Grant Miller

untitled (67) (diptych)  Acrylic on Aluminum Panel  77 x 96 in.

detail, untitled (67) (diptych)  Acrylic on Aluminum Panel  77 x 96 in.

Untitled (2)  Acrylic on Aluminum Panel  48 x 72 in

Untitled (60)  Acrylic on Aluminum Panel  41 x 46 in.

untitled (SVB-374)  Acrylic and Mixed Media on Wood Panel  48" x 48"

Historically lot of abstract painting has been all about acknowledging the flatness of the painting, jettisoning the illusion of depth. Grant Miller is not unique in heading off in the opposite direction, but his work creates depth with it's own peculiar energy and exuberance. He builds up transparent, semi-transparent and opaque layers to create something akin to atmospheric perspective in addition to the more obvious linear perspective formed by assorted frames, ladders and other architectural elements. The linear perspective of course obeys no ruling vanishing points, but heads off in innumerable directions while sinuous ribbons and amorphous blobs fall haphazardly amidst it all. At times it can feel like he's creating the illusion of not just a third dimension, but possibly a fourth and fifth as well. The looser more gestural forms look almost like something that a 5 dimensional baby spilled on it's fathers 4 dimensional schematic drawing. The layering is the real key to it all. The material and drawing that you don't see is as important, maybe more so, than the graphic pop-art elements floating around on the surface. That's where the real depth, that vague impression of non-euclidean geometry, springs from.

You can see more at his website: grantmillerart.com
or at Byron Cohen Gallery

Nina Elder

"Pile"  2009  Acrylic on Panel  48" x 84"

"El Huerfano (The Orphan) II"  2011  Acrylic and Gesso on Panel  36" x 48"

"Double Feature I (Alamosa)"  2009  Acrylic on panel  36" x 48"

"Defunct: Ojo Caliente"  2011  Acrylic on Panel  48" x 60"

 

"Lode"  2011  Acrylic on Panel 48" x 60"

Nina Elder's paintings apply the flat mass produced feel of pop-art to the post industrial American landscape. It's an unexpectedly nice fit. There's something about this look, that was originally employed to mimic the glossy glitz of pop-culture and consumerism, that does as fine a job describing the shabby detritus of our modern landscapes. It's as if to say, this too is consumerism. Not in the form of entertainment and advertising, but the more direct consequences of how consumer culture consumes and transforms the real world. Being a resident of New Mexico most of her work echoes the open spaces of the West, but it's not a romantic openness. Instead what she sees is how the perceived emptiness is used as an excuse to construct and destruct without concern of cosequences.
You can see more paintings, plus drawings and other work on her website: ninaelder.com
Nina's work was recently featured in New American Paintings 96.

Scott Listfield

Scott Listfield approaches art with his tongue pressed firmly against his cheek. His pop-art aesthetic is interesting. He clearly loves popular culture in the form of science-fiction and film but finds the commercialism of pop-art itself something of a joke. It's a tension that needs no resolution. Like the astronaut that inhabits his work, Mr. Listfield is not an alien to pop-art. He's from it, but has gone away, and upon returning, finds the whole thing strangely ludicrous; a kind of parallel to his real life experience of being overseas, then returning to America. Having done so myself I can vouch for the odd sense of surreal displacement one experiences. The astronaut serves not only as a stand-in for the artist but for the viewer as well, a figure both a part of and apart from the strange reality we inhabit. The whole premise is played for laughs, mostly, but underneath the humor is a genuine and biting critique of what our contemporary culture deems valuable. The work has gotten a good deal stronger in both technique and composition over the years, though the wit was always there, and I look forward to seeing the world through Mr. Listfield's visor for many years to come.
www.astronautdinosaur.com

"Boom"  oil on canvas  12" x 9"  2010

"Coke Machine"  oil on canvas  24" x 18"  2008

"Flying Cars To The Right"  oil on canvas  12" x 9"  2010

"NASDAQ"  oil on canvas  12" x 9"  2009


And I am grateful to the art of Jeff Koonz if only for the fact that he provides ready fodder for the wit of other artists.

"Grand Canyon"  oil on canvas  24" x 48"  2008

Shelly Johnson 2

I like to update artists that I've posted before (see December 2008). She's got a new website up that looks very complete: popgoesart.com.
And hey, you can get t-shirts! Only 2 but what could be more pop?






















"Jagger"























"Frida"

Shelly Johnson

POP-art!
She does a lot of apparent commissions of local people and places but it's the big iconic images that really work for the genre. And she pulls off some pretty daring color palettes.
http://smjdesigns.us/
http://www.madrigalsgallery.com/





















"John Waters"


















"Mona Lisa"

















"Kali"