Wednesday, March 28, 2018

REVIEW - Fábio Miguel Roque - Awake



REVIEW - Fábio Miguel Roque - Awake

Fábio’s photos always seem deep in a dream.  Inky dark scenes of nighttime adventures are sparsely dotted with ghostly figures you’d only meet after midnight.  Eerie flashes of light allow a glance into an obscured world.  Skittish dogs and broken signs are protagonists in his gorgeously textured black and white photographs.

His lens artfully captures non-places.  There are always beautiful environments, urban and natural, but they are never specific: strangely and vaguely relatable.  The viewer is able to interject their own story and relationship to the empty scenes.  

His “Redemption” series uses repeated patterns and geometric designs throughout, giving a musical and mathematical quality to them.  Many of the works are minimal, offering only a hint of architecture or bold shape in the dark: a glimpse into the ordered world of man.  

“The Cubans” is one of his few series to utilize vibrant color.  And he does so wonderfully, as much as I enjoy his unsaturated works these too should not be disregarded.  They capture the warmth of the Caribbean. 

Keep following Fábio Miguel Roque on his personal site and here on SharksEatMeat. 


DAY 2713 - Santa Sangre. Sacred Blood

Photography by Elisa Garcia de la Huerta

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

DAY 2706 - Fissure

Painting by Shae Meyer

Review : Sushe Felix


Review : Sushe Felix

Sushe Felix is a talented landscape artist in Colorado.  Her fractured landscapes resemble stained glass or cubist works like Braque.  Animals play and flowers bloom in her playful scenes.  The images glow with light.  The sun’s rays or moon’s glow flood the shattered planes that compose the environments.  The broken layers unfold and undulate, giving the images movement.

The paintings have been a staple of southwest and mountain landscape imagery for years.  Along with partner Tracy Felix, who's landscapes have a more fluid and sculptural style, Sushe has kept regionalist landscape art alive.  Her works tell stories of the land much as Thomas Hart Benton or Diego Rivera had.  And they celebrate the sublimity of nature much like a Frederick Church or Thomas Cole.  They depict a deep love and respect for the earth.  They have a spiritual quality; paying tribute to nature.


Sushe knows the land well.  It shows in her work.  I encourage you to collect this artist’s paintings.  Visit her website and look for more here at SharksEatMeat.

Saturday, March 17, 2018

The GO Show: REVIEW

Artwork by Ryan Quickfall
The GO Show:  REVIEW by John Coulter

   On Friday night I went to a unique art exhibition at Union Garage, a Brooklyn space which hosts amazing events and sells motorcycle gear. While I’ve been to some of their motorcycle events, this is their first art exhibition I have attended.  It was a group exhibition curated by Ryan Quickfall. Artists included Rachel Wolfson Smith, Ryan Quickfall, Steve Caballero, Patrick “Duffy” de Armos, and Christopher Moytt.  I’m very impressed with whoever hung the show. Artwork was hung on brick and metal walls, personally, I know both can be challenging.  The works were very cleanly displayed floating on wires across a variety of surfaces.

Artwork by Patrick de Armas

Artwork by Rachel Wolfson Smith
Artwork by Patrick de Armas
   Curator, colorful illustrator and printmaker Ryan Quickfall displayed several screen-printed motorcycle scenes.  His line work and colors are reminiscent of classic comics and posters such as Ghost Rider or Watchmen.  The colors are perfectly soured, greens inky and pinks neon. The line-work is as meaty as an R. Crumb or an issue of Fist of the North Star.  Patrick “Duffy” De Armas displayed mixed media collages with text.  The work uses typography to convey a love of hotrods, motorcycles and the open road.  Christopher Myott‘s funky illustrative oil paintings were enjoyable.  The works have a very 1950’s modernist feel in line with Alice Neel.  Bold lines and contrasting flat colors are utilized well.  Rachel Wolfson Smith’s work brings a unique style and perspective to motorcycle art. Pastel colors and gestural marks capture fleeting moments in motion such as the stirring dust of the bike.  The works have a very atmospheric quality similar to Frederick Church or Monet.

   Famed skateboarder Steve Caballero, immortalized in the Tony Hawk Pro Skater video game series for his extreme sports skills is a talented visual artist as well.  His artwork has a laidback style like something you’d find at a tattoo parlor.  Caballero also included several more elegant pieces of a blue Indian Larry Motorcycle and a colorful helmet, rendered more traditionally.


   Keep up with Union Garage’s events by signing up for their mailing list.  Follow the individual artists in the show, and as always check SharksEatMeat for all your daily art and culture news.

Artwork by Steve Caballero
Artwork by Christopher Myott 
Artwork by Ryan Quickfall

DAY 2702 - Bergenline Ave.

Photography by Kenneth Swoger

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Review : Omega Shell


Review : Omega Shell

New York artist Paul Apart creates sound sculptures as well as jewelry that’s worth taking a look at.  His body of work shows off his talents with many materials including metal work, electronics, woodworking, clay, and clear plastics.  The forms the sculptures take are borrowed from nature.  Sea shells, insects and other natural forms are inspirations for the shapes.  The materials reflect this natural theme with rusty, earthy, and worn materials often being used. 

Many of Paul’s sculptures including Omega Shell 3.5 and Nauti Shell overtly take the form of the golden ratio.  Mathematics plays a great part in both nature and art.  Music relies on relations of numbers and tempos.  Pi and the golden ratio are crucial to mathematics and appear throughout nature and art.  The golden ratio is in both nautilus shells and the way ferns grow and unfold.  It’s also found in successfully composed art such as Seurat’s Parade de cirque.  The design functions strongly in many of Paul’s works, unwinding with a calming rhythm. 

Box Shell, features an electronic speaker at its center with a clean unwound sheet of metal emanating outwards.  The speaker reverberates sound through the piece.  The explorative audio sculptures smoothly blend sound and form into one object. 

His jewelry and chainmail designs are clean and elegant, and the craftsmanship exquisite.  For those looking for a smaller accessory or gift for a friend, this is a great route.  Look for more of his work on SharksEatMeat.



DAY 2699 - The Dollar

Artwork by Art Hazelwood

Sunday, March 11, 2018

SCOPE - REVIEW: Sifting for treasure in the Warhol Wormhole. 

Artwork by Nychos

SCOPE:  Sifting for treasure in the Warhol wormhole

   SCOPE’s 2018 New York Art Fair was definitely worth the visit.  Here SharksEatMeat will give you the rundown of their V.I.P. visit.  Amongst the Warhol, Basquiat and Lichtenstein rip-offs were several diamonds in the rough.  Abstract expressionism and pop art still seem to have a grip on the market some 70 years later but several emerging and international artists and galleries put forth outstanding work. 

   SCOPE is less grandiose than the Armory show, and far more inviting.  While some artists had a binder on the floor, others had professionally painted booths, and as much as I hate to say it, at least paying attention to presentation makes an impression on buyers.  That said, all gallerists were approachable and friendly and few seemed annoyingly eager to sell.  The exhibition showcased emerging artists and some well-known blue-chip creators. I had to speed walk past a lot of dated pop-art but the trip was worth the leg work.  Shout out to SharksEatMeat contributor Maya Hayuk who had work in the show.  

Artwork by Wolfgang Grasse
   I’d like to first mention a few remarkable pieces briefly, before dissecting in detail other important works. Wolfgang Grasse's work ‘South East Garden / Garden of Ultimate Love’ at Stephen Romano Gallery’s booth is of immense detail and intrigue. The work is rewarding to spend time with. As always Ron English’s work is phenomenal.  His technique is masterful and the themes playful and witty. It was a pleasure to see one in person in Matthew Namour’s collection. Cubist Michele Utley-Voight had a solo booth with delightfully well-crafted work.

   Upon entry the brightly colored work at Mirus Gallery’s booth lures you in. Mirus Gallery, along with Good Details and Public House of Art had some of the best booths of the year. Inspired by the street culture and the surreal, artists Nychos, Okuda and AEC Interesni Kazki are delightful. Their works are some of the most painterly and stylistically unique in the fair. While Nychos is now based on the west coast, their murals still grace many Brooklyn streets and are treasures in contrast to much of the other local street art. It was nice to see their work at SCOPE.  Playful, intricate and technical, they are a champion of the alternative art world.

Artwork by Shani Crowe
   Shani Crowe’s powerful hair portraits of models with delicate braids shame any of the sculptures at the exhibition. The photos are stark and the design highlights the form of the hair. Not only are the works the most unique photography in the exhibition, they are some of the best pieces in the entire show. Crowe is represented by Good Details Chicago who exhibit other talented artists and have an amazing website that you need to visit.

  Jenny Boot’s photograph ‘Selina’ is impressive. Boot is represented by Public House of Art in Amsterdam, an online and pop up space. Their website is worth visiting for the savvy design and online content.  In many ways Public House of Art stole the show with their giant photographs and hyper clean presentation.  Every other booth at the fair was painted white, and yet this space was painted black - the frames of the works were black, the lights dim and the representatives darkly clad.  Multiple sales on the first day makes sense as the works would look great in many New York public or private spaces.  Boot’s photos themselves alternatively depict beauty models with creative displays of weapons. Two artists at SCOPE dealt directly with the hot topic of weapons and gun violence in America. Nicholas Hunt at Mugello Art’s booth, fires actual weapons into his work, creating unique 3D marks and stippling the form of abstract compositions. They allow you to reflectively think over the destructive force of the weapons.

Artwork by Nicholas Hunt
   Karim Rashid’s works from ARTI.NYC including ‘Facet’ are worth mentioning. I’ve secretly always wanted to do a series of my own work incorporating lenticular effects so I was pulled into this space. The works are clean and high-quality. Although relying heavily on an effect the works don’t come off as gimmicky, but rather a pure form for the lenticular medium. 

   Few at the fair were from NYC galleries, with stand outs from Amsterdam, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Montreal. You could say the West Coast dominated the show. The overarching trend of trash was unfortunate but there were real gems here. Some raw talent that had been refined just enough.

   Support the aforementioned artists and galleries, and visit SCOPE next year, as it looks promising. Stay tuned to SharksEatMeat for more reviews like this, and follow our Instagram @sharks_eat_meat 




Artwork by Okuda

DAY 2696 - Lacata

Painting by Álvaro Izquierdo

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Review : Salar Que Sangra


Review : Salar Que Sangra

South American artist Elisa Garcia de la Huerta is a leading figure in the New York arts scene.  Elisa is a co-leader of the collective !Go Push Pops!  Works include, photography, multimedia installations, public posters and fiber art. 

Elisa’s style is often neon and vibrant while retaining a softness.  The photo Santa Sangre - Sacred Blood portrays a blood-stained figure relaxing in a field of wild flowers.  The natural setting removes the physical and psychological structures of patriarchy.  The scene is beautiful and seeks to undo the shame done to women.  It is an image that mass media has spent decades hiding.  

Elisa’s style is always calm and welcoming, never politically divisive like gender art of the past.  The work does less to challenge or divide others, and more to invite viewers to see beauty in difference.  All of Elisa’s work has a spiritual nature, as if some timeless feminine shaman was practicing healing through art and helping to expand beliefs around gender.

Elisa’s work is always assertive and engaging.  Investigate more of their work on their website, and here on SharksEatMeat. 


DAY 2692 - Cyclope

Painting by Marie-Dolma Chophel