Art has many ways of inspiring us, grasping our emotions, and yielding them to their own will. We see what we need to in a portrait of watercolor or acrylic. We visualize the figures story in our own imagination after borrowing from the artists. With an abundance of talent and imagination spread among the internet, it can be often at times hard to find the artist whose minds image isn’t hung up in a notorious gallery or trending like rapid fire on the internet. There are artists who have massive talent and beautiful imagery who are waiting for you to discover them. That’s why I have gathered a list of some of my favorite artists for you to check out. Hopefully one of their pieces speaks to you.
Some of these artists artwork I have contained in my “10 Minute Poetry” column because of the strong emotion the pieces portray, so you know they are very special to me. The work themselves is all you’ll need to be influenced, so please, scroll below.
1. Alexandra Levasseur
This artist is brilliant and vivid with color and perspective. Alexandra Levasseur lives and works in Montreal and creates most her paintings with acrylic for the first layers, finishing with oil painting, and adds colored pencils for the vivid details that give her paintings a pop that is unique to her style.
Levasseur’s art mainly focuses on themes revolving around “nature identity and perception.” Her bio reads: “In this era of crisis and anxiety, my work questions our perception of the reality based on our limited human senses and knowledge of nature.”
Along with her many paintings Levasseur also does sculptures and animation as well.
You can find Alexandra’s work directly from her website at alexandralevasseur.com and follow her on Instagram and Facebook. If you’d like to own one of her prints or originals, you can visit her Etsy store or Galerie C.O.A. to purchase her work.
2. Miles Johnston
Miles Johnston is a visionary with artwork who often reimagines and morphs the human image into surreal images that provoke an emotional connection–staying true to the internal state of the mind. His artwork makes the mind swirl and transcend into oblivion, literally.
Miles work is created primarily by graphite and oils, “using the human form as a vehicle to attempt to process the intensity and profound strangeness of the collective human experience.”
Born in the UK in 1933, Miles spent the first few years of his early childhood living in Brunei, Borneo. It was the environment there that would leave an impact on him, and eventually his art forever. “The totally different environment gave me the intuition early on that there is no true ‘normal’. In hindsight I have always been interested in anything that helps to transform my perception of the mundane” Johnston says in his bio.
You can find Miles’ work on his website at milesjohnstonart.com. If you’re interested in purchasing any prints or originals of his work you can visit one of the three galleries that have his work here: Last Rites Gallery, NYC , BeinArt Gallery, Melbourne, The Compound Gallery, Oakland CA.
Make sure to follow him on his Instagram, Twitter and Facebook!
3. Vania Zouravliov
Vania Zouravliov is an artist whose dark and vivid pieces stare the viewer straight into the soul and pull them inside by their emotions. Yes, they’re pretty dramatic.
Born in Russia, Vania’s inspiration ranges from influences by The Bible, Dante’s Divine Comedy to Disney animation and Native Americans.
Vania was considered a child prodigy in his homeland and by the age of thirteen had his work exhibited internationally, visiting Canterbury, Paris, Colmar and Berlin. Some of his projects have been creating illustrations for The Scotsman and comics for Fantagraphics and Dark Horse in the US.
To view more of Vania’s work, you can follow him on Facebook or visit his website at vaniazouravliov.com. Some of his work is also available at thevacvvm.com and virtuartgallery.com.
4. Holly Warburton
Holly Warburton is an artist whose expression of emotion is best captured by her vibrant colors. Her artwork ranges from her subtle yet emotional animation to her vivid sketches of the many faces on the London tube.
A recent graduate from Kingston University, Holly specializes in Photoshop, Illustrator, Animate and After Effects. She is currently working as an animator and concept artist. Not only that, but she is available for freelance work! Which means, you could send her a quick message and have your vision brought to life by her colorful imagination.
Visit Holly Warburton’s website at https://hollywarbs.com/work and follow her on Instagram and Twitter. Soon enough you may just have one of her pieces hung up on your wall or featured in your next visionary project.
These visionary and imaginative minds I have collected for you are a must to follow on social media. Keep a close eye on their work, it may just do something incredible to you.
Whether it is the striking strokes of bright colors and haunting figures that pulls you into artwork, or the emotions it draws out of you from deep inside, art does something to each of us that is quite unexplainable. One could argue that art itself, is the attempt to explain the very thing it does to you, the unexplainable.
Follow another artist, (me, a writer!) on Instagram and Twitter at @jackycoocoo for original poetry, articles, interviews, photography, and more!
Also, if you like art, check out the art of poetry! My poetry column “10 Minute Poetry“, my own weekly poet’s game where I write an original piece of poetry, with nothing but a given title, in ten minutes. I hope you check it out and thanks for reading about these great artists!
Photo Credit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20