Alyssa Monks: Teetering Between Abstract & Realism

I've been a huge fan of Alyssa Monk's work for a few years now and her work in on my must-see lists.  I simply must attend one of her gallery shows in my lifetime.  Alyssa weaves and swirls paint into brilliant patterns and images that teeter between abstract and realism.  I love the way she renders her skin tones and brings the viewer into her work. 

My heart always starts to pound harder when I view "Gasp" and "Scream." These are my absolute favorites pieces of work by Alyssa. She pulls you into her work and engages you.  You can almost feel the moisture in the room to the point where you wait for the water droplets to trickle down the glass or skin.

Artists such as Alyssa inspire me to work harder and push my art further.  You cannot help but want to pick up a brush and paint after viewing her work.  She offers a "Details" web page that contains close-ups of her paintings so you can view her brush strokes.  I love this portion of her web page and I can only hope that other artists follow this practice in the years to come.  When I produce a worthy body of work I will definitely include close-up photos so other artists can see some of the brush strokes.  This is great if you are not close enough to a gallery that is exhibiting your favorite artist.


If you are an artist then you absolutely must visit Alyssa's "Details" web page.

Artist Aaron Wooten

I found out about Aaron reading a magazine (no, don't remember which one) at Border's Books in Boston. The painting that was featured was one a Marilyn Monroe posing nude done in gratuitous shades of browns, grays and reds. I loved the way his brush strokes were loose yet direct at the same time. The image of Marilyn was a caricature of her body but Aaron kept the distortions of the head limited as though Marilyn body was erased and replaced by some genetic copy of her former body.

I felt compelled to visit his website to see more of his work and was not disappointed. Some people might think of his work as simplistic and perhaps sophomoric but I enjoyed his work. I love the way he distorts his figures so that they are grotesque and a bit sexy at the same time.

I particularly loved the images in his "Beach Chicks and Beatniks" collection and for more adventurous (18 or older) crowd, I also loved the pseudo-abstract images of the orgies in Aaron's "Uninhibited" collection. Aaron uses hard-edged shades of red to create these crazy images of fornication. Viewers be warned, the "Uninhibited" collection is not for G crowd.

You can visit Aaron's web site at:
web.mac.com/aaronrwooten/