Laura Bifano

from "Menagerie" a series of 10 polygonal animal paintings inspired by a love of nature and classic video games.

from "Menagerie" a series of 10 polygonal animal paintings inspired by a love of nature and classic video games.

“It would seem Sir, that we are at an impasse.”

"The Erl King" oil on canvas

"Alice"

"Lotus Eater"

Laura Bifano is another illustrator who does a lot of "personal work". Assignments for illustrators often produce work that is chained too much to the editorial content to really express the artit's personal vision. They itch to express themselves more freely, even when there is no guarantee of any financial gain. One could hope that her career follows a trajectory to encourage more of it. Her series, "Menagerie" consists of ten paintings of animals comprised of large blocks reminiscent of old-fashioned video games, but rendered consistently with her delicately textured realism. It is this pairing between realism and stylized design that really defines her best work (a not uncommon combination employed by fine artists like Gustav Klimt and other illustrators like Leo & Diane Dillon). She fits nicely into the contemporary art movement called pop-surrealism but like any of the best of that movement's practitioners, her imagery stands out mostly as being very much her own.
Check out her website: www.laurabifano.com
I came across her work through www.artistaday.com