Mark Demsteader

During the 1990s, with Brit Art on the rise, figurative draughtsman and painter, Mark Demsteader found himself surrounded by an art market dominated by conceptual art.

In the difficult years that followed however he finally found massive success, especially following his recent popular drawings of actress Emma Watson, and earning several notable awards including The Lyceum Prize and The Sidney Andrews Scholarship in the process.

His incredible work, a combination of original charcoals, pastels and oils, has undoubtedly renewed interest in traditional life drawing and classic figurative paintings. His drawings typically feature a beautifully balanced combination of the detailed, closely observed upper torso leading to equally striking expressive line work below.

Sean Cheetham

Sean Cheetham is recognised as one of the most acclaimed young figurative painters working today. In 2005 he exhibited in the Portrait Award, at the National Portrait Gallery, London, and was included in American Artist Magazine as one of their 25 Artists Of Tomorrow.

Below is a collection of his looser portrait work. You can feel a real connection to the painters of the late 19th century, too, like Delacroix, Corot or Courbet, or even further back than that. And that's what makes them so appealing to me: the continuation of an important way of creating art that has been largely ignored since the beginning of impressionism.

Egon Schiele

The National Gallery currently has a major exhibition examining the central role portraiture played in early twentieth century Vienna, and due to the fact that I blatantly won't be able to get down to see it, as I have kids, I thought I'd post a few of my favourite Egon Schiele drawings.

It's Schiele's clean line work that has always drawn me to his work rather than subject matter or overall emotional impact. And it's something that is pretty clearly visible in my own work. His lines hold an incredible amount of intensity and nervous energy which give an enormous expressive energy to his drawings.

I find it quite humbling to think that Schiele created this incredible body of work before his death in 1918 as a result of the Spanish flu pandemic, at the age of twenty-eight... a couple of years younger than I am now.

The exhibition, Facing The Modern: The Portrait In Vienna 1900, will be on display until 12th January 2014.

Opening night of my solo show

Thank you to all the people who came out to The Regal Cinema on Saturday night for the opening of my new solo show. It genuinely meant a lot to me to see you guys there and to get a chance to talk to people in the real world about my work. Thank you for all your kind words... you're good people.

The show will be up for a while, so if anyone happens to be in the area then feel free to stop by and check it out. It covers two floors, both upstairs and downstairs and you could go and see a film too while you're there.

Adam Caldwell

Adam Caldwell's work combines heavy abstraction with classical figure painting. Beginning with the abstract background and then adding realistic details on top allowing the composition to develop more freely. His work reflects his reaction to social, moral and cultural issues, contrasting western motifs and symbols with those from around the world.

For more, visit his website...

Erik Jones

Semi-abstract figurative painting from Brooklyn, NY.

 

 

 

 

Want some more? Then click here...