Written by Pirabalini
Art is subjective and very much follows the quote,
“Art comforts the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”
I hope you find comfort in these incredible artists’ pieces.
I am blessed to have had the privilege to connect and hear their stories.
The real deal, the inspirations behind and the nitty, gritty, behind-the-scenes, that few people will ever get a chance to hear about.
Le Petit Brush by Carolina Fierrot
Carolina Fierrot, the artist behind Le Petit Brush water-paints these incredible pet portraitures in Victorian Attire.
Maneuvering water-colour explosions amongst crisp, clean outlines.
Carolina brings elegance and whimsy to each of her commissioned pet portraits.
“Every portrait has a lot of character and in some way tells a story about the subject.”
Her inspirations revolves around nature.
True Story, she once stopped me in front of a huge sunflower and made me marvel at the formulation its fibonacci pattern for 5 solid minutes.
“The mysteries of the mind”, as she would muse wistfully, “our connection to the universe and the energy of love that moves within us.”
on CAROLINA FIERROT’s inspiration
Keep an eye out for Carolina Fierrot’s live streaming classes on Instagram.
Cape Town Ape
I have yet to meet Cape Town Ape.
I’ve been watching this instagram account for quite some time and I remain incredibly envious on how this artist plays with highlights and thick bold lines for his illustrations .
The predominant mediums used here are oil based sharpies/acrylics with heavy inspiration drawn from cartoons, graffiti and street art.
As I lay in the darkness and scroll through my Android screen, I notice not a shred of shyness is remarked on the starkness of blacks and whites.
Misfit characters with no misintents serenade me into sleep.
“My art is created majority of the time in any free moments that may arise. Unfortunately this isn’t as often as I’d like. Currently I’m working two jobs (Vancouver immigrant life).”
capetown ape
Artist life, Right?
Not factory life.Quality over Quantity,
Duck the demands of Social Media SEO’s.
Alex Lavrov
If you ever want to swim into a geometric, surrealism pool – take a refreshing dip into Alex’s world. Swim into these looming waves of perplex yet strangely coherent visions.
The maddening oil plays on tints, tones, shades will teleport you into an underwater scene where it will leave you in awestruck. How does one work with that amount of distortion and that amount of colour play?
“It’s very simple really. My subconscious mind blurts various shapes and colors directly onto canvas and the conscious mind eventually shapes them into something more recognizable and helps create a coherent scene. After many hours of working on a project, my conscious and subconscious mind comes together hand in hand.”
Alex Lavrov
Of course. It is a very simple process.
I once said to him, “I’d like to get to your level. Paint at that complexity.”
He smiles kindly and says, “it took me 10 years to get here.”
Alex’s current exhibition is on till February 16 2022 at the Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival.
Neighthin Buchinger
It’s an acquired sense of humour one must have with Neighthin’s Bart Simpson/extra terrestrial-like characters . Equipped with heavy sarcasm and awkwardness, these faces speaks volumes in their expressions. Nailing the mood of how society has encouraged one’s weariness.
A quick drawing with focus on the expressions of people’s faces.I like to think maybe it’s a way of processing all the people around me, friends or strangers.
on NEIGHTHIN inspiration.
“I do my art mostly late at night around 1am to 3am. I try to steal time after coming home from skating or working.”
Finding inspiration in the wee hours of the morning is what an artist does, don’t they?
Pebeo paint pens and spray paints are his Neighthin’s go-to mediums.
But that doesn’t necessarily stop there ; food colouring, house paints and even recycled items found in the streets.
“I like to try and find things and repurpose ’em. Make ’em bright again.”
on the mediums neighthin uses.
“I hope people will appreciate the fact that everything is hand made. Fun fact, I painted over 300 stickers for this exhibition in my lil’ room which I love (the 1855 bunker).
Hence why my exhibition is called 1855 Bunker, that’s where all these pieces are created.
Now winter is coming to an end, so I’ll be outta the ‘Bunker’ and back to my main love affair which is skateboarding.”
Neighthin Buchinger exhibition, 1855 Bunker is on till February 1st 2022 at Slice of Life Gallery.
Jean Paul Langlois
Blobs of acrylics spewed out on large canvases. Flashbacks of Quentin Tarantino scenes runs through mind when encountering a ‘Jean Paul Langlois’.
Definitely 19+ context but serenaded with Henri Matisse‘s comforting aesthetics.
Super captivating with the colour combinations. Everything about Jean Paul’s pieces are just fun. However, linger a bit longer and it’s enough to bring an edge to its sunny disposition.
Prior to making his art a full-time career (just recently) , Jean Paul was DJ’ing & working in the film industry to make ends meet.
For years, I was frustrated that I wasn’t selling a lot of paintings. I would get shows at galleries and maybe make one sale…it was disheartening. I would try to figure out what I could paint that would sell. Eventually I just gave up. F@*k everybody else’s taste and I started to paint what I wanted on my walls. Ironically that’s when things started to sell….
For anyone pursuing their craft- just create for yourself. There’s a kind of purity and satisfaction in that.
Jean paul langlois
“My Mom still has boxes of art I did as a kid. Some of its pretty funny. I thought cops with their pants down was hilarious. I would do whole magazines like ‘Kiss Army meets the Rolling Stones’ or ‘These Days Its Dad’ about growing up with divorce. Cartoons were a huge influence and still are. It’s funny how similar my current work is to stuff I was doing at age 5. “
Jean Paul lANGLOIS
“All my material is lifted. I borrow liberally from tv and movies. Noir, exploitation, spaghetti westerns, cartoons, 70s scifi , whatever. Most of my work is based around family or personal history. I appropriate and collage imagery from popular (or unpopular) culture and illustrate these stories,trying to make mundane stories seem grandiose.”
“I’m just finishing up a bunch of stuff for the Barristers Lounge in the courthouse downtown. It’s where the lawyers go to drink scotch after they send men to the gallows or disintegrate marriages in family court or whatever. It’s kinda weird cuz theres no public opening. It’s for them only. “
Jean ‘s upcoming exhibition will be at The Kube, the Sunshine Coast and Gallery Merrick, Victoria in the fall of 2022.
