Describing himself as a “romantic surrealist”, his paintings are inspired not only by the surrealist movement but by Art Nouveau, Belle Époque, Gothic, Renaissance, and the Victorian age.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Daniel Merriam (@danielmerriam)

Merriam’s paintings often present fantastical settings: a house harnessed to an elephant that is being ridden by a monkey; a winged butler presenting a tray filled with birds to a hungry cat.

According to the painter, nature plays a big role in his art. “My world was fashioned from the rawness of nature’s reality and the fanciful treatments of my perception,” he reflected once in an interview with Putsch.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Daniel Merriam (@danielmerriam)

According to Merriam, from a very young age he was drawn to the natural world: “Between sailing, fishing, and diving I had spent as much time in the water as I did out,” he recalled.

Water in particular is a common theme in his paintings. “Both my family and our community possessed a whimsical quality that remains in my art to this day,” stressed Merriam.

With over 45,500 followers on his Instagram alone, Merriam’s work is celebrated both online and offline. His work is exhibited throughout the United States and Europe. In one case, his paintings were shown alongside those of Salvador Dali. You’d want to take note.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Daniel Merriam (@danielmerriam)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Daniel Merriam (@danielmerriam)

The post The Ever-Surprising Paintings of Daniel Merriam appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

A cross between painting, drawing, print media, collage, and performance, Carter uses alternative media and surfaces to emphasize a visceral mark. Her work, more often than not, seems un-contained—the ink spilled across a translucent drafting film, with the fluid then juxtaposed with collage elements.

Her paintings, made with layers of puddled pigment and collaged imagery mimic explosive, liquid bodies. The paint she uses tends to puddle and bead on its surface, while the translucent nature of the film allows her to paint on both sides. In one series, she paints using cranberry juice, which refers to her family background (having come from a family of cranberry farmers in New England). Exploiting the staining effect of the juice, she stains antique linens and pillowcases.

“Abstract and minimal work never seemed to be an option for me,” she reflected once in an interview with the Exeter Bulletin. “I needed more to hold onto… I think it’s necessary to investigate the stories we grew up with, and other stories that have been told throughout history, and how those have shaped us. That’s why imagery from mythology, folklore and fairy tale have had such a presence in my work.”

While exploring themes like gender, fairytale, and masquerade, Carter hopes to expose not only one’s guts but one’s internal state in a way that can seem both pleasurable and painful. Her work, therefore, pushes the possibilities of painting, creating new textures with ink. Scroll down to see some recent highlights.

The post Alexandra Carter Isn’t Afraid of Making a Mess appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

According to Button, this intimacy created between object and subject is very much intentional. “I like my subjects to have a relationship, firstly with me and then with other people,” she relayed in an interview with Metal Magazine, “so most of my characters are looking right at you, demanding you engage with them.”

In fact, Button’s creative process begins with her subjects’ eyes. “I always start with the eyes, if I’m not happy with how they are looking there is no point for me carrying on – I’ll wipe the canvas and start again!” she relayed.

Based in London, Button studied at Maidstone College of Art and later completed a Bachelor of Arts in Illustration at Kingston University London. Her clients now include some top tier publications, news outlets, and brands such as BBC, Wolf Ollins, Vanity Fair, Tatler, The Times, Gallimard, and Gucci; and her work has been exhibited in the Fashion Illustration Gallery, Less is More Projects, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Coningsby gallery.

“When I reflect on the exhibitions, commissions and experiences I’ve had recently, most of it tracks back to Instagram,” she explains. “It’s been a hugely important aspect of my career lately, and through it I have met so many wonderful artists and made some absolutely amazing contacts on an international level that would simply have been out of reach before social media.”

You’d want to join in the hype.

The post Gill Button’s Portraits Stare Back at You appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Having moved to the US from Haiti, influences in his work can be found from the cultural sociology of his homeland of Haiti, as well as the various American cities he resided in. Those include New York, Miami, Detroit, and San Francisco. Currently based out of San Francisco, California, his background work isn’t restricted to painting and includes illustration, graphic design, and art directing to name a few.

“When I was in fifth grade, my art teacher told that I should go to art school,” he recalls. “So I went to an art magnet school, to art high-school, and then to art college. Growing up in the neighborhood, I would always have a camera filming things. I was always doing things related to art.”

Aside from his artwork, Gay Jr. also owns his own art company and works in film and video production design in LA (a title that also landed him a Grammy nomination with film director Matt Stawski). “I always like to squeeze in as many projects as I can,” he admits. “Anything to keep me creative working on visual art to make me feel passionate.”

Show him some love on Instagram.

The post Serge Gay Jr. Learned to Paint Before He Learned to Speak appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

“Bringing nostalgic feelings into the work I create is part of my character,” explained Miess in an interview with Varoom. “Naturally, I find myself reminiscing or trying to remember past events and conversations in order to strengthen the memory. I forget stories and key elements all the time, so to be able to turn these memories – many of which don’t have photographs documenting them – into artworks, adds permanence to the stories that I value.”

According to Miess, their work is in response to their day-to-day, conversations, and relationships, all of which make their way into the canvas. “There’s a certain order that my work has to be read to be understood, and the repeat symbology holds a story that’s unique to my life experiences,” they note.

But at least judging by their buzzing online presence, this symbology seems to echo other people’s experiences. On top of a growing following on Instagram, Miess have showcased their work in Beers London Gallery and Office&Gallery Los Angeles. They have also created public artwork along the Southbank as part of LDN WMN, a project curated by Tate Collective.

Follow their Instagram page for more.

The post Memories, Thoughts, and Feelings Make Their Way Into Joy Miess’ Art appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Like most creative souls, Mathenge’s artistic passion sparked early on, and she recalls painting as early as primary school. “Our lessons were held in the teacher’s garden, where she had erected easels and set out acrylic and watercolor paints for our use,” said the Kenya-born, California-based painter in an interview with Art of Choice. “Even though we were outdoors, we painted unobserved landscapes, which generally took the form of rolling hills. Cityscapes and imagined village scenes with huts and market stalls were popular.”

But as the years went by, she redirected her passion elsewhere. “From childhood, I had been guided to consider as a suitable venture a career in commerce, medicine, engineering or law,” she says. “Working as an artist was never on the table.” It was only after moving to the US, that she returned to painting.

“Living independently and removed from my family and formative culture gave me the space to look inwards,” reflected Mathenge. “Art was a tool that I used to find a connection with space.” After graduating from both Howard University and Georgetown University Law Center, where she studied International Business and Law, she finally realized her true calling was in art.

Follow her creative journey via Instagram:

The post Wangari Mathenge Rediscovered Her Creative Roots appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

“The paintings are set in spaces that can be read as either interior or exterior,” she explained in an interview with Art of Choice, “their ambiguous, hazy atmospheres locate them in a world that is primarily psychological. This allows me to reference the day-to-day moments that I find surprisingly infinite and beautiful.”

Born in Germany and raised in South Korea, Yoo’s creative journey took her eventually to the United States. But like most artists, her creative passion sparked much earlier on, when she was only 7 years old. “My mother wanted to teach me several different things, for example, music, art, or ballet, but I was only interested in painting and drawing,” says Yoo.

Her work is set on large abstracted planes of color, on which she lays bold, layered marks. According to Yoo, her approach to painting is very much informed by that of Henri Matisse. “Matisse’s paintings contain countless everyday elements that he returns to repeatedly to find something new in each encounter,” she notes. “Those objects create an intimacy and interact with the space that is filled with a variety of patterns and the white of exposed canvas.”

According to Yoo, she similarly observes objects to find their representational imagery, extracts an abstraction from it, and then creates an imagined space, which is personalized to convey the unique qualities that she perceives. Follow her Instagram page for more color and insight.

The post This Painter Presents Snippets of Everyday Life appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

But when it comes to picking just the right colors for each piece, Perkins relies on the computer. “Most of my palettes start digitally: cropping, editing, distilling down colors from photos that I have taken, or gathered,” he relayed in an interview with Art of Choice. “I keep a running catalog of source material, mostly digital these days, but occasionally physical,” he says.

Interested in optical shape play, his paintings evolved over time from image towards absolute abstraction. “By and large the images describe the natural world in some sense,” he says. “Increasingly, I’ve been investigating color and light at night, nocturnes in a sense.”

Based in Brooklyn, he treats color as a constant source of inspiration. “For me, the sublime and its shifting cultural definition has been a theme in my work, tangentially or directly, for many years,” he adds. “I often think of my current work as attempting to describe impossible sublime forms. Forms that seduce and reward; hopefully inviting the viewer to linger long enough to slowly tease out their logic.”

Enter his optical worlds:

The post The Impossible Sublime Forms of Dan Perkins appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

“Believe it or not the whole time I’ve been an artist I’ve felt extremely excited by every small triumph along the way,” she remarked in an interview with Art of Choice. “My first solo show was at Corsican Pizza in Brunswick Maine where I lived at the time. It was a thrilling experience to me. Someone bought one of the pieces. She was a friend. I was overjoyed. Basically to have people understand you and embrace what you are doing is deeply satisfying at any level.”

Born in New York, NY, she divides her time between Brooklyn, NY and Brunswick, ME. “Because I am now 78 years old, I no longer teach a regular class and am no longer raising a family, I can go to the studio every day, all day. It’s heaven,” she says.

Known for her luminous paintings, her work merges abstraction with representational motifs. The result is bold, vibrant, and unmistakenly Bradford. Follow her Instagram for more:

The post Katherine Bradford’s Vibrant Paintings Are Quite Remarkable appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

As such, her work addresses trends associated with ideas of female beauty, as well as celebrates the female form in all its diversity. Centered around fashionable representations of women, her portraits are intentionally exaggerated – with her women subjects looking a bit “off”.

Rupp’s use of oil paint allows her to thoroughly blend and layer the paint to achieve the effect she wants out of her work. Her smooth and delicate application of paint is juxtaposed with a bright, dramatic color palette, creating an exciting interplay of shadow and light that both draws attention to her subjects and maintains their enigmatic aura. In this way, she hopes the viewer can feel the physical and psychological tension between beauty and strangeness in the work without being limited to a single interpretation. “I’m creating a bend on a timeless subject matter, the female form, and also celebrating it,” says Rupp.

Her process begins by collecting images from fashion magazines and the internet, then distorting the photographic source in a way that gives her subjects a new or heightened identity. The result is playful but also – thought-provoking. Take a look for yourself:

The post The Thought-Provoking Portraits of Sarah Rupp appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Describing himself as a “romantic surrealist”, his paintings are inspired not only by the surrealist movement but by Art Nouveau, Belle Époque, Gothic, Renaissance, and the Victorian age.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Daniel Merriam (@danielmerriam)

Merriam’s paintings often present fantastical settings: a house harnessed to an elephant that is being ridden by a monkey; a winged butler presenting a tray filled with birds to a hungry cat.

According to the painter, nature plays a big role in his art. “My world was fashioned from the rawness of nature’s reality and the fanciful treatments of my perception,” he reflected once in an interview with Putsch.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Daniel Merriam (@danielmerriam)

According to Merriam, from a very young age he was drawn to the natural world: “Between sailing, fishing, and diving I had spent as much time in the water as I did out,” he recalled.

Water in particular is a common theme in his paintings. “Both my family and our community possessed a whimsical quality that remains in my art to this day,” stressed Merriam.

With over 45,500 followers on his Instagram alone, Merriam’s work is celebrated both online and offline. His work is exhibited throughout the United States and Europe. In one case, his paintings were shown alongside those of Salvador Dali. You’d want to take note.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Daniel Merriam (@danielmerriam)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Daniel Merriam (@danielmerriam)

The post The Ever-Surprising Paintings of Daniel Merriam appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

A cross between painting, drawing, print media, collage, and performance, Carter uses alternative media and surfaces to emphasize a visceral mark. Her work, more often than not, seems un-contained—the ink spilled across a translucent drafting film, with the fluid then juxtaposed with collage elements.

Her paintings, made with layers of puddled pigment and collaged imagery mimic explosive, liquid bodies. The paint she uses tends to puddle and bead on its surface, while the translucent nature of the film allows her to paint on both sides. In one series, she paints using cranberry juice, which refers to her family background (having come from a family of cranberry farmers in New England). Exploiting the staining effect of the juice, she stains antique linens and pillowcases.

“Abstract and minimal work never seemed to be an option for me,” she reflected once in an interview with the Exeter Bulletin. “I needed more to hold onto… I think it’s necessary to investigate the stories we grew up with, and other stories that have been told throughout history, and how those have shaped us. That’s why imagery from mythology, folklore and fairy tale have had such a presence in my work.”

While exploring themes like gender, fairytale, and masquerade, Carter hopes to expose not only one’s guts but one’s internal state in a way that can seem both pleasurable and painful. Her work, therefore, pushes the possibilities of painting, creating new textures with ink. Scroll down to see some recent highlights.

The post Alexandra Carter Isn’t Afraid of Making a Mess appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

According to Button, this intimacy created between object and subject is very much intentional. “I like my subjects to have a relationship, firstly with me and then with other people,” she relayed in an interview with Metal Magazine, “so most of my characters are looking right at you, demanding you engage with them.”

In fact, Button’s creative process begins with her subjects’ eyes. “I always start with the eyes, if I’m not happy with how they are looking there is no point for me carrying on – I’ll wipe the canvas and start again!” she relayed.

Based in London, Button studied at Maidstone College of Art and later completed a Bachelor of Arts in Illustration at Kingston University London. Her clients now include some top tier publications, news outlets, and brands such as BBC, Wolf Ollins, Vanity Fair, Tatler, The Times, Gallimard, and Gucci; and her work has been exhibited in the Fashion Illustration Gallery, Less is More Projects, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Coningsby gallery.

“When I reflect on the exhibitions, commissions and experiences I’ve had recently, most of it tracks back to Instagram,” she explains. “It’s been a hugely important aspect of my career lately, and through it I have met so many wonderful artists and made some absolutely amazing contacts on an international level that would simply have been out of reach before social media.”

You’d want to join in the hype.

The post Gill Button’s Portraits Stare Back at You appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Having moved to the US from Haiti, influences in his work can be found from the cultural sociology of his homeland of Haiti, as well as the various American cities he resided in. Those include New York, Miami, Detroit, and San Francisco. Currently based out of San Francisco, California, his background work isn’t restricted to painting and includes illustration, graphic design, and art directing to name a few.

“When I was in fifth grade, my art teacher told that I should go to art school,” he recalls. “So I went to an art magnet school, to art high-school, and then to art college. Growing up in the neighborhood, I would always have a camera filming things. I was always doing things related to art.”

Aside from his artwork, Gay Jr. also owns his own art company and works in film and video production design in LA (a title that also landed him a Grammy nomination with film director Matt Stawski). “I always like to squeeze in as many projects as I can,” he admits. “Anything to keep me creative working on visual art to make me feel passionate.”

Show him some love on Instagram.

The post Serge Gay Jr. Learned to Paint Before He Learned to Speak appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

“Bringing nostalgic feelings into the work I create is part of my character,” explained Miess in an interview with Varoom. “Naturally, I find myself reminiscing or trying to remember past events and conversations in order to strengthen the memory. I forget stories and key elements all the time, so to be able to turn these memories – many of which don’t have photographs documenting them – into artworks, adds permanence to the stories that I value.”

According to Miess, their work is in response to their day-to-day, conversations, and relationships, all of which make their way into the canvas. “There’s a certain order that my work has to be read to be understood, and the repeat symbology holds a story that’s unique to my life experiences,” they note.

But at least judging by their buzzing online presence, this symbology seems to echo other people’s experiences. On top of a growing following on Instagram, Miess have showcased their work in Beers London Gallery and Office&Gallery Los Angeles. They have also created public artwork along the Southbank as part of LDN WMN, a project curated by Tate Collective.

Follow their Instagram page for more.

The post Memories, Thoughts, and Feelings Make Their Way Into Joy Miess’ Art appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Like most creative souls, Mathenge’s artistic passion sparked early on, and she recalls painting as early as primary school. “Our lessons were held in the teacher’s garden, where she had erected easels and set out acrylic and watercolor paints for our use,” said the Kenya-born, California-based painter in an interview with Art of Choice. “Even though we were outdoors, we painted unobserved landscapes, which generally took the form of rolling hills. Cityscapes and imagined village scenes with huts and market stalls were popular.”

But as the years went by, she redirected her passion elsewhere. “From childhood, I had been guided to consider as a suitable venture a career in commerce, medicine, engineering or law,” she says. “Working as an artist was never on the table.” It was only after moving to the US, that she returned to painting.

“Living independently and removed from my family and formative culture gave me the space to look inwards,” reflected Mathenge. “Art was a tool that I used to find a connection with space.” After graduating from both Howard University and Georgetown University Law Center, where she studied International Business and Law, she finally realized her true calling was in art.

Follow her creative journey via Instagram:

The post Wangari Mathenge Rediscovered Her Creative Roots appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

“The paintings are set in spaces that can be read as either interior or exterior,” she explained in an interview with Art of Choice, “their ambiguous, hazy atmospheres locate them in a world that is primarily psychological. This allows me to reference the day-to-day moments that I find surprisingly infinite and beautiful.”

Born in Germany and raised in South Korea, Yoo’s creative journey took her eventually to the United States. But like most artists, her creative passion sparked much earlier on, when she was only 7 years old. “My mother wanted to teach me several different things, for example, music, art, or ballet, but I was only interested in painting and drawing,” says Yoo.

Her work is set on large abstracted planes of color, on which she lays bold, layered marks. According to Yoo, her approach to painting is very much informed by that of Henri Matisse. “Matisse’s paintings contain countless everyday elements that he returns to repeatedly to find something new in each encounter,” she notes. “Those objects create an intimacy and interact with the space that is filled with a variety of patterns and the white of exposed canvas.”

According to Yoo, she similarly observes objects to find their representational imagery, extracts an abstraction from it, and then creates an imagined space, which is personalized to convey the unique qualities that she perceives. Follow her Instagram page for more color and insight.

The post This Painter Presents Snippets of Everyday Life appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

But when it comes to picking just the right colors for each piece, Perkins relies on the computer. “Most of my palettes start digitally: cropping, editing, distilling down colors from photos that I have taken, or gathered,” he relayed in an interview with Art of Choice. “I keep a running catalog of source material, mostly digital these days, but occasionally physical,” he says.

Interested in optical shape play, his paintings evolved over time from image towards absolute abstraction. “By and large the images describe the natural world in some sense,” he says. “Increasingly, I’ve been investigating color and light at night, nocturnes in a sense.”

Based in Brooklyn, he treats color as a constant source of inspiration. “For me, the sublime and its shifting cultural definition has been a theme in my work, tangentially or directly, for many years,” he adds. “I often think of my current work as attempting to describe impossible sublime forms. Forms that seduce and reward; hopefully inviting the viewer to linger long enough to slowly tease out their logic.”

Enter his optical worlds:

The post The Impossible Sublime Forms of Dan Perkins appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

“Believe it or not the whole time I’ve been an artist I’ve felt extremely excited by every small triumph along the way,” she remarked in an interview with Art of Choice. “My first solo show was at Corsican Pizza in Brunswick Maine where I lived at the time. It was a thrilling experience to me. Someone bought one of the pieces. She was a friend. I was overjoyed. Basically to have people understand you and embrace what you are doing is deeply satisfying at any level.”

Born in New York, NY, she divides her time between Brooklyn, NY and Brunswick, ME. “Because I am now 78 years old, I no longer teach a regular class and am no longer raising a family, I can go to the studio every day, all day. It’s heaven,” she says.

Known for her luminous paintings, her work merges abstraction with representational motifs. The result is bold, vibrant, and unmistakenly Bradford. Follow her Instagram for more:

The post Katherine Bradford’s Vibrant Paintings Are Quite Remarkable appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

As such, her work addresses trends associated with ideas of female beauty, as well as celebrates the female form in all its diversity. Centered around fashionable representations of women, her portraits are intentionally exaggerated – with her women subjects looking a bit “off”.

Rupp’s use of oil paint allows her to thoroughly blend and layer the paint to achieve the effect she wants out of her work. Her smooth and delicate application of paint is juxtaposed with a bright, dramatic color palette, creating an exciting interplay of shadow and light that both draws attention to her subjects and maintains their enigmatic aura. In this way, she hopes the viewer can feel the physical and psychological tension between beauty and strangeness in the work without being limited to a single interpretation. “I’m creating a bend on a timeless subject matter, the female form, and also celebrating it,” says Rupp.

Her process begins by collecting images from fashion magazines and the internet, then distorting the photographic source in a way that gives her subjects a new or heightened identity. The result is playful but also – thought-provoking. Take a look for yourself:

The post The Thought-Provoking Portraits of Sarah Rupp appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.