Stumbled Upon

One of my favorite pastimes is looking for new artists on the internet. It amazes me how many artists are out there making work, having shows, and striving for their unique voice to be heard. It can be both exciting and demoralizing at the same time. The downward spiral of self-doubt ensues.

Here are a couple artists that I found interesting. The first, James Casabere, I don't know much about. I found several of these haunting interior photographs reproduced numerous times all over the internet. Casabere builds highly realistic models and then photographs them. Although there are many artists working in this fashion. Casabere's photographs seem unique in that the illusion doesn't breakdown instantly. There are few clues telling us that we are looking at a miniature.

Anna Conway's paintings seem to fit in with the quality of atmosphere of Casabere's photographs. Her labor intensive paintings take her a long time to complete. She averages three or four paintings a year. The surfaces are lush and full of detail. The images she chooses to paint share the reality skewed perspective of Casabere, but instead of recreating real spaces Anna Conway is fabricating the atmosphere. In another of her paintings a man walking through a flooded ocean bank is too tired to do anything. He lumbers and peers at a break in the overhead clouds in the reflection of the water. He is either too lazy, apathetic, or exhausted to even lift his head.

These images aren't intended to be representations of actual events, but manifestations of a feeling.