Silent Heroes

I ask myself, how did the artist convince them to wear the costume in public? These images are entertaining and comical, but once you understand Dulce Pinzón's notion behind these masked subjects, you will appreciate the concept. "The Real Story of the Superheroes" is the title to Dulce's award winning series of photographs depicting Immigrant workers in New York dressed as a superhero to convey the difficulty in their lives, working in extreme conditions for low wages in order to support their families. Each photograph is supported by the subject's name, hometown, years working in New York, and the amount of money they send home each week.

Dulce Pinzón studied Mass Media Communications at Universidad de Las Americas in Puebla, Mexico and Photography at Indiana University in Pennsylvania. She moved to New York where she studied at The International Center of Photography.

Pretty Strange

When I first saw Dan Lydersen's work, they were interesting and funny. Some of you might think, WTF? When you understand Dan's concept, it will make sense. In short, his work consist of historical paintings, clashed with contemporary advertising and popular culture, striking the notion of human commercialism verses morality to animals. Dan graduated with an MFA at the San Francisco Art Institute and have been working as a full time artist. His work is represented by Jack Fischer Gallery in San Francisco. Check his website to view additional work and read his entire artist statement of his paintings.

Candy Coated Mayhem

Candy colored hues with guts and eyeballs goes hand in hand with Charlie Immer's paintings. He states, "I really enjoy cartoon violence and pushing the violence and humor level as far as I can. It's a lot of fun to combine them." Charlie studied illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. He works in oil paints on gessoed board. His upcoming exhibition is at Billy Shire Fine Art in Los Angeles, November 14 to December 5.

Afloat On The Coast

I can't imagine the level of difficulty when timing and composing these shot against floating on random waves.  A year ago, Yossi Milo Gallery presented these great photographs by Asako Narahashi, titled "Half Awake and Half Asleep In The Water." She began the project back in 2001, afloat in the waters off the coast of Japan, capturing the photos with her Nikonos 35mm waterproof film camera.  Large subject matters of buildings, bridges, and airplanes becomes a small background element when it is juxtapose with massive water textures as foreground.  Asako Narahashi was announced finalist for Society of Photography Award in 2004. Her photographs are held in the permanent collections of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, and Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.

(The photographs presented in courtesy of Yossi Milo Gallery)

Taste Of America

Yummy. Salivating over these delicious paintings, it brings us back in time when we indulged on junk food for some quick gratification... well, for most of us. Upon reading Pamela Michelle Johnson's statement about the insatiable American appetite, I will never look at junk food the same way again. Here's a glimpse of Pamela's statement "I strive to invoke refection on a culture focused on mass-consumption and mass-production, where the negative aspects of overindulgence are often forgotten or ignored. The work questions a culture that equates fulfillment, pleasure and happiness with what we consume." Please read the full artist statement about social relevance with American consumption through her website and enjoy additional work.

Reimagine

Aleksander Mulomelov is the art director and founder of Mukomelov Studio in Kiev, Ukraine, who created these intuitive product design. A faucet called, "The Water Symphony" which an electronic device is embedded to allow automatic precise adjustment to water pressure and temperature. "Bath's Bomb" is self explanatory. A contemporary mobile phone, "Magic Stone" with holographic projector, and "Mobile Script" with a retractable touch screen. And "Floor Lamp FireFly" is an organic shape lamp.

Free As A Bird

These beautiful renderings caught my eye, acrylic on canvas paintings with a twist or a glitch.  Frank Gonzales studied at the Laguna College of Art and Design.  His roommate was drawing birds one day, and Frank decided to draw some birds as well.  He quoted, "There isn't any real deep explanation other than they really exited the hell out of me."  He got closely involved with his research of birds and their history, and he became connected with the subject.  He continued, "I'm not trying to make any statements about freedom or anything like that, but rather more of a reference to nature and our connection to it.  I have found as of late that I'm able to express more with birds, along with botanical elements, than I could with the single figure."

Frank lives in Queens, New York, where he felt separated with nature, leading to his statement about the marks on his illustrations, "It's just my approach to the subject and is a play on the idea of breaking up an image of nature... also, the mark making is an attempt to create an implied space and movement."  

Frank Gonzales next show will be at the Sirani Gallery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Check out his website and blog.