You really need a close-up view to get the full experience of these quirky paintings by Brooklyn based artist Edward del Rosario. If you can’t see the tiny little ham being served for dinner, quite frankly, you’re missing out.

{Last week I wrote about the art team of Michael Dumontier & Neil Farber. Well, about two minutes after finding their work, I came across Edward’s paintings. Jackpot. Three artists to be jealous of, all in one gallery… The Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica California to be exact.}

This is not exactly the work that British artist Julian Opie is famous for. He’s known more for his iconic stick figures… stick figures? That’s not a great way to describe them. They’re more like those bathroom icon symbols, and most of them are nude. If you can’t begin to imagine that, simply click here and all will become clear. Anywho, I had a whole bunch of these ‘semi-nude bathroom symbol/icon things’ all ready to go, but I couldn’t stop thinking about these two lovely ladies… so here they are.

{If Opie’s stylized faces look familiar to you, it could be because you own this album, which he did the artwork for.}

I’m not quite sure what to say. I usually try to keep my posts light and funny, but there is nothing funny about the work of Montreal based artist Sophie Jodoin. These simple images {drawings/collages/paintings on mylar} break your heart while depicting the impact of war. They are so beautiful, but very hard to look at. The first three are my favourite pieces, and are from a series called Small Dramas & Little Nothings. I also love the final three, but I struggled with showing them because quite honestly, they make me feel a little bit sick. Red Torsos is the title of the series, and all of them make me want to cry.

{Thanks to Nathalie for sending me a link to her ‘all time favorite’ artist.}

Washy, colourful figures, intermingled with ridiculously recognizable brand icons. Surely, after spending years in the world of advertising, I should have been able to think of something like this. But I didn’t. Damn. Well, not only did Swedish artist Alexandra Hedberg think of something like this, she also got out her brushes, sat down, and executed the final pieces beautifully… did I already say damn?

{I read about Alexandra’s current show on Camilla Engman’s blog yesterday morning. I was instantly smitten, especially by Alice and her tiny puma… oh excuse me, Puma™.}

In the second year of my undergrad, our painting teacher gave us an assignment. ‘You have one week to make a humorous painting’ he said nonchalantly. Huh? Until that moment I hadn’t painted much more than a few nudes and the odd still-life, and I had no idea how to make either of those things funny {although now I could think of a few ways, but I digress}. So being a totally literal 19 year old I did my best… which was awful. Now, had the dynamic art team of Michael Dumontier & Neil Farber been in my class I’m quite sure that they would have aced this assignment. A knitting monkey? A ‘batshit crazy’ girl reading a psychology book? I’m telling you, that’s A+ material right there!

Well, my birthday might be over, but I could definitely go for a piece of this rich & gooey chocolate cake by Claire Grill… and I have to say, whatever it is inside of that beautifully painted mountain is looking pretty good too. My guess would be rainbow sorbet {or is that just a weekend of too many sweets talking? Yeah, maybe.}

I’m just a little bit scared of these girls… good thing that they don’t actually exist in real life. These beautifully haunting portraits by Dutch artist Katinka Lampe are not of any one person in particular. Each of her paintings evolves from a number of inspirations. ‘A reproduction of a painting by Vermeer, a photograph of a sexed-up model, or a newspaper picture of a criminal can lead her to stage a scene with a model.’ And even then she’s not quite done altering the image. Exaggerated make-up, or hair that looks like a wig, make these portraits even more strange / detached from reality… and I think we can all agree, stunning, but just a little bit scary.

I could not be more thrilled on this fine Monday morning! Suzanne Shade, Director and Curator of The Beholder, asked little old me to be the guest curator on her fabulous gallery site for the entire month of May! I thought it would be easy, but she has so much good work to choose from, it was actually quite hard selecting only ten pieces to feature. Anyway, after hours of debate I ended up putting a show together that I’ve titled ‘girl crush‘. Check it out when you have a moment, but brace yourself… you might end up with a bit of a girl crush too!

{The images shown above are four of my ten picks. They are by 1) Ky Anderson  2) Lisa Congdon  3) Leigh Wells 4) Jennifer Davis}

I’m trying to think of something clever to write, but all I keep thinking while looking at these pieces by American painter Joshua Petker is ‘Wow. Gorgeous… sigh.’ I love his colour choices, the huge clouds of paint, and the sadness/beauty of his somewhat vintage-looking subjects. All of the work shown above is from his series Between Butterflies, which is currently showing {until May 5th} at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City, California. …Hm, nope, still nothing clever to say. Just awestruck and jealous.

Ok. I’m just going to say it. I want to be friends with San Francisco based artist Charmaine Olivia. Her artwork is amazing, and from what I can tell from both her work and her blog… she’s hilarious! Here’s the evidence:

1. A deer in gym socks {come on, it’s just funny}

2. ‘What do you mean what do I mean’ {enough said}

3. And finally, the third piece. So beautifully painted, with so much deep, inward expression on the subject’s face… and it’s titled ‘I should really wash my hair’.  {pure gold!}

I know… and now you want to be her friend too. Well, get in line.