Dina Brodsky

Dina Brodsky
Originally from Balarus, Dina Brodsky moved to the U.S. with her family at an early age. She studied at the University of Massachussets Amherst and New York Academy of Art.

In her most recent series, Brodsky revels in the rich textures, subtle colors and muted value changes in abandoned buildings. She infuses these with a haunting narrative element in the form of repeated themes of birds and sometimes other animals, making the spaces seem at once inhabited and more empty.

Most of her work is fairly small, approximately 8 inches (20 cm) across, painted in oil on mylar or plexiglass. I’m aware of mylar as a surface for drawing and painting, but oil on plexiglass is new to me. I don’t know if it has relevance to the way the pieces are displayed, or if she just likes the surface.

A number of her paintings, like the three shown above, bottom, are outright miniatures, 2 inches (5 cm) across. I get the impression that the circular motif of some of the most recent larger series may have developed out of a miniature titled “Demolition Spyhole”, from which larger versions of the subject and composition may have evolved.

Her website has archives that go back several years.

There is a fascinating article by Daniel Maidman that goes into the way her miniature series “Desert Places” was displayed in a miniature museum setting.

Jessica Roy has an article on Fusion that delves into Brodsky’s process. There is a “Studio Visit” video on Vimeo from 2012.

Dina Brodsky’s work is currently on display at Sirona Fine Art in Hallandale Beach, FL, in a dual show with sculptor Wesley Wofford, titled “Miniature & Majestic”, that runs until January 11, 2015.

[Via American Art Collector]

 
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Eye Candy for Today: Gussow’s Old Man’s Treasure

Old Man's Treasure (Das Katzchen), Karl Gussow
Old Man’s Treasure (Das Katzchen), Karl Gussow

On Google Art Project, downloadable file on Wikimedia Commons, original is in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.

Awwwwww…

Gussow was criticized at times for being sentimental.

Well, yes, but… look at that wonderfull brushwork, the controlled color, nuanced values and wonderful attention to texture and detail — right down to the old man’s dirty fingernails. The man could paint, friends and neighbors.

And the kitten is cute. I mean, really.

Awwwwww…

 
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Mingiue Helen Chen

Mingiue Helen Chen
Mingiue Helen Chen is a visual development artist, art director and illustrator who has worked in feature animation on titles like Frankenweenie, Wreck-it Ralph, and Big Hero 6. She also worked on the experimental Paperman short, which explored a convergence of GCi and the look of hand drawn animation.

Chen’s style ranged from bright and engagingly cartoony, to moody and atmospheric. You can find some of her work and personal pieces on her sketchblog, and some archives of older pieced on her old blog.

There is an article on Muddy Colors, and an accompanying video on YouTube

[Via Concept Art World]

 
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Eye Candy for Today: Frank Waller’s 14th St Metropolitan Museum Interior

Interior View of the Metropolitan Museum of Art when in Fourteenth Street, Frank Waller
Interior View of the Metropolitan Museum of Art when in Fourteenth Street, Frank Waller

In the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

For six years, from 1873 to 1879, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was based in the Douglas Mansion at 128 West 14th Street in Manhattan, while the current building in Central Park was under construction (more on the museum’s history page).

Waller painted at least one other view of the museum’s interior at that location (though I don’t know if this is a monochromatic painting, or just a black and white photograph).

 
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Carlos de Haes

Carlos de Haes, Belgian Spanish landscape painter
Carlos de Haes was a Spanish landscape painter, born in Belgium to Spanish parents, who studied in both Belgium and Spain.

De Has was one of the first Spanish landscape painters to move away from Romanticism toward Realism, and faithfulness to nature. He traveled extensively, taking on subjects both grand and intimate, and was prolific.

De Haes was an influential teacher, the first in Spain to advocate painting plein air, working from nature in sketches from which the final studio paintings wouldbe painted. Among his students was Aureliano de Beruete.

 
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