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Akira Murata

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Akira Murata (Japanese, b. January 1955)



 "As a child,  growing up in Koriyama City, Fukushima, he loved nature in all its beauty, and was happy to be outdoors in the lush nature that surrounded his home. He also very much enjoyed  arts and crafts, creating with his hands, throughout his early years.  After completion of his general schooling, Murata attended Tokyo Zokei University, but left to pursue a more creative career in design. He graduated from Nihon Designer College, specializing in fashion. During this period he won many distinguished awards for his designs including the Grand–Prix NDS Japan Fashion Illustration 1977. Although he was a successful  businessman, managing a fashion goods company in Tokyo, his innate passion for painting inevitably drew him back to the canvas. 

Although his subjects vary, many of his  paintings are  inspired by the natural surroundings of his home town and by the great Impressionists, Monet, Degas and Renoir, 

Since devoting himself to his art, Murata continues to exhibit in both  Tokyo and Paris with numerous  successful exhibitions  for his oils, pastels and water colors.

Murata has always dreamed of owning his own building dedicated to the arts. It would be a place where art lovers and collectors could gather. In June of 2009 his dream,  “Vasenoir” was completed. On entering the building, you can find  his personal atelier (studio) and a charming Parisian style café. The second floor of the building houses a large ballet studio.


The beautiful paintings of Akira Murata are in private collections worldwide and 2012 marks the year his superb art became available for acquisition in the United States."

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Women








Landscapes





Olga Noes

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"Floating down a lazy river of beautiful women and acid encrusted dreams, Olga Noes was hatched as the godchild of filth in a sweeping east Tennessee town located on the outskirts of mischief.  Her most prolific hobbies include routine beer drinking, solo dance parties and the ritual of dousing the divine with the atrocious, using pencils and paintbrushes as the viscosity."







"I'm a self-taught portrait artist by trade, with my primary fuel for creativity being juxtaposition.  The marriage of beauty and tragedy is uniquely appealing to me in prose, paint and life in general.  I aspire to join these two components in all my work, primarily using the female form and portraiture as my medium."

Olga Noes






Erin Fitzpatrick

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Erin Fitzpatrick, graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, began her current series of portraits in mid 2008. Originally entitled Baltimore Portrait, this body of work now contains nearly 100 paintings and drawings of notable artists, musicians, business people, and Fitzpatrick’s peers. She views this project as “people collecting,” as it is as much about meeting and documenting new subjects, as it is about the paintings themselves. Exhibiting extensively in solo and group shows, she has gained collectors throughout the United States and in Europe. With no foreseeable end to this project, Fitzpatrick looks forward to adding many new people to her visual network.









Work
Professional Experience
2001-06 Art Educator, Landsdowne High School, Baltimore, MD
2012 (forthcoming) Visiting Lecturer for private collectors, London, ENG

Education
1999 BFA, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
Graduated Cum Laude
2001 K-12 Certification in Art Education, Towson University, Towson, MD
2004 Coursework in printmaking, School 33, Baltimore, MD
2006 Coursework in Apparel Technology and Flat Pattern Design

Residencies
2011 (forthcoming) Vermont Studio Center 


Katie Wilson

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Katie Wilson received her degree in fine art at the University of NH and worked as a graphic designer for a number of years while she continued her studies in painting. 

Katie has shown her art in the northeast and west coast of Florida. Her mixed media paintings have an abstract quality which is partly achieved by her bold brushwork that retains a certain softness and through the collage lending itself to make abstract passages in the paintings. Katie’s choice of palette tends to give her work an atmospheric and serene feel. Her work has been described as solemn, wistful and haunting.

“Working with collage pushes me to be more innovative. It allows me to put down color, pattern and texture where I wouldn't have otherwise with any other medium. I am intrigued by the imagined drama or peace of a past moment. My desire is to translate that moment through my own interpretation of the subject’s inner person by creating the drama and mood with color, texture and facial expression.”

Katie Wilson has received awards for her mixed media work and was one of those featured to represent one of the top ranking Fine Art and Design Shows in the New York Metropolitan area. She paints full time in her studio in Rockport, ME and displays her work in Beech Hill Gallery located on Route 1 in Rockport.


















Tonja Sell

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I was born in rural northern Wisconsin, studied at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & 
Design - MIAD and received the Regent Scholarship at Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ. 
My repertoire includes drawing, painting, ceramic and metal sculpture, glass-blowing and fusing 
textiles and more. 

The Pre-Raphaelites, Impressionists, Expressionists as well as my very creative and supportive 
parents are among those who have influenced my work. 
'I was creating something all of the time as a child, my parents gave me opportunity to explore. 
That is something I am very grateful for. 
I live with my husband Matthew, also a MIAD graduate in the field of Industrial Design, 
and our four children in the home/studio that we designed and built together. 

While my work incorporates a wide range of media and subject including landscapes and 
natural themes, the female form is a reoccurring focus. Often depicted in a narrative setting. 
'I appreciate work that draws me into someone's experience. A point in time, a moment, that I can become a part of. The human element is important to me. There is inspiration everywhere: a glance observed, patterns of light and shadow created on drapery, texture of leaves on the damp forest floor. An artist is a reporter of sorts, capturing something of personal import and conveying it through unique interpretation to their 'readers.' I love that process. Working it out and making it my own.' 

Though I have been working artistically over the years, I still consider myself an emerging artist. The home-education of our children has been my primary focus. Now that they are becoming more independent I am able to devote a larger portion of my time to my art. 

I am currently focusing on drawing, painting, wool felting and ceramic-glass sculpture. 
'I am devoted to experimentation at this stage of life. I enjoy so many things and there is so 
much to learn. I am excited to see where the process takes me and look forward to the 
journey.'

























Keinyo White

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Keinyo White is a painter best known for his unique and contemporary take on watercolor and portraiture.

White has been working as a professional painter and illustrator for more than 15 years. An honors graduate of the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, he is the recipient of numerous awards for his work.

Considered an extremely versatile artist, his watercolors, oils, collages, and commissioned works are sought after by collectors, galleries and public institutions both domestic and international.


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Kathy Jones

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"I was born in San Francisco and educated at Stanford University. My work is greatly influenced by my experience as a Californian, and by the affinity I feel for the Bay Area Figurative painters. My paintings are about silence, solitude, space, and shadows—about the moments between actions. I paint people waiting, or gazing, or pausing, or moving from one place to another.

"The surface of the painting is as important to me as the image. I am always experimenting with surfaces and textures. I explore color relationships and the unexpected juxtapositions that happen while painting: the surface of the painting and layers of paint must be rich and exotic, the colors luminous and mysterious. I pull colors up– push them one against the other and look for places where the colors make the most of each other.

"I never know where a painting will end up. The backgrounds and moods emerge and change as the work progresses. My goal is to create paintings that are challenging and provocative. My hope is that people who see my work are moved to bring their own history to the painting and to tell their own stories."

Kathy Jones





PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Art teacher, Cairo American School, Cairo, Egypt
Art teacher, Laguna Beach School of Art and Design
Art teacher, El Dorado School, Orange, CA
Vice Chancellor, University of California at Irvine
Vice President, Georgetown University

EDUCATION:

BA, Stanford University
Washington Studio School, Washington D.C.
















Ana Teresa Barboza Gubo

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Something different!








ana teresa barboza gubo (24 febrero 1981)


Formación académica

-Especialidad de pintura en la facultad de arte de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (1999-2004).
-Curso de patronaje en la escuela Mod’Art Paris (octubre-diciembre 2007)
-Curso de patronaje en la escuela Sofía Cenzano (2009)






Concursos y premios

2010
Primer premio en el II Concurso Nacional de Pintura del Banco Central de Reserva del Perú. Lima

2006 Primer premio en el IX Concurso de Artes Visuales “Pasaporte para un Artista”. Organizado por la Embajada de Francia. Lima

2005 Mención honrosa en el III Concurso de Arte Joven en Miraflores. Lima











Experiencia laboral

-Diseñadora de la marca de ropa y accesorios ANAT. (2005-2011)







Rogelio Manzo

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"For Rogelio Manzo, the practice of portraiture is more than a way to capture a likeness. His darkly compelling images of the human figure reflect a blend of cultural influences--as well as an underlying concern with the fragility of life. The artist, who moved from his native Mexico as a youngster, first settled near relatives in Reno, Nevada, then found his way to Sacramento, where he still makes his home. "I really liked it there... it actually reminded me of Guadalajara," says Manzo. "It wasn't too big, or too small. It was perfect."

Returning to Mexico after completing high school in Nevada, Manzo studied architecture while simultaneously making an informal study of painting. But he found architecture "too strict." In the following years, he brought his architectural and drafting skills to play--working in that field to earn a living--until eventually, he made the welcome discovery that full-time commitment to his passion for art was in fact a viable career choice.

Manzo's brush with architecture inadvertently yielded his unusual choice of materials--resin panels designed for use as interior wall treatments. He first manipulates the panels, sanding and preparing them to accept transfer images as well as paint, and adding layers of silk and other fabric. He has experimented with a variety of materials, eventually hitting on a combination that allows a light-infused and reflective surface to mitigate the dark imagery.

While his early paintings were more in the realm of Magic Realism, he became fascinated with the human face. "It's the first thing we see in the morning, of our loved one, of ourselves, everyone..." he says, adding "I went to portraiture because... I wanted to explore who we are, as the human race." Manzo's work is gaining recognition; after shows in Sacramento and San Francisco, and several art fairs, the artist will have work included in a show at Lancaster Museum of Art & History, "The Contemporary Figure: Past Presence," as well as a solo show at Jack Fischer Gallery in San Francisco, both this fall.

Many of his works combine elegance and decay, "About a year ago I was getting ready for a show in Sacramento and I started painting models from magazines. They're always so perfect, with the make-up, and the lighting... then you go outside and you don't see them, you wonder where are all these people?" Renzo (2011), for example, portrays a brutally handsome man in a crisp striped dress shirt and dark jacket incised with a geometric grid. While his appearance might suggest the elegance and poise of an actor or fashion model, we are startled by distortions: a bent nose, too-full lips and bruise-like discolorations of skin. Where eyes might reveal personality, we find instead empty space where paint has been scraped off.

The artist freely admits his imagery skirts the macabre. While we might be shocked or disturbed by the work, the balance between horror and beauty seduces us in, like a spine-tingling movie giving us goose bumps that are somehow, ultimately pleasurable. Manzo also has a deeper message underlying the work, drawing attention to the death and injustice surrounding us in the world--things which many of us often prefer to ignore. In addition, his work reminds us of our shared mortality "we are here and we have so little time... when I'm painting a figure that is decaying... it's to remind myself that life is such a brief moment."

Manzo's distorted and flayed subjects share a clear kinship with those portrayed by Francis Bacon, an artist whose work likewise explores dark corners of the soul. Rogelio states he finds inspiration in the work of artists from many cultures, but that his Mexican heritage has imbued in him a strong desire to create work that looks "hand-made. I've seen a lot of work out there that looks so perfectly done, so clean, it looks like a machine did it... but for me, I almost have to have my hand print."

Manzo's work is shown throughout USA, Mexico and Europe, at solo and group shows in comercial galleries, museums and international art fairs, most notably in Dubai at DUCTAC, Lancaster Museum in Lancaster, Galerie C in Switzerland, Jack Fischer Gallery in San Francisco, Muriel Guepin Gallery in Brooklyn, Art Chicago, Art Miami, AAF New York, AAF London, artMRKT Hamptons and San Francisco and Art Toronto Canada."

Barbara Morris










Personal

Born September 1st. 1975
Guadalajara, Mexico

Education

1996-2001 School of Architecture
Instituto Tecnologico de Colima
1998-2000 Escuela de Arte Juan 
Arrua (Juan Arrue Art Academy)
Under the instruction of El maestro
Rafael Heredia , Colima Mexico 
2001-2005 
Diverse drawing, painting 
and sculpting workshops.







Statement
I'm interested in chaos, accident and the harmony and beauty found within. In my work I provoke the accident to later, during the creative process, embrace it looking for reconciliation and homeostasis. I force myself to create then provoke the problem or demolish to then rebuild within it, Is during this forceful battle where I find harmony and beauty. 
...our perception of the world and ourselves is grounded on explicit or implicit agreements in society. I'm instigating this conventionalism and exposing the viewer to a visceral discourse concerned with our own bodily integrity and mortality. 

Process
My approach, is to be as pragmatic as I can be, which has allowed me to discover and merge different materials and techniques. I spent my childhood and younger years in Mexico, when I had the opportunity I used to go visit artisans to their shops, and in my younger years I traveled to some of Mexico's major art crafts producers states like Jalisco, Michoacan, Oaxaca, and the central Mexican valley, there I visited several shops of recognized artisans, and was inspired by the richness of materials and variety of techniques, color and textures they fearlessly use, their passion to make their work look "hand made" has deeply influenced me on what an art piece should look like. 
The process is relatively complex and it has taken me quite some time to be able to understand the materials I use. The pieces are done over resin panels and canvas. On the panels pieces, I use panels that allow me to layer oil paint, image transfers and laser prints or a combination of all, on both the front and the back surfaces to create depth and provide a place for light to play. I work my way through the panels by altering its finish. All this play with back and front of the panel is to try to distort the image and play with the viewer's visual experience. I sometimes, especially in larger pieces, have to cut into little squares the print to be able to handle the transferring process by hand. The face and body are mainly done with oil paint, but sometimes would combine materials here too . I slowly build up a visual effect reminiscent of flesh and bones, through a wet-and-dry-layer-after-layer process, and mixing techniques tendencies of the classic masters like sfumato and chiaroscuro to create drama and a realistic effect. I sometimes would also paint some of the garments on front or back to create additional layers. I'm mostly interested 
in the expression of the piece with a touch of reality to keep my work grounded to it..








Massimo Marano

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"Massimo Marano was born to Monteforte Irpino (AV) in 1956. 
He has been graduated in Industrial Design to the ISIA in Rome and he founded Mastergrafica advertising agency. 
Its artworks are present in many parts of the world, commissioned from private and public agencies.
His painting have a mature artistic personality and a color full of sensation. 
The forms assume new value in contrast between shadows and lights. 
The light create the space and give the form to the bodies, graze or leave them hidden in the shadows.The light brush exalt his paint that acquire a hight emotion value"









"Massimo Marano è nato a Monteforte Irpino (AV) nel 1956. Dopo aver frequentato l'Istituto d'Arte di Avellino, ha conseguito la laurea in Industrial Design all' ISIA di Roma. Dal 1974 ha dedicato la sua attività al mondo dell'arte, dipingendo e fondando nel 1980 la Mastergrafica, uno studio di grafica pubblicitaria. Le sue opere sono presenti in varie parti del mondo, commissionate da privati e da enti pubblici. Opere che rivelano una matura personalità artistica e una sensibilità coloristica carica di umori. 


Ombre e Luci 

Le forme assumono nuovo valore nel contrasto tra ombre e luci. E' la luce a creare lo spazio , a dare sostanza ai corpi, a sfiorarli o a lasciarli nascosti nelle ombre. Le pennellate agili e lievi esaltano i suoi temi che acquistano un valore altamente emozionale.





"L'arte della pittura ha un suo magico mistero, e richiede doti molto speciali.
Molte volte mi sono chiesto da dove provenga quella particolare esigenza interiore di esprimere le proprie emozioni tramite il colore e il segno, in un racconto chiuso e concluso quando si tratta di figurazione, o aperto all'infinito, come accade a non pochi pittori dediti alla ricerca informale.
Una possibile risposta, che mi soddisfa perché esaustiva, mi è stata data da questo recente ciclo di dipinti a olio su tela di Massimo Marano, dedicato a I colori del Blues, dove la musa ispiratrice è l'armonia triste e gioiosa del jazz, amorosamente evocata in questi musicanti di concreta evidenza espressiva.
Per il nostro occhio vigile sono qui presenti molti elementi di tenuta: il nostro maestro di Avellino, in ogni sua composizione pretende tutto da se stesso e risponde appieno a ciò che si richiede alla pittura, secondo i canoni della tradizione.
Massimo Marano, e di questo gli si è grati, nulla lascia al caso durante la suadente stesura del colore, giocato attraverso puntigliosi passaggi, meticolose campiture, grazie alle quali le immagini rimangono magicamente compatte.
Le tonalità cromatiche, eseguite alla maniera degli antichi, sono condotte con occhio vigile e mano sapiente, perché lo scopo principe di Marano è inscenare la luce e l'ombra nel quadro, come ovvietà reale ed esistenziale del mondo dei suoi musicisti, che vivono della luce del suono.
Nel taglio espressivo, egli tiene anche conto della connotazione sociale e psicologica con una partecipazione emotiva, che trasmette le stesse emozioni a chi osserva.
Questi musicisti appaiono in totale simbiosi con i loro strumenti. Sono quindi narrazioni visive che suscitano, attraverso l'apparente staticità della tela, sensazioni di suoni e voci di canto.
Naturale e persino ovvio il riferimento a New Orleans con i suoi locali, con le sue strade, con i dignitosi musicanti di colore: ed è questo il repertorio poetico di Massimo Marano, che egli rende emblematico in una sapiente enunciazione figurativa, che ha una sua classicità nella rappresentazione.
Al centro della ricerca di Marano, l'apporto tematico della musica come prima attrice della pittura è anche lo specchio di un'altra verità, quella esistenziale dell'uomo che riscatta dolore e miseria attraverso la magia di un rito antico e sublime.

Paolo Levi"


Ludmilla Perec

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Ludmilla Perec was born in 1959 in Uzbekistan. Graduated from the State University of Latvia with a degree in theoretical astrophysics. She learned the professional drawing in the studios of artists V.Karkunov and A. Bykov. In 1993 Ludmila graduated from Riga Academy of Arts. Since 1988 she has exhibited her works together with the artists group "Free Art" as well as with other Latvian artists' associations. She has also worked as a teacher. Right now her art works can be found in private collections in USA, France, Italy, Germany, Norway as well as in collections of Norton Dodge, Zimmaly Museum and Jersey City.






Personal exhibitions:

2000. Riga. Petits gallery
2000. Rezekne. The Museum of Culture and History
1999. Riga. Saules Banka
1999. Riga Laiva gallery

Group exhibitions

2000. Riga Petits gallery. Karkunov's pupils exhibitions.
2000. USA. Jersey City. Museum of Contemporary Russian Art. "Women in Russia".
2000. USA. Jersey City. Museum of Contemporary Russian Art. "Twenty years after".
2000. USA. New-York. Russian Embassy - "Young Russia".
1999. USA. Jersey City. Museum of Contemporary Russian Art. "Unknown Russia".
1999. Paris. The auction in Drout hotel.
1999-2000. Riga . Lapa gallery.
1988-1998. Riga. "Free art" group.




Goran Petrač

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Goran Petrac was born in 1961  in Ludbreg.  
Education  -  Academy of Fine Arts 1985 - Prof. Vasilija Jordana














Goran Petrač rođen je 1961. godine u Ludbregu. Na Akademiji likovnih umjetnosti u Zagrebu diplomirao je slikarstvo u klasi profesora Vasilija Jordana 1985. godine.
   Prvu samostalnu izložbu priredio je u Galeriji Koprivnica 1988. godine sa slikama srednjeg i većeg formata na kojima kolorističke strukture i namazi boja pretvaraju figuralnu kompoziciju u poetsko viđenje svijeta, što će ga tematski i likovno odrediti kao slikara krajem osamdesetih i kroz cijelo desetljeće devedesetih godina. U Petračevim slikama možemo uočiti nekoliko tematskih ciklusa koji su ga zaokupljali kao motiv i sadržaj, te problemi koje on sustavno i na specifičan način riješava unutar tkiva slike, dajući joj bogatstvo i uvjerljivost.









Paul Hedley

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Paul Hedley has been painting ever since he can remember, although his style has changed and developed over the years. He was fortunate to have studied at Medway and Maidstone Art Colleges, where he received a thorough grounding in traditional techniques of drawing and painting. With life and art inextricably linked, Paul paints with compulsion, subtly influenced by his environment and daily experiences.  He has always admired the work of the great French painters Edgar Degas and Édouard Vuillard and their influence can be detected, to some extent, in his current subject matter of figures in interiors. Paul is technically masterful as a painter and draughtsman; he works with a limited palette of colours thereby allowing him to emphasis tonal values and relationships within the painting. His paintings are emotionally uncomplicated and unpretentious; they are a distillation of a moment in time. As Degas wrote "Art does not reach out. It sums up."
  
Paul likes to work in natural light, from sketches and photos often listening to classical music. He starts by creating numerous preliminary sketches and when he is happy he starts to lay in tone and colour, generally working in acrylic on canvas. His drawings are produced in a "classical" manner on a toned ground in chalks often combined with watercolour and gouache. 

Paul lived in France for a number of years and currently lives in the south west of England. He is married to the artist Dianne Flynn. Paul has paintings and drawings in numerous private collections and has exhibited throughout the country; he currently exhibits in London, the Cotswolds, Yorkshire and New Zealand.


















"Born in 1947, Paul Hedley was brought up in Chatham, Kent. He attended Medway College of Art from 1966-68, and Maidstone College of Art 1968-71 and was awarded the Diploma in Art and Design. He received a David Murray Landscape Scholarship in the summer of 1971, and was a prizewinner in the 1976 Camden Painting Competition.

His paintings and drawings show his incredible ability to describe figurative form in the context of good quality and exciting compositions.

His work is in the collections of the London Borough of Camden, Queen Mary College and has also been have been exhibited in many major Exhibitions and Galleries, including the Royal Society of British Artists, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, New English Art Club, Hampstead Artists' Council, Bath Contemporary Arts Fair and the Rainer Joniskeit Gallery, Stuttgart."

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more works  here














Olga Volodarskaya-Ishchuk - Ольга Володарская-Ищук

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Olga Volodarskaya-Ishchuk  -  Ольга Володарская-Ищук


She`s a painter, designer, graphic artist. 
Born in Lviv. 
She graduated from Lviv College Decorative and Applied Art the name of Ivan Trush 
and from Lviv National Academy of Art. 
Since 1982 - participant of many exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad. 
In an active four personal exhibitions and over 10 group. 
Works are in private collections of Ukraine, Poland, Germany, France, Britain, Israel, USA, Canada and Latvia.

also here




















Yuri Kuznetsov

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“Develop deep respect to the world
Breathe in the trace of a bird flying by
Gently touch the sky with your fingertips
Place the sky inside you
Then upon your head
Wrap yourself around the earth

Smile without moving your lips
See the whisper, hear the tree
Eat a pear without opening your mouth
Run away beyond the hill while standing still
Say all the words you know simultaneously
Similarly purr all the melodies
Reflect in all the objects at once
This is how paintings are born”  -Yuri



"To look upon a painting by Yuri is to transcend the time, distance, and faith that separate us. When face to face with one of his works, the possible oneness of the world is painted clearly for you across his canvas in vibrant reds, yellows, blues and greens. And, for one brief moment, all the chaos that is our modern way of life slips away and you are smiling.

Yuri Kuznetsov was born in Almet’evsk, Russia and as a child would visit his mother where she worked as a college professor of the arts. The cans of multicolored paints available to his mother’s students fueled Yuri’s imagination. Like may Russian artists, Yuri’s natural talents were apparent from an early age and those talents were nurtured. Being drawn to clean lines and precision, Yuri dreamed of becoming an architect. However, in his last year of high school, the artist within him took control of his destiny and he took the path of a painter. At the highly acclaimed and renowned Mukhina Art Academy in St. Petersburg, Yuri and fellow students were encouraged to develop an individual style to make their mark in contemporary art and in 1986 Yuri graduated.

During 1990 through 1998 Yuri exhibited with a group of young professional artists and poets from Sochi. They called themselves the “Guild of the Beautiful” and traveled to cities throughout Russia and Germany. Setting up in museums, galleries, theaters, even on the street if they had to, they coordinated more than 40 shows over the course of their nine years together. Their hope was to open the eyes of those who love the arts end even more so, those who do not and create a greater appreciation and insight of contemporary Russian art.

In 1998 Yuri came to United States for the first time under the auspices of the “People to People International Art Ambassador Program.” It was People to People’s aspiration to bring individuals together form across thousands of miles in the name of a common passion. As a winner of the competitions Yuri was invited to USA to Northridge College in California to participate in the event. Yuri participated in more then thirty exhibitions in Sochi, Krasnodar, Moscow, Ludwigshaffen, Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Aspen, Telluride, Santa Fe. His works are in private collections throughout the world, including Sweden, Great Britain, Holland, Germany, Japan, France, Australia, Finland and more.

With colors and patterns appealing to our inner child, his work feeds our basic human desire for happiness. Quoting the artist, “ Of all the evils of the world, I choose none, I prefer not to show dark sides”. Instead, the world Yuri depicts on his canvases evokes a sense of paradise on earth, referencing the world of Henry Rousseau. Yuri’s world is beautiful, positive and kind. While Rousseau’s archaic style and grave icons were meant to model the tradition of classical painting, Yuri’s idyllic fantasy exists in a more graphic, simplified reality. Natural enemies of the food chain lie side by side or hold hands. For Yuri, these figures, these characters are touching and sympathetic, and most importantly they are amusing. The edges of their forms are painted in clean lines and their bodies fit together simply like a child’s puzzle.

Also influenced by the surrealists, especially by Rene Magritte, Yuri explores the meaning and relationship between painted and real objects, finding ways to bridge the gap between his reality and that of the real world. Like ancient artisans telling a story on cave walls, Yuri’s characters take all different sizes and shapes. Sometimes these dimensions and profiles suggest dominance amongst the figures; sometimes it suggests reality balanced precariously against caprice.

His Technique: He loves to mix different styles, techniques and textures. He desires his work to look decorative with a touch of humor. Yuri continuously makes small ink sketches and then selects which will be his next subject. He then primes a canvas and redraws the image in pencil on canvas. He makes a layer of modeling paste in some spots, next he paints the figures with acrylic, and later continues the process with oil paints. Applying acrylic under the oil paints gives the surface additional texture and enhances that enigmatic look he likes to achieve.

When asked what mark he hoped to leave in this world Yuri answered plainly, “I haven’t given it any thought.” Yuri wishes to touch individual lives with his work and does not need to leave a message to the masses. Whether it be a long time collector who leaves his work for future generations, or it be passerby who is caught off guard by his light-hearted characters; Yuri wants to bring laughter and happiness to all those that look upon his work. That being the mission of the artist Yuri Kuznetsov, he can safely say he has achieved all that he wishes, for he is scattering joy across the miles and time that is this world, one painting at a time."














Yuri Kuznetsov is a Russian born artist currently living in Southern California. Kuznetsov's work is known and cherished worldwide. The notable works of Yuri Kuznetsov are as follows;

In 1988 Kuznetsov did a one-man show, Desert Ashabad, Turkmenistan
In 1990 Kuznetsov created the guild of the beautiful, a group of traveling artist from around the world
In 1991 Kuznetsov was master of the Third Color Festival, Sochi, Russia
In 1993 Kuznetsov represented Moscow in a one man show and the German Embassy
In 1998 Kuznetsov won the award from People to people international ambassadors’ art program
In 2002 the state of California commissioned a giant mural on the side of the Laguna Beach Post Office.
In 2002-2004 Kuznetsov was a featured artist in the NY Art Expo
In 2006 Kuznetsov was the master of Art for the 30th anniversary of the Telluride Jazz Festival



Ksenia Lavrova - Xenia Lavrova - Ксения Лаврова

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Ksenia Lavrova  -  Xenia Lavrova  - Ксения Лаврова

"At the first meeting Ksenia showed us a portrait of King Philip II: thanks to bright acrylics, it immediately attracted our attention among the rest of the graphics. 'Long time ago the costumes were probably even more brightly, but now we do not have the way to  know it " - says the artist. Ksenia understands costumes: she graduated from the faculty of arts and crafts of the famous St. Petersburg ‘Mucha' academy, where she was engaged in artistic textiles. She even worked with famous designers. But that was long ago, before Ksenia went to The Petersburg State University to study the Chinese language – just for her own fun and interest.So, such an extraordinary person is just not able to do ordinary things. Indeed, Ksenia’s  graphics strikes at first sight  - with precision work, thin lines, bright colors. She draws book illustrations, paints Japanese women with luxurious hair, depicts bright, clumsy Africans and historical figures - of course, in an absolutely correctly detailed suits. Ksenia knows a lot and talks with pleasure about historical figures which were strong characters.














She talks mostly about women: about a Chinese empress, who lived to an old age and set up control over the whole country, or about a wife of an Indian maharajah, in honour of who the famous Taj Mahal was built. Ksenia doesn’t ignore literary characters as well: her old flabby and unsympathetic Don Quixote still charms an audience - with details (the hilt is decorated with nude female figures, a mouse running on a flap of doublet) and with untypical interpretation of the image. Ksenia Lavrova was born in Leningrad, Russia, in 1967. In 1990 she graduated from LVHPU, where she specialized in furniture and decorative fabrics. Since 1994 she has been a member of the Union of Artists of St. Petersburg, the section "Graphics"."

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Gary Nikolai Angelov - Гари Николай Ангелов

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Gary Nikolai Angelov - Гари Николай Ангелов

Born in 1978.
I graduated in "Sculpture" at University "St. Cyril and Methodius" - Veliko Tarnovo in 2003.
Since 2009, - membership in the "Company of Artists - Burgas".
Since 2012 - Member of B.I.S. (Bulgarian iconographic association).
Lives and works in Burgas.


















Роден съм 1978 година.
Завършил съм специалност "Скулптура" във ВТУ "Св.св. Кирил и Методий " - Велико Търново през 2003 година.
От 2009 година членувам в "Дружеството на художниците - Бургас".
От 2012 година съм член на Б.И.С. (Българско иконографско сдружение).
Живея и работя в Бургас.

Самостоятелни изложби :
2012 - "Бряг" - Галерия "Неси"- Бургас.
2012 - "Приказка" - Галерия "Ларго" - Варна.
2012 - "Път" - Галерия "Възраждане" - Плождив.
2011 - "Начало" - галерия "Бяла зона" - Пловдив.
2011 - "Нов живот" - галерия "Париж" - София.
2010 - "Изход 2" - ГХГ - Карлово.
2010 - "Изход 1" - "Балабанова къща" - Пловдив.

Участвам в множество колективни изложби и арт проекти













Henk Serfontein

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"Henk Serfontein´s paintings have received widespread acclaim and he is one of South Africa´s most recognised contemporary artists. He holds a degree in Fine Art (cum laude) and has also studied at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris. He has lectured art at a tertiary level, adjudicated national art competitions and is an accomplished curator of exhibitions.

In 2010 he was selected as one of 36 finalists for the prestigious international Guasch Coranty Painting Award and exhibition held in Barcelona, Spain. He was also invited in 2011 to become the international resident artist at the Piramidon Centre of Contemporary Art in Barcelona for three months (www.piramidon.com)

Serfontein´s places of resting and waiting evoke a certain romantic nostalgia, a hopeful intimacy, a place for the traveller to rest his weary bones. Yet they undeniably also contain a more sinister dimension. They are places of wariness, heightened suspiciousness, in which the viewer could be both welcomed guest and unwanted intruder. Most importantly, you know you are alone here, it is dark and there is silence."











DARK & LUMINESCENCE - VERONICA BLAINE

"Serfontein’s work shows his particular interest in the road movie genre, more specifically the films by German director, playwright and photographer Wim Wenders. Wenders’ stories are of average people on journeys of discovery, exploring the routes of the world in search of love, wealth and happiness, or simply themselves. These narratives have a direct influence on Serfontein’s work, where his paintings evoke the grittiness and nostalgic framing so apparent in these movies.

It is through the representation of his own visual journeys that he creates a personalised other worldliness, his own private Paris, Texas or anywhere between there and the Karoo. Continuing a rich South African tradition of landscape painting with specific reference to contemporaries Walter Meyer, Adriaan van Zyl and Johann Louw, Serfontein’s work also relates to the American Realists and Dutch Vanitas painters. The socio-political photographic work of David Goldblatt and Guy Tillim is also of specific interest to Serfontein, though he refrains from attempting to reinvent this tradition in the avant-garde. He quietly continues to add his personal voice to the contemporary arts through reticent ingressions of the personal narrative into the public domain.

Serfontein’s most recent body of work entitled “Travelling the Margins” shows atmospheric nightscapes. They document the artist’s journeys into small town South Africa. Places such as Merweville, Pofadder and Aberdeen constitute his intriguing visual diary of places long forgotten and yet deceptively familiar. Serfontein’s experimentation with painting as a contemporary medium is what has led him to go out alone along long, dirty tracks and formidable streets in order to extract inspiration for new works. He searches for moments of transition that he first captures through the lens and then unfolds into iridescent, contrasted works on canvas. Sustaining subdued emotion in his works and by saturating mood he blurs the boundaries of reality with a lucid, luminous palette. Through the South African rural and urban landscape he documents places and spaces in time that are stuck in-between. Places stuck between night and day, day and night are surface euphemisms for the emotional explorations in his art. The psyche is a place of constant transition, with which Serfontein readily identifies and explores in his process. His work deals with imminent solitude, as well as the inner rooms of the psyche. Moving in and out of relationship to these spaces he re-interprets a constant emerging nostalgia with complexity of observation that accumulates as a residue after his journey. Captured through the lens of his own eye, the places he visits affect him on a deeply personal and subliminal level. Transcendental and archetypal, his images act as a catalyst to collective memory.


"I am intrigued by the transcendental, that silent and mysterious moment when actual place becomes psychological space." (Henk Serfontein)


The transcendence of the existential through the process of painting is of special interest to Serfontein. His paintings are contemplative of the mystique and reminiscence evoked within the viewer, with less emphasis on the specifics of location. It is also imperative for one to reflect on Serfontein’s intimate engagement with the visual language of cinematography in most of his work, however his nostalgic approach to travel is also deeply inherent and personalised. Remembering the frame of the car window from where he saw the world when he was a boy on family travels, the longing captured by the scenes depicted in his paintings preserve an ephemeral moment and memories that are his own, yet are also not limited to the artist alone.

Stylistically deceptive, at first glance Serfontein’s paintings appear to be glowingly realistic and could easily be mistaken for photographs. In the studio, these journeys captured on film are edited, reconstructed and choreographed. Through a very complex layering process he engages with the alchemy of painting until the desired illusionary effect is achieved. It is on the canvas that the shifting of the image takes place, where it becomes something mystical and poetic infused with intensity and atmosphere. Much of the visual effect in his work is assigned to his masterful use of specifically the chiaroscuro painting technique. It is through his accentuated use of light and dark that he accomplishes the visual drama in his work; as images dissolve into darkness, the edges of actuality begin to obscure.

The realism and subtle distortions of colour that Serfontein uses to create a hyper-reality is the means used to interpret the inner state, the inner dialogue, the inner exploration of the artist. The mind is in a constant altering of its state, the experience depicted is stagnated and motionless, allowing an ambiguity to manifest itself. Juxtaposing what is there and what is not there, what is seen and what is unseen. Abandoned petrol pumps and stations; solitary cars in downtown streets; deserted houses in empty roads, the person behind the lens remains unseen in the company of his isolation, yet the viewer becomes more aware of him and his mood. The paintings identify a distance reflected in relationship to things around; a calm and reflective contemplation. One does not find oneself asking where all the people are, because the person is there unseen. The subject and object in regard is an indication of our self that is no more unique than that of the next person. Serfontein creates this revelation with his imagery.

Expressing the experience of the middle-class South African and what that means: a sense of isolation as a minority, the duality of distance from and confrontation with a threatening environment, the contemplation of an other-worldliness, the delving into the sub-conscious and the psyche, the loss of culture through the separation from ones original homeland and the fragments collected from cultures outside of ones own create a new world.

One senses that through his paintings Serfontein abstracts himself from the real journey that he undertakes and thereby re-invents and re-interprets it through his own deconstruction and reconstruction of his own understanding:

Tackling his own identity as an Afrikaaner and the pressure to act as a contemporary artist confined to a traditional medium, Serfontein shows a conscious awareness of the complexities of the unique social networks and dynamics that make up his past and present history of South African. A history that is blemished and scarred, a culture that constantly struggles with its past mistakes and lies embedded in its memory. A sense of marginalisation, non-acceptance and of recurring interrogation are reminiscent in his memories of being a youth who was sensitive to that which was happening around him. The similarity to, and influences from, American realists like Edward Hopper and Andrew Wyeth show a like-mindedness in the viewing of the exterior, of engaging with the outside and, by doing so, interpreting and simultaneously revealing the inner landscape. The context of the South African landscape becomes universal – it could be anywhere. That is what makes Serfontein’s work universally accessible and unanimously obscure – there are so many unidentifiable subtleties that remain understated in the works that one can only sense.

Sensing a life emerging from seemingly dark and solemn spaces on or in the canvas, Serfontein’s work touches the immediacy of the viewer. Seeing the hyper-real interpretations of ordinary spaces through his cutting edges, lines and angles, the works exude everything normal and yet abnormal. His paintings allow the viewer to experience fragmenting moments of time, evolved moments of time, time that makes sense when you contemplate transition. The works are lost in translation, in a cliché expression that we remember from somewhere, but from where exactly? We cannot place. It lies somewhere out there on the margins, those margins he has traveled.

Henk Serfontein travels the margins and makes his silence heard whilst everyone sleeps. After dark is when it all happens."











EDUCATION
1994
National Higher Diploma, Fine Art (Cum Laude), Tshwane University of Technology
1996
B. Technologea Degree, Fine Art, (Cum Laude), Tshwane University of Technology
1997 & 1999
Studied at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris
AWARDS
1990
Winner of the Santam Student bursary competition.
1991
Winner of the Student section, Kempton Park Fine Art Competition.
Merit award Rolfes Impressions Art Competition.
1992
Nomination Sasol New Signatures Art Competition.
Winner of the Dr. I.F Anderson award for the most outstanding final year art Student Tshwane University of Technology.
Presented with a Silver Rectors Medal for outstanding academic achievement,Tshwane University of Technology .
1994
Merit award, Absa Bank Atelier Competition. Winner of the Reginald Turvey Painting bursary competition.
1995
Winner of the Sasol New Signatures Art Competition. Winner of special merit award, Sasol New Signatures Competition.
1996
Official representative of South - Africa at the Sixth InternationalCairo Biennale, Egypt with fellow artists Trevor Makhoba, KeithDietrich and Gordon Froud.
2002
Top 10 finalist ABSA Atelier Art Competition.
2003
Finalist Kempton Park/Tembisa Competition


Menunana

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"I am fascinated by dogmatic religions, healers, lightworkers, prophecies and conspiracies, messiahs and charlatans, things that are hidden away and public secrets, a new golden era and the new world order, and so on. Also people that don't seem to come from this planet like Jimi Hendrix, Herman Brood and Oscar Wilde inspire me. Besides all of this, I never make personal paintings because they seem to hurt me in some way. So instead I try to put my views of the world around me in a painting.











The biggest problem for me is that I sometimes have too much inspiration, wanting to do so many different things and styles at once and sometimes I have no inspiration at all. That’s why I try to mostly work when I am not too inspired and not too uninspired."











Greg "Craola" Simkins

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Greg "Craola" Simkins is a Fine Artist based in Los Angeles and raised on cartoons, well written stories, animal planet, graffiti and tattoos.Escapism is as good a label to his work as any...have a look and use your imagination.



ARTIST STATEMENT
I haven’t always liked stretching canvas and never thought I would be doing it on a regular basis but these days, it has become more of an adventure than a chore. It is the sponge that soaks up all the thoughts going on in my head. Having an overactive imagination since a very young age, it has always made sense to me that any artwork I develop should be composed of these vivid thoughts. What used to take form in crayons and pencil, evolved into pen and ink drawings, spray painted murals and computer graphics, and has further morphed into the acrylic paintings I create these days.  My childhood obsessions with Disney cartoons, Lorne Greens’ New Wilderness and books such as Watership Down and The Phantom Tollbooth have become fodder for my work as it develops today.
I have become increasingly interested in the rabbit holes we fall down when daydreaming. So many have created worlds in their art in which to escape and inhabit, and for others to enjoy. We have seen glimpses of them in Narnia, Wonderland, Middle Earth, Neverland, and Hanalee. As homage to these types and shadows of other lands, I have attached the all-encompassing title, “The Outside”.  As our imagination takes over, we tend to leave what is ordinary and go outside of ourselves to visit these places. This is why I paint and what has inspired me over the years to grow as an artist. It is the constant search for what else is on the outside. 
After a family trip to Hawaii, I was struck by the beauty everywhere - from the flowers and the trees, sunsets and clouds - to the incredible colors of the fish and wildlife in the reefs just out front and buried in the ocean. I swam where fish and sea turtles where everywhere and I couldn’t feel more blessed to be interacting with such beautiful creatures. Upon watching a documentary shortly after on Yellowstone National Park, I was amazed at the number of different elements in nature that are so familiar to me but will never be realized by each other.  We will never see snow covered coral reefs inhabited by butterflies alongside moray eels. Deer will not gallop beside killer whales and birds will never share their nests with a family of jellyfish. Of course, it is now my job to make some introductions and see where they go.  These are some of the symbiotic relationships that are going on peripherally in the world I paint into. They are what make up the eco-structure of “The Outside”. My characters that live there find nothing foreign or strange about their surroundings and introduce them to newcomers as one would to their backyard garden. “The Outside” just…is.
At the end of the day, when the paint is hardening on the palette and the final coat of varnish has been applied, I sit back and lace my fingers behind my neck and escape into what was once trapped in my head. It is no longer the blank canvas that I cut my fingers assembling. A mass of wood, staples, linen and gesso the acrylic brush strokes are barely noticeable. The long journey from blank slate to finished piece is now finished and I now get to enjoy a glimpse of what is going on inside “The Outside”. To have your own viewfinder into this world, I invite you to explore my artwork at the "Gallery" section of this website.
-Greg “Craola” Simkins
BIOGRAPHY
Greg Simkins was born in 1975 in Torrance California, just south of Los Angeles. He grew up with a menagerie of animals including a number of rabbits, which often emerge in his paintings.  He began drawing at the early age of three and was inspired by various cartoons and books. Some standout books that still find their way into his art are Watership Down by Richard Adams, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.
Simkins’ art continued to progress to the age of 18, when he started doing graffiti under the name “CRAOLA”. Graffiti art became his impetus for creating and gave him the confidence to paint large works.  In addition it taught him perspective, color theory and further developed artistic skills, which later translated into his work with acrylics.
After receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art from California State University of Long Beach in 1999, Simkins worked as an Illustrator for various clothing companies.  He later moved on to Treyarch/Activision where he worked on video games including Tony Hawk 2X, Spiderman 2 and Ultimate Spiderman while attempting to paint with every free moment he had.
In 2005, Simkins pursued his desire to paint as a full time artist. Since then, he has been featured in numerous group exhibitions has had successfully sold out solo exhibitions.  His art is seen in a wide variety of industries from clothing to video games and has also come to life in the form of toys. His client/collaboration list includes Disney, Mattel, Upper Playground, Juxtapoz, To Die For, Vans, Converse, AFI, Saosin, Gym Class Heroes, Pennywise, STRANGEco, Ningyoushi, Kid Robot, Zero Friends, Epitaph, Dark Horse, Iron Fist and Pulse International.
It is his careful weaving of pop culture, the old masters, nature, carnival kitsch, and (most importantly) his warped imagination, that makes Greg Simkins a sought-after surrealist painter today. Simkins’ artwork currently appears in galleries throughout the world. 













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