EMILA SIRAKOVA - FEMALE PRIMITIVE

Above and Below: Nell'ombra mia dormiva il tempo, 2011, 120 x 80cm, pastel on oiled paper. 

Below: Noli me tangere, 2011, 120x80cm, pastel on layers of oiled paper.

Below: Tree Performance, at Muzeo della Scienza e della Tecnica Leonardo DaVinci.

In Emila’s words:

The artist searches the body, the ego projected, the vision of being and feeling, through drawings, paintings, and performance. It is a body yearning to free itself through difficult and twisting poses. Moments where we curl up and think, and regret, and learn to forget or dream. These are the moments where we lose the contact with the flesh and we become spirit: Layers of feelings, stains and indefinite colours or non-colours.

The artist uses several layers in among paper and drawings. As in a stream of consciousness or memory, impressions are sometimes both blurred and clear simultaneously.

The past, as an ideal place - a neverland - which holds fragments of materiality, sometimes high, sometimes low, sometimes whispered, always telling stories about dreaming and living bodies:

Feminine figures that project the unconscious, female primitive instinct of the artist herself.

Below: Work in progress for Paper Swan.

Images from the Paper Swan Collection

Below: Kaliakra III, 2011, 120x80cm, pastel on oiled paper

Below: Kaliakra V, 2011, 120x80cm, pastel on oiled paper

Below: Breathe Me

Below: My Immaculate Dream

Below: Lost You Somewhere.

Below: Lost You Somewhere ( detail ).

Below: Contemporary Times Exhibition, Rome. Sponsored by UniCredit Italia. 

Photos: Thomas Pagani

Below: Kaliakra, Palermo. Emila Sirakova Solo Exhibition - Opening Night

Below: Portrait of the Artist at Accademia Di Brera, Milan

You can see more of Emila’s work at:

http://emilasirakova.blogspot.co.uk/

and

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Emila-Sirakova/197633313605908

Emila was born in Sophia, Bulgaria, and now lives and works in Milan, Italy.

MATT SNOWDEN: THE NEW BLACK

I've been drawing & making art since childhood, for a while now I've mostly used gel pens & paper. I like making the best of limited resources, but there's a bunch of other reasons why this simple combination of materials works for me:

Initially, I was just subverting images from advertising, then became more interested in states such as freedom, integrity, defiance, chaos & desire. I'd rather not explain the characters or situations. Instead, I’ll leave it open as if you're coming into a story without knowing the narrative, or experiencing a passing moment that doesn't last long enough for you to define what's going on.

There's something about understanding too, and trying to understand. That in life there's a lot of mystery and grey area, and - I realise the irony in saying this - things are rarely black & white.

Matt was born in South Africa, and is a self-taught artist. All the art is gel pen on A4 paper. You can contact him at: 

no_heaven_waiting@hotmail.com

and follow his work at:

http://mattsnowden.blogspot.co.uk/

LAMPRINI BOVIATSOU: REFLECTIONS

Monoblog is proud to present the drawings of Lamprini Boviatsou.

( Pencil on paper, 16cm x 24cm )

Based in the town of Chania in Crete, artist Lamprini Boviatsou admits she has long been obsessed with self-portraiture and extreme realism. These two elements are typical of her work.

The main issue in her research is reflection. Reflection is the confirmation of existence, the mirror which presents the images of people and objects, together with what the artist sees as the "ritualistic" concepts they contain. Each form assumes elements of identity, depending on how it is mirrored, and these elements are influenced by their social and political context.

The artist imposes this distortion of the figures in her attempt to demonstrate the chaotic nature of existence.

Lamprini Boviatsou was born in Athens in 1975. She graduated in 1998 from Rome School of Fine Arts. She has taken part in several group exhibitions in Greece and Italy and has won many competition awards. She has had five solo exhibitions, her last one at Thanassis Frissiras Gallery in Athens, Greece. 

She is currently in the exhibition "Face to Face - The Artists and the Collector'', at the Frissiras Museum until 30th September, 2012:

3 & 7, Monis Asteriou, Plaka, Athens, Greece

(at the junction of Kydathineon st.)

tel: +30 210 3234678, +30 210 3316027

fax: +30 210 3316027

email: info@frissirasmuseum.com

Lamprini's other work can be seen on these pages:

http://frissirasmuseum.com/english/index.aspx

http://www.thanassisfrissirasgallery.com/cms/cms/front_content.php?idcatart=99&client=1&lang=1

http://frissirasmuseum.com/Greek/collection.aspx?id=165

ALEXI K - LINGUA MANGA

Circa 2003, I was working for a London illustration agency ( I was a terrible commercial artist - I never did what they asked me ), and well into doing digital illustration. By that, I mean everything was still hand-drawn on paper, but it was then scanned into Photoshop. The result was a nicely organic form of computer illustration, smooth from a distance, but rough around the edges.

I was probably going through a 'Stylish Manga' phase, partly as a hangover from a stint as 'Contributing Designer' for Maxim Magazine ( inspired by the fashion shoots ), and partly because I was preparing for a trip to Japan to exhibit some paintings, in 2004.

This first selection of pictures here are from that earlier phase. Believe it or not, I never liked Manga that much. If your first introduction into the genre is Katsuhiro Otomo's AKIRA ( both the comic and the movie ), everything else seems painfully dull in comparison. ( With the exception of Studio Ghibli's My Neighbour Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service ).

This second collection of pictures are more recent. In fact, they were bad printouts from an experimental series that I'm currently working on. I photographed the creased pages on my studio floor, and blew them up to bring the print dots into focus. I love the natural abstraction of torn posters and shredded paper. 

The smoothness of my old style is quite impressive, and has an eerie feeling of suspense. Whereas this later, scuffed-up, random work, recalls Bollywood posters and cheap comics, reminiscent of the authentic manga format itself, which is often to be found discarded like old phone directories, in the litter bins of Japan. Compare and contrast!