Martin Wittfooth is a New York based painter who I first wrote about back in 2008.
Wittfooth applies his lifelong fascination with classical art to paintings in which animals serve as the subject of sometimes overt, sometimes enigmatic musings on the state of the planet.
No humans appear in his paintings, but the influence of mankind’s activity is evident in his frequently dark-edged compositions. Wittfooth’s semi-mythical creatures exist in a netherworld of human creations and influence, both in the form of technological artifacts and the hybrid flowers cultured by generations of our preferences.
There seem to be touches of East-Asian thought mingled with his classical European painting approach; Many of the animals have literal or suggested “third eyes”, perhaps implying that there is more to see beyond the veil of what we are shown.
There are interviews with the artist on BeinART Collective and ClawClaw, and a video interview on YouTube, as well as a brief time-lapse of him painting.
Wittfooth’s work will be on display in New York at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in a solo exhibition titled “Offering” that runs from October 17 to November 14, 2015, with an opening reception October 17 from 6-8pm.
