Artist Statement

I am pursuing beauty of black in black to illuminate essence of motifs.  The most of motifs are derived from emotional concepts, such as hope, frustration, and sadness, which arise from everyday matters.  In order to portray complexity and ambiguity of these emotions, I’m focusing on depicting monochrome images by manipulating elaborate blackness.

Biography

Marino Nakano is a Japanese-born artist who graduated “Musashino Art University” with B.A. Fine Art specialized in oil painting in Japan.  During her University days, she realized that monochrome pen drawing can express her inner core freely rather than oil paintings. This discovery encouraged her motivation to come up with further art works.  After graduating the University in Japan, she decided to relocate to the UK so as to study art more deeply. In the UK, she entered University for the Creative Arts (a.k.a UCA) and studied Textile Design there.  During she was in the university, she had created textured fabric which is hand dyed in black. Also, she was selected as a nominee of one of the best awards for new designers in the UK, called “Texprint”. After she graduated, she had collaborated with British fashion designers, Textile gallery, and Textile enterprises in London by providing her original textured fabrics.  Then she moved back to Japan and started creating consumer products in her own company. Apart from her expertise on “monochrome arts” and “hand craft works”, she had provided colorful digital artworks as an illustrator, which is completely opposite approach to the expertise. This was because she was motivated to publish her art works to the world broadly. However, in spite of the fact that the sales went fairly well and the experience extended her ability a lot, she gradually re-realized how the “monochrome arts” and “hand craft works” are precious to her.  In 2016, getting the opportunity to move to California, USA, she decided to convert her art style back to the delicate and drastic monochrome pen drawing. Now she is motivated to entertain people all over the world by her artworks while being awarded by international art competitions.

Artist Statement                  

I’m interested in visual oppositions, particularly the tangible versus the intangible, the two-dimensional versus the three dimensional, and the graphic versus the atmospheric. I have been working from flat silhouettes that I cut out and mount on highly reflective paper. I place these shapes in a context out of time and illuminate them with a single strong top light. I then create drawings from them, where the process can last several days, pushing and pulling endless amounts of subtle information.

I gravitate towards shapes with specific gestures within them. The representation of motion or cause-and-effect informs my selection of silhouettes. I find them appealing in their odd and playful way, and I think of them as symbols referencing nature, but influenced by a digital world.

Biography

Michael DeLuca is a visual artist from Philadelphia, PA, currently living and working in Paoli, PA. He creates pastel drawings inspired by simple shapes of cut white paper. His shapes are minimal, cold, and static, but he uses them to create drawings that are boundless, poetic, and full of life. DeLuca composes with only a few elements (the shape, the black space, the reflection, and the ominous pool of light that surrounds it all). Ultimately his awkward, but earnest, shapes take on figurative characteristics that playfully comment on the human condition.

His work has been exhibited in recent contemporary drawing exhibitions including: “Drawing Resurfaced II” at Purdue University Galleries, “The Great Lakes Drawing Biennial” at Eastern Michigan University School of Art & Design, and “Drawn” at Manifest Gallery. His work is also scheduled to appear in Manifest Gallery’s upcoming International Drawing Publication, “INDA 12” this coming spring.

He has exhibited nationally including: Philadelphia, New York, Indiana, Maryland, and Ohio. His work has appeared in New American Paintings multiple times, and he was the recipient of CFEVA’s (Center for Emerging Visual Artists) Artist Fellowship.

He currently teaches at Arcadia University where he is an Assistant Professor of Drawing in the Department of Visual & Performing Arts.

Recent Exhibitions

2018     Works On/Of Paper, BrickRed Gallery, New Orleans, LA Black & White;  Bauhaus Prairie Online Gallery  

2017      Drawing Resurfaced II, Purdue University Galleries, Lafayette, IN; Great Lakes Drawing Biennial, Eastern Michigan University School of Art and Design, MI; Drawn, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio; Black and White, Art Fusion Gallery, Palm Springs, CA; Black and White, Colors of Humanity Online Gallery  

2016      Revolutions in Making: VPA Faculty Exhibition, Arcadia University Art Gallery, Glenside, PA

2014       On the Persistence of Drawing: VPA Faculty Exhibition, Arcadia University Art Gallery, Glenside, PA

2012        Scale 1:1, Arcadia University Art Gallery, Glenside, PA

2007        Annual New Talent Show, Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 2006; Emerging Artist Exhibition, Artists House Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

STATEMENT

I believe a bona fide artist is capable of rendering any initiative and I occasionally undertake endeavors that do not include animals, which is my passion and forte.  My goal is to capture my subject’s expression, colors, hair, and fur consistencies which can sometimes present a very complex challenge.

My favorite medium is acrylics and most of my work is done in acrylics and includes pet portraits, posters and advertisements that are animal-related.  I have also written and illustrated a children’s book about a dog which I would like to publish.

Second to none is scratchboard which I found particularly challenging because of the complexity of animal fur textures.  Scratchboard is a very meticulous medium because there is very little room for mistakes.  Because of this the end result is gratifying.  My scratchboards have won several first places in art competitions.

My definitive objective is to start a business exclusively doing pet portraits or a favorite wildlife creature.  I have designed a business card and advertising poster and my logo is “Kristi’s Kritters”.

BIOGRAPHY

I was born and grew up in Chicago and now reside in Nashville, Tennessee.  Art has always been a priority.  I owe my zealous interest due to my grandfather, who was a professional commercial artist and had a studio in Chicago.

I had always been interested in art as far back as grade school.  As a youngster, I never purchased store bought cards but created cards for my family’s birthdays and other special occasions, and I was always designing comic books.

Following an art curriculum in high school, I attended The American Academy of Art and Chicago Academy of Fine Arts respectively.  My studies introduced me to advertising, color schemes, illustration, calligraphy, photography, scratchboard, abstract, design, charcoal drawing with live models.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My art practice follows in the footsteps of the Surrealists Automatism. Through improvisation, intuition and by tapping into a stream of consciousness, I organically construct “landscapes of the mind” aiming at a Cosmic Unity, where human, nature and the artifice co-exist symbiotically.

I explore the concept through the rendering of artworks that delve into the notion of a dreamscape in a topographic manner, leading to the creation of cosmographic maps. These mindscapes merge the outer space, fantasy literature, various vector silhouettes, flora and fauna, mythology, the east and the west through a whimsical urge for exploration and adventure. In addition, hiking and reading mountain maps has substantially informed my work. Drawing trails, dotted lines, zigzags, beams and rays are recurring elements and serve as connecting bridges in my compositions.

The result is suggestive: a cluster of various microcosms inviting the viewer to explore both the parts of the whole as well as the sum of the parts.

BIOGRAPHY

Alexis Avlamis (b.Athens 1979) received an early art instruction from Bennington College, Vermont and later on earned a BFA(honors) in Painting from the Athens School of Fine Arts. By tapping into a stream of consciousness, he creates dreamlike mindscapes aiming at a Cosmic Unity, where nature and the artifice co-exist symbiotically. Avlamis is a laureate of the International Emerging Artist Award (Drawing and Illustration category), which saw his works exhibited in Dubai and Brussels, respectively. Awards, Juried shows and competitions include the: 6^th 2017 ArtSlant Prize Showcase Winner (Mixed-Media), 7^th 2017 ArtSlant Prize Showcase Winner (Painting), A line with intent, ARC Gallery, Chicago (USA), 39th Annual Juried Art Exhibition, Monmouth Museum, NJ, (USA), Cardinal Planes, Gallery Korea, Korean Cultural Center, New York (USA ), The Abstract Mind, CICA Museum (Korea), Biennale Austria, blue bleu blau blu, (Vienna), the Stencil Art Prize, (Australia), Art Kudos (USA), Day Dreamers, Bg Gallery (California), 10x10x10 Tieton, (Washington), the Bloom Award, Shortlisted (Cologne), Artist Statement, CICA Museum (Korea), Anthology, Charlie Smith London (UK), the Mamut Art Project (Istanbul), the IEAA Award (Dubai and Brussels), the Dave Bown Projects, (New York), the Heart Revive, Sunshine Museum (Beijing), the 7 artists / 7 countries, Embassy of the Republic of Korea, Korean cultural service, Beijing (China), the Drawing Center’s Viewing Program (New York) and several others. He has attended artist residencies in USA, Finland and China, has been published and interviewed internationally and works may be found in private and museum collections, most notably the Djurhuus Collection, Denmark and the Henan Art Center’s collection, China.

Artist Statement

My work entitled Peace will hopefully evoke a quiet calm. The tree’s proportions captured my eye immediately with its massive span of branches, the lake as its backdrop and a single bench in front of it. I would like the viewers to transport themselves into this perfect fall day, sitting on the bench, reflecting on life and having peace.

Biography

I purchased my very first professional camera about six years ago. I was in between jobs and needed to think quickly of what I was going to do to supplement my income. I picked up the camera then and have not put it down since. Photography has developed into an overwhelming love and passion of mine. I look through my lens with a new set of eyes viewing and framing the world. I see beauty in everything – from broken windows in an abandoned house to a white swan in a lake. I specialize in black and white photos with just a “pop” of color enhancement. However, my portfolio is vast, as my shots consists of nature, landscapes and people.