Posts Tagged ‘Books’

May

Discord of Analogy – The Absurdity of Michael Cheval

Posted by: Kenneth Rougeau in Art & Artists, Painting

Michael Cheval is an immensely talented painter whose works leave this reviewer nearly speechless and blubbering. At a loss, for conventional terminologies such as “outstanding“, “amazing“, and “spectacular” all fall flat, I can only say that Cheval‘s work is “beyond delicious“, “mouthwatering“, “saliva-inducing eye candy“… These images are for the eyes and mind what an orgasm is for the body and soul.

Lady of the Instant

Swing of Love III

Michael Cheval specializes in “absurdist” paintings, portraits & drawings, paying obvious homages to the surreal stylings of Salvador Dali and René Magritte & seamlessly blending in fantastic touches of magic realism ala Michael Parkes.

Lullaby of Uncle Magritte

Comparative Analogy II

Cheval‘s definition of “absurdity” is inverted reality, reverse logic. It stems from neither dreams nor the subconscious, which serve as inspiration to the surrealists, but is rather an intricate game of imagination wherein all elements are carefully selected & tied together to construct the desired literary plot. Cheval‘s works are often metaphorical in nature & require a cunning eye to decipher his oft hidden allusions.

Down to Earth

Discord of Analogy

Magician's Birthday

Michael Cheval was born in 1966 in Kotelnikovo, Russia. He developed his passion for art at an early age and graduated from Ashgabad school of Fine Art in Turkmenistan in 1986. He started work as an independent professional artist and began shaping his style & surrealistic direction.

Imagine

Sounding Silence

Swansophone Elegy

In 1997, Cheval chose to immigrate to the United States, beginning a new epoch for the talented artist. In 1998, Cheval became a member of New York’s National Arts Club where he received the Exhibition Committee Award in 2000. He became a member of the Society for Art of Imagination in 2002.

Proposal

Cloud of Future Spring

Michael Cheval has published two full-color art albums; Lullabies (2004) and Nature of Absurdity (2007).

Don’t miss these great Cheval galleries:

For more information, visit
Michael Cheval’s official website
http://www.chevalfineart.com/

April

Michael Cheval is an immensely talented painter whose works leave this reviewer nearly speechless and

blubbering. At a loss, for conventional terminologies such as “outstanding”, “amazing”, and “spectacular” all

fall flat, I can only say that Cheval’s work is “beyond delicious”, “moutwatering”, “saliva-inducing eye

candy”… You get the gist.

Michael Cheval specializies in Absurdist paintings, portraits & drawings, paying obvious homages to the

surreal stylings of Salvador Dali and René Magritte & seemlessly blending in fantastic touches of magic

realism ala Michael Parkes.

Cheval’s definition of “absurdity” is inverted reality, reverse logic. It stems from neither dreams nor the

subconcious, which serve as inspiration to the surrealists, but is rather a intricate game of imagination

wherein all elements are carefully selected & tied together to construct a literary plot. Cheval’s works are

often metaphorical in nature & require a cunning eye in order to decipher his oft hidden allusions.

Michael Cheval was born in 1966 in Kotelnikovo, Russia. He developed his passion for art at an early age and

graduated from Ashgabad school of Fine Art in Turkmenistan in 1986. He started work as an independent

professional artist and began shaping his style & surrealistic direction.

In 1997, Cheval chose to immigrate to the United States, beginning a new epoch for the talented artist. In

1998, Cheval became a member of New York’s National Arts Club where he received the Exhibition Committee

Award in 2000. He became a member of the Society for Art of Imagination in 2002.

Michael Cheval has published two full-color art albums; Lullabies (2004) and Nature of Absurdity (2007).

For more information, visit
Michael Cheval’s official website

http://www.chevalfineart.com/

Don’t miss these great Cheval galleries:
Nature of Absurdity
Eternity of Absurdity
Illusions of Absurdity
Reality of Absurdity
Sense of Absurdity
Portraits by Michael Cheval
Drawings by Michael Cheval

Spread The Word!

Tags: absurd, absurdism, absurdity, allusions, April, art albums, Ashgabad school, Books, Cheval, cloud of future spring, comparative analogy ii, dali, definition, definition of absurdity, discord of analogy, down to earth, drawings, dreams, eternity, eternity of absurdity, exhibition committee award, fine art, full color, galleries, gallery, game of imagination, homage, illusions, illusions of absudity, imagination, imagine, immigrate, independent, inspiration, inverted reality, Kotelnikov, lady of the instant, literary plot, lullabies, lullaby of uncle magritte, magic realism, magician's birthday, magritte, metaphor, metaphorical, Michael Cheval, Michael Parkes, mouthwatering, national arts club, nature, nature of absurdity, official website, painter, Painting, paintings, Parkes, portraits, professional artist, proposal, reality, reality of absurdity, rene magritte, reverse logic, Russia, salvador dali, sense, sense of absurdity, society for art of imagination, sounding silence, subconscious, Surreal, Surrealism, surrealistic, surrealists, swansaphone elegy, swing of love iii, talented, Turkmenistan

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May

Ghosts In The Machine: The Portrait Art of Erika Iris Simmons

Posted by: Kenneth Rougeau in Art & Artists, Mixed Media

Erika Iris Simmons is a self-taught artist with a unique twist on portraiture. She uses non-traditional media, recycling common discarded items such as old books, VHS tapes, film reels & audio cassettes, and uses them to create incredible portraits of pop-culture icons. Her work has been featured on major websites as well as in magazines & newspapers across the globe.

Robert Smith (The Cure) by iri5

Alfred Hitchcock by iri5

She’s experimented to amazing effect with other materials as well, including a portrait of professional baseball player Fernando Valenzuela made entirely from the innards of a single baseball and a stunningly detailed portrait of Oscar Wilde “in his own words” – the portrait is made entirely from pages from Wilde‘s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Fernando Valenzuela by iri5

Oscar Wilde "in his own words" by iri5

“I try to express an idea, through the arrangement of very common things, with the hope that some message is conveyed without words,” says Erika. “I love the nostalgia of the archaic and I hope that not everything which has outlived its use goes to waste.”

Tom Waits by iri5

Jimi Hendrix by iri5

She has also created a number of marvelous “remixes” of images, such as a portrait of surrealist Salvador Dali created out of pieces of his paintings & a portrait of US President Barack Obama created from a collage of photographs.

Salvador Dali by iri5

Barack Obama by iri5

Erika can be found online in a number of places under the handle iri5, including flickr & her own website. You can also friend her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

Bob Marley by iri5

Erika happily accepts donations & is currently looking for the following items:

old cassette tapes
film reels
an old butterfly net
graduation tassels
old lace

“If anyone can help supply me with any of these aforementioned things, I will certainly reward you with some cool art in exchange. I will also notify you when the project is completed, and send you pictures of the final product. I really appreciate any help and I aim to share the experience of creating the artwork as much as possible,” says Erika.

Bob Dylan by iri5

The Clash by iri5

You can contact Erika Iris Simmons directly from her website or by email “for more info, or a full list of pictures, to commission a piece for yourself, or just to say hi.” Her email address is eisimmons@gmail.com.