Surrealism Today

Contemporary surreal, visionary and pop surreal art

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The Art of Mark Hopkins

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Mark Hopkins Surrealism

The landscapes of Mark Hopkins are as gorgeous as they are mind-bending. Hopkins’ surrealistic techniques include playful visual distortion, juxtaposed symbols, and abstract surrealism in combination with a mastery of the craft of painting.

The first painting in the gallery above shows the Buddha hovering in the air in an archetypal temple. The scene is calm. Juxtaposed with this peaceful imagery is the ‘fallout shelter’ symbol on the tiles of the floor. The repetition of this symbol in an otherwise serene environment startles the viewer. It invites us into the work with Hopkins to reflect and process. Other symbols (which you’ll need to discover for yourself) further add the complexity, ambiguity, and depth of this image.

Hopkins’ gorgeous contemporary surrealistic paintings are both profound and ineffable.

Mark Hopkins Artist Statement

My paintings consist of elements assembled into stories or into ‘mood-scapes’. I place the recognizable into the supernatural as a way to invite a viewer to co-create a narrative from their understanding of what’s in a given composition. There is content, for sure. But it is flexible content or perhaps it is ‘content under construction’. Why? Perhaps it’s because I want more out of a work of art than straight representation can offer. My work adjusts to mood, current events, individual personalities, and to itself. It is possible come away with a different interpretation with each viewing. Bang for buck.

There are a few things I hope to say through the oeuvre of my work; That the Earth is precious, time is precious, life is precious, that our mind is amazing, that history is way more profound than we think, and that there are mysteries lurking which can provide insights into who we are, why we are here, and how ‘it’ all works. Graham Hancock calls us a people who have forgotten our past. My paintings both acknowledge and challenge that: We are finding what we forgot – awakening and reconstructing our past – but we might want to hurry.

I hope my work pleases my audience. I hope they play with it, enjoy the quirks, the color, and find it satisfying.

hopkinesque.com

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Virginia Stewart: Views From Within

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Artist Statement

When I sit down to do my art, my intention is to create magic; to create a visual wonderland that brings the gift of insight into the realm of mystical perception.

Like Zen, I feel I am a channel for the direct transmission of that phenomenon, the mysterious now.

So, when I look down at a series of squiggles and an image suddenly appears, I’m frequently surprised and say, “Oh, that’s what that is,” and draw it. And sometimes I ask, “Where did you come from?!” Other times I’m drawing and the lines start flowing into a form as if drawing itself, so I finish it.

This is the experience I want to share with my audience, the very discovery of the images unfolding before their eyes. And from that revelation, it is my aim for the viewer to come away with a new sense of awe about the magic of creation.

Artist Bio

Virginia Stewart was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 25, 1952. She is currently a resident of Phoenixville, PA.

Virginia has for a lifetime been on a healing and spiritual journey after being exposed to a range of human thought from Eastern philosophy to Western psychology. Her spiritual interest began at the age of thirteen when she heard a practitioner of yoga speak of the journey to enlightenment.

Virginia attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with an intensive curriculum of life drawing, still life, figure painting, cast drawing from plaster statues, art history, materials and techniques, anatomy, and other related courses.

She also attended the Studio School of Art and Design where she extended her artistic toolset with typography, mechanical drawing, color theory, illustration, and other methods and media.

Virginia’s curiosity for learning new things took her in many different directions, such as exploring physics and astronomy. And because of her love of learning about the city she lived in, she became a tour guide in Historic Philadelphia.

In 2009, she joined a unique learning center called Sphere College Project, where she gained the confidence to set out on her true path to becoming an important fine artist.

Exhibitions include: The Crescent Awards Show at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Print It Frame It Ship It, Steel City Gallery and Cafe, The Phoenix Village Art Center, “May Is Mental Health Month” (a traveling show sponsored by Fellowship Health Resources), Local Sphere Gallery and Crafts, Stages Arts Initiatives, and Franklin Commons Gallery “Flight” Show; Colors of Humanity, “Animals”; 3 Square Art Gallery, “100 Square Inches of Art”; Colors of Humanity, “Open”

Awards: SUNDAY SOUP AWARD, 2011 to frame her artwork; FIRST PRIZE, Fellowship Traveling Show, 2012 for Rose Empress; HONORABLE MENTION, The Phoenix Village Art Center Membership Show, 2013 for Flower Pod.

Commissions: Richard Liston, Radiant Swan, Emergence, Shell Pillow, Bumbees, and Tadpole Bowl; Scott Levy, Scott’s Life; Frank Kelso Wolfe, Portrait of Frank for a collection of poems, Love and Bagels.

Articles: “Vote for Your Favorites at Phoenix Village Art Center “, Phoenixville Patch, May 2011; “Virginia ‘Ginny’ Stewart”, Phoenixville Patch, May 2012.

Influences: Theodore Geisel, M.C. Escher, Edward Hopper, Jan Van Eyck, Albrect Durer, Vincent Van Gogh, Salvador Dali, Frans Hals, Henri Rousseau, Johannes Vermeer, Eugene Delacriox, John Singer Sargent.

Website

http://www.viewsfromwithin.com

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Victo Ngai

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Forbes 30 Under (Art and Style) honoree and Society of Illustrators New York Gold Medalist Victo Ngai 倪傳婧 is a Los Angeles based illustrator from Hong Kong, graduated from Rhode Island School of Design. “Victo” is not a boy nor a typo, but a nickname derived from Victoria – a leftover from the British colonization.
Victo provides illustrations for newspaper and magazines such as the New York Times and the New Yorker; create storyboards and art for animations with studios like NBC and Dreamworks ; makes books for publishers such as Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Folio Society and Macmillan; and works on packaging and advertisement campaigns for Apple, Johnnie Walker, American Express, Lufthansa Airline and General Electric.
Victo has also taught at the School of Visual Art New York, the Illustration Academy and gives guest lectures and workshop at universities and conferences, this has become her favorite excuse to visit different cities.
Apart from drawing, Victo’s biggest passions are traveling and eating. She’s hoping that one day she will save up enough to travel around the world and sample all kinds of cuisines.

victo-ngai.com

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Lindsay Pickett

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Lindsay Pickett’s gorgeous oil paintings of warped and distorted cityscapes transcend and confuse our orienting reflex in deeply surrealistic and magical ways.

Artist Statement

My main practice involves painting with oils on canvas, linen and board. I start with a basic study of a composition idea, usually in the form of a basic pencil drawing first, then I take it further as a small watercolour painting as a final idea and then develop it more as the finished oil painting.

For finding ideas as inspiration, I also use photographs to create a visual reality that can be convincing at times and especially if I want to get the likeness of a person or a landscape. It has also been good for me in the fact that it has taught me to use observational skills a lot.

A lot of my current practice is something that I have mainly taught myself and also ideas that have stemmed from dreams. I find that producing my ideas can only work if the photographs or images online that I try to find lends itself to the idea of something Surreal.

To create a warped landscape or some other kind of impossible reality the chosen idea or theme must create one impossible landscape and for that, the lighting has to work together and not look too much like a collage. This is often the longest part of my studio practice as finding ideas can take time. The two or more landscape images must blend together in a subtle way. A lot of my ideas also come from some films of the science fiction genre. Especially when seeing films that have a lot of cinematic scenes in them. Whereas such images are mostly created on computer, for me I like the challenge of creating something impossible by hand. I find it much more challenging and stimulating. This is also where I feel my work stands out.

The historical influences in my work arise from Surrealism and fantasy art. Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Brueghel, Rene Magritte and M. C. Escher are also influential. With Escher, metamorphosis is a recurring theme as it is with Salvador Dali and this drew me to their work. My painting practice started when research into Hieronymus Bosch and Salvador Dali took place. This occurred when I was still quite new to painting during my BA Hon Fine Art Degree.

My own contemporary concerns include the use of warped cities and impossible landscapes that otherwise do not exist in reality. They usually depict a recent dream I have had and they totally ignore all concepts of the laws of physics in terms of the real world we know. In my work there is no way of knowing what is up or down.

I also like to look at fantasy artists who paint images for science fiction illustrations and particularly like looking at the alien landscapes they create, artists such as Wayne Barlowe, Jim Burns and Stephen Youll come to mind. I also feel that my more recent works may appear to a wider audience of people in terms of the landscapes themselves featuring famous buildings and landmarks such as Big Ben for example. This also has been a good way for me to sell my work and make money. I have managed to do this by being commercially successful in some art exhibitions that I have had recently and also producing prints of my work and selling them on a part-time basis to private clients.

Lindsay Pickett Website
Lindsay Pickett Prints

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Eric Johnston’s Dream Realm

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Through the mindful practice of fine art and a passion for cultural affairs worldwide, Eric Johnston has created a distinctive visionary approach to his artwork.

Every component of Eric’s artwork relies on one main objective, to precisely reveal a connection in the subconscious mind and alternative realms that cannot exist in our conscious reality.

Using academic realism, surrealism, and abstract influences to contemporary art, his paintings represent the way humans perceive reality and the environment in which they exist during dream states.

Mr. Johnston’s artwork is centered on the principle of eliciting strong emotional responses to everyday elements based on the viewers’ past experiences.

The ability to see beauty in simplicity is a theme carried throughout every piece of Eric’s artwork which speaks in a language all of its own.

Color, form, and composition are all key attributes in Eric’s daily life that help shape the way he views the world around us.

A lifetime of drawing and creative mind authority, have led to a realization that all his paintings are physical manifestations of the dream realm.

ericjohnstonfineart.com
instagram.com/ericjohnstonart/

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