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Category Archives: Low Brow & Pop Surrealism

Opening: Sickboy – ‘Optical Delusions’ @ Harvey Nichols (Bristol)

Mixing art and fine dining, Sickboy (interviewed) is kicking off his latest show at the high-end department store Harvey Nichols tonight with a launch dinner and artist’s talk. Optical Delusions is presented by Fluorescent Smogg and builds upon his ever-expanding use of semiotics to create a dream-like world that glows and radiates light. The Bristol-based artist has long experimented with an array of unorthodox mediums: from painting on bell-jars in the early 2000s, to creating tapestries a decade later and onwards to the lightboxes which […]

Openings: Jeff Soto – “Sadlands” @ KP Projects

Earlier this month, Jeff Soto’s (interviewed) new exhibition Sadlands opened up in West Hollywood at KP Projects. Showing though the end of the month, the striking new body of work featured almost 20 medium to large sized paintings inspired by a post-apocalyptic Southern Californian landscape. Each piece, rendered in vibrant colors, correlates loosely with a location that the Riverside native denoted on a map (displayed in the gallery) with the sides of the frames painted to color coordinate with each pinned location. This conceptual thread nicely […]

Recap: Margaret Kilgallen – “That’s Where The Beauty Is” @ Bonnefanten Museum

Following showings at the Aspen Art Museum and MOCA Cleveland, a retrospective of Margaret Kilgallen’s work entitled That’s Where The Beauty Is concluded shortly before Christmas after a seven month run at the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht. The exhibition presented a comprehensive survey of the work of the artist who has become closely associated with San Francisco’s Mission District.  Visitors to the museum are first met by Jeff Canham and Signpainters & Co’s re-creation of the Slaughter mural which Kilgallen painted with her husband Barry […]

Basel Week Miami ’21 / Recap: Art Basel

This week in South Beach, over 268 galleries from 35 countries showcasing works by more than 4,000 artists converged on the Miami Beach Convention Center for North America’s premiere international contemporary art fair. This year’s edition of Art Basel Miami Beach is the first in-person gathering since 2019 with the pent-up demand leading to robust sales. Take a look at some of the works the caught our eye in the photos below…

Studio Visits: Sickboy – “Dreamworlds POV” @ Mirus Gallery (SF)

Returning to San Fransisco next Friday for his second exhibition with Mirus Gallery, Sickboy (interviewed) will be presenting a new series of paintings and sculpture entitled Dreamworlds POV. Arrested Motion paid a visit to the Bristol-based artist’s studio, which is housed in a former Victorian church, to see what he has in store. Sickboy’s installation at the Vanguard museum show (covered) takes viewers from a 2D painting, through a 3D sculpture and onwards to an ethereal 4D otherworld. This new body of work builds on that […]

Showing: Miss Van – ‘Pale Moonlight Muses’ @ Dorothy Circus (London)

Currently on view at Dorothy Circus’ recently opened London space, Pale Moonlight Muses presents a series of sensuous portraits by leading street artist Miss Van. The paintings are smaller and more intimate than those which we have become accustomed to seeing from the Toulouse-native. The seductive finish to the paintings and the blue velveteen walls on which they are hung have the effect of physically drawing the viewer in closer to the works which, in turn, triggers a heightened emotional response and connection. The canvases range […]

Recap: Lucy Sparrow – ‘Bourdon Street Chemist’ @ Lyndsey Ingram

The latest incarnation of Lucy Sparrow’s felt installations saw the Suffolk-based artist recreate a fully stocked drugstore selling everything from luxury perfume to hemorrhoid cream at Lyndsey Ingram Gallery in London. Bourdon Street Chemist was the artist’s seventh major exhibition where all the items have been rendered out of felt and it followed on from her similarly exhaustive reimagining of a Soho sex shop in 2015 and a New York bodega in 2018 (covered). Some items that grace the shelves, like shampoo and Band-Aids, are so […]

Showing: Ana Benaroya – ‘The Passenger’ @ Carl Kostyál

For her first show in the UK, Ana Benaroya has presented a new exhibition at Carl Kostyál Gallery in Mayfair called ‘The Passenger‘. While the body of work references Americana and a bygone era of Hollywood glamour, it does so while employing a distinctly contemporary depiction of women. The New Jersey-based artist’s work is strongly informed by a lifelong passion for the aesthetics of Spider-Man, X-Men and DC Comics. However, the gender representations contained in that source material has been subverted here so that women […]

Previews: “Tondo 2021” @ Spoke Art (San Francisco)

This weekend, Spoke Art in San Francisco will be opening a new group exhibition entitled Tondo 2021. Working on round canvases, each artist contributed a piece of art that can be seen at the show by appointment only. Participants include Aaron Nagel, Abigail Goldman, Alex Garant, Anthony Hurd, Arthur Brouthers, Brian Mashburn, Brin Levinson, Brooks Salzwedel, Caitlin McCormack, Caroline Ji, Casey Weldon, Chris Austin, Cindy Derby, David Molesky, Drew Merritt, Erica Williams, Fenway Fan, Frank Gonzales, GATS, Glenn Arthur, Gustavo Rimada, Hanna Jaeun, Harry Michalakeas, […]

Showing: Roby Dwi Antono – “Epos” @ Thinkspace

Showing through this weekend at Thinkpace in Los Angeles, Roby Dwi Antono’s Epos mesmerizes viewers with the deep gazes of his surreal characters. Drawing you in with their starry eyes, the Indonesian artist’s subjects in this particular show are placed in compositions that draw inspiration from things any child (or adult for that matter) would be fascinated with – Ultraman & dinosaurs. Along with oil paintings, the exhibition also includes drawings, studies and works on cardboard, as well as a large striking sculptural edition (seen above). Photo credit: […]