CHAD WYS

I almost died of joy when I found these. It was like everything I want to come up and be able to do was right there, in these paintings. And then I read that they were not painted , they were more like computer collages of old master's paintings, or something like that, I should ask the artist. His websites states that they are prints, not oil on canvas. My amazement fell flat and left place for disappointment, as the man was for a second my technical hero. But visually I find the artist has done something extremely amazing, it is hard for me to describe the feeling it gives me... I really wish these were real paintings though...

CHAD WYS ///NOCTURNE /// ARCHIVAL PIGMENT PRINT

Born in Illinois, 1983

☁ CHAD WYS

STEPHAN BALLEUX

STEPHAN BALLEUX /// THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY


STEPHAN BALLEUX
Born March 1974, Brussels, Belgium
Lives and works in Brussels and Berlin

☁ STEPHAN BALLEUX

MICHELLE MATSON

MICHELLE MATSON
BORN 1981

EDUCATION
2005 BFA SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS


☁ MICHELLE MATSON

LIU BOLIN

LIU BOLIN /// THE INVISIBLE MAN

Born in China, 1973.
Lives and works in Beijing, China

EDUCATION
1995 B.A., Shandong University of Arts, Jinan, China
2001 M.F.A., Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China

LIU BOLIN'S STATEMENT

China is undergoing one of the most dramatic transitions in the history of the world. The acceleration of change echoes throughout our society and beyond our borders. Inevitably the changes result in both stimulation and trauma. The past is disappearing and the present is in constant flux. China is becoming more and more dynamic as Western concepts, ideas and morals permeate the country. The result is a kind of bipolar culture. As the psychological and physical infrastructures of China are demolished, new infrastructures are built. We do not know how long the vestiges of the past will remain. This new horizon, constructed of both the old and the new, inspires awe and intrigue. However, it is often too much to bear. How do we face this kind of transition? How do we communicate within this chaos? How do we maintain our own individuality? How do we break away from the past?

The new China evolved from the experimental period of 1949 to 1976. In my photography, there are images of the Eastern Red train with peeling paint, a huge statue base missing the iconic statue, a wall with Mao’s words scrawled in temporary places using ephemeral materials… For a moment, our brain flashes the first sentence from the Communist Manifesto, “A specter is haunting Europe — the specter of communism.” My subject resembles a Kafkian character but he is weakened. He is profoundly isolated and unaware of his surroundings, a shell without a soul. He moves from one environment to another, from one background to another, and he is just like us, changing from one job to another, from one place to another… All of these changes are meaningless, but they give us freedom and allow us to escape the confinement and the duties imposed on us by society. However, by avoiding the burdens of society, his virtues are also destroyed.

In my photography, historical statues, costumes and architecture become symbols of that which confines us. I am expressing the desire to break through these structures. I portray subjects that seem to disappear into these structures and become transparent. The subject is released from social constructs and he is free.

With my new series of paintings, which depict images from the Chinese media, you can see the issues facing China today. Living in the red hot China, I feel that I am not in control of my own life. However, I have an indescribable burning desire inside of me. Art is a weapon that helps us untangle the chaos in our lives. I hope that my artworks can calm people down during this period of constant change, but at the same time, inspire people to re-evaluate our environment and reconsider the problems arising in our society. In this transition period, I can hear the voice of Hamlet whispering, “for in the sleep of death, what dreams may come.”



☁ LIU BOLIN
☁ LIU BOLIN @ ABC NEWS
☁ LIU BOLIN @ FUBIZ

LOU ROS

LOU ROS

Lou Ros, 26, began painting at the age of 17. He started doing graffiti for fun with friends on the walls of buildings. But this game soon became a real addiction to him. Subsequently, the fast and spontaneous simple tag that he performed gave way to more sophisticated and substantial works like murals.

Learning to paint on the job without going through art schools, Lou soon feels the limits of this street art, admitting himself that "there is an ethics of aesthetic beauty and repetition that eventually bores me. Painting beautiful is boring, while making a painting that has strength is quite another thing. So I started painting at home. "


☁ LOU ROS
☁ LOU ROS ON LE ZÈBRE

JENNY MORGAN

JENNY MORGAN
Born
1982 Salt Lake City, UT
Living and working in NYC

Education
2008 - Fine Arts MFA, School of Visual Arts, NY
2003 - Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, CO, Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree, Valedictorian
1999 - University of Utah, Foundation drawing classes, Salt lake City, UT
1997-98 - Peterson’s Art Center, General instruction, Salt Lake City, UT


☁ JENNY MORGAN
☁ JENNY MORGAN @ BEAUTIFUL DECAY

VALLY NOMIDOU

VALLY NOMIDOU /// LET IT BLEED

"The exhibition, entitled “Let it bleed“, is a series of life-size sculptures, as well as a series of fragments, such as heads or hands, all made of paper. The works depict young women and young girls. The female figures impress with the naturalness of their features and poses, the perfection of modelling and the beauty of volume.

Paper, Nomidou’s dominant material, now becomes a key component in her creative process, inextricably linked to painful and systematic research on the technical level, as well as on that of aesthetic integration. The artist respects her material and, although it is cheap and vulnerable, she does not “adulterate” it by using other materials. Moreover, she does not use it as a shell, an encasing to cover a necessary inner structure by providing a fake, idealised skin. Nomidou builds and shapes her works from the inside out solely using paper and paperboard. The internal cardboard frame is built with a vertical and horizontal grid in order to be able to support and render stillness in her sculptures, while also ensuring balance in contraction and expansion. The homogeneity of her material allows the equilibrium in the behaviour of the interior and the exterior, and thus ensures its duration.

Regarding her technique, the perfect rendition of facial features, of expression, of the naturalness of pose, of body proportions, is based on a process of combining partial plaster casts, the meticulous observation of an exhaustive photographic documentation of her sitters and a painful processing of the outer skin. The perfect prints are synthesised, cut, sewn, glued, rubbed, and through the mastery of her touch achieve the fully realistic rendering of her sitters. (...)" (Dr Lina Tsikouta-Deimezi,Curator, National Gallery)


☁ VALLY NOMIDOU