Art Hound

Austin Power has six new portraits up on Art Hound’s sister site, Buy Some Damn Art. Austin is an incredibly thoughtful person and in typical fashion he put a great deal of thought into selecting his subjects.

“All of these portraits are of Artists & Designers that I personally know and admire. I wanted to make a show in the spirit of your work here on BSDA and Art Hound… I wanted to share that love and respect with artists and designers in my life. So rarely are my viewers allowed to access my subject at the same time as my painting. I think that this platform allows a special opportunity to connect the work with its origin and inspiration.”

Read about Austin’s subjects here.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Justin Lee Williams’ subjects seem caught somewhere between life and death – we see the outward signs: a flash of their spirit, the grotesque deterioration of their body. His work is so beautiful it might take you a minute to realize you’re staring death in the face.

.

.

..

....

.

Raw Color is a visual research project in The Netherlands based on colors and dyes extracted from vegetables (via Pinterest). Somehow what seems like a series of tedious, old-fashioned experiment (vegetable dyes?!) produced stunning, artful specimens of paper, liquid and fabric. In particular, I am totally enamored with the way the various colors bleed into the paper and produce their own colored geographies.

.

.

.

I fell in love with these paintings by well-known New York artist Ann Craven. They are a study in contradiction: mundane yet magical, whimsical yet serious, sweet yet sad. As The New Yorker wrote about her show last year at Maccarone, “You don’t need a press release to tell you that Craven’s subject isn’t roses at all, it’s the fleeting nature of everything: art, memory, life.”

.The variant speed and texture of Craven’s work makes it feel spontaneous, no small feat given her tendency to paint similar images countless times. In exhibitions, she has a penchant for juxtaposing nearly identical paintings, pairings that reveal the subtle distinctions between the artworks as well as their remarkable likeness.  – Katie Stone Sonneborn in Pitch Magazine

.

Craven’s work at Maccarone (Jan/Feb 2011)

.Images from the artist’s website.

French artist Flora Douville (again via where the lovely things are) has a shop filled with her beautiful prints, Happy Fish and other little treasures. According to her portfolio site Flora grew up in a village in Western France, lived in London for two years and currently lives in Nantes, a small city in Brittany. Flora also takes beautiful photos and has a business helping people respect their bodies and find clothes that work for them.

.

.

Her 2011 calendar, above, is one of the prettiest I’ve seen so far!

.

Island of Kindness series by Katharina Fengler.  Erin saw a bison. I see hearts and lungs. What do you see? I won’t judge.