
Altered States of Reality Agora Gallery's spellbinding selection of paintings is by a combination of highly imaginative artists who chose to explore the mysterious awareness residing between the inner and outer worlds. Utilizing a range of styles, with elements of fantasy, surrealism, and abstraction, these painters attempt to comprehend the nature of perception and the interminable possibilities beyond the mundane.
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Dariya Afanaseva

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What appear to be breaks of color in Dariya Afanaseva’s paintings cultivate curiosity in the works. In some instances, these lapses in color are quite fascinatingly deliberate sections in which the artist purposefully does not add a layer of paint over the foundation of mixed media. These non-painted surfaces take unique shapes like ovals or butterflies. In other instances, the lack of color is actually a switch to a contrasting color. Rusty orange and sea-foam stripes interrupt gregarious planks of black, or violet and sea foam seem to be scraped at until precarious white lines emerge. It’s likely, however, the artist added these colors rather than subtracted other colors from the canvas. Layers therefore become pertinent to Afanaseva’s methodology and style.
Although shapes do unfold, most of her works are expressionistic. The plant and animal life discovered within Dariya Afanaseva’s paintings, though figurative, are more symbolic of growth, change, and beauty. Other works are more ambiguous in their significance, and thus it is color and brushstroke that indicate their mood
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"To Dream Regardless of Everything"
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"Vertigo"
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Greg Frumen

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Greg Frumen´s mysterious acrylic paintings reference the psychology of dreams to express his own emotions toward the condition of the world around him. The Hungarian artist´s paintings of simplified figures in ambiguous settings take the viewer on a visual journey through a mystifying narrative encoded with symbols which are appropriated from the everyday world. Frumen assigns titles to his works, further enhancing their story-telling quality. Each is evocative in its own emotional connotation and particularly poignant, adding another layer to his rich visual metaphors.
Taking inspiration from his eclectic background in psychology, drama, and fine art, Greg Frumen´s work is informed by a multidisciplinary education. In addition to exhibiting his paintings in Budapest, Frumen continues his theatrical pursuits, working on stage and in film. Additionally, he uses his style of bold colors and visual storytelling as an illustrator for children´s books. Whether his works appear on canvas or on the bound pages of a storybook, they are unified by his unique artistic vision. Frumen currently lives and works in Budapest, Hungary. |
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"Suzanna and the Engines"
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"Fall"
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John Lynch

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Sometimes a single question can be infinitely more delightful than a tome full of answers. Tapping into the innate questions of existence, John Lynch's works are the epitome of self taught surrealism. Inspired by science, philosophy, and his own pantheistic view of nature, they have found an avid audience which emerged from Charlottesville, Virgina, and is rapidly expanding. John paints in oil on canvas. His images are rich in color, and every strikingly odd note is laid out with crystal clarity. Viewing John Lynch's works is not just a pleasure to the senses, but an exercise for the mind.
Intertwined with the searching spirit of his works, twists of perspective play an essential role in the execution of his pieces. His images are a collection of questions, each boldly stated to the viewer. The answer may lie within, or it may remain unknowable, but what is certain is that lovers of art philosophy will find this charming blend irresistible. |
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"Between Past and Future"
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"The Mystery Grows"
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Piero Manrique

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Piero Manrique's unique, otherworldly artwork has been inspired by his past studies in design, dance, the martial arts, architecture and sculpture. His distinctive personal vision goes beyond surrealism to a realm which speaks to us on a level concerned as much with the past as with the future. Part collage, part portraits of futuristic jungles, these are alien dreamscapes, to be sure, but they do not keep us at arm's length. The human body holds a central place in his vision, and he invites us to see not only the splendor of an imagined future, but also challenges us to appreciate the human body in juxtaposition to imagined technology, as an instrument ready to evolve into the next stage of meaning, and beauty.
With his highly original and challenging work, Piero Manrique offers the viewer works in which the very notions of art, beauty, and what it means to be human, are being redefined. |
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"See My Hope and Frustration"
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"Finding Control"
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SHALANG

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The Spanish painter Oscar Di Costas, also known as Shalang (a Buddhist word signifying blankness and fluidity), creates colorful abstractions in a hybrid style. Some of Shalang's works draw on the drip painting technique of Jackson Pollock, while others channel the colorful quadrangles of Piet Mondrian and Hans Hofmann. The majority of Shalang's paintings combine these abstract genres, thereby creating an entirely unique fused imagery.
His stated intent is to create works that flow between possible meanings, but are impossible to fix. Shalang's choice of drip painting, then, could not be more appropriate: his treatment of paint on the canvas makes literal the very fluidity he seeks to convey to viewers. He even extends this impermanence to his rectilinear shapes, which suggest movement and instability despite their flatness. With the units of his drips and shapes, Shalang offers viewers small pieces of a puzzle that extends beyond the edges of his canvases and whose pieces form so many different wholes
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"Uragano"
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"Waterworld"
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