When you add credibility to it, Pop is not such a dirty word anymore. If you ask me when add a little bit of indie the shine isn’t so overbearing. That’s exactly what Atlanta based artist Chris Hamer did when he dubbed himself and his work UrbnPop.
American Icons, a recent solo exhibition by Hernando Alzate was nothing new under the sun. But that isn’t saying much. What is new these days? All forms of creation rely heavily on the work made before it. However, what American Icons lacked in new ideas, it made up for with visually stimulating images and an in depth process that if anything is a technical achievement. In one piece, he’ll evoke the pop masters of the past, Warhol and Lichtenstein. In another he nods to the pop master of the present, check out his Mr. Brainwash nod in the above image.
My assistant Rico and I are downtown this morning in Atlanta’s original commercial district, the historic Farlie Poplar. We are here to meet an already fairly popular up-and-comer in the ever-burgeoning ATL art scene, PaperFrank. After only three public shows, this 20-year-old visual artist is literally on the cusp of explosion.
Paul Leli is an artist that has recently caught my attention. The 26-year-old artist, is based in Toronto, Canada, but that doesn’t stop him from creating jaw-dropping portraits of pop icons from around the world. Paul Leli is painting celeb reality with a hint of awesomeness. Take a closer look at some of our favorite pieces from Paul below.
Just in time for Spoke Art’s Quentin vs. Coen Round Two, opening June 2nd at the new permanent gallery space in San Francisco, comes the latest from Australian artist Rhys Cooper.
The force is strong with this one. On June 1, Artist/graphic designer PaperFrank will debut new works in an exhibition entitled “Afro Picks and Bunny Suits 2″ at Archive Gallery. All work and merchandise will be for sale. If you’re in Atlanta and want to know where the art scene is heading, you need to make it out to this show.
During his 2010 residency at the McColl Center for Visual Arts in Charlotte (North Carolina), Fahamu Pecou created a collection of four series of works under the title Hard 2 Death. Now the works have been presented in his first ever French exhibition at Backslash Gallery.
As an art editor I receive countless submissions. A majority of them aren’t for Art Nouveau. Sometimes it seems as if artists aren’t reading the site. If you browsed through Art Nouveau for two minutes you’d get a pretty solid gist of the type of work we are looking for. Thank whatever or whomever you pray to that Yis Goodwin aka NoseGo knew who he was submitting to. The Philadelphia based artist recently introduced his artwork to us and we’re glad to share it.
On April 14, Art Nouveau Magazine presented Want To See A Sad Boy Smile? Pay Him, the debut solo exhibition by artist/designer GreatEclectic at Studio 900 in Atlanta, GA. GreatEclectic gave viewers a glimpse into his elaborate rants and musings on fame, power, money, love, the rise and the fall and our generation’s obsession with celebrity. His signature aesthetic evokes a unique combination of pop culture semiotics and art history paired with a vibrant narrative. Works in the exhibition range from mixed media collages, to drawings, paintings and photography.
It’s officially spring. The birds are chirping. Pimps and players are flirting. And the girls? Well depending on who you ask, they run the world. It wouldn’t be spring without a tribute to the girls, girls, girls.
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been meeting some interesting artists in the most inconspicuous ways. Take for instance Monica Ellis. Just the other day, my friend and I were killing some time because we had to wait for the restaurant to buzz us when they were ready for us, so we wandered around because the place was too crowded, and we stumbled upon a local art gathering. I believe the venue was called Salt and it was art featured by Alejandro.
I’ve never met GreatEclectic, but I know him quite well. I’ve never felt more innately connected to someone with whom I’ve never shared conventional contact; but that is the beautiful mystery that is the Great Mister Daye. He conveys and connects with the world and the one individual alike, because he is his work; as with any masterpiece, that connection lives in the unconventional void – where authenticity cannot be barred by limitation, and catharsis cannot be marred by sterile sanity. He lives in his work – it is in that shared space where I feel, and it is in that shared experience where life is present.
