Largely self-taught, and inspired by numerous trips to Italy and the Netherlands where he studied paintings of the masters in museums and churches wherever possible, American painter Sean Farrell brings his fascination with 17th Italian and Dutch painters to play in his luminous, richly hued still life subjects.

Farrell makes wonderful use of chiaroscuro in his paintings, in which his primary subjects emerge with great definition from dark backgrounds, the forms of objects at the edges of the composition often receding into shadow.

There is not much biographical material on his website, but there is an brief interview video on YouTube.

[Via Jeffrey Hayes]

Tomek Sętowski is a contemporary Polish painter, who would be most readily classified as a magic realist.

His compositions are often filled with cascades of multiple objects, figures and architectural structures. In many cases, he portrays objects or figures composed of other objects.

His color palate ranges from subdued and almost monochrome to broad arrays of colors. Sętowski’s subjects fly, blend, morph, fall and appear to explode across his compositions in slow motion.

His website has a variety of his work, including drawings, graphics and sculpture. I particularly enjoyed his sketches in gouache on toned paper.

You may want to note that his website plays music at you when you enter. (Why does anyone ever think this is a good idea?). Once you choose a language, it ceases temporarily, then in the gallery section, you need to scroll to the bottom of the page to turn it off.