Lyrical

Valeriu Buev

Last Modified December 29, 2019 1 Comment

The paintings of Moldovan artist Valeriu Buev explore the strange and poetic tragedy of the human condition. Although Buev uses the language of surrealism and dream, his stunning images remain fully rooted both psychically and technically in material reality. Through the processes of distortion and imagination, Buev confronts the stark costs of humanity’s darker tendencies, such as war and corruption.

And yet, Buev’s work doesn’t rely upon simplistic platitudes and does not fall back on propagandistic tropes. Instead, each gorgeously painted image is wildly open to interpretation through visual metaphor and rich layers of ambiguity.

Each surrealistic image is embedded firmly in the near past or possible symbolic present.

Buev doesn’t indulge in idealism or painting surrealist images disassociated from present reality. Instead, he unflinchingly confronts the stark realities of our world and transforms each transgression into something oddly beautiful, poetic, and archetypal.

Others of Buev’s images remain just beautiful and opaque. The artist’s symbolism suggests something meaningful. Like a Rorschach test, each skillfully crafted image queues the viewer to delve into his own subconscious. Our reading may tell us more about our own current emotional landscapes than we first assume.

Follow Valeriu Buev on Facebook

Prints can be obtained from Saatchi Art and on Fine Art America:

Valeriu Buev on Fine Art America

Valeriu Buev on Saatchi Art

James McCarthy

Last Modified October 13, 2019 Leave a Comment

James McCarthy is a surrealistic landscape painter. McCarthy’s psychedelic/cosmic mindscapes wrestle with the concepts of space-time and the afterlife.

Across the Event Horizon - Oil on canvas. 18x24

Along the Frozen Lake - Oil on canvas. 18x24

Dawn in the Garden of Creation - Oil on canvas. 22x28

KODAK Digital Still Camera

In the Court of the Crimson King - Oil on canvas. 20x30

Luminous Energy Harvesters II - Oil on canvas. 22x28

Shadow Box and Surroundings - Oil on canvas. 18x24

The Garden in the Valley of the Stars - Oil on canvas. 22x30

The Tower on the Edge of Infinity - Oil on canvas. 18x24

Artist’s Statement

I’m a surrealist but I also consider myself a landscape painter.

I like to paint biomorphic forms but I’m also interested in capturing the moods of various landscapes.

I like to depict the weather and the seasons – the seasons especially because seasons note the passing of time.

Winter has a special meaning for me as well. It represents solitude and wonder.

Much of my work is inspired by ‘mindscape’ music such as New Age, psychedelic, certain classical pieces, prog rock and medieval music.

As I grow older I’ve become increasingly more intrigued by what life’s Final Door has in store for us. Is it a doorway to eternity or oblivion?

James McCarthy on DeviantArt
James McCarthy on Facebook

Anis Tabaraee

Last Modified August 18, 2019 Leave a Comment

Biography

Anis Tabaraee (Tehran, 1989) graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design in 2013 and an MA in illustration in 2018 from Tehran University of Art. Her art has been exhibited internationally.

Artist Statement

I am passionate about representing and expressing the world around me. I manipulate and exaggerate the details in the forms of creatures to create new and interesting worlds. I love to convey the Eastern mythos and mood in my art. I attempt to weave the threads from the rich historical tapestry of Eastern stories into my contemporary art. Work is strongly my culture, such as the sphinxes.

I draw with a ballpoint pen. This tool delicate lines and sharp color. It also helps me to develop my inspirations more easily to be close in my style. It’s also easy to be carried to every place that I have time to draw. I can pick it and start drawing even when I sit on a chair at subway to reach my destination.

I continue to develop my ideas to one day make an illustrated book of imaginary creatures.

Links:
Buy Anis Tabaraee Prints
instagram.com/anistabaraee
facebook.com/anis-tabaraee

Philippe Charles Jacquet: Les Reclus (27 April–19 May, 2019)

Last Modified April 2, 2019 Leave a Comment

Will you be in New York City in April? Then you can’t miss Philippe Charles Jacquet’s surrealistic landscapes.

Philippe Charles Jacquet is an architectural painter: his haunting surrealistic landscapes are an exercise in precision, layered variety, and esoterism

Opening Reception on 27 April, 2019, 6-8pm
RSVP Required: info@hugogalerie.com

Le port d'attache, Oil on board, 28¾ x 47¼_

Une soirée ordinaire, Oil on board, 47¼_ x 47¼_

Les Reclus is a solo exhibition featuring the carefully articulated dreamscapes of Philippe Charles Jacquet to be exhibited at the Hugo Galerie in New York City. The show introduces new pieces by the artist in his celebrated style in which he builds his watery worlds with various and highly planned painting techniques.

Les Reclus’ title is more relevant to his canvas’ structural capacity than their figural; while most canvases contain more than one figure, rarely does a canvas contain more than one structure. The reclusivity of Jacquet’s built environments, dramatically poised within surreal and stretching landscapes, lends his paintings an enigmatic quality. Adding to their mystery is the fact that they cannot be quickly dismissed as make-believe—they are too realistic, too aligned with our own experiences of stone houses, wooden rowboats, reflection pools, receding tides, and cloud-filled horizons. Even the slope of a figure’s slouching shoulders is too… personal.

Jacquet is an architectural painter; he plans his landscapes and their built environments with measured precision, constructing them in a layered variety of media and methods until they are as real as they are imagined. The materiality finessed, from mirror-like water to rust-scored wood grain, brings his painted compositions to life. The combination of textures, geometric accuracy, and concise colors creates an esotericism that includes viewers rather than excludes them; Jacquet’s solitary structures do not reject but envelop the viewer with the familiarity of a feeling. As if we’ve been here before. Perhaps in a dream.

Hugo Galerie is a fine art gallery in New York City specializing in contemporary figurative painting and sculpture. The gallery represents an international roster of artists working in a variety of media and range of genres.

Le Reclus, oil on board, 311⁄2″ x 311⁄2″ (80 x 80cm)
Le Port d’Attache, oil on board, 283⁄4” x 351⁄2” (73 x 90.2cm)
Une Soirée Ordinaire, oil on board, 471⁄4″ x 471⁄4″ (120 x 120cm)

See Jacquet’s previous feature in Surrealism Today from 2015.

Marjorie Darrow

Last Modified March 21, 2019 1 Comment

Gateway to the Subconscious

Artist Statement

The main theme of my work has always been the connection and synergy of all living organisms. It’s symbolic of the delicate balance and inter-dependency of life. I see these interconnections as a perfectly choreographed dance where each element is singular, yet part of the whole. It’s a simple and timely message, and my hope is that the viewer recognizes this in my artwork and takes with them a sensitivity and awareness of all life forms on the planet. My art is a process. The physical act of drawing or painting taps into my creativity, and there are always new discoveries and surprises. I view this process as a gateway to my subconscious because it’s not analytical. It’s completely intuitive. I typically begin with an initial inspiration, such as an ancient bristlecone pine tree, or an exotic orchid, or even the structure of a single cell. Sometimes this initial inspiration is representational, and at other times it may become abstracted, or so stylized as to appear surreal. From that point on I trust in the creative process to lead me. I start every painting with a detailed drawing. The act of drawing is where most of my creativity happens. It’s like a stream-of-conscious where each new element leads to another, and the connections between them evolve – sometimes with surprising results!