James Maybe

Hi, my name is James and I’m a colorholic. Show me the right paintings and my jaw goes slack and my mind zones out like a druggie rediscovering the pleasures of smack after 10 years of abstinence. OK, maybe that’s a bit of an overstatement. But there must be something about the experience of viewing an exquisitely colored work of art that allows it to cross my blood brain barrier before I’m able to intellectualize it.

Shown above is Born by Colin Johnson.

There are lots of modern versions of the Last Supper out there. Shown above is my favorite, in part because of a personal connection I have with it. Photographed by Raoef Mamedov (Russian name Рауф Мамедов), this sequence of 5 images portrays Jesus and his 12 disciples as “sufferers” from Down syndrome…

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Japanese artist Manabu Ikeda creates extraordinary lush, detailed illustrations. His world is ours, but overloaded with growth and decay and warped until landscapes and objects melt into a giant Katamari-like forms. Shown above: Regeneration.

by  Heidi Taillefer. Read the Parable of The Scorpion and the Frog.

Sometimes I like to think of every painting as a mystery, or perhaps as a crime scene. Something is happening, or has happened, and you are there to figure it out. Interpret every object, every color. What was put in, and what has gone missing from the work? At times a mystery is so compelling you are drawn in right away, scanning the art until you can piece together enough clues to figure out the underlying drama. Other times the mystery is shallow, or you suspect that the artist has put together a random collection of elements, and the search for meaning is like looking for genius in a work by Jackson Pollack. What you end up finding will say more about you than the artist…

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by colorful collagists Rob and Christian, aka the Clayton Brothers.

A robot sculpture with its own backstory, from mheisler. See extended for more views.

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In the tradition of Wizard of Oz visual/musical mashups, I suggest you look at Shoe Shine Witch by Marcus Schäfer while listening to the song that gave this post its title, by Bohren & Der Club of Gore. Click on the image for the large version, start the song, sit back and pretend you’re stoned. Keep track of where your eyes go and if your thinking changes as you listen to the song.

Many “urban” artists have a style that appears haphazard, with colors and lines jumbled together in ways that are bold enough to mask any lack of underlying artistic talent. The inclusion of words, as in other genres, is used as a crutch by those incapable of expressing their ideas with image alone.

Vladimir Kato, a Toronto artist by way of Yugoslavia (which I was reminded recently to always preface with “the former”), combines rich color with detailed work that at first glance appears to fall into all the same traps as his urban comrades. But look closely at Straight Huffin and you can see that the shapes are exactingly rendered, the splatters and drips and solid colors combining well with the wonderfully chaotic fur and background. Even the words are well integrated, though probably redundant unless Vladimir’s goal is irony or clarification of how his work should be classified.

By Toronto artist Jolan Canrinus. Canrinus creates colorful, dramatic stencils on wood. Most of his work is focused on disc golf, family and friends.

By Joe Vaux.

Shown above is a painting from the show “Atame” by French artist Miss Van. If it looks a lot like other paintings by Miss Van that’s because it is. Some artists achieve fame by fluke, others achieve fame through extraordinary talent and effort. A significant number of others are recognized because they are recognizable. Keep doing artwork in the same quirky, easily distinguished style over and over and there’s a good chance that sooner or later you will become famous, irrespective of the merit of your works.