Alfred Smith Figurative Paintings

Michael Tole says of his work… This work draws a connection between the didactic moralizing tendencies of Neo Classicism (represented in the style of the painting) and Modernism (represented in the architectural setting). Though modern art eschews the naturalistic imagery used by Neo Classicists, both movements pursued a self-important, austere, self-consciously masculine aesthetic that they saw as synonymous with virtue. Set in the MoMA courtyard, a passel of men lounge about, regarding a golden statue which looks terribly out of place in this modernist vitrine. The uncomfortable architectural setting, prisonlike and cold, provides a foil for the odalisque-like young men sprawled on hard stone benches and paying homage to the central idol. In my current work, The Revisionist Histories, I am writing letters to art history, literature, and mythology in an attempt to reflect the social changes that have reshaped our society over the past century.  As part of this agenda, I explore the evolution of gender norms, power dynamics, and representation within Western visual culture and what this implies for the negotiation between pleasure, justice, and our culturally specific discourse on beauty.    The seed for The Revisionist Histories was sewn when I caught a glimpse of my preteen daughters watching music videos on their iPad as I chopped veggies for dinner.  Out of the corner of my eye I caught glimpses of music videos featuring Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, and Doja Cat gyrating across the tiny screen.  A better parent might have snatched the iPad away, but I was overcome with hallucinatory visions of this pop diva...

Oil on canvas Ilia Menabde is a Georgian painter born in 2003 who lives and works in Tbilisi, Georgia. His practice explores the relationship between memory, time, place, and contem...

Oil on panel, Lana Abesadze is a Georgian artist born in 1999 who lives and works in Tbilisi, Georgia. She works primarily in oil painting and drawing. Her practice centers on the h...

Oil on canvas & signed on bottom right Miyuki Takanashi is a Japanese artist born in 1961 who lives & works in Sapporo in Japan. She is graduated from Hokkaido University of Educati...

Oil on cardboard Gia Khutsishvili was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, on July 18, 1966, into a family of artists. He graduated from the Tbilisi State Academy of Fine Arts in 1989. Since 1...

Oil on canvas, Kim Yoon Kyung is a Korean artist born in 1977 who lives and works in Daegu, South Korea. Yoon Kyung studied Art theory at Daegu Catholic University. She later earned...

Hope Hickman says of her work... I am tormented by aesthetic seduction, by what I can only call the romantic. My practice processes, through haptic intuition, the look of wealth, of...

Oil paint, pastel and charcoal on paper Signed and dated by the artist lower left

KEJ is a French artist born in 1959 who lives & works in Paris, France. He is considered to belong to the movement of Figuration Libre & Outsider Art. His works are referenced in the...

Oil on canvas, Kim Yoon Kyung is a Korean artist born in 1977 who lives and works in Daegu, South Korea. Yoon Kyung studied Art theory at Daegu Catholic University. She later earned...

Oil on canvas, Kamsar Ohanyan is an Armenian artist born in 1991 who lives and works in Yerevan, Armenia. He studied in Yerevan at State Pedagogical University with Kh. Abovyan at t...

KEJ is a French artist born in 1959 who lives & works in Paris, France. He is considered to belong to the movement of Figuration Libre & Outsider Art. His works are referenced in the...

Geometric Musicians is Koko Hovaguimian’s first major painting completed in 2026 and marks an important continuation of his evolving abstract language. In this work, fragmented geome...

Oil on canvas

Oil on canvas, Kim Yoon Kyung is a Korean artist born in 1977 who lives and works in Daegu, South Korea. Yoon Kyung studied Art theory at Daegu Catholic University. She later earned...