last week when i was rooting around on the interwebs, i was reading michael hsiung's blog. michael had posted a really beautiful, intense painting, it was at once gorgeous and totally effed up. i loved it. there wasn't much info other than a link back to the artist's flickr page. i quickly clicked on it getting lost w/in the art work. it was the flickr page of san francisco artist matthew palladino. besides the intensity and vibrancy of matthew's work, what i noticed first off was how quickly his work moved me.
last month, when i interviewed elbow-toe one of the things we talked about was how an artist's work can really hit you, move your soul as it were. since that conversation, i have been thinking a lot about that sentiment. really paying attention to visceral emotions that accompany my mindset when i view art. matthew's work does that to me instantly. his paintings get under my skin and really pull out emotions. his sharp colors and folkey-esque painting style is hard to tear my eyes away from. as a girl who grew up in the inner city w/ a family who championed craft, matthew combines a sensibility in his work that really speaks to me. plus, the painting of the geometric bandanas below entitled "chris johanson as a conflicted gang member" is just plain genius. no doubt about it.
