Le Cirque by Sølve Sundsbø

TRAVIS LOUIE

Travis Louie’s paintings come from the tiny little drawings and many writings in his journals. He’s created his own imaginary world that is grounded in Victorian and Edwardian times. It is inhabited by human oddities, mythical beings, and otherworldly characters who appear to have had their formal portraits taken to mark their existence and place in society. The underlying thread that connects all these characters is the unusual circumstances that shape who they were and how they lived. Some of their origins are a complete mystery while others are hinted at. A man is cursed by a goat, a strange furry being is discovered sleeping in a hedge, an engine driver can’t seem to stop vibrating in his sleep, a man overcomes his phobia of spiders, etc, . . .Using inventive techniques of painting with acrylic washes and simple textures on smooth boards, he’s created portraits from an alternate universe that seemingly may or may not have existed.

BIOGRAPHY

Travis Louie was born in Queens, New York, about a mile from the site of the 1964 World’s Fair. His early childhood was spent making drawings and watching “Atomic Age” Sci-Fi and Horror movies. There were many Saturday afternoon trips to the local comics shop and noon matinees at the RKO Keith’s cinema on Northern Blvd. , where he marveled at the 1950’s memorabilia: the rocket ships, the superheroes, the giant monsters, and old pulp art covers. He did thousands of sketches of genre characters like Godzilla, King Kong, and a host of creatures from Ray Harryhausen movies.

After high school, he went to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated with a degree from the communication design dept. with the intent on pursuing a freelance illustration career. The work wasn’t as rewarding as he had anticipated. After a few years freelancing, he created a body of paintings and began showing them in local art galleries. The response was very encouraging. He stopped actively pursuing illustration work and began taking on more private commissions and concentrating his efforts on gallery shows.

The visual style of his work is mostly influenced by the lighting and atmosphere of German Expressionist and Film Noir motion pictures from the Silent Era to the late 1950’s. Films from directors like F W Murnau, Fritz Lang, Orson Welles, Robert Siodmak, Robert Aldrich, Jacque Tourneur, and cinematographer, Greg Toland, had a great effect on the way he wanted his paintings to look.

To achieve the dramatic “mood” in his paintings, they are produced primarily in black and white or limited color. He uses acrylic paints over tight graphite drawings on smooth grounds, like “plate” finish illustration board or finely sanded, primed wood panels. When he is not painting, his time is spent writing in his notebooks and journals. Many little drawings and sketches are made from those writings, most of which are less than 10 centimeters square.

The influences for his work are many; the genre films, his fascination with human oddities, circus sideshows, old Vaudeville magic acts, Victorian portraits, and things otherworldly, are all blended together to enable him to bring life to the characters and stories he writes in his journals.

KRIS LEWIS

                     Zephyr oil on wood 20x16

             

VESNA BURSICH Crumpled paper Photo Realist Paintings

Vesna Bursich resides in Turin. She reproduce paper dolls and cut out figures that are cave in, bent, collaged, and crumpled almost to the point of abstraction. Arranged as props in the artists fictional narrative, these paintings depict a psychological storyline that has no beginning nor end; Sumerging the viewer into a interminably dream

STEVEN ASSAEL( today special)

See more at http://cromoforalapalomaonlinegallery.blogspot.com.es/2013/12/steve-assael_14.html

LUIS FRACCHIA

                 De la Serie Almohadas"Geografias del subconsciente" Geografía amenazada 120 cm x 140 cm

     work in progress- 1.70 x 2.00- 2003

                 Femenino Circular óleo/lino, 1.70 mt x 2.00 mt

Tiempo en perspectiva, acuarela papel Arches, 100 x 150 cm-2001

Detalle- "Omaggio"-Padre y Madre, con un poco de rojo, homenaje al verde. Acuarela 100 x 80 cm-2003

la cabeza contra el cuerpo- acuarela 52 x 72 cm-1998

Mística- acuarela 70 x 50 cm-1995

El Panadero-acuarela-150 x 100cm-1991

composición- acuarela 50 x 70 cm-1999

ojo al paso

"estadio del PROCESO que genero FEMENINO CIRCULAR; óleo/lino, 1.70 mt x 2.00 mt; como pintor siempre me interesa más esta parte que el mismo cuadro terminado, siempre que el proceso no sea hacer A+B=C y la pintura surja desde las primeras capas." Luis Fracchia

De la serie DUETOS, óleo, (aprox 2000)

"La mirada devuelta",óleo/tela

Testigos II, óleo, 110 x 170cm, 2006

LUIS FRACCHIA was born in Asuncion, Paraguay, in 1959. In 1972 he travelled to Rome, Italy, where he lived until 1980; this is where, upon finishing his school studies, he began his artistic activity. From an early age, Italy's historical artistic accumulation of a thousand years caused a deep impression on the artist, who, after continuous trips to Italian cities and later to admire and study the great frescos of the Italian Quattrocento, decided to register at the prestigious Scuola di San Giacomo in Rome, in the specialty of "Wall Frescos" in the old Renaissance style, and also made a foray into etching at the Lorusso workshop. He was to have his first two exhibits in the Italian capital.
In 1980 he travelled to Mexico, after admiring a major exhibit of Siqueiros in Florence. Since then he has lived in the Mexican Republic, for the first years in Mexico City and at present, in the city of Cuernavaca.

His work has, at the present time, achieved a position and recognition in Mexican visual art, with many important solo and group participations in this country and abroad, where his strong projection begins, participating in international auctions such as Sotheby's. Works of his are to be found in private collections in Mexico, South America, the United States and Europe. Actually he is living in Valencia, Spain