Every month, beautiful.bizarre chooses one of our favourite artists to TAKE OVER our social media for the day. On 10 October, Caia Koopman took over beautiful.bizarre and we loved seeing some her inspirations.
I can still vividly remember the first time I saw one of Caia Koopmans paintings. I was completely blown away by the style, the colour and the subject. Intricate dreamscapes with feminine strength and power infused in every piece! Caia is one of the most notable female pop surrealist artists in the world. She is also really cool and rides skateboards, she is passionate about animals and the environment and an all-round good soul. We are so happy to share her TAKE OVER day. She is bringing her style and awesomeness to the day with some clever ways to share her favourite pieces and some very inspiring messages. Over to you Caia!
I am so honored by this opportunity to guest post for you!!
Painting ‘Monk’ by Caia Koopman
I really enjoyed the opportunity to express my concern for rapidly disappearing and critically endangered species in my painting “Monk” for PangeaSeed Foundation. My painting portrays the critically endangered Hawaiian Monk seal while the female character symbolizes the souls of a shrinking population and seals past. I believe strongly that all living things and even the planet itself are intrinsically connected.
When humans are the main cause of a species becoming extinct, even unknowingly, I believe a small part of ourselves dies along with a part of the global ecosystem. In my painting entitled “Monk” the female character represents all humans who are then connected to all life making her and the seal interchangeable. Her ghostlike aura illustrates the near extinction peril of the Hawaiian Monk seal.
To support a great cause and get this awesome print go to the PangeaSeed Online Shop!
Aaron Kraten: ‘Sound Waves’
I love Aaron Kraten’s work, his pieces are all so amazing, I could live in a house full of them! This is Sound Waves and she’s totally listening to her favorite song, and it might be by The Cure, or possibly Love and Rockets. His ladies have great style and make me want to put on a cute outfit!
Richard Salcido: ‘Among the Dolls’
Richard Salcido’s work is beautiful, and then he does the scariest thing ever for an artist…. Richard scrapes and gouges the crap outta his finished pieces! Holy scary thing to do!!! But the result is some sort of chaotic perfection. I especially love Among The Dolls, 2009, it hangs in my house and it makes me happy.
Jeff Soto: ‘New Growth’
Jeff Soto is pure and simply one of my favorite artists. His work is beautifully imaginative and seems to always be subtly exploring the relationship between nature and humanity. His owls are haunting, magical and empathetic, and some are just really cute!! I’d like to spend all my vacation time hiking around his landscapes or maybe just move there when I retire. And his murals are awesome, wowza!!
Jamie Hewlett: ‘Tank Girl’
I’m including Tank Girl by Jamie Hewlett because he is likely the absolute most influential artist to me during my fledgling artist days. Tank Girl was drawn to perfection in my young, teen, rebellious and aspiring artist eyes. She couldn’t have been cuter, cooler or more punk rock if she tried. Thanks Jamie for creating my illustrated mentor with your super talented drawing skills. It’s possible I may have used his bandaid idea on a few occasions….
Tatiana Suarez: ‘Rainforests of the Sea’
Tatiana has taken much of her amazing skill set to the walls of large buildings, she is a super talented muralist and her art looks fantastic on a huge scale. This is one of her smaller paintings, a piece she did for PangeaSeed and their quest for Ocean awareness.
Tatiana’s painting is inspired by the plight of our disappearing coral reefs. Often called “Rainforests of the Sea”, coral reefs form some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. They occupy less than 0.1% of the world’s ocean surface, about half the area of France, yet they provide a home for 25% of all marine species.General estimates show approximately 10% of the world’s coral reefs are dead. About 60% of the world’s reefs are at risk due to destructive, human-related activities. The threat to the health of reefs is particularly strong in Southeast Asia, where 80% of reefs are endangered. By the 2030s, 90% of reefs are expected to be at risk from both human activities and climate change by 2050, all coral reefs will be in danger. Thanks, Tati, for your beautiful piece with such an important message.
Camilla d’Errico: ‘Dissasembled tears’
I love everything by Camilla d’Errico she paints the innate connection between humans and animals seamlessly, beautifully, magically, love love love!
Johnny Kmndz Rodriguez: ‘Birds Nest’
Johnny does something that’s visually extra cool, and he does it really well. He is able to paint the illusion of metal: tarnished, rusty, heavy, strong metally-metal, and he balances it with the feathers, fur and other softer elements of the natural world. My eyeballs have always been attracted to this interesting mix and my mind loves how it exemplifies and highlights the fragile beauty of nature and living things. Plus who doesn’t love retro bombs adorned with filigree and jewels on street art style backdrops! I absolutely love the work of KMNDZ!
Martin Wittfooth: ‘The Incantation’
Martin just came out with a gorgeous book by Mark Murphy @markmurphydesign called Babel and it’s a must have in your monograph collection. His work pulls at the heart strings of anyone who cares about animals and the environment and worries about the havoc humanity has played. He is a master of his craft and his paintings are absolutely stunning. Oh, and he’s got a solo show opening Oct 1 Corey Helford Gallery!!! Thank you Martin for being awesome!!! On a side note, over 100,000 elephants have been slaughtered for their tusks in the past 3 years alone, at this rate they will become extinct soon and solely do to human greed. The United States is the second-largest market for ivory in the world after China.
You can follow Caia’s work here Web | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
