Figurative Expressions Figurative work is a direct means for artists to share their perceptions about the human condition with audiences. Such artwork sheds light onto all chapters of emotion and produces a greater understanding of what it means to live. Some themes remain light and humorous while others are daringly introspective, audiences will revel as Figurative Expressions displays the full articulation of humanity with vigor and beauty.
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Jacquelyn Bond
 
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Jacquelyn Bond’s watercolor illustrations depict modern Americana with a California bent. Her works weigh in on today’s heavy socio-political issues yet sustain sunny dispositions. Using symbolic imagery and a sparse color palette, Bond conveys her messages without ever appearing judgmental. She says, “It is not my intent to take sides, but simply to inspire the viewer by provoking thought or discussion.” With war at the forefront of the news, Bond tackles the buzzword of “freedom” head on, through the characters of Lady Liberty and Justice. Instead of a rigid statue, Lady Liberty is youthful, with porcelain skin, a well-kept hairstyle, and a knock-out body. Justice’s nemesis is a very suave Satan, with whom they have the steamy tension of a romance-novel cover. Likewise, in her depiction of the Creation story’s Eve, the snake wraps like an accessory around her voluptuous body.
Bond’s clean colors and simple backgrounds give the paintings the look of commercial advertisements. As a result, the paintings persuade the viewer to pay attention to political agendas. Jacquelyn Bond currently resides in Oregon. Her work has been published and exhibited in California, New Mexico and Oregon
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"The Corruption of Justice"
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"Eve"
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Cynthia Colis
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Instantly disarming, fun loving, and affectionate, Cynthia Colis woos audiences with paintings that feature young women with pouting lips poised for kisses. "I feel that there has been so many paintings out there that are scary or dark," Colis explains. "I want to put out there something a little more positive." There is an endearing quality in each painting found in the innocent expectation of reciprocal affection from the viewer. Her exquisite brushwork and painterly modeling of flesh tones adds to the air of exuberance and joy in the work, focused around the full red lips of each woman.
Born in Vietnam and raised in the Philippines and Louisiana, Colis learned to appreciate art early in her youth from watching her father paint at night. She received her BA from the University of Southwest Louisiana before moving to California to pursue her goal of being a full-time artist. Colis lives and works in San Diego. |
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"A Kiss for Blue"
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"A Kiss to Remember"
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Kerryn Fisk
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While Kerryn Fisk’s playful hand lends her female figures an innocence of form, her paintings clearly communicate an emotional depth and sense of wisdom. Though her women are front and center, peering from the canvas with an almost naïve serenity, they are “every woman” through which Fisk conveys the essence of femininity. Fisk uses rich metallic colors and thin layers of glaze that gives her work a luminous effect. She is influenced by her affection for the Spanish poet, Pablo Neruda. Figures appear against a vivid and voluminous background, offering space where the mind and spirit may roam, much as the lines of poetry lean into the open breadth of a white page.
Fisk studied painting and drawing at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney, Australia. Formerly a freelance illustrator, she turned her attention to gallery exhibitions in 1996. Since then she has had several shows in Auckland, New Zealand, where she lives and works.
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"Aquarius"
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"Abundance"
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Nacera Guerin
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"Born in Algeria, raised in France and reborn in North America", Nacera Guerin has drawn upon a number of cultural influences to develop a diverse collection of paintings, collages and sculptures over the course of her artistic career. Whether mixed media, bronze or acrylic, ink or oil on canvas, Guerin masterfully infuses her passion, heritage, personal experiences and her creative spirit into a variety of materials to create a striking body of work.
Guerin's collection serves as a map of the artist's geographical and emotional journeys. The bold, vibrant colors of her rich North African heritage come alive in her work, paying homage and delivering poignant, socially relevant messages. Warm, meditative colors expertly transpose the artist's emotion an internal dialogue onto the canvas, creating a dynamic tapestry of visual metaphors, both introspective and unique. Nacera Guerin's work has been exhibited and collected in the United States and throughout Europe. She currently lives and works in London
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"Minority"
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"After Rape, Solitude"
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L'OR
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If drawings could speak, the work of artist L'OR would sing. Her canvas is an amalgamation of vivacious color and the vibrancy of life melding together a Rubenesque figure with an emphasis on the exotic. She reportedly seeks to provoke emotion from those who view her drawings bolstering a fine tuned appreciation for the sensuality of the human form while ministering an admiration for cultures other than her own. L'OR draws both from live models and from her mind's eye, peppering her canvas with a creative energy the viewer can truly feel. Her subjects are depicted in an atmosphere contingent with a far-off land, possessing an almost mythic quality existing in an aura of a dreamscape.
L'OR's drawings have a luminous nature radiating from the innumerable shades of the rainbow extending themselves to meet the eye. L'OR is master of translation, her attention to color and form create an image which is inherently potent and provocative.
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"Traces "
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"La Gitana"
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Albert Wint
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Albert Wint works on his paintings like puzzles, bringing together lines, shapes and colors as if they were playful pieces rather than fundamentals. The lines turn into shapes that form a skeleton blueprint of a composition. He works the shapes until a composition begins to form. "Since I can never foresee the final product, the solutions are often unexpected," the artist remarks. The flat forms put down in his distinctive color palette come together to conjure the faces and bodies of remarkable individuals. As they fix the viewer in their gaze, they invoke a push and pull game of distance and irresolvable withholding.
Originating from Kharkov, Ukraine, when it was still a part of the USSR, Wint is profoundly influenced by classical Russian art, music and literature. His cerebral approach to painting was framed by the likes of Ilya Repin and Valentin | | |