Square Peg, Your Curator, Vol. V

Welcome to my online gallery.  I'm Square Peg, Your Curator, and I've got a very exciting show lined up today.  You are already familiar with my love of street art.  I love the idea of a public, open gallery, where everyone is invited to express and view creativity.  I have fantasies of an entire city being a gallery.  Today I am featuring art which is influenced by this visionary art scene.  All of the art featured is fresh, graphic and edgy, just like art should be.  Art should stretch your comfort zone, it should encourage you to look at things in a different way and to consider things you might miss.  And it can be pretty while doing so, as these works prove.  Hope you enjoy!

Stencils have become increasingly intricate, this is a skill I'd like to master.  I dig 'em.  I want this work by Rex and Poppy.

Another beautiful use of stencil.  Love it combined with the clean lines.  I adore simple, minimal works.  As you know simple is not easy.  This painting took some skill and a steady hand.  When the street is your gallery, you must set aside fear, paint quickly and learn to paint with a steady hand.  Painting by Tayac.

Update:  I received a kind email from Tayac.  I love hearing from the artists I support!  The link to his website is here.  It's fairly new, but looks like he's involved in some interesting work.

The public nature of street art allows some of these talented artists to gain worldwide recognition.  The very exciting movement in art toys (also called urban vinyl, which I've written about a lot on this blog), brings these works to life.  kaNO kid is one of those artists who has become very recognizable and has toys produced of his work.  I'm gonna let you in on a secret.  All artists want this kind of fame, but they might not admit it.  We want our art to be seen by the whole world.

I dig the work of Erin Crawford.  Sensual, otherworldly and psychedelic.  Is it just me, or do these groovy paintings remind you of Barbarella?  Love her use of color as well.  Her Etsy shop is here.  She has a really cool web site too, which is here.  I'd like to commission her to do a painting of Goldie Hawn wearing go-go boots.

I like art that is beautiful, and a little creepy too.  This type of art is inexplicably compelling.  It repels and attracts at the same time.  This artist is successfully communicating a deepness of thought.  The woman in the painting is preoccupied by her dissatisfaction, yearning and melancholy.  I think women can identify with this work, because these are feelings that are all too familiar.  Constant yearning is the state of contemporary woman.  The artist has communicated these feelings in a gentle and romantic way.  This is a painting I would proudly hang in my home.  Painting by Melanie Shewchuck.

I dig an urban montage.  Fab.  ByHandClothing. 

Painting by Robert Comire. I find this work extremely compelling.  The industrial laundry, now a ghost in a post-industrial age.  Floating on an island.  Post-industrial themes are often present in my photographic work.  In fact this piece speaks to me, as it reminds me of one of my photos (click here if interested).  I think I need to turn some of my photos into paintings.  My next series of paintings will be heavily influenced by street and urban art.  I have so many ideas I need like a million dollars to buy canvas, paint and brushes.  And oh yeah, time.  There's never enough time.  

If you liked this series, be sure to check out my my series on Chick Art.