Artist of the day: Marni Mutrux

Marni Mutrux’s (pronounced MEW-troo) work goes beyond the traditional artist/image relationship; each of her pieces is a poetic testimony of her love affair with the paint itself. As striking as her work appears when viewed at a distance, an inspection of the dimensional texture of her canvases reveals an intimate knowledge of the quality, as well as the value, of her chosen medium.

“The fluidity and texture excites me. I get the opportunity to explore the paint, indulge in it, play, learn and fight with it. There's always a battle, and sometimes I lose.”
–Marni Mutrux

Fluent with both representational and abstracted styles, Mutrux possesses an unerring and unapologetic ability to evoke a response in her viewers. Her vibrant abstracts are a subtle roar of texture and energy, evoking an image of the artist carefully folding pieces of her own vitality into each brush stroke. Her autobiographical portraiture is storytelling of a more literal, but no less vivacious, form, revealing intimate examinations of her past (and not always pleasant) experiences.

Taken in combination, both styles of work contain lessons on femininity, strength, passion, and vulnerability. They provide the narrative to a visual journey from the insecurity and exploration of youth towards the deft fearlessness of an artist in her prime.

Mutrux was awarded a Presidential Art Scholarship and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree, graduating Magna cum Laude, from Salem State College (MA) in 2004. Originally from Key West, Fl., Mutrux currently resides in Central California.

Artist Statement:
My focus at the moment is exploring the way texture, line, and color combine, and discovering the line between reality and distortion. Weaving my way from abstraction to realism gives me a more thorough understanding of my artistic ambitions. In this way I continue to challenge myself, to explore new territory, and to expand the limits of both subject and application while staying true to my vision.

Surrender

Slow like Honey

Tangle

Artist of the Day: Jane Lewis

Jane Lewis is a painter and print maker with an established and still growing reputation. During a career spanning some 30 years Jane has worked in watercolour, etching, most drawing media, pastel, digital media and constantly in oil on canvas. Her compositions are not directly inspired by dreams, but they are a kind of waking dream. The pictures are a personal narrative of visual, musical and physical obsessions. There are various elements that occur regularly: masks for example, cats, still lifes of fruit or geometrical shapes, pieces of classical sculpture, wings and angels. Her painting technique is influenced by the artists of the early Italian Renaissance and recent visits to Italy to study the Roman frescoes at Pompeii, Herculaneum and Ostia have had a profound effect, realized in recent still life and figure compositions. The style and content, however, are very contemporary.

My words on this artist: If you noticed my last rant about how women of color are portrayed in art many times in the repetitive over used themes mentioned. You will see one of the reasons why I like this artist. She has a sort of omniscient view that portrays people in a clean sense regardless of color in this world. It is modern and of course has elements of magical realism.

My favorite works by this artist are:

Unicorns

Oil on Canvas

2008

Chimera

Archive on ink paper

The Carnival Float

Oil on Canvas

Spirals

Oil on Canvas

Artist of the Day: Chelin Sanjuan

Chelin Sanjuan Piquero, was born the 1st of May 1967 in Zaragoza, Spain. She emigrated with her parents to Chile where she remained there for 5 years until they traveled to Venezuela, a country in which she would reside in until 1987, the year she returned to Spain to study at
"La Universidad de Bellas Artes de Barcelona" in English it would be the University of Beautiful Arts of Barcelona. In 1992 she returned to her birth home and opened a studio of arts in which she dedicated herself to teaching art for 11 years, thus combining this and activity with multiple expositions both collectively and individually. She currently lives in Valencia, Spain.

My favorite work by this artist hands down would be "El Collar de Rosa" or "The Necklace of Roses". It is acrylic on canvas. What I love so much about it is the crisp clean representation of a woman of color that I can actually relate to as a person of Afro-Caribbean Hispanic descent. Also the unifying theme of nature and women here is prevalent. Many times I find myself foraging through endless art galleries trying to find a clear representation of a woman of color. Beauty is relative in the eye of the beholder. But what kind of annoys me is that when I have looked through the art galleries the majority of African or women of African descent are depicted in a jungle in Africa with a lion on her side, with a dashiki on her head in typical attire. Very few works I have found just depict the women as who she is in her natural true beauty. Yes those mentioned above maybe her natural state and beauty but it is an over repetitive theme. Another thing that annoyed me was that the majority of the time I found that the features were OVER exaggerated. Again this maybe beautiful to another person but like I said before it is also an over used depiction. I don't want to go into further discussion of this but all I am saying is that as a surveyor of art what I look for is a beautiful clean honest depiction of women regardless of color and not a biased notion.

El Collar de Rosa in English "The Necklace of Roses"
Acrylic on Canvas

2006

Equilibrio in English: "Equilibrium"

Acrylic on Canvas

2006

"El Que Aparentemente Piensa" in English "The One who Apparently Thinks"

Acrylic on Canvas
1991

When I look at this painting. I am just like "this is my train of thought". I am a person who is constantly exploring new things, challenging ideals, and breaking my head constantly to figure out new things in life. Those that constantly challenge the reality around us and break down the walls of fantasy that we build in an effort to protect who, what, where, and why we are/is/have..etc make ourselves uncomfortable in our mindsets and in the fake reality around us. This piece says it all.

Artist of the Day: Shawna Erback

As you can see I have a great affinity for fantasy art. May favorite genre under fantasty is dreamscape. More often then not I am wondering in the deep abyss of my dreams. And I feel like I can connect alot with these pieces since some are similar to my dreams. You must be thinking this girl has some crazy dreams. Yes I do. And I take pride in that because they are wholey unique and evoke a creativity that attracts others that only I can understand. But enough about me. The artist today who I will be blogging about is Shawna Erback.

Shawna Erback born 1973, grew up in the beautiful valley in Trail, BC. Canada. She moved to Calgary, AB right after high school where she lived for almost fifteen years. Her artistic talents were prominent at a young age but with a young family and owner of a successful soap making business she was not able to pursue art until she was in her late twenties. Since then Shawna immersed herself in the artistic community. She participates in exhibitions and is also an active member of various art organizations and charities. She and her family moved back to the sweet little valley of her youth where she could focus on her new career with a renewed and refreshed outlook on her life. Shawna is a full time artist and paints almost every day. Her works have been purchased for private and corporate collections all over the world and she has sold over 200 paintings to date.
Shawna's passion for painting is leading her down exciting paths. Her soft surreal style is like being part of a quiet dream. You'll be contemplating Shawna Erback's paintings long after you walk away from them.

My favorite works by this artist are:

"She feels memories"

giclee, archival paper, mat

"No Place Like Home"

"Little Valley"

Artist of the Day: Patricia Mota

Patricia Mota is an upcoming Surrealist artist of Dominican descent. I could not find much information about her as I browsed through her galleries. I only found this tid bit on Wikipedia.

"Patricia Mota is an actress and film producer of Dominican descent. She played the lead role in the critically acclaimed film GI Jesus that premiered at the "Grauman's Egyptian Theatre", on January 23, 2007. GI Jesus took the Grand Jury Prize at CineVegas 06 film festival. She was also in the film State Property 2.
She was nominated as the best actress in the baja California film fest 2007 for the film G.I.Jesus. Producer:
In Production "The Land of the Astronauts" (2007) (pre-production) (associate producer)

"G.I. Jesus" (2006) (co-producer).
Patricia Mota is a surrealist, painter, photographer, co-producer and a writer. She was born in the Dominican Republic, and has a daughter, Preciosa Mota.
Half of her life she lived in North America in between New York, Miami & California. She is the sister of supermodel & actress Omahyra Mota and Omar Mota, an artist and a male model. Her parents are also artists.

My favorite works by this artist are:

"Martita" mixed media on wood. Circa 2004

"El Viaje"

I don't know the actual name for this piece of art but nonetheless its amazing : )

Courtesy of myspace

Artist of the Day: Illustrators at Dalma in Japan

I am no expert in the Japanese language but I know good work when I see it. I came across the illustrators at Dalma through the band "Modern-Conya". I like their music. And noticed the colorful album and website art and soon figured it out it was by Dalma. Here is some of their amazing work to admire. My absolute favorite is this depiction of a pregnant Goddess.When I think of what supernovas moms and pregnant women are this captures it all. I love the razor sharp teeth and the pink displaying a blossoming baby :-)
you can visit more of their work at http://www.dalma.jp/

I feel like the sun is bound at this woman's waist. Beautiful Imagery.

Artist of the Day: Jack Vettriano

I first encountered Jack Vettriano's work when I was about 11 years old and I must say I have been in love with it since then. I like the clear imagery of the womans form in his works and much of the romanticism displayed. Here is a tidbit about him from his website :

"Born in Fife, Scotland in 1951, Jack Vettriano left school at sixteen to become a mining engineer. For his twenty-first birthday, a girlfriend gave him a set of watercolour paints and, from then on, he spent much of his spare time teaching himself to paint. In 1989, he submitted two paintings to the Royal Scottish Academy's annual exhibition; both were accepted and sold on the first day. The following year, an equally enthusiastic reaction greeted the three paintings, which he entered for the prestigious Summer Exhibition at London's Royal Academy and his new life as an artist began from that point on."

Source: http://www.jackvettriano.com/

My favorite works by this artist are:

"Waltzers"

Oil on Canvas




"Mad Dogs..."

Oil on Canvas




"Sweet is the Night"

Oil on Canvas




And of course
"The Singing Butler"