I’ve picked out a handful of my favorite work from artists who graduated from the Slade School of Fine Arts this spring — artists whose work really grabbed my attention. See their websites below, and check out the Slade’s degree show page for many more examples of some all-around stellar work.
Andy Gomez
I caught a little bit of Cy Twombly in this piece, with scribbles that hint at handwriting; all of Gomez’s graphite drawings are atmospheric and a little surreal.
I was immediately drawn to this painting by Heiken, among others, for its wild, almost grotesque character, but also for its vivid translucent pigment that reminded me of childhood finger painting, mixed in with a palpable anxiety.
Henderson’s colorful compositions are minimal yet brilliant, employing understated texture and gorgeous layers of paint to produce gently dynamic pieces.
The imagery in Hunter’s ‘Showing Seeing’ is gorgeous; the work explores themes of remembering and forgetting through settings of theatre and performance. Elephants never forget.
Ortoleva experiments with different methods of drawing in addition to other mediums to explore themes of imagination and consciousness in a site specific context.
Brilliant color, energetic lines and thick layers of paint really make Towndrow’s pieces pop. The artist explores landscape in a way that makes a scene appear more like objects in a still life.
The vivacity and boldness of Park’s palette initially drew me to these paintings, but also the use of pattern and the way that shapes appear to float on top of one another, or hover over background patterns, creating a sense of motion.
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