Mark Reep

"Home Is The Sailor"  Charcoal, Graphite  5 7/8" x 3 1/8"

"Last Bell"  Charcoal, Graphite  4" x 6"

"Abandoned Waterworks 2"   Charcoal, Graphite; 11" x 6"

"Abandoned Waterworks"  Charcoal, Graphite  6" x 10"

"Point of Grace"  Charcoal, Graphite  8 1/2" x 11"

Much of contemporary art is unabashedly cynical. As a matter of fact, romanticism hasn't really been accepted as proper company since the dawn of the twentieth century (and even then it was being shown the door). But amateurs and non-artists have always been more honest about it's innate appeal even if they're sometimes unable to distinguish quality from mediocrity. I've always had a soft spot, or maybe more of large soft swath, for this kind of thing. Perhaps in this post industrial age when comic books and high fantasy have entered the main stream, the fine art world ought to take a second look. Okay, that's not going happen. But still, there's some exquisite work out there worth looking at. Case in point, the self-taught Mr. Mark Reep. Some of the work can teeter precariously on the edge of new age corny, but a rule of thumb when viewing art is to always judge an artist by your favorite pieces, not your least. What does work here is sublime. The images are imbued with narrative although the characters are locked away in their island sanctuaries or have mysteriously abandoned their extraordinary works. He creates scenes that draw us in, inviting us to imagine another place, somewhere, some other time. The drawings themselves are often tiny, the technique highly meticulous and detailed. One gallery apparently provided a magnifying glass for its viewers. That kind of intimacy can cast a very powerful spell.
You can see more at his website: markreep.net or at www.bluecanvas.com/markreep
You can aslo follow his blog: markreep.blogspot.com

Sharon Moody

Hold it, Joker!, oil on panel, 16X20 in.

Zit! Throom! Krrakkk!, oil on panel, 16X16 in.

Rock, Paper, Scissors, oil on canvas, 16 X 27 in.

Racquets and Shuttlecocks, oil on panel, 10 X 29 in.

This Is A Game, oil on panel, 5 X 5 in.

I know a lot of people really really love hyper realist painting. To be honest I actually don't more often than I do. Much of it seems to have little point except as a painstaking and tedious exercise (why not just take a photo?). But Sharon Moody makes excellent use of the trompe l'oeil tradition (french for "deceive the eye"). Her themes are games and the entertainments of childhood. Which is fitting, because the optical illusions created by this sort of work is in itself, an amusement, a diversion meant to dazzle the eye and delight the mind. There is no deep and ponderous meaning lying in wait for the unwary, nor pretentious airs. But that doesn't mean it has no significance. She simply delights in her ability to create images that seem as if they could fall right off the canvas. Her delight is nicely echoed by the subject matter, and we as viewers can share in that delight, readily and gratefully. Compared to all the inscrutable highbrow art out there that alienates so many from even imagining that they can enjoy art, delight is a perfectly fine purpose in a painting, and Sharon Moody delivers it with both wit and style.You can see much more on her website: sharonmoody.com

seen on artistaday.com

Charles Ritchie

"Self-Portrait with Night XI"  watercolor, graphite and conté crayon on Fabriano paper  5.5" x 12"  2011-2012

"Snow in Two Panels"  watercolor, graphite and conté crayon on Fabriano paper  4" x 12"  208-2011

"Composition with Summer Foliage"  watercolor and graphite on Fabriano paper  3 1/8" x 3 3/4"

"Three Windows"  watercolor, graphite, conté crayon, and white ink on Fabriano paper  6 7 /8 x 8 3/8"  2010-2011

"Kitchen Windows with Reflections"  watercolor and graphite on Fabriano paper  4" x 6"  2011

Charles Ritchie's work was included in the latest issue of New American Paintings (#100 covering the Southeast U.S.) and it immediately caught my eye. I'm always drawn to night time imagery; the atmosphere of it, the way details recede into shadow and the darkness joins large areas into obscure patterns. But I also loved the way he plays with reflected images. The night he observes is often seen through a pane of glass, superimposing multiple views, further obscuring the subject matter, adding to the mystery. Then finally I noticed the technique. And especially the scale. Now I do love large paintings. Scale is incredibly important, and the impact of a particular piece can be tremendously more effective on a monumental scale. Alternately, what might have been a nice modest painting can seem a bloated and over indulgent. But small has its own strengths and charms and pitfalls. Small is intimate. A crowd can gather about a huge painting in a gallery and feel as if they are sharing in the experience. But very small pieces insist on individual interaction. Only one at a time please. You must make a very personal connection to the work. These quiet meditative images are perfectly suited for this kind of interaction. And I can well imagine that the soft, loving, labor intensive technique would well reward the smallest investment of attention. You can see much more work on the artist's website: www.charlesritchie.com

Santiago Caruso

"Cabinet of Wonders"

from "The Bloody Countess"

"Portrait of Crime"

"You Look Like Rain"

Santiago Caruso is an Argentine illustrator and artist with an intensely dark surrealist vision. It came as no surprise to me to find that he has done a great deal of illustration work for the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. There is an undeniable atmosphere that both share, not merely dark, but hyper-sensitive, paranoid, on the threshold of madness. The themes are myth, mortality, temptation and the supernatural. It's a rich vein of material that is more generally mined by lesser talents. Clichés are usually the norm in the genre of horror, so for anyone who enjoys that sort of thing, it is a rare treat to find material that treats it with both seriousness and originality. If you count yourself among those, then you really need to spend some time browsing his website. He has a lot of material to look through, and for many of the images he provides extraordinary detail images and process shots capturing his painstaking and exquisite technique.
www.santiagocaruso.com.ar