Captured Illusions in Toronto Homes.

Visual artist Elise Victoria Louise Windsor created the series "Trompe l'oeil Petite Mansion," which is exactly what it sounds like: a series of tromp l'oeil images in a small house. The photographs take on a illusionary quality, as images of old Toronto homes are made tangible with the addition of origami, dimensional shapes. It is the artists intent to "shift the viewer's perception by introducing another dimension into the picture plane by calling attention to the 2-dimensionality of photographs." Windsor's work seems to have domesticated similarities to the portraits of Alma Haser (previously featured here).

Nooneissafe

In "Nooneissafe," artist Vahap Avşar installed a decimated NYPD police car in a gallery space. The car simulated an imaginary scenario in which a bomb had exploded at the New York Police Department. The work was created in reference to the safety issues played out post 9/11. According to Avşar's website, "An NYPD car is a readily recognizable image for all those who live in New York City through real-life experience, and for people in and outside of New York through everyday media outlets such as the newspaper and television. On the other hand, while a car bomb explosion is just as recognizable as imagery it is familiar mostly just through the media, since we can assume that most of New York’s city population has never experienced such an event in person. The juxtaposition of the two imageries is the formal manifestation of Avşar’s intention to play on the viewer’s assumptions about pop news bits and make her aware of the process of how she receives these bits. This juxtaposition does indeed feel recognizable and strike us as probable even though in reality the likelihood of ever coming across an actually bomb-exploded NYPD car is small.

Glitched Images Captured through Paint.

These are paintings. Yes, you read correctly, paintings. Artist Kon Trubkovich, represented by Marianne Boesky Gallery, paints freeze framed and glitched images on linen and paper. His work is a stunning representation of images we are all to familiar with (that is, if you're "old" enough to remember what it was like to a watch tapes on a VCR, or filter cable through bunny ears on your television) though presented in an unexpected setting. One is left to wonder, why this video still? What does it mean and why is it important? There's something eerie and lingering about a mass of pixels and a visually disjointed face. Let us know how you feel about Trubkovich's work in the comments below.

Alientation in a Vacant Hotel Room

 

In "Vacancy" by Robert Stadler, the artist created an entirely blue room in Galerie Yvon Lambert's Project Room to construct a unique dichotomy between the commercial space of a hotel room and that of a public exhibition space. As Stadler explains on his website, both a hotel room and gallery are "…public spaces in which it's important from time to time to create a sensation of intimacy for the visitor / guest. Rather than a furnishing proposition, 'Vacancy' tries to reproduce that feeling of alienation that one can sometimes experience in a hotel room."
(photographs by André Morin; courtesy Galerie Yvon Lambert)

Anamorphic Art in Public Spaces.

Anamorphic art will always impress. Even people who don't see themselves as "art lovers" can appreciate the skill and talent involved in anamorphosis. For those unfamiliar with the term, anamorphosis is a distorted projection or perspective that reacquires the viewer to occupy a specific vantage point, or use a particular device, to reconstitute the image. Georges Rousse is a perfect example of an anamorphic artist. He creates installations of geometric shapes, text, or designs in public settings by painting walls, floors, ceiling, stairs, etc. Do not be fooled by these photographs, none of these are photoshopped! If you simply stepped to the side of the vantage point, these images would look like a mess of color painted haphazardly in an open space.
(Images by Georges Rousse / ADAGP)

Classical Sculptures Pierced with Agricultural Tools.

 
Bai Yiluo combines popular culture with classic photography or traditional sculpture techniques to depict the cyclical struggle of humanity, better known as the "human condition." In his series, "Civilization," Yiluo constructed classical terracotta busts of emperors and slaves, pierced with agricultural tools. The busts are thus defined by, and connected through, their transfixed objects. The installation is meant to reference both Eastern and Western spiritualism, as well as the revolution, conflict, and rebirth often associated with violence.

Daniela Quirós Documents The Natural State of People.

Maria Daniela Quirós Arapé is a Venezuelan photographer currently based in Barcelona, Spain. While in school, Arapé began "Au Naturel," a series in which she photographed men and women in their natural state. The project began as a reflection on social standards of beauty and presentability, or as Arapé explains on her website, "A reflection about the posture we take before others and about how we think we are perceived to be." Since the project's founding in 2010, new concepts have surfaced over the past three years as the artist developed her series. The work has come to symbolize not only social norms, but authenticity and personal guardedness--or perhaps lack thereof. As Arapé concludes in her artist statement, "It’s precisely here, in this conceptual triangle of naturalness, identity and vulnerability where the reflection on Au Naturel is framed." The series is still ongoing, so expect to see more of "Au Naturel" in the coming years. In addition, one can access the "Au Naturel" book on Issuu.

The Personality in Personal Works.

Samantha Sealy is perhaps one of the most honest artists to submit to OH! Parasite, and it is her blatant candidness that makes her work so intriguing. She describes herself as a "mostly analogue" photographer from Connecticut who is "very shy." Since childhood, Sealy has taken photographs, though only recently began to pursue her hobby as a career. She admitted that, though she is an artist, Sealy does not feel as though she can call herself a photographer because she lacks an artistic "bond" to most of her images. The artist confided in her submission, "I've been trying to connect to my photographs on a more personal level lately…I've started manipulating my negatives & I think I've finally found a way for me to feel like my photographs really are a part of me." It is Sealy's connection to her own work that has made her images such a success. Without a kindred link between artist and art, a work is often feeble or inadequate. Yet once that relationship has been established, either through process or material or subject, one's art finally begins to grow. There truly is personality in art that has personal value. You can see that in  Sealy's photographs. Her manipulated images echo a kind of simplistic veracity. Her works appear uncomplicated in composition, yet the marring of the final proof creates a personal, if not candor, reflection of the artist herself.

Needlework and Collage.

Mixed media is a popular form of art making right now, especially when it comes to embroidery and photography. It seems as though everyone is stitching in to old vintage images or fashion portraits as a new form of collage, though it is becoming increasingly difficult to create anything unique among this omnipresent art form. However, Jose Ignacio Romussi Murphy may be an exception to the pervasive trend. Though the artist does tend to choose fashion photographs as the basis for his work, Murphy's personal additions to these images creates a kind of narrative within the work, rather than an aesthetically pleasing image. His work is uncommon in its execution, as Murphy embroiders with the focus and skill of a true textile artist. Therefor, Murphy's work transcends the commonality its material suggests through both skill and subject, and manifests in to a pervasive collection of images.

Curtains, Legs, and Covered Ladies.

Eva Stenram has an interesting photographic style. As I feel I can not describe her work nearly as well as she can, here is an excerpt form Stenram's artist statement describing her process and artistic themes.

Eva Stenram brings together analogical archival material and digital manipulation, creating 
scenarios where the uncanny takes centre stage. Stenram often uses found images, such as negatives, magazines and images from the Internet, as her source of inspiration and working material. These are scanned or downloaded to digital files that the artist manipulates, reinterpreting at each time the image anew. Her work questions our understanding of notions such as time and space, giving life to hybrid realms whose exact temporal and cultural coordinates are ambivalent and difficult to locate. Besides, by questioning the paradigms and hierarchical values of different photographic genres, the artist confers to found imagery altogether a new meaning.

 The following images by Stenram herself are from her 2012 series, "Drape."

Works by Contemporary Graphic Novelist Adrian Tomine.

  

You may recognize the work of Adrian Tomine. He is well known for creating contemporary illustrations for the literary magazine, The New Yorker, though Tomine began his career by self-publishing his comic Optic Nerve. Since his humble beginnings as a teenage comic artist, to his present day career as a critically acclaimed cartoonist and well sought illustrator, Tomine has paved the way for modern sequential art and commercial drawing. His style is distinctive, his comics modern, haunting, and unique.

The Tweets of 18th Century American Patriots.

In "An American Revolution Revolution" by Shawn Huckins, the artist depicted late and great historical patriots in classic 18th portraiture while adding a 21st century spin. Over the top of his paintings, Huckins transcribes common social media phrases and posts. For instance, Benjamin Franklin cries out, "LMAO" (below). The series creates an interesting dichotomy between present day priorities and communication in comparison to past ideas and goals. Of his work, Huckins asks viewers to contemplate this juxtaposition between eras. He elaborates in his artist statement,

Well-worn are the theories that advancing technology isolates us more, not less, and it is easy to idealize centuries-past life as simpler, more civil, more intelligent and, ironically, more 'connected.' The point is, we live in a very different time than our Founding Fathers did, and we would appear to place our priorities in very different places: what entertains our selves versus what serves our society. Clearly a society must be politically free to indulge in the luxury of such introspection. But has the complacency of our political freedom blinded us to the potential our ancestors fought for?
If George could comment today, would he click the 'like' button, or post wtf? and then go check his Lady Gaga tweet?

Furry Passengers throughout Montreal.

 

"The Passenger" (above) and "The Passenger II" (below) are a series of sculptures that were installed in Gare Centrale in Canada for the Art Souterrian exhibition. Each sculpture has a metal armature that takes the shape of a human being. It is fully dressed, with adorned in a pair of a jeans and a jacket or sweatshirt with the hood up. When one looks at the inside of the hood however--where a face would normally be--an abundance of taxidermy animals stare back at the viewer. Totally creepy. When I first stumble upon these images I was shocked. I can only imagine the reactions of passerbys. "The Passenger" and "The Passenger II" was created by Brandon Vickerd in 2012. I'm curious as to how you would you react if you saw this on the street? Let us know in the comments below!
(images via darksilenceinsuburbia)

Igor Klepnev's Contemporary Portraiture.

 
At the start of his young adult life, Igor Klepnev suited medicine at a medical academy in Russia. Yet art was beckoning him, Klepnev quickly dropped out of school, moved to a new city, and pursued his passion. Now the artist is a fashion and portrait photographer. He draws his inspiration from hip hop, street art, graphics, and cinema, and currently works in Moscow.

Kosmos.

Agata Madejska, another Royal College of Art graduate, created the series "Kosmos" in which playground equipment is displayed in a black void. The works seem purely subjective, with little inclination of what the objects are (at first glance) nor their purpose. An intriguing way to look depict such everyday structures.