Issue 45 of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, with legendary fantasy artist Arantza Sestayo‘s mesmerizing painting, “Red”, on the cover is on sale now! Contact one of our Stockists or Shop Online, but don’t miss this special Issue. Take a peek at what’s inside below.
Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Issue 45
Inside this Issue, we delve into the work of Olga Esther, Born in Valencia, Spain on the very cusp of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship in 1975, Olga grew up surrounded with ideas of revolution and rebellion. Changing our perception of what it really means to be a princess, Olga shines a light on the harsh realities of gender, feminism, and womanhood.
We also discover the deeply inspiring work of Fabio Viale. Steeped in symbolism from the traditional tattoos used by Russian and Japanese criminals to tell their stories on their own bodies, Fabio connects past to present and high culture to the darkest corners of society’s underworlds.
I took a hammer and chisel and I suddenly saw a brilliant white shard inside the marble. Let’s say that at that moment, I decided to be a sculptor.
Fabio Viale
Issue 45 cover artist, Arantza Sestayo, has been endowed with the special gift of fleshing out these characters and tales in gorgeous, uncanny detail for the rest of us to reach, generously handing us the key to visions we don’t possess. Magical earthscapes dominated by exquisite creatures with flowers adorning their cascading locks, fair-skinned maidens and sensual mermaids born in another time and place.
I find so much inspiration in sadness. I was bewitched the first time I found out about Ophelia releasing her flowers in the water. Or women in Bécquer’s legends, who always have a melancholy or occult element. Even when I paint female warriors I think I unwittingly let a touch of melancholy show through.
Arantza Sestayo
Next we take a look at the work of American artist Kevin Sloan who meticulously and beautifully portrays wildlife as we would like to imagine it, in lovely arcadian settings, but always loaded with surrealistic symbolism depicting the ever-present threat posed by mankind.
Time to get inspired as we learn what Bernadette Bender, Director of Bender Gallery would like to add to her personal collection, in this Issue’s Curator’s Wishlist.
We also take a deep dive into the work of British painter Alison Friend, the best “pawtraiture” artist of our times. She creates vivacious paintings of the furriest companions, often in comical and adorable poses: enjoying coffee, eating pizza, and playing cards.
What do the great Dutch masters, pop surrealism and Scrabble have in common? No, it’s not a trick question, although modern trompe l’œil virtuoso Natalie Featherston readily uses trickery to give her well-studied subjects a fresh dimension. What at first glance can seem like a quirky assemblage of lost-and-found paraphernalia, teasingly reveals its meaning – and startling mastery – upon closer inspection.
I slashed and burned my career as a cellist and never looked back – but that might not work for everyone. I knew if things didn’t pan out I had an orchestra job waiting for me. If you’re going to make a catastrophic change, I think it’s easier to just do it. No safety net. Sink or swim. Fully committing to a plan of action has a certain boldness and magic in it.
Natalie Featherson
This is the story of a teller of stories. They say that a picture tells a thousand words. When the pictures are of words – thousands of typed words on mysteriously scattering pages – the effect is exponential and there is much that is being told. And thus we immerse ourselves in creative captures of Damian Drewniak, the 47-year-old photographer and photographic painter from Poland.
Photography is a way to write about feelings. My work is a love story about loneliness. They are about melancholy and sadness, but they are optimistic in their finality.
Damian Drewniak
When an artist shares that they get bored easily, and that they are always ready to do the next thing, you can expect a life of rich and diverse creativity and projects. American artist Brian Haberlin is no exception. His works are known for their striking quality, celebrating the power of colour, lighting, and often experimenting with playful viewpoints.
As well, in this Issue of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, Mark Jeffrey Santos whose dedication to mastering the chibi style shines through in his current body of work. His whimsical, pop surrealist paintings prominently feature a young boy characterised by large, curious eyes and rounded features typical of the chibi art style. He pairs this style with the core themes of travel and wandering as his work follows the many adventures of his young protagonist.
Mark Jeffrey Santos embodies the idea of the traveller. He’s the wandering artist who traverses our world and his own imagination.
Excerpt from Issue 45 by Samantha Dexter
Art is connected to emotion, imagination, and creativity. As such, the paintings of Megan Elizabeth Read, also known as Mae, are all these things. In the short time she has been a professional artist, she has crossed epic thresholds of both imagination and reality as she brings her oil paintings to life. With her seemingly impossible brushstrokes creating a dreamlike reality, Mae’s art borders on hyperrealism, but dances somewhere in the space between the corporeal and the ephemeral.
Ito Chieko mesmerizes us with full page reproductions of her evocative portraits inside this Issue’s inspiring Lookbook editorial.
In the Quick Q & A editorial, we ask Fandi Angaa Saputra, Diego Fernandez, Grant Perry, Stephanie Inagaki, S.V. Williams, and Shinya Takanezawa answer the same questions:
- What is the biggest change you’ve made to your art practice since you started, and why?
- If you could only create one more work what would you like that work to say?
- What impact has your upbringing and cultural background had on your work, and how it has influenced your approach and aesthetic?
- What motivates you to keep going even when sales are slow or you hit a creative block?
In this issues’ Path to Creation, Brian Mashburn, takes us through the creation process of one of his incredible paintings.
In this Issues’ Beautiful Bizarre Artist Directory editorial we highlight the work of many exceptional artists and photographers including: Sara Lee, Ellie Nesbitt, Noar Lee Naggan, Mary MacGregor-Reid, Carolin Leary Prinn, Chiyoko Kana, Chloe Chen, Nathalie Tousnakhoff, Saskia Huitema, Kristen Eisenbraun, Rachel Ivanyi, Anne-Marie Zanetti, Elyse Fournier, Reinhard Riedel, Haley Manchon, Kym Lee, Yanran Chen, Katie O’Sullivan, Lilith Divine, Farzad Golpayegani, Kim Anderson, Patrizia Vignola, Mishelle Sherri, Rossella Paolini, Katie Harmon, Pearl Whitecrow-Brown, Steve Cleff, Amy Kollar Anderson, Debra Keirce, Ana Priscila Rodriguez, Joanne Brooker, Cyndy Salisbury, Red Persik, and J L King.
Inside this, our 11th Anniversary issue’s Letter from the Editor, we have much to celebrate! Our Editor-in-Chief, Danijela Krha Purssey reflects on the extraordinary milestone that Beautiful Bizarre Magazine officially landed on the moon as part of the Lunar Codex project on board the Odysseus spacecraft on 23 February 2024!
What a truly incredible feeling – this honour is one I could never have imagined! I am so incredibly grateful to physicist, author, and art collector Dr Samuel Peralta, the Founder and archivist of the Lunar Codex cultural time capsule, for valuing Beautiful Bizarre Magazine and its contribution to the arts so highly that he chose to include all of our covers from 2017 to 2022 – now permanently archived on the moon.
When you read this our first exhibition of 2024, Fable & Folklore, has just closed at Copro Gallery. The second exhibition of 2024 will open at Modern Eden Gallery (San Francisco, CA, USA) in November this year. This exhibition will also include the winners of this year’s Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize. So if you haven’t yet entered, please do – this is your opportunity to get your work in front of me, the Directors of Modern Eden Gallery, our esteemed Jury Panel, and of course win some amazing prizes!
With $65,000 USD in cash and prizes to be won this year you’d be mad not to enter!
We also highlight more of the artisan fashion designers that have caught the eye of our Deputy Editor and Editor-in-Chief, in this Issue’s Some of our Favourite Things editorial.
And last but not least, enjoy a collection from Our Community, featuring some of the amazing hash tagged #beautifulbizarre artworks from our social media of over 1 million followers!
All this inside Issue 45 // June 2024, which showcases some of the best and most inspiring emerging and mid-career artists of our time.
Visit our online store and enjoy Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Issue 45.
