The Painting Portfolio of Dmitry Kochanovich
Ideal Planet, oil on canvasDmitry Kochanovich is an artist based in Krasnodar, Russia. In his practice, Kochanovich creates painting that borrow from both traditional and contemporary styles, often juxtaposing distinct aesthetics and narratives to create images imbued with an uneasy sense of anachronism.
Free Fall, oil on canvas
Technically, Kochanovich’s paintings seem to borrow heavily from classical, romantic painting styles --…
HAUSON: The Art Portfolio of R.S. Robertson
R.S. Robertson works under the studio name HAUSON, producing psychedelic artworks in a rainbow of colours. The artist’s pieces hearken to the Op Art movement of the 1960s, yet are firmly situated in the present.
DANCE IN THE MIDDLE, acrylic on canvas
Much of R.S.’s portfolio reminds me of work by Bridget Riley, particularly in the way that colours overlap and create new shapes and patterns to trick the…
The Illustrative Art Portfolio of Reed Dixon
Reed Dixon was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and worked as a commercial illustrator and designer for a time before opening his own studio. In his current practice, Reed utilizes a variable, illustrative style to produce a prolific array of works.
Impact, mixed media and gold leaf on canvas
It’s interesting to see the variety of different styles that Reed plays with in his current portfolio. In terms of…
The Watercolour Art Portfolio of Kathleen Contri
Kathleen Contri is an artist who works primarily in watercolour, capturing her surroundings and imaginary scenes with equal exuberance.
Bridge at Anderson Japanese Garden, acrylic on canvas
Many of the artist’s works take the form of beautiful landscapes packed with colour -- I like the way that Kathleen uses different brush marks to render different objects. In outdoor scenes, leaves and flowers are…
A Portfolio of Plein Air Landscapes by Michael Gaudreau
Michael Gaudreau is an artist currently based in Bel Air, Maryland. A member of the Pastel Society of America and the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association, Michael works deftly in both media, creating beautiful plein air landscapes and capturing elements of nature in their purest form.
Storm Clouds over Porter, pastel
Michael cites Canadian Group of Seven painter Tom Thomson among his influences, and while…
Loose, Gestural Style: The Art Portfolio of Michael Louis Johnson
Michael Louis Johnson is a painter born and currently based in New York. A lifelong artist, Michael uses his artistic practice to depict a range of subject matter -- often scenery and places from his hometown -- in a loose, gestural style.
I really enjoy the sketched, slightly impromptu air that Michael’s paintings have about them. The artist doesn’t seem overly concerned with details but instead focuses on…
Inside the Art Studio of Mary Corse
Mary Corse is an artist living and working in Topanga, California. In her practice, Corse is known for large-scale monochromatic and dichromatic paintings. Many of her paintings are solid white, but utilize different finishes and gloss coatings to achieve a specific relationship to the lighting of a space.
I enjoy the aesthetic of Corse’s studio here -- the vast, all-white canvases might seem cold at first, but the overall…
The Masterful Coloured Pencil Art Portfolio of David Neace
Goddess of Speed, coloured pencil
Masterful coloured pencil artist David Neace taught himself to draw at a young age by following along with his father, also an artist. David’s current body of work reflects a sense of careful, practiced observation as well as an appreciation for pure experimentation with an artistic medium.
Aged Elegance, coloured pencil
I really love the way that Neace renders reflective surfaces -- polished cars,…
Beauty in the Natural World: The Art of Steve Latimer
Keeping Watch, acrylic on gesso board
Steve Latimer is a painter, photographer, and mixed media artist with a talent for both abstraction and realistic detail. In each work, the artist takes an introspective, personalized approach, seeking beauty in the natural world and in the faces of other people.
Twist and Turns, wood assemblage
Steve’s landscape paintings utilize lighting in a brilliant fashion, creating strictly delineated…
The Art Portfolio of Ron Crowcroft
Ron Crowcroft is currently based in Woodbury, Connecticut, where he creates artworks in an innovative range of media and styles, including traditional drawing and painting, performance, film video, poetry, and more.
Body Language, mixed media on Yupo
Ron’s recent series of works has seen the artist employing mixed media on Yupo to achieve a kind of whirling, psychedelically colourful effect. Some of the…
Geometric Form and Pattern: The Art of Giorgio Viva
Untitled, acrylic on canvasGiorgio Viva is an Italian artist currently based in the United States. Viva’s practice is varied, with the artist producing both visual art and music. Viva’s visual art portfolio showcases a fascination with geometric form and pattern.
Untitled, acrylic on canvas
I really enjoy Viva’s abstract paintings. The works are wildly colourful, and often utilize repeated forms like lines or other, more…
Overlooked Aesthetics: The Art Portfolio of Sarah Peschell
Wedding Stamps -- Dragonfly, postmarked stamps, reclaimed objects on tea-stained paper
Sarah Peschell graduated from the Alberta College of Art and Design. Sarah’s artistic background is in painting, but in her current practice the artist tends toward two-dimensional assemblages of found objects, emphasizing the overlooked aesthetics of everyday items.
Watch Flowers, reclaimed aircraft gasket tabs, watches, and mirror fragments on…
Interactions and Collisions: The Portfolio of Clare Asch
Clare Asch is a painter who makes work emphasizing the interactions and collisions between dilute pigment on a surface. The artist’s painting have a reverence for natural phenomena, like gravity and tidal patterns.
Many of Clare’s works have a translucent quality to them -- this is especially obvious in the recent series Convergence the works in which take the form of overlapping circles painted…
Inside the Art Studio of Jia Aili
Jia Aili was born in Liaoning, China, and studied oil painting at the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in Shenyang. In his current practice, Aili creates large-scale paintings that borrow forms and techniques from classic Western painting styles while maintaining an overall aesthetic that’s thoroughly contemporary.
The artist’s studio, pictured above, has a very industrial look to it -- though there are no windows to speak of, the…
Visceral and Exuberant: Art by Julianna Barabas
Seam 1 (performance at Hastings Art Gallery, photographed by Rebecca Applegarth)
Julianna Barabas is a Calgary-based performance artist, speaker, and educator who often uses her own body as a medium and as a point of contact between artistic concepts and physical spaces. Julianna’s works are equal parts visceral and exuberant.
In one piece, called seamline, the performance consists of Julianna having a single line tattooed…