Mioke

Mioke (or sometimes Moki) is a german artist with a peculiar combination of influences and interests. Her deep rooted love of mysterious landscapes combines with a gentle surrealism and introduces an odd cast of mythical creatures, all of this influenced to some degree by animé so that there appears to be a distinctly Japanese flavor to her work. Her visual ideas meander a good deal making it difficult to pin down specific themes. She obviously intuits her way through her imagery, leaving it to others to interpret, which explains her insistence on not titling her work (although I do wish she would provide sizes). Some pieces remind me of the artist Dan May (and I wonder if one influences the other in any way). While Dan May's work is focused almost exclusively on the characters of his imagined mythology for Moki there must always be a landscape, a secret and hidden landscape, in which her characters appear or disappear for it defines and contains them.
www.mioke.de

















2009

















2009




















2008






















2007

Kate MacDowell

Kate McDowell's exquisite porcelain sculptures explore our complex relationship with the natural world. Unlike many artists who deal with environmental concerns her approach is not the typical one of mere criticism and commentary on our ruthless and self defeating degredation of the natural world. She takes a more introspective and complex psychological approach, trying to get at what it means to be a part of nature, while at the same time feeling apart from it. She looks at our deep rooted need to connect to it in some fundamental way, to be a part it, while acknowledging that the need is ironic since we cannot be separate. Nature is in us, and we exist in it, in such a basic and fundamental way that our feelings of need and our actions of opposition represent a kind of psychosis. Out of this comes her images of both horror and humor.
All the work on her website is wonderful and full of surprises. See more at www.katemacdowell.com






















"Sparrow" 7"x6 ½"x2", hand built porcelain, cone 6 glaze 2008

















"Migrant" 16"x20"x6 ½" assembled hand built porcelain 2009















"Migrant" detail























"Canary" 22"x22"x5" hand built porcelain, wooden wall pedestal, compact fluorescent lights, wiring 2008

And here's a smaller, later version of the same idea with a cutaway view of those canaries.






















"Canary 3" 13 ½"x12 ½"x6" hand built porcelain, cone 6 glaze 2009

Andrey Mamaev

Andrey Mamaev's realism is very much in the Russian academic tradition and unapologetically romantic. We have all seen so many bad examples of this kind of art that it is sometimes difficult to recognize when it is done well. I don't have much more to say on the subject except to emphasize that you really need to click on these images and view them larger to appreciate the almost calligraphic fluidity of his technique. The size is not indicated on these pieces but most of his work is surprisingly small.
More of his work, and lots and lots of great details, can be seen on his Flickr page.

















"The Crossing" oil on cardboard















"The Crossing" detail























"Wish Tree" oil on cardboard
















"Wish Tree" detail























"Spring Breeze" oil on cardboard

Pete Ferguson

Pete Ferguson is primarily an illustrator and very good at his job. But fortunately for us he occasionally feels the old artistic itch to make images for his own satisfaction. He brings to the endeavor the same playfulness and solid technical skills that he shows in his commercial work but he also unleashes a bit of dark surrealism to go with the wit. The results are an absolute delight. Most of them seem to have been done in 2005 or earlier but I certainly hope he makes more of these.
Check out his website www.uberpete.jitterjames.com


















"Gods of the Tri-State Area" 2008



















"Detached Retina" 2005

















"Heartland" 2005























"The Road to Happyland" 2005