Direct Art 2021 Pandemic Special Edition

Direct Art

VOLUME 23 2021 PANDEMIC Special Edition

Nathan Margoni The allure of the comic & grotesque

Ivan Kustura Paxyus Oil on canvas 70” x 50”

Paxyis Oil on canvas 70” x 50”

Ivan Kustura

ivankustura@hotmail.com

Border Wall Inspection 68” x 49” Acrylic on canvas

Slowinski

slowart.com/slow

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Courtroom Drama 60” x 84” Acrylic on canvas

Direct Art

The Pandemic Edition CONTENTS 4

8

14

36

Emerging Artists Netanya and Adducchio

55

Neoteric Abstract Innovative and contemporary

Nathan Margoni The Comic and Grotesque

79

Global Meltdown Thermo-forming Politics

Strange Figurations The Surreal and extraordinary

94

Art Natura Nature and the Environment

120

A Show of Heads Inspired by the Human Head Thomas Zydek An excess of media

Editor / CEA: Tim Slowinski Technical assistant: Trevor Pryce / Creative assistant: Terell Stanley All artwork and images in this publication are under the exclusive copyright of the artists.

SlowArt Productions, 123 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534, www.slowart.com Produced 2020-21 in Hudson, New York

SlowArt

Printed in The USA

www.slowart.com .org

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EMERGING ARTIST

Narcissus Colored pencil and marker on bristol board 38� x 28�

I am an artist and storyteller. My work combines contemporary and traditional ideas to create an art fusion that is both Avant-Garde and introspective.

When I was very young, I taught myself to draw in order to communicate stories and characters from my imagination. Home schooling provided me with the time and isolation to become engrossed in my imagination. I am interested in pulling the magical and surreal out of the ordinary and banal.

I am also interested in putting unique spins on existing styles and finding new ways to push a medium past it’s conceived limit. I prefers to use mixed-media techniques with ink, graphite, colored pencils and acrylics. However, I also loves to discover new mediums and am constantly expanding my repertoire.

- Grace Netanya

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www.slowart.com

EMERGING ARTIST

New Alice Graphite, colored pencil, charcoal, acrylic 24” x 36”

Sanguine Colored pencil 18” x 24”

Grace Netanya gracenetanya.com

www.slowart.com

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Naked:#she 40” x 30” Gelatin silver print

EMERGING ARTIST

Naked:#she was born from the sharp Body, gray mockery With your scarlet cravings, how long will you imprison me?

Alda Merini – The Holy Land – 1984

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www.slowart.com

awareness of everyone’s mortality, in the attempt of exorcising a thought which is difficult to emancipate oneself from. My intention as an author is to make tangible, to materialize an unconscious, almost dreamish perception of reality.

Photography is, among expressive means, the one that par excellence lives fully the contradiction of the absolute co-existence between the overcoming of death and its testimony, becoming this way its emblem.

The project was born to investigate this contradiction.

Naked:#she 40� x 30� Gelatin silver print

EMERGING ARTIST

I liked to explore, through an aesthetic reminding of death, the use of the body as an agent of life and therefor also of eroticism.

The subjects, exclusively female characters, removed from their dresses, wear always masks that preserve their identity and underline their archetypical function. During our photographic sessions they have been playing with the idea of sensuality, pornography, grace, femininity and maternity, overruling very often limits and definitions.

The photos, exclusively analog, result of

a double exposure during the shutter-click, are welcomed with their flaws (such as scratches, unprecise overlapping, black stripes etc.) in order to underline their physicality, the uniqueness of every single shot, unrepeatable and subjected to the rules of casualty as are the lives of each individuals.

Gaia Adducchio gaiaadducchio.com

www.slowart.com

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Nathan Margoni The Allure of The Comic Grotesque

I try to make respectable, serious art, but something always goes wrong. My good intentions are inevitably overcome by the allure of the comic grotesque. If it isn’t weird, funny, or both, I lose interest. This goes back to my childhood, when I had the same sense of humor and strange fascinations without all of the societal pressure and judgement. As an adult, I have responsibilities that I take seriously, but my art allows me to continue to play, laugh, and question the world like I did as a child.

Many of my artistic interests began early in life. My love for drawing the figure started with Ninja Turtles, followed by baseball players, and then X-Men. I collected comic cards and admired illustrators like Greg and Tim Hildebrandt for their realism and drama. I would stare at those cards

for a long time. I read comic books, too, but I was always disappointed when the pictures inside weren’t as detailed as the covers. I wanted images that I could really spend time with and get lost in.

I wanted stories, but I didn’t necessarily want to look at word bubbles. I feel the same way today. In my narrative paintings, stories are implied but not stated overtly. In my zines, text and images are on separate pages.

Gross things and comedy always went together in my mind. I thought farts were hilarious.

The whole body was hilarious, all of those orifices, bumps and bulges, hairy parts, private parts, and smelly feet. I didn’t understand why everybody was walking around acting so serious in bodies that were so perfectly designed for comedy. As I grow older, I understand how bodies can be unpleasant Continued on pg. 12

strates the parallels between human experience and the myst

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My Face Merging Into My Face Merging Into My Face, Acrylic on paper, 96” x 288”, 2018 This panoramic self-portrait hangs from the ceiling in a near circle, surrounding viewers. The floor is covered with squeaky-toys and cardboard, activated by the viewers.

Caterpillar (Self-Portrait), Acrylic on panel and mixed media, 144”x 48”x36”, 2015 The caterpillar is a symbol of metamorphosis and change. I was thinking of my own journey through life and how painful the process of transformation can be.

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The first few Boob Boys I painted were very aggressive, frightening characters, staring directly out at the viewer and making groping gestures with their hands. It took me a while to realize that Boob Boys are more than just depraved monsters. They are also tender creatures overwhelmed by shame and insecurity. Boob Boy Crying is a caricature of adolescent suffering that epitomizes both extremes: the depraved monster and the tender creature inside of every Boob Boy.

Once I understood their psychology, I could start to imagine their world. I drew Boob Boys at school, struggling to form friendships and avoid bullies. I drew them at home, defying and shutting out their parents.

I drew them in nature, finding beauty and solace. By the end of it all, I felt a deep connection to these pitiful characters. They were, of course, just an exaggerated version of my adolescent self.

I wish someone had properly warned me about puberty. When you only have a few models of masculinity in popular culture to try to live up to, you’re bound to fail. I’m not saying that Boob Boys are the solution to this problem, but perhaps they can at least validate the confusing and overwhelming feelings that adolescents experience.

Deflated Graphite on paper 22.5” x 28” 2019 Man in the Mirror Graphite on paper 22.5” x 28” 2019

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Boob Boy Crying Acrylic on canvas 18” x 24” 2020

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reminders that time is passing, and that we’re not going to live forever, but I don’t want to be in denial of my own mortality or feel ashamed of my body. I want to retain my sense of humor and age gracefully. Depicting grotesque bodies and exaggerating forms to the point of absurdity allows me to laugh and take pleasure in harsh realities that I might otherwise choose to avoid.

It’s not just the body and death that cause shame, but any imperfection, struggle, or failure. These are parts of life that we shouldn’t feel bad about or hide from others.

We should be proud of them, because they cause us to learn and grow. In my sculpture “Journey through the Digestive System,” the digestive organs are metaphors for the different stages of life and the changes people experience as they move through the system.

It made me feel better about my own messy

journey and proud of how I came out in the end.

Making art is about play. If I’m not having fun, I know I’m trying too hard to live up to adult expectations. I’m thinking in a results-oriented way or trying to impress viewers with my skill and intellect. The process becomes tedious and the results are predictable and dull. Play, on the other hand, is open-ended. It allows me to let the world in as I work, make spontaneous changes, and be flexible as ideas develop. It’s messy and inefficient, but completely engaging.

It’s not easy to practice what I preach, however. Adults are expected to execute and achieve- not play. I have to give myself special permission to indulge in unstructured time and follow my juvenile impulses wherever they take me. Fortunately, I know that even when I give in to the pressures of adulthood by attempting to make respectable, serious art, I am doomed to fail. And that’s when things get interesting.

Foot, acrylic on paper, 9x15 ft 2013 I created this foot painting during a 2-week residency at Kaus Australis in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. I had a gigantic studio space and almost no art materials, so I had to make the most with the least. I purchased a roll of brown paper, packaging tape, and white and black house paint at the local hardware store and went to work. This piece marks the beginning of a shift away from sculpture and towards painting. It taught me that images can have just as much presence and impact as 3-dimensional objects.

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The artist, Nathan Margoni, at work in his studio, 2015

Journey Through the Digestive System 48” x 96” x 240”

Nathan Margoni nathanmargoni.com www.slowart.com

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Strange Figurations “I believe in the future resolution of these two states, dream and reality, which are seemingly so contradictory, into a kind of absolute reality, a surreality, if one may so speak.” ― André Breton, Manifestoes of Surrealism

El-J-Rodorado Reduction woodcut

Ryan O’Malley

ryanomalleyart.com

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23” x 19”

Strange Figurations Me Oil on wood 12” x 16”

Created during a transitional time in my life, teenager to adult, Me explores the feeling of lacking an identity and desperately trying to find one. It is the final piece in a larger series, Identity. Throughout the series, I collected a group of people who have influenced me, painting them in black and white. By overlaying one of my own features, offset and enlarged, I hoped to create an uncanny look. Each painting is meant to represent the stealing of part of these people’s identities to create an artificial one for myself. This final painting, Me, features an unnerving amalgamation of all the features I’ve taken, put onto my face. I wanted this painting to embody the overall feeling of the series, confused and desperate, with my one single eye peeking out between the other eyes, resembling a mask I’m hiding behind.

My artwork explores the expression of raw emotion. As someone who struggles with being sensitive and emotional, every life experience feels intense, and I choose to express that through my paintings. Although overwhelming emotions are often viewed as negative and needing to be fixed, I use painting to embrace and validate those feelings. To me, painting is a tool to process those emotions. I try to create my paintings in the moment of feeling to get a genuine expression, rather than analyzing and judging the ideas postfeeling. The goal of my work is not necessarily to be understood, but to be felt.

Alisia Augustine Glasier

Alisiaag.weebly.com

Instagram @alisiaag

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Strange Figurations

Eye in The Sky 14” x 17” Digital

Richard Del Rosso richdelrosso.com

Untitled 30” x 20” Dye sublimation on metal

I am a provocateur creating poetry out of images. My visual scenes are the sum of a highly charged collection of erotic imagery, art appropriation, and painting experiences organized in a new space that describes a world beyond the realm of comfortable realities or conventional appropriateness. My work highlights an obsession with the unusual, the carnal, and the passionate wonders in my head, creating drama that exposes the gap between our internal dialogues and the manifested ones.

We live in an era of self-censorship and the frank interchange of ideas is quickly disappearing.

I aim to challenge this by expressing views that will cause people to openly discuss a subject that most keep well hidden from others. My intention is to create a vehicle for the observer to be shocked, challenged, and to experience a new dimension of possibilities.

Daniel Venture danielventure.com

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Strange Figurations 2020 Archival pigmented print 14� x 11�

I created this surrealistic photomontage in reference to the political turmoil we are experiencing in the USA, during the epic worldwide Covid-19 Pandemic. The clown is carrying the heavy burden of a declining Civilization. The figure is standing on rising waters holding a broom. He is using war to sweep up the mess, but it creates an even bigger mess. Our crumbling

Democracy is reminiscent of the fall of the Roman Empire. The tone of 2020 is one of great sadness as the world succumbs to disease, war, and the Climate Crisis.

James Wille Faust jameswillefaust.com

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Strange Figurations

Watch Me Blonde Starlet I Pink You’re cute

In my paintings, I am trying to figure out how to represent a community without exploitation, how to represent a person without claiming ownership, and trying to find how formal elements can be used to highlight my own desires of exploring a subject matter. Through an anthropological lens, I’m interested in observing how people see and categorize desire. My work examines the distinctions between desire and identification. Questions about sexual pleasure, consumerism, sex and labor and their relationship to the history of painting are integral to my research. The pornographic gaze and the naked woman have long occupied artist’s studios and these women were usually tied to sex

Flashe on canvas 36” x 48”

work. I use art history references because of the relationship to the traditions of painting the human figure and particularly the human form as prostitute.

I’m looking for a different sense of ownership and re-claiming in these works through the investigation of a subject, place, agency and position. And what we as a culture attribute to the subject matter.

My handling of paint connects to the tension of the subjects and artifice of material construction, having highly rendered objects in juxtaposition to raw outline drawings. Exposing these unfinished pieces exposes a history of time, as well as a current time of reinvention and reclaiming of bodies.

Sara Rieber

Srieber.portfoliobox.net

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Strange Figurations Hound Dog Man Photomontage 22” x 11”

I wanna be your dog.

James F. Cleary, B.F.A. jfcbfa.com

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Strange Figurations

Euphoria Ceramic, concrete, steel, acrylic, twine, wire, tassel, rhinestones, netting 12” x 8” x 18”

My sculptural forms are androgynous and ambiguous in order to emphasize a sense of disembodyment. Layering unconventional body parts together and creating absurd formations, I challenge how the body interacts and interconnects with its surroundings while gently touching on a surrealist nerve. The fragmented anatomical configurations allude to elements of deconstructuralism and ultimately exert a disconnect from the self.

Coco Johnson

cocostudios.me instagram.com/cocojohnson80 20 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Strange Figurations Thought Incubator Air dry and polymer clay, resin, and acrylic paint 10” x 9”

“Thought Incubator” is meant to be a vessel for ideas and is the first utilitarian piece I have done. The organic structure develops the perception of a living space for an unattended thought to grow. The eye adds more visual life, and conceptually serves as a sentry to keep the budding idea safe.

Kim Valles Vallesart.net

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Strange Figurations

Translating Theotokos (Medical Trials of the Saints) Oils/mixed media on canvas 48” x 36”

MANDEM is a conglomerate, three-bodied artist identity. Our art is an exercise in categorical violations, simulation, and narrative. The “Medical Trials of the Saints” series takes religious/mythical memes from art history and re-imagines them in a posthuman context.

These images are simultaneously reverently beautiful and horrific, reflecting the complexity of our relationships with our environments, our faiths, and ourselves.

MANDEM

MANDEMart.com 22 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Specimen One: Sanctuarium Oil on board 18” x 24”

Strange Figurations

Suspended in formaldehyde somewhere between growth and decay, the objects, animals, and people in my jars are representative of how turbulent moments need careful attention. The jars dominate most of the picture plane mimicking how these moments control a disproportionate amount of headspace. The backgrounds remain vague to show how the self-reflection process is internal, perpetuating the idea of being trapped in one’s infinite thought-loop, therefore cut-off from the present moment and removed from the original, uninhibited experience.

Erin Ruffino

erinruffino.weebly.com Instagram: @erinruffino www.slowart.com

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Strange Figurations

I question the absurdity of every day, merging psychological biases and societal ethic structures to reveal the inner processes of the subconscious. Imagery discussing selfdeprecation, loathing, anxiety, fear and paranoia question the moral and sociopathic assumptions of society. Humanistic qualities and diminutive scale create the pseudo-mental environment for the figures and places them in a dejected and vulnerable world alone, removed from others. Through irrational, ambiguous and abject imagery we are forced into unfamiliar territory within ourselves and the perceived idea of comfort and acceptability.

Emotionally weighted and abysmal images reach a point at which logical and emotional certainties waiver and familiar realities warp into a deplorable hopelessness.

This exploration is how we perceive reality through the veil of self and what the mind decidedly tells us is tolerable in a righteous society.

Brian Weaver

brianpweaver.com Panda Brian Ceramic 12” x 7” x 8”

Among all artistic media, I believe that sculpture touches the heart and soul of the artist and viewer alike. Each piece I produce represents a mood and emotion, from comforting to cathartic.

Look carefully at these pieces to see the meaning within.”

Rob Sigafoos

vinewoodsforge.com

Plumbing Problems 24” x 17” x 15” Forged steel plumbing pipe

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Strange Figurations

John Vlachos 59“ x 78.7” Oil and collage on masonite panels

Protocosmo means “The First Time” in Greek. The ancient Egyptians knew about “The First Time” when all things came to be simultaneous.

Protocosmo is a great struggle of Cosmic proportions, pitting technology and humanity on a parallel course of adaptation towards an unknown future. More than just firing up our imaginations, it has infiltrated our very psyche and, consequently our very souls.

Protocosmo is a symbol of all Modern thinking and of our race to penetrate the unknown; to fathom a new philosophy and new politics.

Protocosmo tries to placate fate in search of immortality. It is the artist attempting to discover him/herself.

John Vlachos

Instagram: @Johnvlachos4

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Strange Figurations

Cella’s Whisper 31.5” x 70.9” Permanent paint markers, corrugated cardboard

Every time I see an artwork that is armed with words to impress the viewer’s brain, I feel utterly disappointed, for I feel that such a work would reduce the innate power of art, and dull the sensitivity of man.

For us of today where so much information is flooding us, what we need is imagination to feel and think with the mind, something that is unfathomable by reason.

I believe that lack of imagination threatens peace and creates a world where hatred prevails.

My works are a means to rediscover and awaken the memory of DNA, dormant since ancient times and to regain the power of imagination. Art does not require explanations: It is to feel and imagine with your ‘mind brain’, instead of your ‘logical brain’. It opens up the eye of your ‘mind brain’ – I believe that this is the power of art.

Yuko Mizobuchi brain-brunn.com/mizoyuuu_e.html

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Strange Figurations

The Trendsetter Hand-Embroidered fiber art 14” x 18”

This piece is a collage of illustrations, hand-embroidered with delicate, single strand floss on fabric. It is unique to my usual work because it is 100% embroidery. As I created this “Strange Figuration,” she just seemed perfectly suited to stand in her own boldness.

Typically my artwork begins with a digital collage which I print on fabric and then embellish with hand-embroidered illustrations that skew the image into a new narrative.

Robin McCarthy

robinmccarthyartwork.com

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Santo Manos, born out of a dream, is the main character within an epic story that includes an ensemble of fantastical characters and surreal landscapes. This strange figure floats around in a world full of decay and darkness, yet full of coy instruments that reveal childlike wishes.

There is a mystery behind the sentiment of every eyeball in Santo Manos. Wisdom flows from the many hands he has grown throughout the ages. The creation of Santo Manos inspired the idea for a series of paintings that will depict other mystic characters who dwell within this story. This series will consist of 6 paintings which will be complete and ready to show in 2021.

Jasser Membreno

Instagram: @jassermembreno

Santo Manos 32� x 80�

Acrylic, color pencils, markers

Strange Figurations

Suzanne 48” x 24” Acrylic on hardboard

Ginger 48” x 24” Acrylic on hardboard

Ginger and Suzanne are part of a series of whimsical figures that are meant to celebrate the elusive, free spirited female of the burlesque type. They call for a bygone era, one where happiness is found in curves.

Aaron Wooten

aaronrwooten.com Instagram: @artofaaronrwooten

www.slowart.com

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Strange Figurations

Visceral Charcoal and pastel on polyester 43” x 43”

This is a drawing of a gut pile from a pronghorn antelope I harvested in the fall of 2019. The animal fed my family and me through the continuing lock down during COVID 19. It is the first piece in a new body of work exploring the ethics of big game hunting and eating animals in general.

There is no intention to be didactic in any way with the work.

Rather, my aim is to be visually poetic, maintaining my interest in elevating the vulgar or ephemeral to draw attention to conflicts in the human condition.

Shelby Shadwell shelbyshadwell.com

Birds of a Feather 24” x 18” Acrylic on canvas

Gerd Dagne gerddagne.com

This was started in October of last year, pre Covid, during a period of time when it wasn’t very fashionable to stay at home with extended family!

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Strange Figurations

Let’s Play Photography, Metal print 8” x 12”

Born and raised in the housing projects of the South Bronx, I did not see my environment reflected in the children’s toys and storybooks of the time.

The scenarios displayed did not reflect my home, my surroundings, or my experience. Now I create my own narratives. I take old, discarded dolls and set up scenes evoking the fears, anxieties, and nightmares that are part of childhood experience.

Dolls are surrogates, given to little girls to role play their future. They come embedded with sunny attitudes, but with age and neglect they tell a different story. It’s this vulnerability that I use to create moments with psychological tension: trauma either has or is about to happen.

Barbara Ringer

BarbaraRinger.com Instagram: Bronxgal33

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Strange Figurations

This was not unusual

I see art not as an end to itself but as a method of creating awareness of the marvelous. Surrealist art reveals invisible secrets and exposes hidden surprises.

Surrealism is based on a fascination with the strange and imaginary. Through Surrealism, I paint the hidden treasures in my mind and bathe everyday reality in a magic light.

Oil on wood 12� x 12�

The animal kingdom remains an enigmatic aspect of my life and plays an important role in the symbolisms of my unconscious. As a Surrealist, I recognize the illusory nature of rational thought and rebel against it. I hold the mysterious workings of the subconscious in high regard and create images that exist behind the veil of existence.

Joe Stavec

joestavec.com Stavecparkstudio@earthlink.net

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Strange Figurations Symbiosis Graphite on bristol 14� x 11�

My art work is a reflection of my quest to recognize the truth behind the veil of civility. I seek to unmask what is presented outwardly, and reveal humanity in direct conflict with its own cultural constructs. Through my work, I choose to examine a world where people, me included, are flawed. Everyone at some point possesses a degree of benevolence; however, benevolence is not an issue that requires attention. It is malevolence

that that requires examination. Once it is recognized we are left with a choice, to further the behavior or try to understand the consequences of the action or conduct and change it, but first it must be recognized.

Philosophically this is what binds my work together.

Timothy French

wowxwow.com/artist-profile/tim-french-ap www.slowart.com

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Stacey K. Gregory skgregoryart.com

This is for all those women who have posed, danced, acted, and twirled under “the male gaze”.

We know you are more than the sum of your parts.

Senescence Of A Star Watercolor and graphite 27” x 36”

A representation of timeless beauty captured through the handheld mirror as an extension of ourselves, and the progression of reality to the cracked mirror- A disruption in the illusion that reveals the present.

Rachel Arielle Kleinman facebook.com/R.K.StudioArt klei3837@gmail.com

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Sea is for Complex Ballpoint pen, pastel, colored ink and pencil on paper 5” x 7” Three Wee Kings Ballpoint pen, graphite on paper 8” x 10”

These two works emerge from a mining of the possibilities of simple line. They document a minute, squiggling accumulation taking form from within, shaped by a collaboration of the forces of matter, ego, unconscious energies, and meaningful randomness. My interest in the thought of Carl Jung and my art practice existed side by side for a time, but recently have come

together in a dynamic way. I always strive that my work be guided by certain criteria: that it be living, lyrical, beautiful, oracular, and gripping.

Kevin McCaffrey

kevinmccaffrey29.com www.slowart.com

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Arte Natura

The Art of Nature and the Environment

Pigweed 2019 7� x 9� Carbon, graphite, glue, oil on canvas

This painting is part of a suite of works (Pollen/ Algae series) based on biological subjects that cause physical interactions with humans. These reactions can vary from allergic responses to floral aromatics. This image is created from a combination of memory and researched archival-science material. It is rendered in a muted monochromatic form in order to synthesize and detach the image from the real-world experience of visualizing life in full color and full light.

The Pigweed plant is subject to diverse classifications from being a nuisance that triggers allergies to a delicacy as an edible plant to a potentially toxic substance to certain animals and livestock. At times it is considered a weed to be aggressively pulled from gardens yet lovingly cultivated in other parts of the world for culinary consumption. It is referred to with a variety of names including Amaranthus, Waterhemp and Goosefoot.

Ed Tomney edtomney.com

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Arte Natura Canyon 10.5” x 8.5” Ink and salt on paper

My work examines the objects and creatures that cause subtle but palpable psychological discomforts.

The almost inexplicable disquiet we feel when we are surprised by a cicada husk or the sense of emptiness that accompanies a bleak landscape inspires my work. I use a variety of print and textile processes to explore theses themes.

Embroidery, suminagashi, direct printing, sumi-e and chine colle all play important roles in my creative process.

Within my Canyon narrative, I’m drawing upon the unsettling beauty of bleak landscapes. I spent my childhood and college years in Colorado, where big sky, dry land, and cold rock dominate the horizon. In canyon country, civilization seems to disappear and the atmosphere can completely change in just a few miles. It is hauntingly beautiful and disorienting, and something I long to capture.

Susie Jean Baker susiejeanbaker.com

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Arte Natura

Imperiled Domicile 15” x 10” Egg Tempera

This painting emerged from a controversy in the news a few years ago. The town of New London,CT was using imminent domain to tear down a block of early 20th century homes. One little pink house was the last one and the owner was standing her ground. This story really impressed me as a home owner. Unfortunately, I don’t think it worked out in the end for the owner, but I got a painting out of it!

Suzan Fox

SuzanFox.com

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Arte Natura Love Lies Bleeding Again 20" x 20" x 1.5" Acrylic on canvas

My long-time interest in creating two-dimensional art work has to do with our perception of positive and negative space, figure-ground relationships, and how those opposites converge. Early in my career I made both abstract and non-representational drawings and paintings, playing with different viscosities of crayon, wax, dye, and paint, using their physical resistance properties to play with the perception of figure/ground or positive/negative space. Most recently, my work has become representational, considering plants and animals. In their natural environments plants and animals must try to survive and thrive within their immediate surroundings, no matter how those conditions change.

This environmental figure-ground relationship is vital, so to speak. The consideration of living things and their environments has become visual, lyrical, metaphorical, and political for me. The painting practice reflects my concern for respecting and protecting other living species and their environments as one solution to our immediate problem of climate change.

Kathleen Benton kathleenbenton.com

www.slowart.com

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Arte Natura Gail Gelburd gailgelburd.com

Oshun#2: Goddess of the River 20” x 24” Digital print

My work focusses on nature and our relationship to the trees, the river, the sea. I find that the balance of nature relates directly to the harmony of humanity that we strive for in the world. I look to see the power, the beauty, and peaceful moments in nature.

Oshun #2 is part of a series of images of rivers. Each is related to a different deity from a different part of the world, as the rivers and sea unite us all. These gods and goddesses represent our different stages in life, be it the calm of a glistening pond or the torrent of a raging waterfall. Oshun is the river deity from the African Yoruba culture, and is found in the Santeria of Cuba, Puerto Rico and South America. Oshun is also the embodiment of love and joy. It is this character of the river that resembles our life.

Chris Losee chrislosee.com

At the present time, we are seeing catastrophic changes in our environment caused by human activity, including climate change, mass migration and pandemic disease. While these problems are global in scope, they are witnessed and measured through each person’s individual experience.

This black-and-white image is a silver saltedpaper print treated with gold toner, an archival photographic process that was invented in the 1830s and widely used in the 19th century. Rich in detail and conveying a warm tonality, prints made using this technique are one-of-a-kind works which create a permanent record of objects and events that are fleeting in time and space.

Curtains 18” x 11” Salted paper print

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Arte Natura Funnel Web 18" x 18" Graphite on Yupo paper

This piece is entitled The Funnel Web. It is a graphite and pencil drawing on Yupo paper. It was inspired by my encounter with a spiders funnel web on a visit to the Orono Bog in Maine. Over the last few years I have been exploring animal architecture in my work. Building shelter is something we share with other animals large and small. It is fascinating the many varied forms shelter takes from tunnels ,to nests to lodges, each adapted to specific needs and environments. This funnel web spider chose an ideal location to build its home. The bog is home to carnivorous plants that attract numerous insects, which makes for a healthy diet so the spider can thrive.

Patricia Dorr Parker patriciadorrparker.com

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2021 SE / Direct Art 41

Arte Natura

I have been a full time artist my whole life. My work is in the collections of, among others, the Whitney Museum of Art, the Chicago Art Institute, the Kansas City Art Institute, the Rose Art Museum of Brandeis University.

Marty Carey martycarey.com

Deer in Snow 9.5” x 27” Mixed media

I have been recently working on a body of work that involves the depiction of amphibious creatures from around the world. I’m trying to bring through my paintings, the awareness of these creatures in our ecosystem, and the importance of their continued existence, even if they are often passed by or over looked.

I have tried to capture through my paintings, the personality and beauty of these often overlooked creatures. I occasionally mix representational and abstraction, to help in the expression of personality, mood or emotion.

Katrina Rae

katrinaraeartwork.com

42 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Freaky Frog 16” x 16” Pastel and acrylic

Arte Natura Cheetah Sunset 47” x 54” Oil on canvas

My work represents endangered species the way I see them; as unique creations and works of art themselves.

My paintings are formed around their “portraits”, where the animal is in a new space protected from the current threats to it’s environment. Safe within confines of the canvas, these animals can only be observed from a distance, hopefully appreciated for their power and beauty.

Sarah Smith

sarahsmithart.com

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2021 SE / Direct Art 43

Arte Natura

Anne Doris-Eisner AnneDorisEisner.com

The life cycle of trees fascinates me and each tree seems to inform me of where I have been and where I am going, as I lift my eyes from trunk to treetop. It’s a subject I return to many times and my trees have become my selfportraits. Their bark is my skin, their lines are my lines, and their adversities are mine, too, as we both show the effects of wind and weather.

Images and themes are revealed to me in the tactile and strenuous process of mark making. I rarely use a brush in a traditional manner. As a calligrapher and lover of line, each mark is meaningful to me. Each mark has its own story to tell.

Cradled 52” x 72” Acrylic on paper

Shirlee Cunningham Shirleecunningham.com

Not just a statement about the environment, this painting reflects man’s harsh impact on our flora and fauna, as well as predation. It is also inspired by the enormity of the effort of the female kiwi delivering an egg that would be the equivalent in human terms of delivering a fully formed four year old equal to one fourth of the mother’s weight. The Blood Moon (a total lunar eclipse or a series of them) is often referred to from the Book of Joel, Acts 2:20 as the beginning of the end of times.

There are also personal historical references here from my own life going back nearly 100 years ago.

Kiwi 16” x 20” Oil

44 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Arte Natura

Belladonna,The Falling 19 1/2� x 12 3/4� Charcoal and pencil on paper

Through an interdisciplinary practice of drawing, painting, and installation, my artwork explores the nature of life cycles; processes of decay and renewal and the intersections between the human and natural world. These relationships are explored through use of natural materials and found relics that once held significance, neglected through time.

Anastasiya Gutnik sokolikart.com

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2021 SE / Direct Art 45

Arte Natura

Dara Tesse daramina.com

The Woodland Nymph is a personification of the autumn of one’s life. This sculpture is one of a series of four busts representing each of the four seasons. Butterflies, flowers, fruits, birds and insects are recurring motifs in my work, inspired by the woodlands of my childhood home. As a ceramicist, I am interested in both form and surface. I paint with glazes to imitate the beauty of the natural world. In this piece, I use the traditional Renaissance technique of majolica to achieve layers of translucent color, highlighting the flora and fauna, while keeping the figure more subdued in its natural terracotta hue. The creatures and flowers serve as adornment to the human form, transforming into hair and jewelry.

Woodland Nymph 13” x 14” x 10.5” Terracotta with majolica glazes

Amelia Leonards amelialeonards.com

I work with watercolor and graphite to create fantastical imagery, drawing upon world folklore and mythology to create pieces imbued with sensitive and emotive storytelling. Throughout my work I emphasize feminine and natural elements, along with a hefty dose of humor and antlers.

Huldras 18”” x 20” Watercolor

46 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Arte Natura

Sonata in Gray – Falcon and Automaton 30� x 40�

Linocut, woodcut and polyester lithography with ink, acrylic, colored pencil, pastel on marbled gray paper

What are the lives of animals like when no one is watching? I try to capture the consciousness of animals as they live independently from but intermingled with humanity. I create environments that are loosely based on places I observe and photograph locally. Then I imagine what an unobserved moment in the life of an animal might be like in these places. In addition to animals, these scenes include human-made architecture, vehicles, and/or objects to capture ways in which humanity impacts creatures lives even when no human being is physically present.

T. Klacsmann

tatianaklacsmann.com

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2021 SE / Direct Art 47

Arte Natura

Outside of Eden 16� x 20� Oil on aluminum

I create portraits of animals; art that is intended to communicate a sense of the individuality and inherent value of that particular being. My work glorifies not only the natural beauty of the animal but also their sentience and intelligence as they respond to the world we share. Employing the use of different substrates and materials, I explore the consequences of our choices and actions as well as our moral and spiritual responsibilities of coexistence, contemplating reality versus the ideal.

Many of my portraits have strong elements of realism yet some obscure into abstraction, insinuating

the reality of endangerment and loss. While other portraits burst with color and life, embodying an ideal world unaffected by human avarice, a place where the innocent thrive and nature is in harmony.

These dualities are embodied in each work; evident or subtle, representing that while there is despair, Hope remains- and both are woven throughout our lives. The idea of Hope is born in our concept of the ideal; it is what reminds us that despite what we see and experience, there is something greater to pursue.

Maxine Sheaffer maxinesheaffer.com

48 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Arte Natura October Morning 11” x 14” Encaustics and oils with beeswax over watercolor

The elegance of a fallen leaf on the forest floor, the eerie glow as morning fog lifts, the dynamic tension between abstraction and naturalism – this is the inspiration for my work. The stark winters, lush springs, exuberant summers and vibrant autumns of New York’s Catskill Mountains and the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont are my inspiration. I work in encaustics, building transparent and opaque layers, scraping and scratching incises to reveal and obscure. I working to portray the sense of awe and wonder I experience daily in the natural world.

Regina Quinn reginabquinn.net

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2021 SE / Direct Art 49

Arte Natura

Marc Zaref

marczaref.com

....the sea and the spinning planets and an expanding universe, all bound together by the elastic string of time. It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool again. ― John Steinbeck, The Log from the Sea of Cortez

Ecosystems of chaos and survival, drawing studies and observations are recorded by the shores of New England’s rocky coastline and then further developed in my studio.

Tide Pool Composition XII 30” x 22” Charcoal, pastel on paper

Paul Brandwein

brandweinart.com

In my work I use sexual forms, but there is something deeper to the work than mere arousal. I operate with a higher focus on these forms as archetypes, considering and celebrating universal issues in natural experience as metamorphosis.

My work resembles hearts, tongues, genitalia, and more, but I also refer to micro- and macro-cosmic patterns found throughout the physical world.

House of Desire #2 12” x 15” Pen and ink 50 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Arte Natura Bad Dog 17” x 8” x 8” Reclaimed Marble

This work is just a fun examination of dog and human facial features. I mean have you every really looked at a dog’s nose? It is an amazing creation. And human eyes surrounded by wrinkles say a lot about their journey through life.

Earl Elliot

earlelliottsculpture.com

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2021 SE / Direct Art 51

Arte Natura

Just My Imagination 32” x 16” Mixed media

My sculptures always start with things found, usually downed trees. One day while saving a roadside tree hole I found “Just My Imagination”.

There it was by the hedge row just waiting for me, not my typical treehole, but it was meant to be. I bagged and monitored the wood for months, waiting for the decay process to loosen the bark and expose the cambium layer of wood.

With the bark removed I saw him. I gave him a shell mouth and then he sat alone in my workshop for nearly two years. Eventually his shell mouth spoke to me, he wanted to see (floating shells for eyes). Then he wanted to smell. Finally he was adorned with flowers, marbles, zeolite crystal and bone. Flat lacquer is the finish.

John C. Starinovich holesinthewoods.com

52 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Arte Natura Crest 50� x 40� Mixed media collage

I work mostly with collage that I piece together like a puzzle creating a inlaid montage, or solid, cohesive image. I create the image from pieces of paper or canvas that are painted with a mixed media technique. These pieces are color- categorized for convenience, layout and finishing phases of each work.

Occasionally, I will keep a piece that has been painted usually turning it into a unique portrait or a conceptual, figurative work. I believe there may be recordings of people or souls I have met throughout my journeys.

There have always been ups and downs in my career. It is extremely challenging carrying on day to day as an artist. One has to make changes almost daily to stay sustainable, relevant, and sane.

Matt Gabel

mattgabelart.com

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2021 SE / Direct Art 53

Neoteric Abstract Innovative Contemporary Abstraction

Oblongs Mixed media on canvas 20� x 20�

Abstract painting is the art form which speaks to me the loudest. To me, it is also the most intuitive art form to explore as it best renders the complexity and contradictions of human emotions. It abides by no rules and stands on its own, allowing anything to spring to life. Abstract art leads me and the viewer down a thrilling path of intuitive discovery where the rational mind no longer dictates how things are or should be, and where everything is palpable and resonates, if only we allow ourselves the freedom to stop thinking.

Helen Canetta helencanetta.com

54 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Neoteric Abstract Blue Flower Encausetic on board 16" x 32" x 2"

Edward Mills

ezzl.art/edwardmillsart

This painting is a study in a series of encaustic fields with oil paint layered on top. The linear quality of the form is continuous except for the flower stem and flower. The color of blue is unusual for a flower but more so a stem which made the image more abstract.

Disruptive Influence, 2017, Acrylic and glitter on wood, 36” x 72” x 2”

I have employed a variety of media and contexts, from small collages to full-scale environments. While my work has often featured concrete imagery, I find myself returning again and again to abstraction.

This particular work stems from a love of abstract expressionism, filtered through my own experience and vocabulary. The evoking reference is at once microscopic and celestial.

Tom Hill

tomhillartist.com

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2021 SE / Direct Art 55

Neoteric Abstract

Adina Andrus adinaandrus.com

Artifact #9 is part of a collection of recreated imaginary objects. The discarded, reclaimed materials are now pieced together to create replicas that have a meaning only if they are seen through shared experiences and images. The artifacts are made mostly of found industrial wood, while pieces of branches attached to it hint of a return to the natural state of the material, to a closing of the circle and a return to the source of symbols and images used throughout history.

Artifact #9” 40” x12” x12” Copper, wood and acrylic on wood

Witold Sliwinski szkloartystyczne.pl

My great inspiration are modernistic architects like F.L.Wright, Gropius, Mies, too. I particularly admire their logical and consequent approach to architectural form. I also seek inspiration in the things that get my attention and admiration. New ideas come to my mind during my trips. Whenever I have time I pack my stuff and hit the road to visit intriguing places.

My sculptures need to be well thought through and as clean and neat as calligraphy.

Every piece of the glass composition is carefully planned and designed, as if it was a letter. My works reflect my long pursuit to show the beauty of glass and the difficulty of working with it.

No Exit 2 Glass and wood 12” x 11” x 2”

56 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Neoteric Abstract Vitriol 14” x 23” x 18” Carrara marble

I start by listening to what the stone says. I feel colors, texture, form, and then I get a vision of what is inside the stone, like this one I made in white marble. There is a relationship to shelter because inside the temple, you get protection. It is both physical and metaphysical. The aquisition of power by the mind is very important. My sculptures have symbols and codes that are inscribed into the carvings as a matrix for people to receive, like a new state of perception.

My sculpture is made from one block of marble and I carve most of it by hand. I

carve deep inside the marble, searching for the revelation inside the stone. Carving is a process that my consciousness passes through to achieve a heightened visual clarity.

In this sculpture I use direct carving.

I have no preconceived idea; a feeling, the stones essense emerges into forms, like a color revealed in a moment. When I create, I start with chisels and hammer. Inside the stone there is an alchemical process of transmutation. I create and inscribe the codes and it is a revelation for the mind that can touch my creation.

Marco Bras

marcosculptures.com

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2021 SE / Direct Art 57

Neoteric Abstract

Molten Photography 25” x 35”

My artwork takes what many people see as ordinary and showcases it as extraordinary. From a marble to a piece of string, from a reflection in a river to a flower petal, I explores ways to expose and illuminate the beauty in commonplace items.

Eric Seplowitz ericseplowitz.com

Life at the Carnival-44” x 22”-watercolor on 90lb paper

For me its the act of painting- the possibilities of water, paint and imagination are limitless. My surroundingswhat’s happening in the world in that moment, all influence the outcome. Working in isolation during the pandemic, my paintings are like a diary of events unfolding in the city of Chicago, the feeling of chaos and uncertainty prevails.

58 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Rowen Murphy rowenmurphy.com

Neoteric Abstract L.I.P.Y. #6 (Emerald) Encaustic Mixed Media on Cradled Wood 10” x 10” x 1”

My body of work explores human life as a journey and examines our soul and emotions. This work is from the ongoing Stars and Desert project.

The title L.I.P.Y . is my acronym of “L’essentiel est Invisible pour les Yeux” (What is essential is invisible to the eye) in French. I was inspired by this phrase in the book The Little Prince (by Antoine de SaintExupery) and the Bible verse 2 Corinthians 4:18.

I abstractly integrate the timeless messages and contemporary computer-programming languages (codes) that correlate with the stars, desert, universe, and our lives. The work L.I.P.Y. (and there are more) is also my emotional response and factual visual statement to global climate change with a conceptual and philosophical approach.

Although scientists and professionals continually research about nature, there is still something beyond human understanding. If you look closely at art and life, the marks and details may emerge.

However, what is essential is sometimes invisible to the eye.

My signature color is blue. Yet, I started using green occasionally as the dominant color in 2019. I make my own encaustic paints for those green shades. Emerald green comes from the Seattle nickname ‘Emerald City’ where I have lived and still create my work (in addition to Japan). The name is due to the lush, green forests of Washington State, which have been beautiful and essential for our lives.

Misako Oba misakooba.com

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2021 SE / Direct Art 59

Neoteric Abstract

Ocean Heat Oil on canvas 25” x 30”

My recent paintings encompass environmental and socio/political concerns.

The works also reflect my interest in language, visual and information overload, and the growing digital interface that separates humans from genuine encounters with nature, and with each other.

Robin Arnold

robinarnoldstudio.net

Bright II, In The Sand Photography 23” x 17”

Even though photography is a recreation of images, I find it to be a connection with my inner world, my minds eye. What I see in the natural designs of the lava sand palette that the Pacific Ocean waves are constantly shaping, is a reflection of my connection to the natural world

My goal in these photographs. is to be able to articulate to others emotionally what I see and feel in and about these timeless patterns. All are unique, constantly changed by the gentle undulatin of waves. My hope is that my vision will be recognized as kindred to other visions which each of us call our own.

Nancy Breakstone

nancybreakstonephotography.com

60 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Neoteric Abstract Untitled no. 7 Oil, pastel, graphite and gesso on paper 53� x 41�

Untitled no. 7 is part of a series I did for the Latchis Theater in Brattleboro, VT. The fifteen paintings became, during the time I worked on them, a place to hang my fears, hopes, confusion, and strength as I recovered from a long illness. They were done over nine months, painted almost exclusively to a beautifully haunting album by the Estonian composer Arvo Part. The album is called Alina.

Over the past decade, I have been uncovering and developing my own personal symbology through my childlike abstract drawings and paintings. I call them my own hieroglyphics. Like hieroglyphics, they remain still, even to me, as strange and mysterious and fascinating as any lost language or foreign collection of symbols.

John Clarke

theartofjohnclarke.com

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2021 SE / Direct Art 61

Neoteric Abstract

My series Inside Outside is a meditative exploration of the idea of balance through geometric compositions.

Working with formal dualities such as dark/light, unity/division, geometric/ organic, I create compositions in which they work together in purposeful ways.

Similarly, our world seems to be made up of pairs of opposites- good/evil, pleasant/ painful, left/right, us/them. Although we tend to favor one and push away the other, in truth any balance or resolution within ourselves or between others involves acknowledging and working with both sides in order to reach a higher understanding. Through creating images of balance and transcendence, I hope to inspire those qualities in my viewers.

Wyatt Mitchell

wyattmitchellart.com 104 Ink on paper on panel 8” x 8” x 2”

Memory Reposed Jacquard Woven 50” x 49”

In my weavings, the strong and inherent grid of the medium is used in tandem with the matrix of digital design.

The mathematics involved in all aspects of the process provides a foundation of logic and order that influences design choices. A network of pattern is created in response to the grid through layering of motifs that exist both on the surface and within the structure. There is a sense of order and disorder combined with the contrast between the flat, two-dimensional plane of the woven field and the illusion of depth created by patterns of shifting scales.

Robin L. Haller robinhallerart.com

62 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Neoteric Abstract From Dxo Series, Acrylic on canvas, 11.8� diameter

While expression verifies our existence [as Heidegger pointed out,] the configuration of language determines the architecture of our thoughts.

The eluded essence is like a complex skeleton of the visual tissue. Love nesting in will-power. An address to a friend-to-be or a new acquaintance, a chance visitor to the exhibition. The spawning-place of imagination flirting with recent history. A tiny surface challenging imagination. A miniature, an infinitely small format of the painting challenging concentration.

Explainable, combinable, rapidly put in order, intense and communicative. Irrational symbols embedded in the surface like emblems forming mutual orchestration. A rhizome, like the essence of visual tissue; visual tissue like a rhizoid filament.

The decision triggers realization in times unkind to visual art. Situational solutions for scheduled exhibitions: every man for himself - with a limited choice of materials, scarce attention of the public and meager financial help of cultural institutions. The eluded essence is lost in the causation of repetition.

This way of expression and post-event action is unmatched in modern American history. Emotion colored with a degree of indefiniteness. I’m inventing a soothing balm for hurt emotions. The balm is conceived like a visual tissue, a pictorial pill for re-establishing spiritual balance.

Assumed responsibility, cries of surprise: How can you exhibit, write, take photos and draw in those harsh global circumstances? The stereotypical reply leaves us speechless: This is my job: presenting a Pictorial pill for re-establishing inner balance, and much more ...

Iztok Smajs-Muni hopna.net/smajs

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2021 SE / Direct Art 63

Neoteric Abstract

Robert Frankel

RobertFrankelArt.com

I was always fascinated with the idea that colors can have an effect on our emotional, physical, and mental states. Examples of this can be found in the expressions “Seeing Red,” or “Having the Blues.” I like to use bright bold colors set against each other in a geometric structure to create positive energy and motion.

It is difficult to focus on a single point in my paintings without wanting to wander.

Farbe ist Alles #1 24” x 24” x 1.5” Acrylic on canvas

Richard Del Rosso richdelrosso.com

I work in traditional media as well as digital, both representational and abstract.

The image at right is an untitled video composed completely inside of Adobe After Effects without the aide of outside imagery. It was inspired by the work of Carmen Herrera.

Untitled Video Work: youtube.com/watch?v=06digiel5ZI

64 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Neoteric Abstract Untitled Pulled acrylic lamina on aluminum 40.75� x 51�

I was originally trained as a sculptor, but have recently shifted my creative process to working two-dimensionally. I use a variety of nontraditional techniques, my paintings are achieved by layering, pulling, and cutting handmade pieces of acrylic lamina. The resulting works communicate the duality of meticulosity and unpredictability, juxtaposing ideas of intention and non-intention.

I identify with non-Western artistic practices and draw inspiration from the intellectual thoughts and feelings connected to my work as an inventor.

I am the co-founder of Genedics, an invention company working in the fields of telecommunications, clean energy design, holographic/3D imagery, and digital technology including object code, cloud-computing systems, and media recommendation. With my business partner, Gene Fein, we have become one of the most prolific invention duos, creating and holding over 100 patents with an additional 100 patents pending.

Edward Merritt edwardmerritt.art

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2021 SE / Direct Art 65

Neoteric Abstract

Lydia Kinney

lydiamkinney.com

I paint spaces that do not and cannot exist. My paintings are homes for tight spaces with detached floors, stars falling through skylights, and rooms just constructed enough to vacillate from images of interiors to paint for paint’s sake. I employ the freedom of these abstract spaces and their detachment from reality.

My work is a reference point of discomfort and unease, an illustration of anxiety. The spaces visualize uncertainty in the search for exploring all possibilities, even the most fluid and outlandish.

Living Room Acrylic on panel 20” x 21”

Carey Conaway careyconaway.com

Color makes me happy. I work with color to express this happiness. Color, light, and space have been key influences in my work. I enjoy the investigation of color relationships and illusions specific to shape, space, and form. I primarily use geometric shapes as the foundation of my work. Geometry and color are the head and the heart of what I do. I look forward to the change that occurs when color and design mingle. This change leads to revealing what may not be seen at first glance. I know a piece is finished when I feel it displays a sense of balance and unity.

Four Squares 3 has many layers of oil paint applied with a round brush. Each layer of oil paint allows the preceding layer to show through creating an interesting matrix of color.

Four Squares 3 Oil on wood 11” x 11”

66 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Neoteric Abstract Yellow Triangle Acrylic on paper 12” x 12”

This painting, Yellow Triangle, was shown once before in a solo show at The Empire State Plaza as a part of a collaboration with The Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company, Synesthesia. It was projected behind the dancers for one of the modern dances, Continuum, in the annual spring performance. For someone who has chosen to work on an intimate scale, it was arresting to see the painting fill the large stage. Every painting is a new adventure and takes me someplace I have never been before. I find my way through each new work. I was born in a small town in North Carolina and was always looking outward. After East Carolina University and a summer at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, I completed an MFA at The University of Idaho.

Travel has been a large influence and I have been a visiting artist in Barbados, Ireland, Italy and Russia. I have had artist residencies at the Millay Colony

for the Arts, Austerlitz, NY, the Cill Rialaig Project, Ballinskelligs, Ireland, Emily Harvey Foundation, Venice, Italy, Milkwood International Residencies, Cesky Krumlov, South Bohemia, Czech Republic, Atelier Cres, Cres, Croatia and Obras Holland, Renkum, Netherlands.

I have shown in solo and invitational exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad. My work is included in museum, university, corporate and private collections, and has been supported by a grant from Artist’s Space, NYC, several Faculty Development grants from Russell Sage College and by eleven Strategic Opportunity Stipends from New York Foundation for the Arts. After several adjunct positions in the NY Capital Region, I taught painting and drawing at Sage College of Albany. Now Professor Emerita, I am in my studio full time painting.

Willie Marlowe williemarlowe.com

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2021 SE / Direct Art 67

Neoteric Abstract

Untitled Mixed media on Arches paper mounted on wood 30” x 22”

The intrinsic need to create helps me navigate a new representational form where the rectangular shape of the paintings, ready to hang, brakes into organic shapes that call to embrace our own internal nature of synapses, veins and organs. The empty spaces in the works respond to my interest in sculpture and how volumes play in the space. The shadows the work projects onto the wall modify its depth and the viewer’s perception of the whole.

Those empty spaces can also be taken as an opportunity to dive into a calm abyss of exploration of self

Isabel Cotarelo

68 Direct Art / 2021 SE

icventure.wixsite.com/isabelcotarelo

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Neoteric Abstract

Blue Line Painting Oil on canvas 24” x 48”

As an abstract artist I am exploring three simple aspects: line, color and form.

A line tells us how to follow what’s happening in a piece of work. It shows the path through the work. A line creates the form, direction, tension and articulates how the composition is run. The idea of thick and thin, rigid and playful all these make up the line.

I love to mix color. I can start with a simple red, add one small dot of blue and it becomes something else altogether. Color can change how we as humans actually feel - making color a worthy pursuit to study and master. I love that about color and will continue to play with it for as long as I can.

Form gives the painting its shape. It provides the work a sense of balance, tension and rhythm.

Lincoln Rogala

lincolnrogalaarts.com

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2021 SE / Direct Art 69

Hollow Ghosts for Those Restless Spirits Mixed media 30” x 47”

The Frozen Air Evoked the Analogical Still of Ephemeral Swarms Mixed media 20” x 32”

Ryota Matsumoto

ryotamatsumotostudio.blogspot.com facebook.com/ryotamatsumoto.718 70 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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The Solar Flares for Transient Modulation Mixed media 23” x 32” The Indistinct Notion of an Object Trajectory Mixed media 30” x 22”

My work develops and demonstrates a hybrid/multi-layered process. Variations in scale, juxtaposition of different forms, intertwined textures and tones are applied to reflect the spatio-temporal conditions of our ever-evolving urban and ecological environments. It is created to act as the catalyst for defining speculative changes in our notions of cities, societies and cultures.

In the drawings I explore a hybrid drawing/collage technique, combining both traditional media (ink, acrylic, and graphite) and digital media (algorithmic processing, scripting and image compensating with custom software).

Ryota Matsumoto Studio, my design office, is based in Tokyo. My current interest gravitates around the embodiment of cultural possibilities in art, architecture, and urban topography.

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2021 SE / Direct Art 71

The Ativan Jungle Acrylic on canvas 18” x 18”

Jimmy Gockel

El Chupacabra Watercolor 11” x 14”

Above: Darkest Light Outpost #9, Oil and spray paint on wood, 50” x 50” Right: Darkest Light - Harbor, Oil and spray paint on wood, 36” x 24” x 1.5”

Jason Sisino

JasonSisinoArt.com Instagram: @JasonSisino 72 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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GOCK ART facebook.com/gock.art.7

The Wedding on Top of the World Oil on canvas 36� x 32�

I believe that my paintings come through me from another world and I am a conduit they pass through in order to live in this one. Over time, I’ve come to understand that wherever the stories come from, they are also shaped as they pass through me.

I am inspired by fairy tales, myths, dreams, and stories of all kinds. My goal is not to make the most lifelike image possible, but rather to explore skewed angles and odd placements of characters within a landscape that has a personality of its own. I am especially aware of the emotional interactions between

everything that appears on the canvas. All of these elements come together and a painting is finished once I have created a harmony of images, colors, textures, personalities and emotions that feels like a glimpse into another world.

Abigail Lee Goldberger

AbigailLeeGoldberger.com Instagram: abigail_lee_art

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2021 SE / Direct Art 73

Fracture, Wood scraps on wood panel, 18” x 20”

Hilary Saner hilarysaner.com

74 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Friends, Oil on Wood, 48” x 60”

Hilary Saner hilarysaner.com

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2021 SE / Direct Art 75

Journey Acrylic on wood 20” x 30”

At times my paintings reference recognizable forms, but usually are deconstructed, contesting the division between memory and experience. I create personal moments, luring the viewer round in circles.

Patricia Maus

patriciamausartist.com

3 Realitites Acrylic on canvas

76 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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66” x 66” x 2”

Challenges (detail) Oil on canvas

When I understand Myself, then I can understand the Universe and the Spirit of the Universe.

Desy Kamen

de-artarch.com In The Spotlight Oil on canvas 19.6� x 23.6�

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 77

Global Meltdown

After It’s Gone Mixed Media with Hand Embroidered Illustrations ( Fire and Fat Cat) 32” x 28”

This piece was inspired by the 1% who have most all the wealth and how so many are driven only to continue to amass more wealth, no matter the consequences, giving nothing back. It’s a statement of what could happen if the appetite for more, more, more, is not controlled. We will all be left with nothing. My artistic practice strives to be a wakeup call. It is not intended to reflect doom, but rather to inspire awareness, which can lead to hope, promise, and action. Here, as in the other pieces, the subject is a bit cartoonish, the classic “fat cat” with his champagne and cigar in a lonely, parched landscape. Cause and effect. You can’t take it with you, as they say.

Robin McCarthy

robinmccarthyartwork.com Instagram: robin_mccarthy

78 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

Global Meltdown

Power Driven illustrates Man’s pursuit for power, thru the control and use of Fossil Fuels.

The machines produce devastating environmental changes. The work is reflective of the greed for power, and the pollution that is destroying our Earth.

Power Driven 10” x 16” Archival Pigmented Print

James Wille Faust jameswillefaust.com

Rich Fedorchak

rfedorchak50@gmail.com

I tend to create gently surreal mystical utopian worlds that present an alternative to the sometimes harsh realities of life in the 21st century.

I think that my work may act as an antidote to the daily news of human and animal suffering, violence, racism, and global environmental disaster.

Life In The Land Of Covid 11” x 8” Collage

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 79

Global Meltdown

Denise J Howard

DeniseJHowardArt.com

My response to COVID-19.

The shears symbolize the many powerful tools we have, none of which work against this new menace, so our efforts to date are futile and frustrating. It’s an unflattering self-portrait because my feelings are not pretty. The backdrop is a graph of the cases.

I portrayed it in black and white because the situation has drained all the color from the year.

The Angry Response Graphite on paper 11” x 14”

The Apprentice- You’re Fired Dye sublimation metal print 48” x 48”

Shannon Sadulsky sadulskyart.com

I feel art is a form of civilized conversation. Especially true during divisive times, discussing current issues often result in little compromise. With creating art comes the ability to express one’s ideas freely without judgment, later allowing the viewer their own freedom of opinion. With the expectation that we won’t all feel the same way about a piece of art, we can often have a more meaningful debate.

80 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

Global Meltdown

American Tragedy Oil on canvas 30” x 40”

Every work of art is a kind of prayer, and it is a practice. It is our eternal reaching and it always “exceeds our grasp.” I believe that love exists beyond duality and every time we create with love, we are drawn closer to our divinity. Making art, the prayer, the practice, is the way I live in the world. It is grace and it is my voice.

Deirdre Laughton deirdrelaughtonarts.com

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 81

Global Meltdown

Dejan Mraovic dejan-mraovic.com

My goal is to create pieces with a deep meaning and message for the audience.

Typography, iconography, and photography are extremely important in my work, not only as a source of information, but as a way of communicating with the public.

Mask is a color poster, which urges people to wear a facial mask all the time and therefore block spreading COVID-19.

The message is simple and straightforward: by protecting our physical health, we will protect our brains and our mental well-being.

Mask Digital 39” x 27” Corona Landscape Acrylic and white charcoal on canvas 36”x 48”x 1.5”

Avrel Menkes

AvrelArt.com

Pure terror, anguish, fear, these emotions catapulted me to create Corona Landscape, a nightmarish narrative that evolved from the trauma of being stuck on a Coronavirus infested cruise ship with nowhere to port. During February and March 2020, while the world struggled with the fast growing pandemic, I was quarantined in my desolate cabin, immobilized off the coast of Africa. Miraculously making it home, and quarantined in my art studio, I agonized with worry that I had contracted Coronavirus.

Would I become sick and would death soon follow? Would I be joining the death march of thousands? All I could do was paint that vision of horror in my head!

The Corona Landscape symbolically reaches out hauntingly with the horrifying possibility that the infinite Corvid-19 is coming for every one of us! My entire Corona-19 Series may be found on my website.

82 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

Global Meltdown Impetus Acrylic on canvas 12” x 16”

My art has always revolved around nature.

Lately, I’m interested in exploring the self-imposed otherness of humanity within the natural world.

Globally, with seemingly few exceptions, we’ve come to regard our human existence as apart from nature, even as masters of it, particularly in America.

With this piece, I was working with the idea of Nature as an impetus, a figure moving forward at an imperceptible pace toward an unknowable end.

Our every move is a response to the environment, just as any other living thing. Our actions affect the biosphere, warming it, monoculturing it; we delude ourselves that we have tamed it. We build, farm, capitalize, study, and pray to survive within Nature’s

bounds, but also to gain comfort, pleasure, and meaning. We have come to believe that these things set us apart from all other life on earth.

In spite of our perceived loss of connection to Nature, it continues to advance upon us, within us, around us. Indeed, it is us and we are it. Still, in spite of, or even because of our human advances, we are but threads in a web of living and non-living things.

Heather Diacont Rinehart hdrinehart.com

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 83

Global Meltdown

Kevin D. Hammon kevinhammon.com

My body of work focuses on birds and I typically utilize vintage maps to highlight the plight of migratory birds and their vanishing landscape. This one came as an omen from a dream last October before COVID.

The evening sky was a bruised maroon and the air was stale. Broken fence posts marked the edge of a field. Upon a lone, standing fence post a Rook stood pecking at a morsel. The bird beckoned me forward. At the Rook’s post, the landscape fell away into a valley. A plague doctor trod along a dirt road that cut the valley.

He briefly slowed to let dust settle as a pickup truck shot past. Keeping pace beside him was a Bloodhound collared in the same waxed leather worn by his owner. The hound noticed me, shook his head and sat with a yawn. The doctor, recognizing his companion’s absence, turned back and then followed the hound’s gaze. He met my stare and the hound let loose a baleful howl. I awoke.

Earth Died Screaming Mixed-media/acrylic 10” x 14”

Gregory Fry

facebook.com/gregory.fry1

The goal of my work is to communicate and to be able to build and extend my visual language. My hope is to share the attitudes, history, beliefs, dreams and desires that I have been fortunate enough to see from others. In the end it is the simple need to communicate and elicit a response from someone that I may never meet.

Mr. Death’s Doctor at the Door Intaglio 10” x 8”

84 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

Global Meltdown Watching/Waiting 50�x 38� Oil on canvas

My paintings are a new kind of realism that look not just at how we encounter the world around us, but which depict the struggles that circumscribe the idea of habitation for this generation as well as our future. This year, I created Watching/Waiting, a deep blue oil painting that points to concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Heidi Hogden

heidihogden.com

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 85

Global Meltdown

Kidston Drive Oil on panel 30” x 20”

Catherine Meehan

cmeehan.mfa@gmail.com

Masked Figure no. 5 Inkjet print face mounted to Plexiglas 9” x 18”

As a traditional landscape artist, recently I yearned to create a visually stunning yet meaningful installation on the landscape. In my photographic Masked Figure series, a human figure with reptilian characteristics is portrayed as both witness and victim to the disappearance of life as we know it.

Thomas Pickarski ThomasPickarski.com

86 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

Global Meltdown Danny Photography 48” x 65”

Working in a tableau style, we are using our photography as a way to provide social commentary on social, political and economic issues. Our background in advertising seemed a natural fit and we create these images in much the same manner as we would an ad campaign. We often reference Art History, Americana and Mother Goose to create an image that’s an amalgamated fairytale. The images are large in scale (approximately 50” x 60”), and can be satirical in nature. The settings are lush with an idyllic veneer and rich in symbolism.

This allows us to playfully shift back and forth between whimsical and cautionary. They are an examination of contemporary culture, the trajectory of society and the social tensions that come with it. This is an ongoing series.

dror/forshee photography dror-forshee.com Instagram: @drorforshee

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 87

Global Meltdown

The Star Spangled Idiot was inspired by the uncontrollable rage that has infected a number of Americans. Particularly, those who attempt to justify their actions through toxic nationalism. From some angles, the figure is dangerous, overwhelmed with anger. But from other angles, he is a toy soldier, a nutcracker, playing dress-up. The “patriotism” emanating from his head is confused and twisted. His tattoos are fueled by his idolization of indigenous courage, although he is overtly racist towards anyone of color. The tattoo on his belly reads: “I Follow The Chosen One.”

Stefanie Rocknak steffrocknak.net

The Star Spangled Idiot: An American Nutcracker Basswood, paint, pen, graphite, synthetic hair and aluminum.

18” x 12” x 12”

All or Nothing 7”high Carved Rhea eggshell with Chicken egg insert

The perfect size, And the perfect shape, Organically forming A perfect landscape.

The life within, A single race, Dependent on sharing The beautiful space.

The wisdom of ages, The wonders of art, A singular component Of our Big Bang start.

It’s all one component, There is no discussion, So survival, my friends Will be All or Nothin’.

Cherie Lee

eegscapes.wixsite.com/cherielee Instagram: @cherieleecreations 88 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

Global Meltdown A Circus in My Head 20� x 21.5� Color pencil, acrylic and ink on paper

A Circus In My Head depicts a young boy experiencing perplexing challenges in his life. The traveling company that circles around him represents the public spectacle of chaos and unmanageable disarray experienced deep in his soul. At the same time, his gaze is hopeful as he imagines a new future. With resilience he remains undeterred to proceed courageously with his journey through life.

Liliana Wilson lilianawilson.com

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 89

Global Meltdown

The Frontliner - A Dreadful Yet Pragmatic Resort Oil on board 7” x 5”

I am a planetary scientist with the Mars Institute and the SETI Institute. I studied astronomy at Cornell University where I was Carl Sagan’s last T.A.. My artwork depicts our profound loneliness in the cosmos, its indifference to our concerns, but also our hope to explore it, to one day understand this tiny yet hopeful place we occupy in the vastness of space and time.

This painting depicts a frontliner at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., moving a COVID-19 victim to a refrigerated truck. A sobering reminder of the frailty of our lives. I painted this gripping moment to honor all those who have died of COVID-19, and express my gratitude to frontliners everywhere.

Pascal Lee pascallee.net

90 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

Global Meltdown The Sorrow of Sophia 54” x 70” Oil on canvas

Sophia, the Greek translation of the Hebrew “Hochmah”, is the feminine personification of Wisdom in the first five books of the Old Testament. She serves at the heart of the creative process, as Wisdom and as Teacher who was sent to save humanity. In this painting, the figure of Sophia emerges out of the upper branches of the old oak tree which is meant to represent the Tree of Life. I intentionally split the tree in two (by the two canvases) in order to convey the threat to the earth’s ecosystems brought on by the recent rapid rise in human population and our industrialized way of life. Climate Change, or Global Warming, appears to be accelerating. Humankind needs wisdom to address this problem. The Book of Wisdom warns about the state of humankind without her, and the dangers to future generations:

(10:8)

For because they passed wisdom by, they were not only hindered from recognizing the good, but also left for humankind a reminder of their folly, so that their failures could never go unnoticed. Wisdom is readily available to those who seek her:

(6:12-13)

Wisdom is radiant and unfading, and she is easily discerned by those who love her, and found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her.

Elizabeth MacFarland elizabethmacfarland.com

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 91

Global Meltdown

Kevin Schroeder

facebook.com/1KevinJSchroeder

Have a Nice Day III 3” x 4” Drypoint

Mr. MaranasatiThe Undertaker Digital

This piece is about Maranasati, the buddhist meditation on death. I suppose it’s an attempt to come to terms with the pandemic and the inevitable conclusion that we all must face at some point.

Rich Del Rosso richdelrosso.com

92 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

Global Meltdown 2019-How Dare You! Mixed media 54” x 60”

In 2019, I started a new series of mixed media canvases with the intent of chronicling the new millennium in the form of art. The first canvas in the series started with what was going on in the world New Year’s Eve 2000. Each additional canvas in the series is a composite look at what happened within a particular year, from pressing issues of the day and leading headlines to memorable songs, movies and athletic achievements.

In this canvas is titled: 2019 - How Dare You! the emphasis is on the outcries surrounding climate change, a theme that is often revisited in several of the canvases. In 2019 it appears to have reached a fevered pitch with Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teen, voicing the existential threat to humanity and the world. Her passion has fueled a younger generation of activists seeking to influence their seniors now in power and doing very little to combat the problem. School walkouts occurred

globally, and tens of thousands of students participate.

Greta Thunberg, gains international recognition for her no-nonsense speaking manner in addressing public and political leaders/assemblies, criticizing their failure to take sufficient action.

Meanwhile, America, the largest denier of climate change under the Trump White House administration, is embroiled in a Presidential impeachment inquiry. True to his form, the American President continues to foment international discord. and attack domestic environmental protections, while denying any wrongdoing. See what else you can find in this canvas?

Robert K. Posner (RKP) RobertKPosner.com

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 93

A Show of Heads Work Inspired by the Human Head

We are your foundation 2 - David 30” x 44” Graphite on Paper

My work is cathartic, simply a reaction to life and my understanding of it. Impoverished, young, unprivileged, I was brought up learning some of life’s toughest lessons quickly and intimately.

My paintings and drawings are a combination of my negotiations with life, morality, anxiety, depression, and a fascination with the emotional power of the human figure and its surrounding environment. My compositions contain crumbs of the everyday, of familial interactions, solitary

walks in nature, of peace within circumstance, and utilise familiar motifs present within romantic painting and literature to create a dialogue with viewers that feels familiar and safe, but all the more unsettling and uncanny. My work seeks to show similarly, the beautiful and the tragic, while the precise and meditative nature of my practice allows me to tease out my own understanding of a given circumstance or form, before engaging with the viewer and having the dialogue anew.

Andrew Elsten

andrewelsten@yahoo.com 94 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

A SHOW OF HEADS Bird Queen 14� x 12� Wax on Palladium Leaf

Birds fascinate me. How they engineer their nests and how does something so fragile survive the elements! I love painting their delicate feathers, a challenge with this wax based medium. I always enjoy adding surreal situations to my paintings and as this piece evolved, I thought how regal she looked, hence the title.

Suzan Fox

SuzanFox.com

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 95

A SHOW OF HEADS

Residual Charcoal 22” x 21”

I am self taught and studied for two years at College for Creative Studies in Detroit. Almost all of my work is done in charcoal. My pieces work to convey a dark and often sinister tone. Each piece is meant to linger with the viewer and instill a feeling of curiosity, intrigue, whimsy, and perhaps an overall feeling of disturbia. I often work in a series.

This piece is a part of a collection of humanoid nightmarish creatures of myth or legend.

Denise Carter

denisecarteritsonlyvoodoo.com

Burial Ink on watercolor paper 5.5” x 8.5”

My work is very conceptual and very gestural. I focus more on light and form rather than on an exact representation of reality. I want to evoke feeling with my work. I’m very influenced by music Most of my work is a product of a band poster project I’m doing on my Instagram account. All artwork is original and is assigned to a band based on how I interpret the music. It’s a passion project and not in any way official artwork for the band.

I use this project to explore different themes and processes. Most of my work is in black and white and usually done in ink, watercolor, or sometimes oil paint. It is then scanned into the computer and then the text is added digitally. It’s been a great way to connect to my audience and bring joy to many around the world.

Darrin Maier

Instagram: @darrindraws

96 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

A SHOW OF HEADS JWG Killer Clown 5000 Flathead Pins in Canvas 14” x 11”

My own philosophy remains in flux, fueling my ideology with forward momentum. I use traditional and mixed media visualizations to communicate my want for knowledge. Often you can find me exploring mental inscapes wrought with human complexity. I celebrate adaptive organic form for its strength and beauty especially when it is horrifying.

My newest series, Our First Home, delves into the makeup of physiological chemistry: Can my trauma be absorbed and affect my child’s emotional development during pregnancy? Is it possible for personal suffering to create mutations for generations to come; thereby is oppression inherited? With ancestral transference,

are we making a martyr or monster, feeling triumph or trauma, or are we living a life of enlightenment or entitlement? Conceivably, we as a people cannot eradicate racism because it’s too soon in the ancestral mutation to foster that level of positive progression.

Perhaps even lack of remorse and the instability of a murderous instinct can be linked to under evolved mutation. So, what did you inherit?

Jennifer Michele Sandholm jennifermichele.myportfolio.com Instagram: @jms_galleries

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 97

A SHOW OF HEADS

Francisco 12” x 15” Oil on muslin

Catherine Meehan

cmeehan.mfa@gmail.com

Stay-at-Home 2020 24” x 18” Oil on canvas

I have been inspired by the pandemic, how wearing masks, stayat-home order, and social distancing have dramatically changed our lives.

This piece represents the psychological and social challenges during the Covid-19. It brings awareness of its effects on our mental health by being isolated from the stay-at-home order. Also, it makes us think that we can take actions to prevent, step up, and fight against the problems.

Vesna Komarica

facebook.com/vesnakomarica.art

98 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

A SHOW OF HEADS Janet 11” x 17” Acrylic on muslin

Fred Nocella fred-nocella.com

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 99

A SHOW OF HEADS

Gale Hart

galehart.com

As a child I was fascinated with creating objects out of nuts, bolts, scrap metal and wood. This evolved into an intense creative drive. I began my career with a passion to compile components into a whole. From monumental canvases to meticulous graphite drawings, I visually engage and speak about universal humanity.

My sculpture parallels my paintings while keeping the visual language constant: narrative composition, ordered geometry, color choices and experimentation with scale.

Unidentified 12” x 8” x 6” Bronze

Stephen Goldberg SteplinArtworks.com

I am a stone sculptor based in Baltimore, Maryland. I work with natural stone and, using traditional carving techniques and tools, shape and carve the stone into one-of-a-kind stone sculptures.

My sculptures are a mixture of contemporary designs, each handcrafted based on the unique natural elegance, durability and appearance of the stone. I use alabaster, limestone, marble and soapstone to create different textures, shapes and designs. The sculpture Alien at Rest, which is featured in the exhibit, is a mythical alien creature resting on outstretched human hands. The stone is a delicate multi-shaded brown alabaster with white crystal veins.

Alien at Rest 12” x 7” Alabaster

100 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

A SHOW OF HEADS

Four Faces 24” x 11” x 4.5” Butternut

Tree holes provide a great medium for creativity and also provide a habitat for wildlife. I use only the tree holes from downed trees.​The pieces I find are saved from rotting away. My work is part me and part Mother Nature blended together to create a unique functional art form.

John Starinovich holesinthewoods.com

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 101

A SHOW OF HEADS

Self Portrait in Hell Acrylic on canvas 60” x 48” inches

My work explores childhood, mental health, the complexity and cooperation of opposites, and how simultaneously ecstatic and hellish it is to be alive.

Richard Yu-Tang Lee richardlee.art

These shape shifters have been documented holding passionate conversations with opossums and rats, and the mother is noted to have earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Magical Arts through a respected online institution. If you see them, walk the other way quickly but calmly.

Mysteries of Baltimore I Oil on paper 22” x 30”

Greg McLemore 102 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

gregmclemoreart.com

A SHOW OF HEADS

State of Mind 21.5” x 13” x 11” Ceramic

My creative process is based on working intuitively from feelings, memories and my imagination. I usually work in a series which can lead me into extensive exploration of an idea and form. Form is an essential element in my work. My secondary focus is to develop different types of surfaces that will enhance and support the form. I have explored surfaces by continuous testing of ceramic materials and kiln firings.

Marilyn Richeda

marilynricheda.com

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 103

A SHOW OF HEADS

William T. Ayton

ayton.net

This piece is from a series I did in response to the pandemic, whilst in semilockdown. We are now caught in a perfect storm, between the virus, the raging fires, multifaceted political unrest, and who knows what else. But, at least we are all in this together.

(We Are All) Caught in the Storm” 16” x 12” Acrylic on board

Bobby Snell

robertsnell.myportfolio.com

I was driven to create SelfPortrait of a Lonely Summer in response to a deep internal conflict.

There was a summer I spent completely alone, leading to the surfacing of a lot of troubled thoughts and I found myself very angry and confused. This piece was a form release, created as a therapy to slow my mind and work through the chaos of emotion--I needed to clear my head. I used the fluid medium of water and ink to represent my clouded mind. Once the ideas poured onto the page and I used pen to define the final realization.

Self-Portrait of a Lonely Summer Ink wash and pen on paper 13” x 19”

104 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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A SHOW OF HEADS Atlas 14” x 11” x 10” Stoneware clay

My work centers around the human search for authenticity, and belonging. The question of modern identity, or where we are truly at home when much of our ancestral culture may have dissolved, been actively destroyed, or is one in which we do not wish to be a part.

The same holds true for the environment, and

the modern problem of being disconnected from the land, as well as wild creatures, which can create a kind of ‘hole’ in our identity. My work reflects my personal experiences around these issues

Asia Mathis

asiamathisart.com

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 105

A SHOW OF HEADS

Jennifer Robbins Mullin jrobbinsmullin.blogspot.com

The herd mentality is a selfish one, meant to position oneself for survival at the expense of other members of the community. We are seeing this play out right now in the United States with a raging, unabated pandemic dragging on for months because of a lack of federal response.

Claims of fake news, a hoax!, or that the virus magically will disappear, have all undermined how states and doctors have been able to react to a sometimes skeptical public. This is class warfare at its most vile and heinous.

A note on skulls: All deer skulls were gathered in the woods, along streams, and railroad tracks in Butler County, Pennsylvania. The human skull is a replica.

The Gathering of the Selfish Herd Digital photography 11” x 14”

Les Trois 8 16” x 8” x 20” Cockeysville marble

Les Trois 8 is named after a bistrot / bar in Paris. My son Gavin loved working there. Sadly it has closed due to pandemic restrictions. I made Les Trois 8 out of Cockeysville Marble as an interpretation of their logo. I never got to deliver and collect my pay (beer ) ....

C’est la vie.

Earl Elliott

earlelliottsculpture.com

106 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

A SHOW OF HEADS

45.12 Graphite, oil, inkjet ink on Duralar on copy of birth certificate, push pins on wood 12” x 9”

While toweling water off my face, I felt a small, spark-like sensation in my forehead.

I didn’t think much of it at the time. However, the “sparks” became more intense. Over the course of a week they became more painful and more pronounced. What began as a small “spark” became, at times, an instant sensation that threw me to the ground, afraid to touch my face out of fear that I could make it worse. I screamed uncontrollably. I prayed the pain would subside so that I could live one more day. I would describe it as a lightning bolt festering in my head for one, very long moment, countless times a day.

To put it in words belittled its painful visits to my head. It afflicted me seasonally and I never knew when the season would begin or end.

I was finally, successfully, diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia. It is referred to as “the suicide disease.” It has been listed as among the most painful conditions known to human-kind.

Karl Gustav Kroeppler kroeppler.weebly.com

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 107

A SHOW OF HEADS

Larissa Barnat

larissabarnat.com

Using gradients and blending of organic shapes with neon colors, I create bright but depressing paintings. Bold colors evoke a futuristic presence with a sense of hopelessness. My experiences as a youth and adolescent have profoundly influenced the imagery that permeates my artwork. When I was young, only six years old, I fell off a swing face-first onto bricks and stones.

My black eye was closed shut for a month, it permanently affected my vision. I would sit at home and compulsively pick out stone pieces and peel scabs until it bled and scarred. The bruises would change colors of deeply saturated yellow, green, and violet.

I refused to have anyone see me and even wore sunglasses indoors.

Black Eye Oil on canvas 34� x 44�

Vincenzo Corrado

vincentcorrado.carbonmade.com

I tried to represent in this drawing, a character from other worlds that I wish existed in interstellar reality. He is just one of the inhabitants of a distant planet where they still survive today, beings certainly strange but at the same time reassuring because they are good and eager to transmit sparkling positive energies, even if trapped in a technological mask able to protect them from radioactive waste. Distraction caused by an unexpected event can cause a smile.

But if this happens also in an interplanetary and imaginative context, perhaps it could push us to make some reflections.

All evolved living beings have a sense of humor. The question is whether this characteristic is only exclusive to the man who lives on planet earth or is a universal gift.

Radio Source 3555 x 2391px Digital 108 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

A SHOW OF HEADS

Star Dust I Graphite and Mixed Media on Arches Paper 30” x 22”

Through exploration and discovery the unknown reveals itself a little more. It is this spirit of discovery that takes the series of works titled Star Dust beyond that which is conventional and stereotypical.

As an artist I endeavour to find new ways of seeing and search for an understanding of the complex structures that exist within inner and outer worlds. This basic order is an essential part of nature and the cosmos. Star Dust visibly takes the world to pieces and builds it up from the inside, revealing a glimpse into the complexity of nature and the

cosmos at a molecular level. I’m always searching for the universal beauty hidden in everything around us and the profound connections that imbue our lives with meaning. Subconscious imagery plays an important part in my creative process, where infinite possibilities emerge within the fluid spaces between reality and imagination.

Louisa Antico louisaantico.com

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 109

Contemptuous Bloom 20” x 16” Oil on panel

The painting titled Contemptuous Bloom directly addresses the lineage of fear, hatred, violence and perversion. An evil mind that reproduces itself by recreating the same conditions that created it.

I love to make works that are raw, detailed and not filtered through anyone’s good taste or sophistication. The truth can be blinding without our cultural sunglasses, but it is worth trying to see.

Timothy French

wowxwow.com/artist-profile/tim-french-ap

110 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

Blue Honey 16� x 20� Oil on board

My art work is a reflection of my quest to recognize the truth behind the veil of civility. I seek to unmask what is presented outwardly, and reveal humanity in direct conflict with its own cultural constructs. Through my work, I choose to examine a world where people, me included, are flawed.

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 111

Are You Texting What She Just Said?

Charcoal and pastel pencil on plywood 76”h x 48”w x 24”d area

For years I’ve been trying to determine what defines two-dimensional art. My drawings range from the intimate, to full scale conceptual installations. The materials are mostly flat surfaces: plywood, Plexiglas, and paper, yet they inhabit three-dimensional space. My large work that can be mounted on a wall can also be mounted in the middle of a room. Although it occupies a space usually reserved for sculpture, the work is still only

112 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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a flat, two-dimensional surface. I know the illusion of dimension is successful when I hear back from venue directors about how these drawings startled them for days every time they came in every morning, and most recently, a University gallery director thought one of her graduate student assistants was repeatedly goofing off because she kept seeing someone standing in the gallery doing nothing.

People # 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 Charcoal and pastel pencil on plywood 78”h x 72”w x 24”d area

Most of my pieces are sourced from photo references I take during gallery receptions. This replication of reality completes itself when the drawings return into a gallery space to interact with the community they were appropriated from.

I make a habit of remembering the actual height of each individual I draw, so that when I put them into conceptual groupings, they have a natural sense

of human variety. Although I have gone so far as to create a dimensional portal installation describing the Quantum Physics theory of multi-universes, with spit bodies entering and exiting through Plexiglas sheets, I am usually content to simply show people milling about, absorbed in their own world, or reacting to others.

Denise Stewart-Sanabria www.stewart-sanabria.com

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 113

People 49. 50 Charcoal and pastel pencil on plywood 72”H x 48”W x 24”D area

114 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Riding the Big Gun Charcoal and pastel pencil on plywood, ceramic, twill tape 4’ x 6’ x 5”

One of the original goals for much of pre-twentieth century Western art was to convince the viewer that what they were viewing on a flat surface was a fully dimensional scene. I’m trying to bring that basic idea to a new level by freeing the elements from their conventional framing.

Denise Stewart-Sanabria www.stewart-sanabria.com

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 115

Man Walking Ammonite Acrylic and ink on vintage paper collage on cardboard 11.5” x 9”

I have a growing interest in using vintage items in my work, particularly books and ephemera, but also wood, wallpaper, and metal. Old prints and photos in frames, when removed, often have a paper or cardboard backing that I keep and use.

“Man Walking Ammonite” is created on just such an old piece of cardboard, with a beautifully aged surface, embellished with an illustrated page from a vintage book, paint drops, and coffee stains.

My intention is to create pieces that look as if they’ve been stored away for ages, and, newly rediscovered, they seem to be asking the viewer to supply the lost history, the forgotten story of the previous owner, and the time they lived in. This is, of course, a function of art, the preservation

of one person’s creative perspective as a reflection of a time gone by. The fact that I am creating these pieces now, and using my cartoon-influenced characters, reflects my own examination of mortality and time, the span of time and memory behind me, and the rest of life in front of me.

Maybe that’s a grim examination, an autopsy on a living body; and my work, in its cartoonishness and darkly humorous tone, may not convey that message to the viewer.

My process of art-making is intrinsically connected to my own process of living, and my endless examinations of myself and my space in the world. I’m happy that people like my work. I intend to make a whole lot more.

Jim Garmhausen

jimgarmhausenart.com

116 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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Untitled/Window Acrylic and ink on wood and vintage window frame 22” x 41” www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 117

Mary Graphite and collage 61.25� x 49.5�

Patricia Elliott Schappler patriciaschappler.com

118 Direct Art / 2021 SE

www.slowart.com

Eden Graphite and collage 55� x 44�

My imagery focuses on the drawn and painted figure in shallow, often collaged spaces. I work from family and friends and am encouraged by the narrative that naturally accompanies a psychologically driven subject.

Merging my love of Western sensual form with Eastern, flat patterned design, I alternate

between depth and surface to create pictorial tension. If the human figure within the narrative of home are my starting points, uncovering where home is held, how we share it, and how it shifts through event, archetype, and fictionalized story, are part of the journey made visible through tools and process.

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 119

BALDER 182013.02 11.8” x 16,7” Digital photoprint laminated on aluminum dibond

NEUMANN 162018.2 11.8” x 11.8” Digital photoprint laminated on aluminum dibond 120 Direct Art / 2021 SE

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RUSTY 4175.02 11.8” x 16.7” Digital photoprint laminated on aluminum dibond

WALKEN 99126 11.8” x 11.8” Digital photoprint laminated on aluminum dibond

FLECK 79310520.01 11.8� x 11.8� Digital print laminated on aluminum dibond

How many commercials have you seen in your life? How often have you been to the movies? How many TV or Netflix series did you watch? And how many books have you read? Do you pick up the daily newspaper or any other magazines? How much news do you watch on TV each day? How many Facebook posts do you read?

How much time do you spend on the internet, or maybe you listen to the radio?

Imagine that it would be possible to make every single piece of information, that you have ever absorbed in your life, visible in your face. What would a picture of you look like then?

Thomas Zydek thomas-zydek.de

www.slowart.com

2021 SE / Direct Art 121

Judith 144117.1 Digital Print, laminated on aluminum dibond 11.8� x 11.8�

Thomas Zydek thomas-zydek.de