Mark Shetabi

Afterimage (Brontosaurus)

2010

oil on linen

60" x 84"

Fog Machine

2008

oil on linen

18" x 24"

Tanker (Night)

2012

oil on linen

60" x 84"

Tanker (adrift)

2010

oil on linen

60" x 84"

Tanker In Dry Dock

2010

oil on canvas

60" x 76"

 Mark Shetabi is a painter and sculptor who teaches art at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. His large, nearly monochromatic paintings cover a wide range of subject matter with a particular focus on architecture, engineering and industrial design. There is a low contrast soft focus treatment that lends the images a nostalgic quality reminiscent of old photographs. But keep in mind that many of these paintings are 7 feet wide echoing the monumentality of their themes and subjects. Some more recent paintings reverse this scale depicting such humble things as pipe fittings on canvases only inches across. But it's these epic pieces that initially grabbed and continue to hold my attention. There is a feeling of dreamlike unreality to them, as if such things are barely conceivable, much less possible. That they exist in the real world seems almost absurd.

 You can see more of his work at Jeff Bailey Gallery in New York City.

Joana Garrido

untitled, digital,  2012

untitled,  digital,  2012

from a series "Buildings Have Feelings Too",  digital,  2011

"#4 Optiker"  digital,  2010

Sometimes digital art can be dismissed by people like me who still get their hands (and clothes and everything else) dirty with actual paints and brushes. But that's simply unfair. Every medium is it's own thing and new ones have as much to offer as the old. What is sometimes frustrating is how often digital artists try to mimic other media. Joana Garrido never makes that mistake. She loves the very noature of digital manipulation and although the pieces I've selected may not show it (I just grabbed what I ;liked the most) she tries a little bit of everything, pushing boundaries and finding out what kind of effects she can get, what works and what doesn't. In other words, she's an artist. And when her stuff works, as it usually does, it can be fairly breathtaking. These are not just backdrops for fantasy flicks and sci-fiction video games. They're images that stand alone, drawing the viewer into a singular visual experience. Enjoy.
You can go to her website at joanagarrido.com but it will just tell you to go to www.flickr.com/photos/onomatoh/

Doug Cooper

"Early Morning Arrivals"   36" x 48"  charcoal on paper on panel  2012

"Before and After the Cranes"   36" x 48"  charcoal on paper on panel  2012

"Game Night 2"  2008

Carnegie Mellon University Center Mural - 1996  "View of Carnegie Mellon's Gesling Stadium"

"Harbor Island"  49" x 97"   charcoal on paper on panel    2011

Doug Cooper is a professor at Caregie Mellon's school of architecture, the author of two books on drawing, and oh yeah, an artist. His work is on a huge scale; drawing sometimes 4 feet by 8 feet wide or actual murals. They are usually scenes of cities, distorted through a fish-eye lens of memory and history. He seems to especially revel in the verticality of places. Bridges and hills feature prominently creating layers of space. Highways twist and turn through neighborhoods passing over railways all resembling arteries and veins in a body politic. There is a decidedly romantic air to these images of proud industrialization that seems reminiscent of mid-twentieth century Americana. And this is probably no accident. In some of his murals he actually incorporates drawings and memories from a city's elderly citizens so that much of what you see reflects exactly that era. But regardless, one cannot help be awed by the omniscient eye of the artist as he floats above the bustling urban sprawl taking in closeup details and vast horizons with equal import and clarity.

The last image above "Harbor Island" is the largest file I could find if you'd like to view one a bit bigger. Beyond that you'll just have to go find an original somewhere.
you can see more images at: www.andrew.cmu.edu
and some work from a recent show in and of Seattle at: www.davidsongalleries.com

John Borowicz

"The Tower of Babel"  2010  Graphite on Paper  38" x 50"

"A Continuous Attempt at False Symmetry"  2010  graphite on paper  21" x 21"

"A Plausible Result of Sustained Spontaneity"  2010  Graphite on Paper  50" x 38"

"Model for a Resilient Structure"  2009  graphite on paper  9 1/4 x 7 1/4

"The Next Morning"  2011  Graphite on Paper  6" x 4"

John Borowicz's work varies widely in style and intent, all of it enveloped by a wry sense of humore. But the largest body of it is his series of semi-abstract constructs, masses of stacked objects resembling oddly shaped bricks or buildings. That they are vaguely suggestive of megalopolis cities is certainly no accident. They seem to be a wry commentary on two very different phenomenon; the pure chaos of mankind's constructive frenzy, and the painstaking tedium of building up complex images on paper with little marks from a pencil. The two things are not as unrelated as they may at first sound. Because people build things carefully, piece by piece, like little marks laid down by a meticulous artist. Everything is planned, each step carefully made. But when multiple intentions overlap, where everyone's plan is developing next to everyone else's, you get a city. John Borowicz draws these images like the builders of cities, piece by piece, each with it's own plan next to other pieces with plans of their own. They remind me of "Kowloon" the walled city, which was torn down in 1994. For a while it was the densest concentration of human beings on the planet. Through an accident of history it was built up lawlessly on an area of a mere 6.5 acres and resembled nothing so much as a Borg ship (you know, from Star Trek TNG). Anyway it is that sort of energy and chaos that the artist is mimicking, mocking and channeling all in one go.

You can see more of his mesmerizing work on his website: johnborowicz.com or at his gallery Adam Baumgold gallery in New York, which posts some great detail shots on their website.

Lekan Jeyifous

"Urban Growth Strategy 1"

"Central City Settlement"

"Craters"

"Hydro City Settlement"

"Outer City Settlement"

Lekan Jeyifous is a Nigerian born and Brooklyn based... um... architect? yes. Designer? sure. Artist. certainly. His work is much more far-ranging than what I've posted here. This is just the stuff that first appealed to me; work that integrates graphic novel/sci-fi aesthetics with the fascination of detailed charts, maps, blueprints and other technical visuals. In everything he does the presence of New York City, and Brooklyn especially, looms large. This is urban art with an urban message to an urban audience. The message? Well, maybe it goes something like this. "This place is seriously messed up. I wouldn't live anywhere else." He captures something of why the occupants of big cities feel this way: All the crowding and chaos, the slow decay at the margins and the dilapidated facades of industrial ruin somehow manage to co-exist alongside a thriving population ever ready to reinvent itself and its environment. There is an odd phenomenon that exists in the minds of city dwellers where even a dark dystopian vision of the future seems in some ways kind of exciting. In keeping with this sort of futurist mentality he keeps his media process mixed giving it a look both modern and aged. "The drawings presented here started out as digital images that were outputted, sketched and drawn over, and scanned back into the computer in order to be retraced, textured, and layered." All of which makes the images seem as if they were historical documents from some distant future relating to one less distant. You can see more work like this and plenty of other stuff on his website www.vigilism.com
I came across his work initially on the art networking site: bluecanvas.com

Robert Minervini - 2

"Automatic Model"  2011  acrylic and oil on canvas  60" x 120"

"A Gardened Earth"  2011  acrylic and oil on canvas  60" x 96"

"Room With A View"  2011  acrylic on canvas over panel  18" x 18"

"Ultra-Modern"  2011  acrylic on canvas  50" x 70"

I posted some of Robert Minervini's work earlier this year (March 24, 2011). I won't add much in the way of commentary here except to note that these new pieces show less urban decay. But everything is in state of semi-construction and uncertainty is still an essential element here. Also I'd like to point out the scale of these paintings. These are big. I'd love to see them in person. If you happen to live in or near Santa Fe you might want to. He'll be showing at least some of these very pieces in a show at Eggman & Walrus Art Emporium. The show opens Friday Sept. 16 and runs through October 29.

I apologize for the recent dearth of posts. I've been on vacation and will get back to at least twice a week. Cheers.

Michelle Muldrow

"Delirium"  20" x 10"  casein on clay panel

"Reconfiguration"  20" x 10"  casein on clay panel

"Altar in Orange"  acrylic on canvas

"Searching Light"  12" x 12"  casein on clay panel

"Blight and Consumption; Bedford Heights, OH"  34" x 22"  gouache on paper

Michelle Muldrow has been exploring the potentials still lurking within the landscape genre and what it means to be picturesque. She has contrasted the notion of the picturesque by incorporating it into her depictions of urban and suburban decay. More recently she has been exploring the idea of the sublime as it might be conveyed by cathedral architecture, by the light and airy spaces lit by stained glass windows. Only here she turns the idea of the sublime on it's consumerist head by using as her subject the chaos and clutter of a big block store. Beyond the philosophical intentions of her work, there is no denying that she has a fluent if not instinctive understanding of color and design. She employs her marked craftsmanship to tremendous effect conjuring the vagaries and contradictions inherent in our perceptions of the american landscape. You can see more on her website: mmuldrow.com

and thanks again to the folks at www.artistaday.com for bringing her work to my attention

Sean Thomas

"Car Culture (Quincy)"  oil on canvas  36" × 40"  2009

"Cartography #7"  oil on canvas  12" × 24"  2009

"Crane Forms #4"  oil on canvas  12" × 18"  2009

"Mill Forms"  oil on canvas  24" × 36"  2008

"Providence River IV"  watercolor on paper  11" × 15"  2006

"Black Falcon Terminal"  oil on canvas  20" × 24"  2007

Sean Thomas is something of a minimalist with an impressionist's sense of atmosphere. His simple graphic architectural forms shimmer through a haze of dusty sunlight. Or is it smog? His most frequent subjects are the interaction of human construction and landscape, but his work is not concerned with commentary. The potential is there, but instead he focuses on description and aesthetics. By emphasizing the term "Forms" in many of his titles he focuses on the abstract nature of the images devoid of political or social content. But still, they are "crane forms" or Mill forms", not simply forms. They are real objects, real places, scenes from the world in which we live and as such are loaded with frames of meaning and association. Many of his subjects are industrial in nature. These are not scenes that most people would normally consider from an aesthetic point of view. He's not asking us to look at these places for their beauty, but we are being asked to see the beauty that might be there.

See more work on his website: www.seanthomasonline.com
and thanks to artistaday.com for introducing me to his work

Catherine Mulligan

"Supermarket 2"  oil on board

"Restaurant 1"  oil on board

"Furniture Store Window"  oil on paper

"Shopping Mall (escalators)"  oil on paper

"Public Restroom"  oil on board

Discovering amazing art by well-established professionals of whom I'd never heard before is always exciting, but sometimes it's even more exciting to see work by a young artist who has not really even gotten started yet on his or her career. Of course you can never tell how it's going to go. But these pieces posted by Cathrin Mulligan on her Flickr page strike me as a powerful beginning. Although she has figurative work posted as well, my personal favorites are these roughly painted, scratched and doodled studies of modern convenience in decline. Using technique rather than detail she is able to powerfully convey the timeworn feel of aging shopping malls, and outlet stores; the lonely abandonment of an empty storefront, or the vaguely appalling dinginess of a public restroom. She also has some rather nice still lifes as well, collecting odd objects from this dystopian life; a beer can, some coffee creamer, a jar of vaseline, some sardines, a slice of ham. The photos are not professionally done (there's a strong incandescent yellow cast to some) and there's not a ton of work. Most unfortunate of all, there's not a lot of recent work. I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope she posts more soon.

You can see a few of the pieces posted from her undergraduate show in 2009 I think, at PAFA.

Robert Josiah Bingaman

"Nevada"  2010, acrylic on linen, 54 x 120 in

"Nevada"  detail

"New Mexico"  2010, acrylic on linen 54 x 96 in.

"Concavity"  2010, acrylic on linen 54 x 42 in.

"Minnetonka Senescence"  2010, acrylic on linen 42 x 54 in.

Robert Josiah Bingaman is an artist of the open, empty American spaces. Which is to say that he is an artist of the west. Or perhaps the idea of the west. He has set out on the road to find and photograph the lonely spaces that haunt the American imagination. His work focuses especially on such scenes at night when the artificial lights of the human presence transform the landscape into a dreamlike place, where one can be still be filled with awe by the empty darkness on every side. By taking his photographs and memories and transforming them into these almost surreal paintings he is, in some way, able to take us with him. Or rather, allow us to inhabit his experience. For these are not visions one shares. They are an expression of what it means to be lost and gloriously alone and stare dumbfounded at the strange world we've created in a vast dark land.

You can see more work on his website (robertjosiah.net) and there's a fine video of his process of the first painting ("Nevada"). But be warned that the first half of the video is of prepping the canvas and only the second half gets into the painting itself.

Jeremy Mangan

"Rorschach"  acrylic on panel  18" x 36"  2010

"Hotel & Bar"  18" x 20"  acrylic on panel  2010

"Evening Sky"  12" x 18"  acrylic on panel  2009

"Moon Lantern (End of the Beginning)"  9" x 12"  acrylic on panel   2010

"Western King"  16" x 20"  acrylic on panel  2010

Jeremy Mangan's imagery begins with the barns and grain silos of the American west. These tin-roofed white clapboard buildings form a starting point from which he riffs, ad-libs, re-invents and fantasizes with obsessive zeal. It's a fun ride to look through the last few years of his work and see all this transformation taking place. When, in real life, you see one of those enormously tall house-like structures rising up out of the plain along a lonely stretch of rail line, it's not unnatural to wonder at the ant-like business of human beings. Mr. Mangan's work takes this notion and kicks it around the block a bit, playing up not only the hubris of mankind's endeavors but also the sheer wonder and strangeness of it all. His paintings are full of wit and invention with a fine long view of our peculiar impact on the landscape. To see much much more got to www.jeremymangan.com

PS on the trivia side of things, I think it's interesting to note that the artist has supported himself as an ice-sculptor in New York City. How that may tie into his painting imagery I'll leave to you to ponder. There are ice sculptures to view on his website including one of a Hummer, which I think is kind of hysterical.