Ben Sack is an artist that focuses on creating incredibly detailed representations of city-scapes in ink. Many of his pieces appear as though they were pictures shot from a bird’s-eye view or with a fish lens.

One of the works that immediately caught my attention was his Song of Pan, which includes a wide array of shapes and an interplay of negative and positive space that draws the eye towards the center. In the center appears a fictional metropolis and, as the viewer’s eye travels out towards the end of the beam-like arms of the city, the viewer takes in other city-scapes that appear to represent real-life city-plans. The piece includes blank spaces ingrained in floating circles and a mix-match of city-scapes that create a feeling of uneasiness (for me, anyways); the mix of shapes and detail can be overwhelming to take in all at once.

The other piece that I found quite interesting was Quantopolis, which also provides the viewer with renditions of detail city-scapes, yet, here, Sack places the cities within what seems like 3-dimensional rooms created with checkerboard patterns. Sack creates a feeling of confusion through the utilization of both strict lines (conveyed in the pattern and the city-scapes) and soft, dark (ominous-looking) pockets of darkness.

What really fascinates me about Sack’s work is the amount of excruciating detail he goes into to create beautiful renditions of cities and imaginative worlds. Though he does not tend to use color in his pieces (and every now and then works in a bit of sepia into his work), the lack of color creates an overwhelming feel of his compositions that invites the viewer to observe the detail close-up for the full-effect. I would like to incorporate the level of detail Sack includes in his work into my own portfolio because I am very detail-oriented and tend to work in monotone colors, which would push viewers to focus on the subject and wonder at the meaning of my work.

Cayce Zavaglia utilizes embroidery to render images of family, friends, and other artists; although originally a painter, Zavaglia uses her skills in needlework in order to create intricately deceptive photo-realistic portraits.

The composition that drew me in was Florence, an image of a little girl that appears to stare through one’s very soul. For many of her pieces, Zavaglia makes sure that the gaze of the subject meets the viewer’s eyes, which is one of the reasons this portrait is so powerful. Zavaglia’s use of materials like silk and cotton entrance the viewer with the slight shifts in light and color all around the composition, while the very gaze of the subject makes the piece seem almost confrontational. The contrast between the flat background and the rendition of the subject also emphasizes the focus on the image. I was initially drawn to the composition since it appeared as though Zavaglia has taken a photo and simply distorted the image through computer manipulation.

Yet another important rendition that caught my eye was Teo Verso, which demonstrates Zavaglia’s background as a painter. Unlike her compositions created solely through embroidery, this piece is comprised of a more two-dimensional medium. Nonetheless, it appears as if we are observing the process she goes through to create her pieces of silk and cotton; it seems as if there are strands of these materials hanging out of the portrait. What drew me in was the unusual combination of lines and color to create an obscure effect. The subject of the portrait no longer meets the viewer with a clear gaze but seems to blankly stare at the space ahead. The void of white that replaces the eyes in the boy’s eye sockets and the arch of his eyebrows confronts the viewer and creates an uneasy feeling that pulls one in.

Zavaglia creates interesting compositions centered around various portraits that capture the attention of the viewer through her wild use of seemingly tame materials. Her pieces are unlike painting in the traditional sense. I would like to expand my usage of materials to depict subjects in various ways, and create emotion through the uncommon usage of mediums such as string. Zavaglia encourages me to continue to test the boundaries of materials in order to create one-of-a-kind pieces.

Michael Gregory is a painter who mainly focuses on realist renditions of different subjects, such as landscapes. In many of his compositions, he demonstrates an (almost) obsession with silos and old barns. Additionally, in each of his pieces, he demonstrates a keen mastery of the use of color in order to achieve the affect of what seems to be a surreal reality. For instance, the first piece that drew me in was Emmigrant Flat, a painting of an old, battered barn that lies in the middle-ground between a mist-laden mountain and what appears to be grass that has just experienced the morning dew or frost. This piece draws the viewer in, who immediately becomes entranced by the mood the piece evokes; it seems that the barn, which is most likely abandoned, hints to a time long gone and the mist creates an air of mystery to the scene.

Another noteworthy piece is Gregory’s Barger, which is a hyper-realistic rendition of a close-up of a barn. The absence of color, alone, adds to the overall serene yet troubling mood of the piece; the scene is seemingly peaceful yet the white contrasts so much with the dark that the viewer is forced to focus on the barn. Additionally, the barn appears somewhat ominous, with its small dark openings alluding to a mysterious world inside of it. The sky also seems to demonstrate that the scene occurs near the time of night before the moon completely emerges, which adds to the veil of mystery that already exists in relation to the illumination of a barn that appears empty but that could be filled with a myriad of items and/ or beings. Regardless, it seems as though Gregory simply framed a black and white photo of a barn.

Overall, I found Michael Gregory’s paintings of these peculiar subjects very intriguing. In an effort to expand my application of oil paint in the various rendition of different subjects, I can observe Gregory’s pieces to understand, for example, how the use (and absence) of color can affect the mood of a composition. I especially admire the realism and a touch of surrealism that Gregory manages to achieve through his careful use of color that brightens his work and makes his pieces eerily peaceful.