Gus Fink

Gus Fink creates art like a troubled child, uninterested in the boring lessons his peers are absorbing. Most of the drawings on his website (gusfink.com) are hurried gestural doodles of distorted skeletal figures, alien beings and a menagerie of other monsters. But it is his defacements of vintage photographs that really get to me. There is something terribly haunting about the combination of staid figures and the mad scrawling across their memories. It seems like the kind of art the Joker might do, whiling away his time in Arkham Asylum. Not that I suspect Gus Fink of criminal psycopathy. But I do suspect there's a bit of a mad gleam in his eye as he sits down with his pen, paint, knife and whatever other tools he might bring to bear, and stares at some new unnamed face gazing back at him from across the decades.

















untitled 6.5" x 8.5" mixed media on antique photograph























"Sick Girl" mixed media on antique photo























"Missing Girl" 3.25" x 5" mixed media on antique photograph























untitled 4" x 6" mixed media on antique photograph






















"Father Fatal" 3" x 4.5" mixed media on antique photograph

here's an example of one of Gus' drawings:
















"When It All Turns Too Fast" 8.5" x 11" mixed media on cardstock

I would like to thank John foster at Accidental Mysteries, where I first saw some of these photographs posted.

Chelsea James

Chelsea James paints with abandon and subtlety, which is a nice trick. Her imagery is nothing new, landscapes, interiors, still lifes and figure studies, but her technique is simply wonderful. She instinctively avoids literal realism. Instead she allows the process of painting to reinterpret what she sees. A scrape here, a dab of color there, part of a line from the early drawing that was never completely covered in paint, all these apparent accidents accumulate in layers, and she collects them using her subject matter as an organizational guide.
She's still a young artist (although she does not paint like one) and will no doubt explore a lot of visual ideas and approaches in the coming decades. But her drawing and compositional skills, her knack for subtle value shifts and her instincts for painting as process should ensure a very successful career (that by all appearances is already well under way).
See loads more work at her website: chelseajames.com























“Snowy Hill” 12" x 12" oil on masonite

















“rain cluster” 36" x 48" oil on canvas























“Piso 7” 12" x 12" oil on masonite























“Magdaline” 24" x 24" Oil on Canvas

thanks again to Eric over at paintblog.ca for introducing me to her work.

Laurie Lipton

Laurie Lipton has been creating disquieting, disturbing, horrific, and sometimes viciously funny black and white drawings for over 30 years. Every piece is a reaction to fear; fear of the monotony of modern technology, media and society, fear of the impersonal and banal infecting us and slowly removing our souls, fear of passion being replaced by mere process, and of course, fear of death. But if all that sounds awfully heavy and rather pretentiously ponderous, just let me add that her reaction to that fear is generally one of insane, maniacal laughter. These are painstakingly rendered drawings that clearly required hours upon hours of meticulous craftsmanship, and yet, all the while that insane cackling must have been going off in some distant corner of her brain. This may well be a prime example of art as therapy, and I would not be the least bit surprised to discover that Ms. Lipton is a perfectly pleasant and well adjusted person. On the outside.
You can wade through all 30 years of her images on her website: laurielipton.com

I would like to thank the folks at freaksonline.co.uk for introducing me to her work.














The Dead Factory - (2009)
83 x 132 cm - charcoal and pencil on paper
















The Dead Factory - detail























Facelift - (2005)
53 X 40 cm - pencil on paper

















Reality TV - (2009)
82 x 104 cms - charcoal and pencil on paper
















Reality TV - detail























On - (2008)
124 x 92.5 - charcoal and pencil on paper

...and here's a piece from much earlier in her career:
















Last Night I Dreamt that I Murdered Mommy - (1980)
63.5 x 91 cm - pencil on paper

Paco Pomet

Most of Paco Pomet's work is monochromatic and not a little reminiscent of Mark Tansey. Tansey's work tended toward witty art criticism and philosophical punditry. Paco Pomet's approach may be less serious but he is obviously having a tremendous amount of fun and we're all invited to join him. The humor ranges from the grim and black to light slapstick, from wry surrealism to screwball parody. Most of the images on his blog/website (pacopomet.wordpress.com) need to be viewed a little larger to appreciate. Often the element of humor is subtle, perhaps one small figure among others with something odd about it. Of course others are not so subtle. But I'm sure you'll find something here to entertain you.

















Él. Óleo-lienzo. 120 x 150 cms. 2009
















Border. Óleo-lienzo. 50 x 70 cms. 2008

















Internacional. Óleo-lienzo. 110 x 150 cms. 2008
















Breaking News. Óleo-lienzo. 130 x 190 cms. 2009


















Historia. Óleo-lienzo. 130 x 170 cms. 2009

Chris Ryniak

Chris Ryniak is another practitioner of a kind of pop-surrealism where cute and creepy often mingle. It's the kind of work that is as likely to appear on a skateboard, or cel phone cover, as on a wall. I've posted a lot of this stuff here. It's strength is the range it allows for individual voices (though oddly it also produces a lot of repetitive and imitative work).
While his work has clearly drawn on any number of influences in the past, he has steadily moved toward his own unique vision. His more recent creatures strike me as members of a pantheon of small deities reigning over all the bit's and pieces of nature that we overlook and ignore, tucked into sidewalk cracks and lurking behind industrial warehouses. He is also somewhat obsessed with teeth. Like Ray Bradbury's protagonist in the short story, "The Skeleton" he observes that teeth are just our skulls poking out of our heads.
According to a recent interview, Mr. Ryniak is spending more and more time working on his 3-dimensional work so I feel I must include an example of that here as well, as much as I am personally drawn to the paintings.
Website: chrisryniak.com






















"All Means Necessary" 23.5"x25.5" Acrylic on panel






















Unknown title






















"Dormancy" (?)






















unknown title






















unknown title

Daniel Danger

The best illustrators pursue a personal vision no less than fine artists, and can be counted as such. Daniel Danger (If it is his real name, I think every 12 year old boy should be very jealous) builds layers of line work in mostly monochromatic silkscreens to create a night world of astonishing depth and texture. Fortunately he has posted fairly decent sized digital files, so it is just possible to get a sense of the subtlety that the originals might possess.
His is a world of enormous spaces in which small fragile characters are almost completely engulfed by the darkness that surrounds them. It is a world of somber but significant drama. It is a haunted world full of ghosts and memories and the almost overwhelming sense that it is later than you think.
You can see more of his art prints, gig posters and album covers at his website: tinymediaempire.com
Definitely click on the images below to view them larger!

















“and i dont even like to be seen in the parking lot between the movies and the drink and the glass, whatever the hell that means”
18×24″ five color silkscreen 2009






















“I'd sink to your city streets if i wasnt buried in your hands”
16×24″ five color silkscreen 2009













“has thou slain the jabberwock?”
12×24″ five color screenprint 2009






















“lock and key or latchkey, a house you tricked empty”
20×30″ five color silkscreen 2009























“I came to know an archer”
24×24 three color screenprint with hand painted elements

Jeff Bellerose

There are a lot of fine academic landscape painters lurking about in the world craning their necks at dramatic scenery. But after a while the sweeping vistas and the towering cityscapes can grow a little tiresome. They're often beautifully rendered but even beauty pales when it becomes too commonplace. Often all that is required is a subtle shift in view. Jeff Bellerose frequently hunts about for a slightly different take an old favorites. In most instances he finds a way to paint these ubiquitous themes from a new angle, a very simple shift in point of view, bringing the subject matter back to life with stunning ease.
Color and craftsmanship are, of course, key to painting and he knows his business. But he uses composition and design to create paintings that stand apart.
See more of his work at
jeffbellerose.webnode.com
and at
www.thomasreynolds.com













"Incline" 24"x40" oil on linen
















"Inside Out" 20"x30"























"Stairs" 30"x24" oil on linen























"Tension"

Damon Mohl

I think it's high time for a little apocalyptic sci-fi horror. Damon Mohl's work is currently on a series of linked blogs but he apparently has a website on the way. I'm looking forward to it.
His work is clearly that of an obsessive. Browsing your way through the various pages and different styles feels a little like wandering around through the dreams of a man that your not quite sure is completely sane (but you kind of like him anyway). If the paintings aren't your thing, check out his drawings. They're different. If that doesn't suit you, try his installations. Or his photographs. There's got to be something amid all this chaotic creativity that's going to grab you, crawl inside and stick somewhere in the back of your brain for a while (occasionally wriggling uncomfortably perhaps).
(start here: damonmohl.blogspot.com)
There's even a few other things to look at on myartspace.com
click on images below to view them larger!














"Summit" oil on canvas 75"x125" 2008

















"The Ticket Booth" oil on canvas 49"x66" 2006
















"The Black Pillar of Smoke" oil on canvas 44"x67" 2005























"Distillation Chamber" (2008) from a series of objects and photographs called "Maladies of the Vine" which the artist says would be best displayed on the walls of an old wooden shack deep in the mountains.






















detail

















untitled photograph (from a series and book called "Trials and Tribulations in the Wilderness")

Jason E. Kelley

Jason Kelley did not invent strip photography, but he did introduce me to the concept and he's using it in a pretty unique way. First, a quick explanation. Strip photography involves slowly winding the film in-camera behind a thin exposure slit, creating what is essentially a time lapse scan of.. well whatever you are photographing. Go elsewhere for more technical information. There's all kinds of odd applications but Jason recognizes that one great potential is to create still images that are actually short movies. What you see is a single image but it was created by recording action. Moving objects appear relatively still (but with fascinating distortions) while the stationary background appears to blur past. He occasionally goes so far as to set the whole thing up like a movie, complete with costumes and sets. The banding lines you see result from the film being wound slowly by hand across exposure strip. Slight variations in winding speed affect the exposure. There are no digital effects being applied here.
Go to his Flickr site to see more. There's also plenty of other photography.
And he has a new website: www.jasonekelleyphotography.com

I've provided detail shots to draw you in, but you really need to click on the long thin images and see the whole thing writ large, as it were.



"Sauvie Dogs"




















"Sauvie Dogs" detail






"Tea Party"















"Tea Party" detail









"St. Johns Parade"







"The Thief"

Aaron Morgan Brown

Aaron Morgan Brown employs a wonderful photo based realist technique to depict scenes that are often decidedly surreal. Reflected explosions occur amid scenes of suburban normalcy. African wildlife haunts the homes of the upper middle class. Unpredictable performances are enacted in unlikely venues. At other times the scenes are quite plausible, especially in his museum tableaux (rather surreal places in their own way). But even his most ordinary images capture a feeling of quiet discontinuity, and harbor implications of the unexpected. Reflections and contrasting scenes within a single image are devices he uses with tremendous effect. Throughout his work, the world that the artist sees is superimposed directly onto the world that the artist remembers, re-imagines and feels.
There's plenty of work to look through on his website: www.aaronmorganbrown.com


















"Arcadia Revisited" 50"x60" oil on canvas 2009











"Still Life with Oil Car" 20"x40" oil on canvas 2009











"Exodus 3" 25"x50" oil on canvas 2008












"Museology 11" 24"x46" oil on canvas 2004














"Natural Law 3 (Safety in Numbers)" 48"x72" oil on canvas 2004