Tammy Salzl

Tammy Salzl is a painter from Edmonton, Alberta working on her MFA at Concordia University in Montréal.  Her work is currently being exhibited at the FOFA Gallery in Montréal.  I attended the FOFA show, and an artist talk that she gave in a class that I am enrolled in.

Her work is juicy, tactile, and relates directly to the squidgy, oozing nature of oil paint.  Her work deals with issues regarding the environment, gender, mutation and the body.  I admire her ability to combine these topics, and have them displayed so clearly in the medium of painting.

You can visit her website here, to view more images of her work and her artist statement.

Jia Aili

I have recently been very interested in the paintings of Chinese artist Jia Aili.  His work combines Chinese technique with Western influences to create scenes that are ambiguous in their time and place.
His works speak about environment, production, and the human condition.

These works are massive - often wall sized - and some even include installation elements such as mirrors, props and paper.

"The Seeker of Hope" (Series) Installation View

 "Our Century"

"The Wasteland"

"The Seeker of Hope" (series)

Screaming Paintings

Whether you think it's humorous or not, these interpretive scream paintings are sure to make your weekend - they certainly made mine.

Make sure to view in full screen and full volume (kidding about the volume...  Unless you're into that) For full effect.

Jarek Puczel

An interesting look at intimate distance, with no defined lines.  "Lovers" is a painting that encapsulates intimacy as a shared action, blurring the lines between two entities.

I have been researching this line between intimacy and seperate/blurred entities, and this painting exemplifies that.

Yamantaka/ Sonic Titan

I realize it had been ages since I last posted, but no time for excuses, let's get back into it!

I was at an artist talk done by the lead singer of Yamantaka/ Sonic Titan today about her film work for their music videos.  Yamantaka/ Sonic Titan is a band that is also a collaborative art project based out of Montreal.  They create new instruments for their music, and their own story lines and installations for their band sets.  The lead singer, Ruby Kato Attwood, creates the bands music videos.  She utilizes many different film techniques to create the videos, from stop animation, live action film, and slow motion film, to drawing, painting, and installation-making.  In her presentation, she described that many of the costumes and sets used in their shows are made from found objects or very cheaply sourced materials.  However I think that their work has an almost high brow or rendered look to it, and this information from her presentation makes their work even more interesting to me.

Bandcamp:

Music Video for Hoshi Neko:


I found their work to be refreshing, fun and psychedelic.  Let me know what you think!

Brad Kunkle

Brad Kunkles' work is like something out of a dream.  Nature mixed with figures float through space.  These oil paintings encapsulate the etheral in a way that seems within reach.
Visit his website.

Stefan Kürten

I am loving the dappled light in Stefan Kürten's paintings.  His work explores what a domesticated nature might look like by portraying greenhouses and recreational areas with an eerie yet nostalgic feel.  I like how they almost look like drawings because they seem so intricate, but they have the depth that a painting gives.  These paintings are also massive, with dimensions in the 190 x 270 cm range.  They would be incredible to see in person.
To see more of Stefan's work, visit this website.

Leslie David

Leslie Davids painted hands make me feel like I've finished a really good painting session; hands caked with paint, exalted and exhausted.

To see more of Leslies' work, visit her website.