Apologies

I'll be back next week with more art. Promise.
In the mean time here's some very old art that I personally never get tired of looking at.
"Moonlit Winter Landscape" Remi Van Haanan (Dutch 1812 - 1894)

Alex Lukas

Untitled  ink, acrylic, gouache, watercolor, silkscreen on paper  17" x 50"  2012

Untitled  ink, acrylic, gouache, watercolor, silkscreen on paper  25" x 72"  2012

Untitled  ink, acrylic, gouache, watercolor, silkscreen on paper  25" x 72"  2012

Untitled   8.75” x 12”  Ink, Acrylic and Silk Screen on Book Page  2012

from the show "Beyond the Parking Lot: The Change and Re-Assessment of our Modern Landscape" Curated by Cynthia Connolly   August - November, 2012, Artisphere, Arlington, VA

Artists don't seem to have too much trouble acknowledging the reality of anthropogenic global climate change. Sometimes they seem to almost relish it. Distopias and apocalyptic visions are part and parcel of contemporary outlooks on our not so hopeful future. Let's hope that these catastrophic visions turn out to be merely warnings that help us stave off the worst possible outcomes. But what is it anyway about doomsday predictions that captivate and even entertain us so?

Alex Lukas' vision of the coming crisis is centered squarely on global warming and takes two main forms; Cityscapes either submerged by risen oceans or engulfed in noxious gases, or a panoramic view of a semi-submerged marshy heartland. The latter are wide sweeping vistas that capture the vastness of the desolation. The skies are never clear The only islands that rise above the waterlogged plains are the abutments of old overpasses now covered with clinging weeds and punctuated here and there by the skeletal remains of paltry trees. Much of the exposed man made material is colored in brightly patterned graffiti as if during the gradual collapse, a kind of anarchic attempt at order was imposed upon the land by vigilante designers. Or perhaps they are the remnant designs of desperate advertisers trying to eke out every last man made space in pursuit of a vanishing market economy. It is the details and nuances of these panoramas that really make them come alive, if I can use that metaphor for what are essentially depictions of a dying world.

note: because of the format you may want to click on some of the images above to view them somewhat larger. The details really matter.

More of Alex Lukas' work including installations and print/design work can be seen on the artist's website: www.alexlukas.com
Many paintings that are not on the artist's website can be seen at: stevenzevitasgallery.com/alex-lukas

Luke Jerram

Avian Flu - H5N1

Entovrus 71 (EV71) - Hand Foot and Mouth Disease

Smallpox

SARS corona Virus

E. Coli

Lately I've posted quite a few more successful artists. Sometimes it is difficult to tell just how successful an artist is even if I knew what constituted success for an artist. The point of an artist's website is to promote the artist, and that means highlighting successes. But when an artist can feature a photo of themselves shaking hands with the queen, I'm ready to concede that they are probably doing pretty well for themselves. Having pieces in the permanent collections of museums around the world is another good sign. Anyhow...

Luke Jerram does a lot of different kinds of work: installations, live art, sculpture. It's the sculpture that caught my attention. Actually just a single series of work; these giant glass microbes. I love it when science and art sidle up to each other and get cozy and occasionally share some koodies. I think art generally benefits more from these trysts than science and I'd say that's the case here as well. But Mr. Jerram does make some excellent scientific points concerning the work. Images of microorganisms are derived from electron microscopy and are usually enhanced with color. The color is generally arbitrary and used primarily to help distinguish the various elements of the image. But in fact most viruses are smaller than the wavelength of visible light, so they can't really have a color. His glass sculptures of these viruses, made in consultation with virologists using a variety of images and models, thus have a lot of merit as scientific illustrations and have been used as such. Beyond that, they're just really really cool.

Luke Jerram is an idea guy. It needs to be pointed ou tthat he did not make these sculptures himself. They were in fact produced in collaboration with glass blowers Kim George, Brian Jones and Norman Veitch.

There's plenty more viruses to look at and a lot of other cool stuff on his website: www.lukejerram.com

Paul Fenniak

Sleepwalker   2012   Triptych - Each panel  54" x 24"

"Parachutist"   2011   72"X60"

"Offshore"   2011   72"X60"

"Cold Front"   2011   54"X48"

"Portrait with Light Switch"   2011   24"X20"

This is the kind of painting that made me want to be an artist when I was a kid: full of energy and life, beautifully executed, and just off kilter enough to be absolutely mesmerizing. Some of it makes me think of Odd Nerdrum with a sense of humor, or an early Lucian Freud who gets outside a bit more. There's all kinds of comparisons that spring to my mind but none that really strike home, for the work is idiomatic and the idiom is all Paul Fenniak. The painting is traditional but richly so, and beautifully handled. It lends a depth and luminosity to his somewhat whimsical drawing style. And both of these serve to give an uncanny power to his antic narratives, narratives that seem to cross all kinds of emotional and physical states: disquiet, calm, urgency, pathos, humor, the spiritual, the inane. These are not scenes from real life of course. They're intensely contrived, often bordering on the absurd or the surreal, but as in any form of art, from fiction to film, it is not always realism that best reflects how it really feels to be alive.
There's much more to look at on his website: www.paulfenniak.com
and the work at his gallery (forumgallery.com) has a very nice detail viewer that allows you to scroll over the work and get a close up view of every part of the painting. Well worth it!