The Supernatural Artwork of Rodrigo Luff

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'Jaundice' was the word that came to mind when I first saw 26-year old Rodrigo Luff's stunningly beautiful moleskin portraits.  A graduate of the Julian Ashton Art School, Rodrigo has hosted a number of successful exhibitions both in LA and his native home of Sydney, Australia. His latest series of paintings, Neon Forest, depicts the symbiotic relationship between between beautiful female subjects and the indomitable forces of the natural world. Check out more of Rodrigo's awesome paintings after the break!

The Art of Ivan Alifan

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Ivan Alifan's ongoing series of paintings, It's Not Milk, are beautifully rendered meditations on the tenuous divide between sensuality and perception. Alifan describes his work as, Using ambiguity as a tool [that prompts] the viewer's exploration of their psyches and provokes self awareness; I can say confidently that, for me at least, he's accomplished his goal and then some.

His paintings conjure up a wellspring of reaction; the aloof halo of mysticism and sensuality that permeate off these figures in his portraits evokes a sensation like being doused in a torrent of frosted ice-cream. Cold, alarming, and oddly enough, pleasant.

The Art of Asuka Isii

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Asuka Ishii's work completely drew me in upon first glance with it's seemingly grandiose scale. Each paints (literally) a world that is equally as beautiful as it is soothing which perfectly captures the feeling of wonder one might get from a pleasant dream. The amount of detail placed into each painting is absolutely mind-blowing and I found myself staring at each painting for minutes at a time.

Since each image managed to hold such grand scale, I investigated a little further and found that some of Asuka's work is actually as big as it seems, often times filling entire rooms. The fact that each work holds it's original scale so well even when shrunk down really shows the talent Asuka Ishii holds.

After the break I've left you with six more pieces by Asuka Ishii that you can take a look at.

The Art Of Andrew Hem

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Andrew Hem's work is heavy on the surrealism, featuring his distinctly elongated figures introspectively frozen in thought in the strange, otherworldly realms they inhabit. His work takes notes from his own past and present, from his parents fleeing Cambodia due to their Khmer ancestry to his upbringing in the dynamic, urban art capital, Los Angeles.

His pieces, created using gouache, oil and acrylic speak of what once was and hazy memories of a past and childhood destroyed by civil strife. Andrew has had a successful run in the gallery circuit, and continues to refine his distinct style as he goes. More of his thought provoking work after the break.

The Unsettling Art Of John Brosio

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If there's one emotion that John Brosio's work evoked in me, it was a sense of unease and discomfort. The 34 year old artist's body of work consists of dramatic compositions of man vs nature, witnessed by the strangely aloof, uncaring protagonists that inhabit his paintings. According to Brosio, these protagonists are a commentary on how people have become numb to violence, accepted it and come to simply ignore it without any action. As he put it, 'Oh, it's just happening there. Let's just walk around it.'

His work illustrates that all too common coping mechanism for life. We tend to ignore the impending danger that lurks nearby and act as if nothing is happening in order to attempt to stay relatively sane. I can't blame people for doing that, but at the same time there does seem to be something profoundly disturbing about this 'numbing' that has become so prevalent in our society. Brosio's surreal oil painted pieces present a dichotomy of beauty and danger which definitely will get you thinking. Check out more of his excellent work after the break.

ALBERTO MIELGO (SLIGHTLY NSFW)

Alberto is an Spanish artist based in L.A. and his works range from art direction for advertising, T.V. animated series and of course, painting nude girls. One of the most interesting things for me is that it would had never cross my mind that the same guy could be doing art for a Disney channel cartoon and be creating this really amazing paintings at the same time.

It might seem a little unfair to put this video instead of his other, more traditional line of work, but this little documentary is amazing in so many levels that it is for sure a really good way to display him as and artist and a person.

props to fucknfilthy for putting this on the radar.

Jeremy Geddes: Out Of This World

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Its been a while since I've seen the medium of oil paints elevated to such a high level with such an interesting subject matter. Jeremy Geddes' work revolves around the themes of weightlessness, dissonance and well...cosmonauts. What I love about his work is that it really creates a scenario that the viewers have to spend time trying to make sense of, whether it be a girl getting sucked out of an exploding window, or a cosmonaut floating at a strange angle inside an alley.

His style borders on the photorealistic, and I'm still in disbelief that pretty much every one of his paintings was created using oils and canvas. His skill with the medium is so beyond anything I've seen that I found myself staring at some of the high resolution images for over ten minutes.  As a guess, he probably spends months on each image, and it shows...The images are absolutely beautifully executed. Check out a few more images from his impressive portfolio after the break.