Here’s a little something for Halloween!

Luke Chueh’s paintings astound me. Glancing at the thumbnails, I thought they might be overly sweet and sentimental - ha, nothing could be further from the truth!

Luke Chueh - 15 Minutes of Fame

Obviously many of his paintings - with their cast of sad bunnies, worried chickens, disturbed monkeys and world-weary teddy bears - explore horror and the darker side of childhood. However, what takes his work up to the next level for me is the expressions on his characters faces; there’s such pathos there but described with such precise and retrained economy. There’s always been something a little tragic about cuddly toys and he exploits this to the full, but his twisted, and often very silly, sense of humour usually stops his work from becoming maudlin. On a technical level, I love his pared-down palette of sombre colours.

Luke Chueh - Monkey Grinder

His work is sometimes available as prints from Munky King and he’s definitely on my list of ‘artists whose work I want to own’.

Luke Chueh - Squid

John Dempcy - Field Day

John Dempcy’s luscious acrylic works really speak to me. I love the use of patterning and circles to create endless variations on a theme but most of all, I love his masterful use of colour - the way the colours bleed into each other, the subtle pale colours he uses as backgrounds, the way he uses colour to change the tempo of a piece. I’m not particularly great with colour*, it’s not one of my art skills but I can appreciate it in other people’s work. Not being a painter, I look at these works and just have no idea how they’re done technically but I love them.

Found on Dear Ada, a blog that I like a lot for its great mix of links.

* I say this but I’ve discovered over the years that I’m only ‘not great with colour’ compared to other artists, particularly painters. When I talk to non-artists about how they perceive colour, I usually discover that my colour sense is better than average. It’s all relative!

Htein Lin
Death Row
67 x 34 Vinyl housepaint on cotton 17 May 2001 Myaungmya Jail

Other people’s struggle to create art can be truly humbling. Burmese artist Htein Lin, a political prisoner imprisoned for supporting the pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, managed to create art in absolutely dire circumstances. Three years after his release, the paintings and drawings that he managed to smuggle out of a harsh Burmese prison are being exhibited in Asia House in London.

Htein Lin
Biology of Art
18 October 1999, Mandalay Jail, mixed media on cotton shirt 21 in x 21 in

I find his story incredibly inspiring:

“The death row prisoners, though tough and not the least bit aware of art, wanted to help him. “They wanted to participate in something. They felt, ‘Before our death, we can help this artist.’ ” So the men on death row willingly gave him their sarongs that were their only form of dress and served as Mr. Htein Lin’s staple canvas.

The prisoners would then be left naked because sarongs were only issued every six months. “They would sit there naked, but they were very difficult to punish,” Mr. Htein Lin said. So the prison guards would give in and issue new sarongs, ensuring a future supply for the clandestine artist.”

Read the rest of this excellent and moving article at The New York Times.*

* You may have to register.

Angie Reed Garner is an artist I know from her Livejournal. We’ve never met but we’ve read each others blogs for a couple of years now. I like her spirited painting style and bold use of colour.

I like her birds and buildings best but she also does a mean line in feisty, curvy, naked women.