Mara Kurtz

Mara Kurtz runs her own design school. She also has a blog that you might find interesting. I like some of her collage work. There is a feel of the ‘Cleavers do cubism’ about them. Although they use some of the tools of the more political/critical collages about them, they are not critical of the American experience. In fact they almost seem neutral toward Amercan culture.

Jutta H.M. Schriever

Jutta’s work is quite beautiful. Watch the lines in her work and how they echo throughout the piece. And some of her work has the quality of being looked at from any direction. You can turn the piece upside down and it still looks applicable. I do wish there was more work because there is in each piece a sense of repetition in style and ‘feeling’ from other pieces. There is also a ‘Daliesque’ look about each piece. Which if you like Dali is lovely. And I like Dali.

Seraphine Louis

Séraphine Louis, known as “Séraphine de Senlis” (“Séraphine of Senlis “) (1864–1942), was a French painter in the naïve style. Self-taught, she was inspired by her religious faith and by stained-glass church windows and other religious art. The intensity of her images, both in colour and in replicative designs, are sometimes interpreted as a reflection of her own psyche, walking a tightrope between ecstasy and mental illness.

Being a self-taught artist myself I am drawn to fellow amateurs. What I notice in Louis is the obsession with individual images and their reproduction over and over again on the same canvas. It must have brought her great satisfaction. And her colours are so brilliant to almost be blinding.

Ken Anbender

Ken Anbender’s work is wonderful. There is plenty of variety and his use of colour and form is fantastic. At first glance some of the collages seem like surreal paintings but on closer look you can see the cuts. This looks to me like mostly cut and paste. I always read the artist’s statement and come away a little bewildered. They sound so high minded. Mr. Anbender’s is no different. But his work is terrific stuff.

Leslie Graff

“I enjoying painting in a variety of styles and mediums exploring metaphors of relationships through images.”

So says the artist Leslie Graff. In a series of paintings she hides or removes the head/face of her model. To be discreet? Is it a lover? Or herself? Is it every woman? It is very American.

Fiona Maclean

With the use of almost no colours, Fiona Maclean has managed to produce scenes. Sketches of events caught in haste. The barest of details.

Robert Magginetti

I like Robert Magginetti’s work. A lot of it reminds me of traditional collages that I cut my teeth on.

Deedee Cheriel

  A new look at collages. Interesting mix of fairy tale and cut and paste. (Actually they are painted but the impression they leave is collage.) The pieces are very sophisticated despite their seeming innocence. Deedee Cheriel

Alexandre Chartrand

I love good story telling. In Alexandre Chartrand’s work we find that storyline. Moments in a drama. Surprising. Colors almost like a child’s crayon choices.

Juha Arvid Helminen

Provocative. The romanticization of fascism. Or the indulgence. Interesting stuff from the Finn. Juha Arvid Helminen