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Art

Master of Pen and Ink: The Monumental Drawings of Ikeda Manabu

The task of Japanese artist Ikeda Manabu is seemingly impossible: a blank paper canvas larger than a person spread before him, a small acrylic pen in his hand, and hundreds of days to fill with faintly imperceptible progress from a mind brimming with explosive creativity. Manabu works in areas measuring roughly 4″ square, spending eight hours a day, often for years, on a single drawing that can eventually dominate an entire wall. Traditional Japanese architecture clashes with giant mangled tree roots, while swarms of birds and fish dart through the water or atmosphere in a complete visual cacophony that somehow results in a single cohesive image. The most unbelievable aspect being that Manabu has no idea what the final artwork will look like, but instead explores each work organically from day to day as he progresses inch by inch.

Manabu’s most recent work, Meltdown, which explores the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake was recently on view at the West Vancouver Museum, and next month will embark on a 10 by 13 foot panel in Madison, Wisconsin which the artist estimates will take upward of three years to complete.

You can learn more over at Hi-Fructose, which sat down with the artist for an exclusive interview earlier this month.

Art

Putting Down Roots: New Paintings of Urban Growth and Turmoil by Amy Casey

Artist Amy Casey (previously) just unveiled a new collection of work at Zg Gallery here in Chicago. Titled Putting Down Roots the paintings continue an ongoing fictional saga of characters living in Casey’s artwork who often face great adversity from killer plants, collapsing structures, and other desperate means to keep their cities afloat or intact. From the looks of it things have improved dramatically for these little painted inhabitants who appear to have weathered the storm and are now thriving within Casey’s bizarre, suspended worlds. From the artist:

After any pendulum swing of chaos grinds to a slow halt, there will come a time when you will have to decide if you are going to wallow in the rubble or take what remains and create a new empire. Building upon recent work, I have been in search of a solid ground. A bit less kinetic than past work, I have been trying to take what was left of the world in my paintings and create a stability of sorts, thinking about community ties and the security (or illusion of security) needed to nurture growth. Cities are fascinating creatures that I am just beginning to scratch the surface of.

In the video above from Cleveland Arts Prize she talks at length about her process and the continuing narrative that weaves through years of her art. Interestingly, every building or house in each of her paintings is based on actual source materials. Casey will take photographs of some 500 individual houses, office buildings, and water towers which she then uses as reference for every small small structure you see in her artwork.

Putting Down Roots will be up through July 6th, with a smaller selection of work on view through August. All images copyright Amy Casey, courtesy Zg Gallery.

Art

New Hyperrealistic Painting by Omar Ortiz

Guadalajara-based painter Omar Ortiz (nsfw) recently completed this amazing new oil painting titled Salto de Fe (Leap of Faith). Ortiz is an accomplished hyperrealistic painter and commands fine control over light and skin tone in all of his paintings which he generally paints on large canvases. You can also find him on Facebook. (via ghost in the machine)

Art

Swirling, Psychedelic Self-Portraits by Nikos Gyftakis

Greek artist Nikos Gyftakis created this wonderful series of swirling self-portraits between 2004-2005. The works are made with oil pastels on canvas and are actually quite large, with a few of the pieces taller than 5′ (1.5m). You can see many more from this series and more of his recent work in his work gallery. (via empty kingdom)

Art

Subtractive Street Art by Pejac on the Streets of Spain

Really digging this subtractive piece by Pejac. You can see much more of this piece as well as an archive of earlier works on his website. (via street art utopia)

Art

Book Paintings by Ekaterina Panikanova

Artist Ekaterina Panikanova creates densely layered paintings across large spreads of old books and other documents, resulting in artwork that blurs the lines between painting, installation and collage. Born in St. Petersburg in 1975 Panikanova graduated at the top of her class from the Academy of Fine Arts and was subsequently given a studio to work from for five years. She now lives and works in Rome. Much of what you see above was from her second ever solo show Un, due, tre, fuoco at z2o Galleria earlier this year, and if you’d like to see more, check out her website. (via this isn’t happiness)