Carlo Maiolini 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...

Mother & Child, 2016 By Christopher Mudgett This powerful and emotive original oil painting from the artist's 2016 "Mother & Child" series encapsulates a profound moment of ...

Bruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State College. Adams’s work is includ...

This large figurative oil painting is a reinterpretation of a painting by Otto Bache - King Christian X on horseback, 1894. A unique oil painting on the finest quality Belgian Linen™...

Shit happens sometimes. In this piece, the artist wanted to create an unsettling and claustrophobic space where people feel most private and vulnerable. Inspired by artist Tala Madani, she created a cartoon figure to act as the voyeur, a bright and unwelcome disturbance that cannot be ignored. Samantha Van Heest...

Pull Shapes (Duet) is a diptych that subtly explores surrealism, focusing in on the intimacy of the bedroom space. Pillows are this central point of comfort in our day to day, and the artist wanted to play with scale, mystery, and the night table drawer. Samantha Van Heest...

Oil paint on canvas Unique work Hand-signed by the artist Stéphane Fauchille, dream anthropologist “Would you, for a moment, like to become the Claude Lévi-Strauss of the aborigin...

This painting was inspired by the artists very first toy, a small blue giraffe, given to her as a day-old baby. It is something that has been around her whole life, and even though it is inanimate, there is a feeling of personification through the years of wear. Her brother as a baby would call giraffes “fa,” which is always a sweet memory she associate with this toy. Samantha Van Heest...

Giorgi Qochiashvili's colourful world is impressive to say the least. Inspired by poetry, Japanese culture and films of Jim Jarmush, he creates massive paintings...

«Ta meg i mot» oil on canvas by Anastína Eyjólfsdóttir. A toppless woman equipped with blue boxing gloves poses by the shore. Behind her, the sky and small strip of sea create a bl...

In our society where everything runs so fast, stopping to consume a painting forces us to stop and reflect on an idea or a problem and consequently helps us develop a capacity for se...

Ellipses plays with the nature of awkward interaction and subtle facial expressions. Is it all internal, or can awkwardness feel like a palpable and personified presence? Samantha Van Heest...

To evoke the French Riviera and the light of the South, a sketch made by Andrée de Frémont on the French Riviera has become canvas. It is camping a h...

The painting belongs to Richard's self portrait series, a recurring motif, in which the artist paints himself in various settings. Richard, a Brooklyn based painter whose practice mo...

It’s Okay, Little Crab (Sensory Overload) in a way feels like a self portrait, with the vacuum acting as a personified vision of time and societal expectation. The vacuum may never reach the crab, but its loud and disturbing presence will. Samantha Van Heest...