Tom Adams

Flight II. Amy Johnson. Surrealistic portrait of pioneering British aviator

2002

"Iris" oil on panel, mixed technique by Lluis Rizzo. Hyperrealist painting. Measurements: (H) 114 x (W) 146 cm. Framed: (H) 144 x (W) 176 x (D) 5 cm. « Iris » Here we have a rare species of Iris that will not be found in botanical books but in art catalogs...

Primavera en jardín ( Spring in garden). Oil on canvas by Spanish artist Joan Raset. Dimension with frame 104 cm H x 121 cm W x 4,5 cm D Dimension without frame 73 cm H x 92 cm W x 2...

Reggatas day (tribute to Seurat), by Fabio Hurtado, is an oil painting on canvas which was created in 1995 and which obtained the Honorary Medal at the C...

¨Serenidad¨ Spanish contemporary figurative realism. Oil on canvas. Dimensions: (H) 130x (W) 162 x (D) 2 cm. / Inches 51.18 x 63.78 x 0.79 " Framed: (H) 153 x (H) 185 x (D) 4 cm. / Inches 60.24 x 72.83 x 1.57 " Juan Carlos Ospina Ortiz (Colombia 1963), practices realistic figuration with themes of clear Spanish influence. The artist settled in Andalusia (Spain), where, searching for his roots, he immersed himself in the music, folklore, and traditions of that country. This painting, ¨Serenidad¨, is reproduced on a double page in the article that the renowned art publication Prestige Magazine edited in 2003, where the cover is a female portrait by Ospina Ortiz. (number 63, 2003, pages 24-25). ABOUT THE ARTIST Juan Carlos Ospina Ortiz (Tolima-Colombia 1963) studied design and painting in Bogotá, which he later complemented with specializations in Paris and Madrid. He practices a realistic figurative style, where he alternates between portraits, still lifes, landscapes and horse paintings. In 1993 he visited Spain for the first time, being greatly influenced by two renowned contemporary painters: Antonio López and Eduardo Naranjo. His works, from those years on, would be strongly influenced by the vision he had of them. He obtained a scholarship to continue his training with the Colombian painter Guillermo Muñoz Vera...

I love your “Boogies-woogies”, (Adoro tus "Bugisvugis"). Figurative painting with popular dancers and musicians. Acrylic on canvas. Measurements in centimeters: 97 x 130 x 3 cm. Fram...

The smokers. Figurative painting. Colorful Landscape with figures. Acrylic on canvas. Measurements in centimeters: 89 x 146 x 3 cm. / Framed: 114 x 171 x 5 cm. In inches: 35.04 x 57.48 x 1.18 ". / Framed: 44.88 x 67.32 x 1.9 " In the background, a beautiful city with classical buildings and a a forest; in the foreground, a small park where smokers gather next to the fountain crowned by a cupid holding a cigarette between his fingers. It is a group of six men and three women. They all smoke. They enjoy the smoke as they blow it out of their mouths, making shapes with it and interacting with each other in various poses. Hands emerge from the trees of the nearby forest holding lighted matches between their fingers as a lure to attract smokers to the darkness of the forest. A very dreamlike image to represent the temptation of the forbidden. ABOUT THE ARTIST Fomin is a storytelling artist. He is a storyteller in his everyday, anecdotally narrating the funny side of life, and he is a storyteller in his professional life, bringing to the canvas realistic popular scenes set in fairy-tale settings where the subject matter is always treated with irony and humor. The titles of his paintings tell us about eccentric characters of an era, a culture, a society (which one?) - it doesn't matter, it is a distorted reality with a romantic and sentimental touch, which takes us to references such as Brueghel the Elder, El Bosco and Chagall, within an aesthetic and chromatism typical of Renaissance painting where Fomin develops his original scenes playing with the design of spaces, landscapes, buildings, characters and costumes. A stage director who makes us smile, but also reflect on his original interpretation of the human being, because this is the main protagonist of his paintings. ABOUT THE ARTIST Igor Fomin...

Miquel Torner de Semir (1938) - Surrealist figure - Oil on canvas Oil measures 46x38 cm. Frameless. Miquel Torner de Semir (1938) Catalan painter attracted by the Middle Ages and I...

Aiden Kringen's (US based) "Onyx" is an original handmade oil painting that is unframed, but ready to hang. About the Artist: A kaleidoscopic fantasia—crystalline planes floating in space, nestling together like immaculate puzzle pieces—abstract nebulae, human figures and faces enveloped in swirling fields or particles of energy—these number among the images evoked by the hauntingly enigmatic paintings of artist Aiden Kringen. Within this worldview a mysterious network of interlocking planes becomes visible to the beholder: mystical fields of unknown substance revealed as the building blocks of our bodies and semblances, surrounding, cocooning, perhaps even protecting us. It is a vision verging on the mystical, which Kringen portrays through a distinctive style: a fractured, cubistic mode of conscious- ness in which multiple dimensions or perspectives assimilate into an ecstatic whole. The artist deploys this style in opulent and seductive portraits as well as abstract tableaux whose optical signature is magnified by compositional dynamism and deeply layered surfaces. Born in Los Angeles in 1992, Kringen lived variously in the American West and Mexico—Sebastopol, Jalisco, Portland, Flagstaff—before settling in the hill- and vineyard-dotted environs of Sonoma, County, where he is now based. In these very different environments, each of which possesses a uniquely picturesque natural beauty, the artist began from an early age to develop his aesthetic approach. He has always had a keen eye for detail, grounded in a gift for looking closely at the human experience. “I’ve always been interested in observing people,” he recalls, “and in the details of how we interact with one another.” He put this natural ability to task when he began working on illustration and graphic-design projects while in high school. From his mother, an artist and graphic designer, he learned the fundamentals of composition and typography, the nuances of positive and negative space and the relationships between them. Using sheets of Letracet—a system for transfer- ring typeface—proved particularly instrumental in developing a methodology for layering and collage, which continue to inform his works on canvas and paper. He learned old-school tech- niques, hands-on and mechanical, in keeping with a Bauhaus-like appreciation for perfectionism, integrity, and hard work. Kringen began painting at 14. Then as now, drawing was central to his approach. He studied vintage anatomy atlases and drew meticulously in his journals, working through myriad permutations of bones and skin, angle and pose, muscles in motion. Honing his natural talent for figuration through long and exhaustive study, he arrived at an understanding of the figure that is both intuitive and virtuosic. On acrylic and mixed media on canvas, Kringen lays down linework with a Micron pen in ever-more-complex compositions, often with the addition of gloss mediums to bring out the layers’ reflectivity and prismatic character. In some pieces he incorporates gold and silver leaf to heighten drama and luxuriance, recalling the mosaic-like work of Gustav Klimt—who, along with fellow Austri- an Expressionist Egon Schiele, stands among Kringen’s most prominent influences. It was in 2011 that he began painting in the style with which he is now most associated: a technique fusing drawing and painting, line and brushstroke, with fragmented shapes undergirding the imag- ery. Notably, this is not simply a stylistic conceit, but more a way of perceiving reality. “Ever since I was young,” Kringen notes, “I’ve spent most of my time observing people: trying to break people down, in a visual sense, into small categorizations of their features, their mannerisms, the way they twitch their nose...” His hypersensitivity to likeness and gesture is key, for this is what distinguishes his portraits from those by artists who strive to depict idealized beauty as an end in itself. Yes, there is an undeniable beauty to Kringen’s subjects, but it does not follow strictly conventional paradigms. There is an individuality, a capturing of idiosyncracies and eccentricities, of optimism and fatalism, light and dark, in his work. He is not painting archetypes, but rather illuminating the essential charac- ters of real people in a highly refined genre of psychological portraiture. The fragmented linework, the grids of planes he uses as lenses to focus these characteristics, is sui generis but never gimmicky; above all it is a tool for defining and refining the features of the face, adding depth and definition. In his abstract work he uses similar techniques, paring the fabric of perception itself down to bare essentials of form, color, and texture. The abstract pieces are simultaneously elegant and complex, combining the sweeping gesturalism of Abstract Expressionism with the rigorous structure of geomet- ric painting. Across the breadth of his output Kringen balances technical and thematic polarities into bracing integrations of sensuality and grittiness, inviting contemplation into the nature of opticality and the infinite possibilities of the seen and unseen. —Richard Speer is a contributor to ARTnews, Artpulse, Visual Art Source, and Surface Design. His essays and reviews have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Post, The Oregonian, Salon, Newsweek, and Opera News. He is the author of “Matt Lamb...

Aiden Kringen's (US based) "Opulence 12" is an original handmade oil painting that is unframed, but ready to hang. About the Artist: A kaleidoscopic fantasia—crystalline planes floating in space, nestling together like immaculate puzzle pieces—abstract nebulae, human figures and faces enveloped in swirling fields or particles of energy—these number among the images evoked by the hauntingly enigmatic paintings of artist Aiden Kringen. Within this worldview a mysterious network of interlocking planes becomes visible to the beholder: mystical fields of unknown substance revealed as the building blocks of our bodies and semblances, surrounding, cocooning, perhaps even protecting us. It is a vision verging on the mystical, which Kringen portrays through a distinctive style: a fractured, cubistic mode of conscious- ness in which multiple dimensions or perspectives assimilate into an ecstatic whole. The artist deploys this style in opulent and seductive portraits as well as abstract tableaux whose optical signature is magnified by compositional dynamism and deeply layered surfaces. Born in Los Angeles in 1992, Kringen lived variously in the American West and Mexico—Sebastopol, Jalisco, Portland, Flagstaff—before settling in the hill- and vineyard-dotted environs of Sonoma, County, where he is now based. In these very different environments, each of which possesses a uniquely picturesque natural beauty, the artist began from an early age to develop his aesthetic approach. He has always had a keen eye for detail, grounded in a gift for looking closely at the human experience. “I’ve always been interested in observing people,” he recalls, “and in the details of how we interact with one another.” He put this natural ability to task when he began working on illustration and graphic-design projects while in high school. From his mother, an artist and graphic designer, he learned the fundamentals of composition and typography, the nuances of positive and negative space and the relationships between them. Using sheets of Letracet—a system for transfer- ring typeface—proved particularly instrumental in developing a methodology for layering and collage, which continue to inform his works on canvas and paper. He learned old-school tech- niques, hands-on and mechanical, in keeping with a Bauhaus-like appreciation for perfectionism, integrity, and hard work. Kringen began painting at 14. Then as now, drawing was central to his approach. He studied vintage anatomy atlases and drew meticulously in his journals, working through myriad permutations of bones and skin, angle and pose, muscles in motion. Honing his natural talent for figuration through long and exhaustive study, he arrived at an understanding of the figure that is both intuitive and virtuosic. On acrylic and mixed media on canvas, Kringen lays down linework with a Micron pen in ever-more-complex compositions, often with the addition of gloss mediums to bring out the layers’ reflectivity and prismatic character. In some pieces he incorporates gold and silver leaf to heighten drama and luxuriance, recalling the mosaic-like work of Gustav Klimt—who, along with fellow Austri- an Expressionist Egon Schiele, stands among Kringen’s most prominent influences. It was in 2011 that he began painting in the style with which he is now most associated: a technique fusing drawing and painting, line and brushstroke, with fragmented shapes undergirding the imag- ery. Notably, this is not simply a stylistic conceit, but more a way of perceiving reality. “Ever since I was young,” Kringen notes, “I’ve spent most of my time observing people: trying to break people down, in a visual sense, into small categorizations of their features, their mannerisms, the way they twitch their nose...” His hypersensitivity to likeness and gesture is key, for this is what distinguishes his portraits from those by artists who strive to depict idealized beauty as an end in itself. Yes, there is an undeniable beauty to Kringen’s subjects, but it does not follow strictly conventional paradigms. There is an individuality, a capturing of idiosyncracies and eccentricities, of optimism and fatalism, light and dark, in his work. He is not painting archetypes, but rather illuminating the essential charac- ters of real people in a highly refined genre of psychological portraiture. The fragmented linework, the grids of planes he uses as lenses to focus these characteristics, is sui generis but never gimmicky; above all it is a tool for defining and refining the features of the face, adding depth and definition. In his abstract work he uses similar techniques, paring the fabric of perception itself down to bare essentials of form, color, and texture. The abstract pieces are simultaneously elegant and complex, combining the sweeping gesturalism of Abstract Expressionism with the rigorous structure of geomet- ric painting. Across the breadth of his output Kringen balances technical and thematic polarities into bracing integrations of sensuality and grittiness, inviting contemplation into the nature of opticality and the infinite possibilities of the seen and unseen. —Richard Speer is a contributor to ARTnews, Artpulse, Visual Art Source, and Surface Design. His essays and reviews have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Post, The Oregonian, Salon, Newsweek, and Opera News. He is the author of “Matt Lamb...

Aiden Kringen's (US based) "Opulence 6" is an original handmade oil painting that depicts a figure with her face in profile view surrounded with gold hued shapes and patterns About the Artist: A kaleidoscopic fantasia—crystalline planes floating in space, nestling together like immaculate puzzle pieces—abstract nebulae, human figures and faces enveloped in swirling fields or particles of energy—these number among the images evoked by the hauntingly enigmatic paintings of artist Aiden Kringen. Within this worldview a mysterious network of interlocking planes becomes visible to the beholder: mystical fields of unknown substance revealed as the building blocks of our bodies and semblances, surrounding, cocooning, perhaps even protecting us. It is a vision verging on the mystical, which Kringen portrays through a distinctive style: a fractured, cubistic mode of conscious- ness in which multiple dimensions or perspectives assimilate into an ecstatic whole. The artist deploys this style in opulent and seductive portraits as well as abstract tableaux whose optical signature is magnified by compositional dynamism and deeply layered surfaces. Born in Los Angeles in 1992, Kringen lived variously in the American West and Mexico—Sebastopol, Jalisco, Portland, Flagstaff—before settling in the hill- and vineyard-dotted environs of Sonoma, County, where he is now based. In these very different environments, each of which possesses a uniquely picturesque natural beauty, the artist began from an early age to develop his aesthetic approach. He has always had a keen eye for detail, grounded in a gift for looking closely at the human experience. “I’ve always been interested in observing people,” he recalls, “and in the details of how we interact with one another.” He put this natural ability to task when he began working on illustration and graphic-design projects while in high school. From his mother, an artist and graphic designer, he learned the fundamentals of composition and typography, the nuances of positive and negative space and the relationships between them. Using sheets of Letracet—a system for transfer- ring typeface—proved particularly instrumental in developing a methodology for layering and collage, which continue to inform his works on canvas and paper. He learned old-school tech- niques, hands-on and mechanical, in keeping with a Bauhaus-like appreciation for perfectionism, integrity, and hard work. Kringen began painting at 14. Then as now, drawing was central to his approach. He studied vintage anatomy...

"With Kindness" by Victoria Novak, completed in 2017, is a provocative oil on canvas that delves into the fusion of human and natural forms. The painting measures 39.40 x 23.60 inche...

Surrealistic artwork by Sofia Fotiadou, from the series "Inside". Signed by the artist at the bottom left corner. Certificate of authenticity is provide...