Image courtesy of the artist.

My individual realist style combines painting with drawing, juxtaposing stark black and white graphite images on paper, with opulent acrylics on canvas. My somewhat oversized canvases transport the viewer to rambunctious inner-city settings, where counter-culture characters wearing street inspired dress, and reflecting an abrasive, yet nonchalant attitude, aggressively confront and engage with the audience. Abandoned brick buildings adorned with colorful graffitti messages and imagery, evoke the underground intrigue and dangers of revolutionary artistic critiques of culture. My graffitti imagery is not only meant as mere adornment to enhance the hardcore atmosphere of the inner city compositions, but also as symbolic codes and challenges to the overbearing power structure and the politically correct world in which we live. In my new “Forgotten Faces” series, I want to remind the viewer of those whom our society has forgotten, particularly, the countless homeless veterans. My visual compositions often include messages meant to engage the viewer, and hopefully prompt them to think as well as to enjoy the artistic merit of the composition.

malluber.com

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Image courtesy of the artist.

Artistic action posits a relationship with the spectator that prompts emotions and reflections through visual content.Through my art, I express concepts and emotions that are tied to my life experiences. After months of meditation, I impress my conceived images on canvas using varied and new techniques. My double canvas paintings represent explicit messages where the observer is engaged in deciphering the cuts and folds of the painting. My latest pieces illustrate the human image, especially the visage, offering an alternative to the prevailing culture of figurativism by way of visual expressions that illuminate beyond sight.alessandra-ricci.com

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Image courtesy of the artist.

My work is an exploration of shape and color, inspired by the ever-changing play of light and shadow.  Realism is the structure on which I build my images, but the focus is more on the abstract quality of the visual world than on actual content.  I am most often inspired by the natural world, the great out doors.  Leaves are especially interesting to me, being infinite, in shape, color, texture, and structure.

sarahhartshorne.com

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Image courtesy of the artist.

A good picture doesn’t have to be perfect, it says something.

katja-granzin.com

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Image courtesy of the artist.

Most people create a mask of respectability that other members of society see. These masks might fool the outside viewers and may even fool the individuals who create them. If you rip off the masks, the primal passions that control humans emerge from the deep recesses of our psyche… My paintings reflect my observations of humanity and the never-ending trials and tribulations we subject ourselves to.

dmbowers.com

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Clarity, 2009, 58 x 42 inches, oil on canvas

Being an artist is all about vulnerability. Some artists are pretty afraid of this, creating a product that feels very closed-off and protected from the prying eyes of their viewers. Becky Franco is not one of these artists.

Her large realist works on canvas are now on view through May 18^th at SOHO20 Gallery in Chelsea.

Franco puts herself right out there, finding a connection with the viewer by exposing them to the most intimate moments of her own life. Her work displays the most intimate corners of her domestic life, chandeliers, mirrors, tables, and chairs all peer back towards the viewer. Titled Chosen, the show posits the idea that these objects are actually the ones that chose us, and not the other way around. They make one reflect on who they are as we contemplate our relationship to these objects that are common signifiers of a certain level of comfort and affluence.

As stated by the artist in a recent statement,

“My interiors are concept driven and  at first sight seem clichéd, passé and give a conventional appearance, but on second inspection possess emotional and cultural tension. The objects subsist together in ‘space’ and start to stare back at us, becoming somewhat unsettling to the viewer, once we adapt to the incongruity one welcomes the unusual viewpoint.”

Franco’s chops as a painter are on vivid display, so much so that the engaging concepts her work is loaded with come to the forefront secondarily. Once they hit you though, their grip is unavoidable. Its an engaging show that is worth repeated visits. Go see it before it’s too late.

By Matthew Hassell

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doreltopan.com

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