire works once represented the messenger god of Mercury. Her other works depict the human figure, her interpretation of the soul, ritual, and other elements that remind the viewer of the endless complixities of social and technological implications. See more after the jump!

A museum entitled Andy Warhol - Icons was a temporary installation created to house an assortment of Andy Warhol's work. The installation was designed by Portuguese studio LIKEarchitects for the atrium area inside of Lisbon's Colombo Shopping Mall. This configuration was made up of 1,500 gleaming metal paint cans, a reminder of his legendary Campbell's soup cans. The temporary museum became a form of interactive art because it's unique layout, continually changing the guests perspectives as they wandered throughout the cans. See more after the jump!

Controlled Spaces is an exhibition featuring work by artist Mario Wagner. Wagner is curently living and working in Berkeley, California where he has created a large body of new works. These collages are a combination of vintage print media and acrylic paints. Wagner infuses the narratives of his paintings with vast ambiguous landscapes paired with pop color shapes surrounding retro-futurist sci-fi characters. He prefers working with analog methods instead of resorting to the more popular digital techniques that many artists use today. He cuts the printed black and white imagery with scalpel blades and scissors then adheres the images to the painted canvases with glue. His influences include sci-fi fantasy and a fascination with cinema. The exhibition opens at Breeze Block Gallery located in  Portland, Oregon on Thursday, August 1st from 6 to 10pm. See more after the jump!

Hyper-realistic painter Mario Soria lives and works in Barcelona, Spain. He creates celebrity portraits of icons such as Andy Warhol, Woody Allen, and Albert Einstein, on uniquely textured surfaces that appear to be found objects. His paintings are both realistic and bizarre depictions of American pop culture. These works include painted geometric shapes, lines, and other additional elements that are illustrative and bold. The artist uses multiple techniques including the incorporation of brightly colored three-dimensional objects that protrude from the surface of the canvas. See more after the jump!

Anthony Goicolea’s Pathetic Fallacy is a collection of art works that feature black and gray anthropomorphic representation of nature, decay, death and the merging of bodies. These drawings include an array of wildlife such as fish, flies, bird, mammals, trees, and skeletal systems. These graphite and ink drawings are done on large sections of layered mylar and combined with digitally composited photographs. Some of the compositions are visual bouquets of decay which remind the viewer of the impermanence of beauty and existence. See more after the jump!

Los Angels-based sculptor Tim Hawkinson is well known for his fictionalized self-portraits which he's created out of a wide variety of unusual materials. His complex works have often been described as systems, webs of interconected parts that inply some form of function. Most include various components such as woven polyethylene, nylon net, plastic sheeting, cardboard, tubing, latex, and monofilament. Much of the work featured here is from the mid-1990s and can be found at the Ace Gallery in Los Angeles, California. See more after the jump!

Tokyo-born artist Maiko Takeda works with shape, shadow, pattern, and light to create unique art pieces that are a mix of high fashion and art installations. Her series entitled Cinematography showcase the artist ability to use shadow in a completely unexpected way. This body of work is a collection of art that adorne her female models and cast detailed shadows onto the figures. To create the shadows Takeda incorporates silk screen and pierced metal which she has hand drilled thousands of holes into. The resulting shadows depicing cat faces, eyes, lips, and other symboles are worn as jewelry. Takeda is currently living in London where she created her latest work entitled Atmospheric Reentry. The porcupine quill inspired garments in this series are a collaborative effort with fashion designers Louise Bennetts and Nicola Jones. Photography of the work featured in this article is by photographer Byran Huynh. See more after the jump!

Artist Lena Viddo’s paintings are filled with surrealistic symbolism. The portraits she paints depict “big eyed” young girls in extreme situations that revolve around eating and animals. The figures are sometimes draped in severed swan necks or stuffing their faces with raw fish. These illustrations are commentary on both uninhibited consumerism and popular fairy tale stories such as Alice in Wonderland. Viddo was featured at GZ Art Basel, in Basel Switzerland in June of 2012. She spends her time living and working in both New York and Vermont. See more after the jump!

Southern Italian artist Paolo Troilo lives and works in Milan. Troilo’s explosive paintings are created without any brushes and instead he uses only his hands and jars of black and ivory acrylic paints. He consistently depicts himself as the only subject in his work. Troilo states that this change of technique occurred in 2004 when “I did it with my hands because I… forgot to buy the brushes!” See more after the jump!

Belgium artists Aline Bouvy and John Gillis are contemporary artists who worked together to produce an unorthodox body of work entitled The anus, in relation to the penis, the hand, the face. These disturbing and bizarre drawings are a collage of body parts that reference the anus and other private areas of the body. The artists have been working together since 1999 practicing video, painting, collage, and sculpture. This solo show was at Art Brussels, 2013 with Nosbaum and Reding Gallery. Please note that this article may be inappropriate for children and some users. See more after the jump!

Tania Brassesco and Lazlo Passi Norberto are artists who live and work in Venice, Italy. They began collaborating in 2009 on two major bodies of scenography entitled The Essence of Decadence and Fairy Tales Now. Their art is a mixture of fabrication, installation, scenography, photography, performance, and cinema. They meticulously recreate scenes from famous works of art including Dipinto di Vittorio Matteo Corcos’s Sogni from 1896 and Gustav Klimt’s Seated Woman, Resting from 1901. It is remarkable how Brassesco conveys the unique attributes of each figures expression first seen in the original works of art. The team’s close attention to detail, from creating costumes, building sets, and setting up lighting, help to establish these artists in the discipline of staged photography. See the behind the scenes video after the jump!

Laura Spector and Chadwick Gray from Houston, Texas also known as Chadwick & Spector have been collaborating for the past 18 years on an incredibly ambitious project entitled Museum Anatomy of museum artwork painted on human anatomy. This project that encompases museum paintings, body art, and photography, is inspired by a unique love of art history. Their primary focus is on paintings from the 19th century including works that have been stolen. Chadwick & Spector start out by finding historical paintings in storage facilities from museums around the world. Spector paints these famous works of art onto Chadwick's body. His painted figure is immersed into a saturated black background and then documented with photography. The resulting photographs obscure much of Chadwick’s body. This technique sometimes disguises his human form and adds a contemporary twist to the age old craft of body art. See more after the jump!

Illustrator Ramona Ring created eight illustrations for a German magazine called ZEITmagazin. The body of work entitled Surreal Dreams is made up of highly imaginative illustrations that represent sleeping and dreaming in designer beds featured in each drawing. Another body of work entitled ou tópos highlights idilic scenes as well as degraded realities. She found inspiration for her illustrations depicting utopian idealization or dystopian concepts from novels such as English writer Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale and more. See more after the jump!

Artist Dan McPharlin's science fiction machines are delightful miniature representations of analog computers that were considered vanguard technology around the 1950s and 1960s. These tiny replicas are complete with toggle switches, rainbow wires, and manually operated instruments. McPharlin’s idyllic science fiction inspired paintings cover a large range of inspiration. The artist blends neo-classical imagery reminiscent of the American painter Maxfield Parrish with symbolism from the 1970s; the era that Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon poster was created. See more after the jump!

Israeli artist Ronit Bigal creates striking sepia toned digital photography of bodies covered in bold black calligraphy and other delicate ornamentation. In her series Body Scripture II she skillfully captures her subjects, transforming the folds of body parts into sensual landscapes and unrecognizable abstractions that are obsessively filled with Biblical text and other tiny script. Bigal’s work was shown at the Artists House in Tel Aviv in 2010 and is featured on Saatchi Gallery. See more after the jump!

Artist Grace Mikell is a painter who works primarily with oils on wood panel or oils on canvas to create narratives that capture a specific human experiences. These works are very mysterious and yet they seem vaguely familiar much like the sensation of deja vu. Some of her paintings bring to mind snapshots of family photos while others capture what appears to be a private ritual taking place. There is little doubt that her subjects share intimate bonds or are in long-lasting relationships. Although the subjects in her paintings are often engaged in puzzling rituals the figures seem to be drifting in a realm somewhere between fantasy and reality. Mikell is from Florida and just a month after getting her M.F.A. May 2012 in painting from Tulane University she was awarded the prestigious Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant. See more after the jump!

Artist Martí Moreno works with a wide range of materials to construct remarkable incomplete human figures. His series of sculptures entitled The Transience of Existence are shell structures depicting the subjects with purposefully limited visual information. His works are suspended by a wire and are typically made of iron, steel, wire mesh, and nuts. See more after the jump!

Belgium artist Tom Herck recently re-contextualized an abandoned fast food building into what he refers to as a "modern church" called the Unseen Graffiti Project. His core idea behind this “church” is that God or the gods of humankind have been replaced by contemporary television programs. Herck primarily does graffiti and commonly makes large works on streets and walls in Europe as well as on other public places. Much of his graffiti is reminiscent of traditional stained glass windows and the incorporation of this style works seamlessly into the concept of his TV church. See more photos after the jump!