Steve Hudson

"Tumult" 2009 oil canvas 45"x55"

"Ort" 2009 oil canvas 45"x57"

Afterimage #3, 2012, mixed media on paper, 31" x 31"

Afterimage #7, 2012, mixed media on paper, 34" x 30"

Afterimage #9, 2012, mixed media on paper, 52" x 70"

Steve Hudson's figures are faceless, anonymous stand-ins for a humanity that is hunkered down, knocked down, fallen down and cast aside. The atmosphere is full ominous storm clouds or the billowing plumes of fire and explosion. It all sounds terribly dire, but somehow, the work is neither shocking nor jarring. It is actually quite appealing. There is a warmth to them that belies their content. I think it has something to do with the tenderness of his technique. The shapes are carefully drawn in soft curving lines, the compositions are simple and well-balanced, and the scenes lit with an appealing drama. The occasional appearance of animals seems to hint at some allegory of nature. Possibly a reference to our wreckless impact on global ecosystems. But they don't feel like warnings. They feel like reassurances, comforting companions to those ever woeful human beings. It's as if they were there to say, "yes, you are destroying so much, not least yourselves, but nature will go on. Don't worry on it's account. Poor lost humanity. You may be despondent about your chances. Nature can't assess it. But nature will see you through to the end no matter how it all turns out. Cheer up". There's more than a hint of melanchloy in these paintings, but it's the kind of melancholy one wants to engage in, not the horrid depression that sours all life and joy. It's that sweet sadness that makes you feel more alive for embracing it. But then again, maybe that's just me. I could make neither heads nor tails of his artist statement.

You can view more of his work at Peter Miller Gallery in Chicago.

Hibiki Miyazaki

"(Un)seaworthy"  24" x 25"  painting on panel  2010

"Last Day of Summer"  24" x 25"  oil on panel

"Mirror"  23.5" x 26"  print - sandblast ground, spit bite, roulette, aquatint, drypoint  2010

"Don't Look Up"  2010

"Dreams of Travel"  15" x 18"  acrylic and colored pencil on paper  2012

Hibiki Miyazaki's work is like a secret code. Somewhere between the lands of pop-culture and her own interior psychological landscape there must be a de-coder ring hidden in the bottom of a box of very curious breakfast cereal. Alas, I have not found it. But that does not keep me from gazing in fascination at her work. She is an extraordinary print-maker employing a dizzying array of techniques. She's also a fine painter. In either medium, or in any of the others she's likely to employ, it is the idiosyncratic nature of her collage-like style that draws you in. Her art hangs in a delicate balance between finished product and work in progress, recalling to mind Picasso's blithe comment that if he ever finished a painting he'd be finished as a painter. Perhaps mention of Picasso is apt, for Miyazaki seems to be interested in continuing to explore some early modernist ideas. In the past artistic movements came into and then went out of fashion. Many of those movements faded long before they were fully explored, a fact I once lamented, for it seemed to me that each one was in theory an infinite playground for artistic ideas. Now there are seven billion of us on the planet and visual information flows freely back and forth. It warms my heart to see this kind of work (and every other that might have once faded into mere historical context) being worked in new and meaningful ways. Now if I could just figure out what those meanings were....
You can see loads of stuff on both her Flickr page and at her gallery's website: www.augengallery.com

Judith Brandon

"Carnival Weather"  ink, charcoal and pastel on paper  2010  42" x 52"

"Green Funnel Cloud"  ink and charcoal  29" x 37"

"Light Pillars With Cyan"  mixed media on paper  42" x 29"

"Arctic Pressure"  mixed media on paper  42" x 67"

This is exactly the kind of work that can be so frustrating to try and appreciate solely through digital reproduction; large, layered multi-media works on paper. You can click on the images to view most of them a good deal larger which helps a little. But it is impossible to see how all the effects are created. That said, they're compelling all the same. Whatever her methods (She cites enameling techniques that she studied in school, the scribing of metal and the layering of transparent and opaque colors) the images are strongly evocative of all manner of strange weather. This is clearly intentional and so the work is, at it's heart, representational. But there can be no denying that abstraction plays a tremendous role giving the work a dream like, even hallucinatory feel. You can see more at her website
http://www.jmbrandon.com/
And if you happen to be in the vicinity of Cleveland, Ohio where the artist also lives and works, you might want to drop in at the Kenneth Paul Lesko Gallery where her work is currently on display.

Josh Dorman

"The Big Picture"  Ink, acrylic, graphite, collage on panel  33" x 34"  2011

"Tower of Babel"  Ink, acrylic, oil, antique paper on 32 adjoining panels  96" x 48"  2008

"A Cautionary Tale"  Ink, acrylic, collage on panels  36" x 68"  2008

"Night Fishing II"  Ink, acrylic, collage on panel  34" x 36"  2008

"A Mighty Rain"  ink, acrylic, collage on panel  33" x 34"  2011

Josh dorman is an obsessive collector of old paper, especially pre-photography printed materials. He hordes outdated topographic maps and textbooks, technical illustrations and the like. Then, in a combination of collage and painting, he builds images rife with subtle and often random associations that nonetheless come together with compelling completeness.  Because of the nature of his material, his work is rife with images of natural history and technology. The two themes square off against each other in the eternal conflict that defines mankind's unique condition; both creator and creature, master and manipulator of the environment while at the same time as dependent upon it as any other living thing. But there is far too much room in his work to get stuck on general themes like this. Part of the fun (and yes, there is a definitely an element of fun here for all the riffs on human hubris), is to take the time and look through the details. Some of the images here can be viewed larger, but I recommend going to his website where you can view the images really large and spend a little time poring over his meticulous presentation of a fine collection indeed.
www.joshdorman.net
 (better yet, if you happen to be in NYC between now and Oct. 22 swing by Mary Ryan Gallery over in Chelsea to see work in person.)

Vladimir Stankovic Rus

"The Forbidden Dance"
colored pencils, markers and watercolors on paper  25 x 18 cm

"There You Shall Find All That You Could Desire!"
watercolors, colored pencils, color markers on paper  12.5 x 17.5 cm

"Secret Gathering"
Mixed technique on paper  25 x 18 cm




































"The Spell Has Been Broken"
colored pencils, color markers and tempera on paper  25 x 18 cm

 "I Overheard a Secret"  Mixed technique on paper

Vladimir Stankovic Rus is a young graphic designer and illustrator from Serbia (currently residing in Finland and, I think, enrolled in a Masters program. His interest in and pursuit of commercial work however has not hindered his unbridled creative vision. Applying colored pencils, watercolor, color markers, tempera and probably anything else handy to paper, he creates an arresting allegorical vision. There's a strong hint of Gustav Klimt in the way he builds shapes, not with modeled coloring effects, but with rich patterns that give the work an unexpected depth. The shapes butt up against one another and overlap in surprising ways that spell out a puzzle-like narrative of human, semi-human, and monstrous relationships. The menagerie of stylized mythical creatures that seem to lurk throughout much of his work also evoke hints of Heironymous Bosch. These works are small and dense, and worth a good deal more than a glance. Take your time with them.
There's a lot of art to look through, plus some fine graphic design work on his Flickr page.

Vincent Hui

Vincent Hui is was born and raised in Hong Kong and studied illustration at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena California. His website (www.hardsponge.com) and his blog (hardsponge.blogspot.com) contain no written information. No resume' or artist statement. No brief bio. And that's okay. Because what they do contain is paintings and drawings and more drawings and more drawing after that. The man draws. He draws a lot. And while there's plenty to be said for talent (and he has that too), unfettered enthusiasm and lots of practice up the ante considerably. What I like about his paintings is that they reflect his apparently free form spontaneous stream of consciousness approach to drawing. There seems to have been some kind of transition from 2007 to 2008, where the earlier work was much more traditionally illustrative, with clear narrative intention. But all that seems to change and the work from 2008 is not so much about something, as it is a glimpse into the mind a man who just can't help drawing (It reminds me quite a bit of the work of James Jean who I really, really need to do an update on). Unfortunately nothing more recent than 2008 that appears on the website. There's plenty of sketchbook work and a few more finished pieces on the blog.

"Estuary"  oil and pencil on panel  96" x 72"  2007-2008

"Holoplankton"  acrylic and pencil on paper  44.5" x 13.5"  2008   

"Nocturnal Emission"   acrylic and pencil on paper  18" x 13"  2007

"Kappa"  acrylic on paper  12.5" x 11.5"  2007  

"1986-1993"   acrylic on paper  9.8" x 9.5"   2007

Thanks once again to the folks at www.booooooom.com for introducing me to another amazing artist.

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.