Featured Artist of the Week: Carne Griffiths

"Sunlight" by Carne Griffiths

“I can be working on a piece and suddenly have the impulse to tip a cup of tea

almost entirely over the work and then to throw the piece around moving the ink

away from the underlying lines.”

-        Carne Griffiths in an interview with Digital Arts Online

Carne Griffiths specializes in drawing, offering his audience a unique manipulation of the line which alludes to both his everyday experiences and his view on our current relationship with nature.  He was born in Liverpool, but now lives and works out of London.  Griffiths graduated from Maidstone College of Art, after which he served an apprenticeship as a gold wire embroidery designer for twelve years.  It was only after leaving his post as creative director at an embroidery firm that he began to pursue his lifelong love of drawing; though the dramatic use of floral patterns and intricate design shows the great influence of his previous profession.

Carne Griffiths has distinguished himself as an artist, not only with his talent and skill, but with his innovative technique and materials.  He works mainly with calligraphy ink, graphite, and various liquids, such as brandy, vodka, whisky, and tea.  To create the delicately colored, yet intricately designed artworks, Griffiths begins with a drawn line, which he then manipulates with various liquids – allowing their natural coloring and absorption processes to create a natural fusion of color that is only guided by the human hand.  Griffiths typically works with speed, inviting chance and accidents, and allowing for his “style to be in a constant state of flux” in an effort to avoid “becoming stale.”

While the sweeping colors and sometimes tangled web of lines gives truth to his effort to bring spontaneity to his works, the finely detailed workings of his floral patterns, and his genius integration of portraiture into the elements of nature (a theme common throughout his work), speaks to the great artistry, skill, and control which Griffiths possesses over his materials.  At the same time, this control does not hinder the fantastical play and movement of his lines, which delights our eyes, and allows one to discover new elements of a piece each time they gaze upon it.  To truly begin to understand and comprehend one of Griffiths’ works takes time, as one’s gaze is, almost always, initially overwhelmed with the winding lines and delicate yet powerful blend of color.  In time, one discovers hidden creatures, human likenesses, and a bountiful garden of flora and fauna which hearkens back to what our land once was.  This connection between humanity and nature is one of Griffiths' foremost concerns; he focuses not only on humanity’s self-deception and violence towards nature, but on the bestial nature of nature itself.

Carne Griffiths’ most recent finished work was launched with the latest project from JOYCE which featured artwork from five international artists.  For this project, Griffiths used a very pale white tea to create a piece of artwork which “evoked the mood of spring.”  The image features a beautiful portrait on one side of the egg, and luscious spring feathers curling around the other.  To view this latest work, as well as to see Carne Griffiths’ full portfolio, visit his website at www.carnegriffiths.com.

The artwork as experienced by – SadieFaye

Carne Griffiths for JOYCE

"Metamorphosis" by Carne Griffiths

"Envy" by Carne Griffiths

"Find Yourself" by Carne Griffiths

"Gold Leaf" by Carne Griffiths

"Revive" by Carne Griffiths

Featured Artist of the Week: David Galstyan

David Galstyan was born in Yerevan, Armenia, where he still works today.

He studied at the Theater Institute of the Faculty of Actor’s Skill from which

he graduated in 2007 before beginning an intensive study of photography.  Galstyan has clearly voiced a desire to avoid working in the commercial sphere, instead taking time to indulge a desire to give life to his “inner world.”

His photographic works include a wide range of styles and methods of composition, each inventive, breathtakingly beautiful and equally deserving of praise.  This article focuses on the aspects that define only two of the portfolios created through Galstyan’s prolific lens:  Soul Dance and Fly.

In his works, Galstyan successfully exposes his “inner world,” allowing the audience to be transported into a mysterious wonderland of light and movement cast within the vast darkness of the imagination.  A place where man and woman exhibit similar qualities of ethereal beauty and a sense of elevated being that is enabled by a complete freedom of body and mind.  A place where limbs become indistinguishable from the billowing fabric with which they entwine as they float within space and extend past the edges of human boundaries.  The expressions of both face and body are serene as the limbs, taking on a life of their own, languidly extend and reach before hurriedly exalting in a flurry of color and visual texture.

Galstyan’s photographic technique allows the audience to witness an entire story in a single moment.  The characters’ form in the now is fully realized, though one simultaneously witnesses as it melts into the next moment, and dissolves from the previous.  The simplicity of elements (body and fabric), and the rich tonality of the images adding to but not overwhelming the presence of the subject, allow the audience to accept their ability to view past, present, and future in this single image.

This is a summary of my personal experience of his works ~ by SadieFaye

You can view David Galstyan’s full portfolio on his Behance Artist page at:

http://www.behance.net/galstyan

You can also follow him on twitter:  @Galstyan

Featured Artist of the Week: Christy Lee Rogers

“Metaphorically, water stood for purity;

& a body immersed in it, free from of gravity but trapped by the inability to breathe, was a huge dichotomy that consumed me.

Pain and suffering all mixed up with freedom and purity.”

– Christy Lee Rogers, interview with Astrum People

Christy Lee Rogers is truly a unique and multidimensional artist; Not only is she an extremely talented contemporary photographer, but she is also a filmmaker, musical lyricist for the alternative rock band “Forty Point," and holds a Bachelors of Arts in telecommunications and film.  Born in the small beach town of Kaiulua, Hawaii into a family of musicians, self-expression through the arts has always been an integral part of her life.  Rogers has had a successful career thus far, participating in group exhibitions since 2005, and featured in solo exhibitions since 2009.  You can purchase her works individually or as a book; “Siren” was released in 2008, and “Odyssey” will be released later this year.

Her work is innovative not only in technique, but in its defiance of genre boundaries.  She breaks from contemporary photography in her use of water as the technical foundation of her work.  Unlike many modern artists, her images do not require post-production manipulation, as all visual effects are created naturally “in-camera” by the innate properties of the water itself; a testament to the great creative imagination of this artist.  Through her works, Rogers is able to construct an enthralling fairy tale of colors that hearkens back to some of the great masters of painting: the dynamic movement, rich hues, and dramatic use of chiaroscuro reminiscent of Jacques Louis David, and the luminescent effect of her figures’ skin shining through the water, bringing the unimaginable realism of the paintings by Ingres to life.

Her images offer a symphony of color, emotions, epiphanies, and secrets – each one allowing the figure to become realized in complete clarity, and dissolving the figure and its intention into a swirl of rippling color. Her muses seem to revel in the complete freedom of movement and bodily expression offered by the dark expanse of water into which they are submerged, yet in the same moment there exists a struggle as they revolt against their human necessity for air and the confines of their reality above water.  The water acts to completely remove the figure from our reality; its effect combined with the movement of the fabric around each figure acts to further distance the audience from the figure as they simultaneously dance, float, and fly in their brief but beautiful moment of paradise.  A moment that desires to be discovered, felt, and understood.

The artwork as experienced by, SadieFaye

To read more from Christy Lee Rogers’ interview with Astrum People (in quotes), please visit: http://astrumpeople.com/christy-lee-rogers-amazing-underwater-water-photography/

You can find a complete gallery of her works as well as information on her upcoming exhibitions and book release at her personal website: http://www.christyrogers.com/

"Argentina" by Christy Lee Rogers

"Cilestra" by Christy Lee Rogers

"Innocence" by Christy Lee Rogers

"Labrinth" by Christy Lee Rogers

"Ranzetta" by Christy Lee Rogers

"Rapture" by Christy Lee Rogers

Featured Artist of the Week: Paolo Franco Orlando

"Where is My Mind" by Paolo Franco Orlando

 

“If Art has a soul, a spiritual aspect,

something that is derived from the core of the artist that’s given freely,

then it’s more than rules and technical perfection,

it’s the heart of the artist shown through his or her works

in such a way that no technical training can produce.”

- Paolo Franco Orlando

This quality of completely offering up his soul to the audience through his artwork is exactly why I have chosen to feature Paolo Franco Orlando for my first Inspirational Artists post.  I love his work.  His images are hauntingly beautiful, intricate in design, original in subject matter, and inspiring in technical ability.  Paolo holds a BFA in Painting and Drawing, and an MFA in Computer Art from Savannah College of Art and Design, and currently lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia as a full time art professor.  He is a concept and digital artist who is proficient in many different art forms; producing paintings, 3-dimensional art, mixed media pieces, digital art, illustration, portraits, and animation.

Paolo’s work is characterized by the singular female figure.  A woman racked with such emotion that it twists her into a scene of her inner thoughts.  Her figure casting an eerie glow against a dark and swirling, color filled background; a swiftly moving void that she both pries herself away from and bleeds into.  Her eyes rarely greet the audience’s gaze, forcing one into the posture of the helpless voyeur – transfixed on her image with the deepest desire to feel and to know her hidden thoughts, yet pushed away by her unwillingness to give them over so easily.  One is pulled into her private torment of emotion and longing; a desire which is completely foreign and incomprehensible to her onlooker.

In Paolo’s portfolio, “My Mask,” his sirens are often depicted completely exposed except for their intricate and delicately constructed masks.  One can see each woman in her own skin, their posture and refusal to acknowledge the implications of having an audience expresses a comfort in their bodies.  Even with this exposure, the audience is completely barred from truly knowing her.  Without the connection of the gaze, without the unspoken dialogue allowed by seeing one’s eyes – the audience is unable to connect, and truly know the woman in question. 

Paolo Franco Orlando’s work offers a bold statement about the woman’s body in two important ways: reminding the audience that it is impossible to know someone from a judgment of their outward appearance, and as a reminder that a woman in all of her forms is beautiful and intriguing, no matter what mixture of “beauty” and “insufficiencies” her body exhibits.

It would be impossible for me to describe the beauty of his works with words, alone – so I invite you to view his full portfolio at http://www.bluecanvas.com/paolorlando.

You can also read his full artist’s statement (quoted above), as given to Digitalis Magazine by following this link… Digitalis Magazine http://digitalismagazine.com/1939/the-duality-of-light-and-darkess-the-artwork-of-paolo-franco-orlando/

"The Mask that Makes Me Watch" by Paolo Franco Orlando

"The Mask and its Prey" by Paolo Franco Orlando

"Rasoio" by Paolo Franco Orlando

Beauty ~ from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Beauty: 

the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing 

that gives pleasure to the senses or 

pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit