pastel

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Art

Exploring Climate Change through Art: Giant Pastel Oceanscapes and Icebergs Drawn by Zaria Forman

Tackling climate change or the documentation of extreme environments can be challenging endeavors for any artist, but for Brooklyn-based Zaria Forman it was simply an extension of a childhood spent traveling with her family to some of the Earth’s most remote locations. For her 2012 project Chasing the Light, Forman led an ambitious art expedition by sailing up the northwest coast of Greenland to retrace the 1869 journey of American painter William Bradford. Along the way she documented the changing arctic landscape which she would use for inspiration in several large soft pastel drawings seen here. Her nearly photorealistic works exquisitely capture the atmosphere and mood of a landscape in flux.

In late 2013, Forman traveled to the Maldives, the lowest-lying country in the world, and an area said to be most vulnerable to rising sea levels, where she completed another body of work focusing on the rising ocean tides. The resulting drawings create an alluring juxtaposition of beauty and menace. Similar journeys have taken the artist to locations around Israel, Nosara, and Svalbard.

If you’d like to learn more about Forman’s work she currently has several original works available on Artsy and you can purchase prints over on ArtStar. The artist has an upcoming exhibition at Carla Massoni Gallery that opens in March, and if you have a good eye you can spot 10 of her drawings used on the sets of Netflix’s smash hit House of Cards. You can also follow her on Facebook. (via Gaks Designs)

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.

 

Art

Colored Owl Drawings by John Pusateri

Using pencils, charcoal, and pastels artist John Pusateri creates near photo-realistic drawings of beautifully colored owls. Pusateri currently teaches in the Department of Architecture at Unitec New Zealand and currently has a number of works available through Seed Gallery. See more from this owl series in his portfolio.