Michaël Borremans

Michaël Borremans and I share an interest in many of the same painters (Degas, Velaquez, and Manet) as well as preferred mediums (drawing, painting, and film) and themes.

"Michaël Borremans‘ drawings, paintings, and films present an evocative combination of solemn-looking characters, unusual close-ups, and unsettling still lifes. There is a theatrical dimension to his works, which are at once highly staged and ambiguous, just as his complex and open-ended scenes lend themselves to conflicting moods—at once nostalgic, darkly comical, disturbing, and grotesque. His paintings display a concentrated dialogue with previous art historical epochs, yet their unconventional compositions and curious narratives defy expectations and lend them an indefinable yet universal character."

-Biography

    

Suggested to me by Susan Murrell

Nightingale Gallery's Faculty Exhibition 2013

Susan Murrell. Prints.

Framed Collages: Jessica Plattner; Left framed print: Susan Murrell

Jessica Plattner. Mixed media collages.

Jess Riva Cooper. 

Foreground Sculpture: Jess Riva Cooper, Framed Prints: Susan Murrell

Foreground Sculpture: Jess Riva Cooper; Framed prints: Susan Murrell

Foreground Sculpture: Doug Kaigler; Framed prints: Susan Murrell

Cory Peeke

Cory Peeke. Mixed Media.

Doug Kaigler. Mixed Media.

Mike Sell. Digital Photographs.

Mike Sell.

Doug Kaigler. Personal Navigational Device. Mixed Media.

Doug Kaigler. Personal Navigational Device. Mixed Media.

Doug Kaigler.

Mike Sell.

Karen Kilimnik

Artist #3 - Karen Kilimnik

When Susan Murrell first recommended Kilimnik to me, I was impressed at the start. Not by her particular style of painting but of her subjects and inspiration sources. She has said that she is heavily influenced by books, fairy tales, TV shows, etc. that she views herself as the playwright of a story and the portraits she paints are either characters in those stories with actors "casted" in those roles.

Karen Kilimnik. Snow White. Water soluble oil color  on canvas.  18" x  24". 2004.

Karen Kilimnik. Clara, the witch in the English countryside.  Water soluble oil color on canvas. 20" x 16". 2009.

When I first picked up a pencil to sketch random doodles in the corners of my notes in the fifth grade, my mind instantly went to one place: the Japanese anime Sailor Moon that had begun airing at the time. For the first few years of my expression of boredom, my characters of skewed and stylized proportions began to include other sources including Star Trek: Voyager. Captain Kathryn Janeway was a particular favorite of mine, and I have kept many drawings of her. My imagination thrives on fantasy and science fiction today as much as it did then, though it has matured. I have characters floating in my head that I created in high school, who I have been molding extensively ever since their inception. Many of these characters have found life on the page from time to time. Karen Kilimnik has rekindled my interest in creating work based on a fantasy world that was influenced so heavily by my favorite songs, actors, and characters.