Van Arno‘s pop surrealist art had me curious from the first view. While almost cartoonish and outrageous in his aesthetic, he’s got subject matter in spades. Drawing on culture, religion, and events both historical and current, Van Arno paints scenes that are tomes. Whether you want to spend the time digesting and parsing through the…
EK Interview: Nuno Moreira
Nuno Moreira‘s dark art is stirring and beautifu. His most recent series ZONA is an existentialist exploration of dreams, art, and of course, meaning both conscious and unconscious. Check out his interview!
EK Interview: Tim Barnard
Tim Barnard‘s illustrations are a mash-up of so many enmeshed and overlapping subjects, and some of his works find their way into public/alternative spaces. Within his confines of a gray scale, he plays with dimension, perspective, and text.
EK Interview: Amber Chavez
In her photography, Amber Chavez speaks to the solitary subject within the confined space of their interiority. The destruction, the suffocation, the rawness, and the vices are carefully provoked. Chavez invigorates recognizable subject matter and through it, she coaxes her viewers into her work. This, in turn, suggests a certain (auto)biographical narrative. Check out Chavez’s…
EK Interview: Stephanie Buer
The imagery of Stephanie Buer‘s paintings and drawings recalls her time spent in Detroit, Michigan. While dilapidated and human-free edifices dominate her works, Buer speaks to Detroit’s artistic initiatives and to the changing cityscape. Check out Stephanie’s other Empty Kingdom interview and post !
EK Interview: James Rawson
James Rawson identifies the spoils of popular culture and its devastating/distracting effects. His boisterous paintings involve issues of digital voyeurism and they question the fulfillment that voyeurs receive from their action. Through this, Rawson explores the ubiquities of society and detachments from reality. Check out more of Rawson’s work at the EK Shop and his…
EK Interview: Susannah Martin
Susannah Martin exposes the human form in naturalistic and photo realistic scenes. On canvas, her vividly painted subjects interact with land and animal and express a contemplative curiosity. Through them, Martin speaks to themes such as the German political landscape and she makes clear her rich understanding of the history of art. Empty Kingdom first…
EK Interview: Louie Van Patten
Louie Van Patten‘s paintings are dark and moving. They reveal parts of us we see at the last moment when we turn away from the mirror, the parts we know are there but often can’t, or won’t. They are colorful, vibrant, loudly emotive, and they plumb some of the deepest parts of the human condition.…
EK Interview: Yung Cheng Lin
The art of Yung Cheng Lin is gripping, compelling, and raw. I feel like I could make a Jackson Pollock out of all the adjectives and emotions I feel staring at his pieces. Damn. Where the hell does it all come from? Check out his interview for a peek:
EK Interview: Shae Detar
Shae Detar‘s photography portrays the world she wishes to see. Borrowing from the surreality of nature, Shae paints photographs in brilliant pastels, making work that is visually stunning. Her models are predominantly naked, taking the photographs out of time, and giving them an other worldly sensation that, to quote Goldilocks, is just right. Check out…
EK Interview: Mr. Mead
Mr. Mead‘s surreal illustrations examine his personal fears, materializing as looming and haunting forms. These dandified and often masked animal-people provoke viewers with their bizarre gesticulations. Mr. Mead animates the inhabitants of the darkness, often providing these characters with finely trimmed suits.
EK Interview: Hobby Buddies
The world of Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini is a foray into the diverse microcosms that we as humans all inhabit. At the microscopic level, their photography showcases a number of groups of people, all unique on a personal level, brought together by a single passion. On a macroscopic level, it speaks to the human…
EK Interview: Mojo Wang
Mojo Wang is an illustrator whose work is thought provoking, addressing deep and powerful emotions, loss, emptiness, personal emotions. Across the board, Mojo’s stark depictions of the world are intense and poingant.
EK Interview: Stephanie Henderson
The work of Stephanie Henderson is steeped in symbology and meaning. Her dark and mysterious pieces make me stare in thought, wondering what was going on in her mind when she painted them, and what’s going on in the piece itself.
EK Interview: Julien Mauve
Damn but do I love the photography of Julien Mauve. His range is immense, discussing everything from the future of our society and world in his ethereal and haunting abandoned cities, to the lost innocence we seem to have forgotten, to the darkness of the world and the futility of our attempts to drive that…