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PhotoLA 2011: Brooke Shaden, Natalie (MissAnelia) Dybisz, James Verbicky and Denis Peterson

Los Angeles Photographer BROOKE SHADEN
Within the space of a square frame, I try to build a world that is undeniably separate from the one we live in. What fascinates me about any artistic medium is that it can pull the viewer out of a logical and common world, and place them within a space that is more alive. When I use a square frame, I hope that the viewer will forget that they are looking at a photograph and instead see an alternate reality, one that mixes painterly qualities with surrealism and fantasy. Why focus on what the artistic medium is when the subject and concept are pulling us deeper and deeper into a world that allows us to escape our reality in exchange for a fantasy? It is my goal in photography to make beautiful that which others find disturbing, to take a simple concept (be it birth, death, or something in between - life) and mold it into something complex and magnetic. I want my imagery to move beyond the realm of photography and instead mimic paintings and alternate styles of art. I am not in love with any particular medium of art as much as I am in love with visually representing the stories I have in my mind. It is this painterly quality that I emulate, such as the use of brush strokes over my photographs, that I think gives my work a unique touch.

London Photographer NATALIE "MISS ANIELA" DYBISZ
Miss Aniela is a fine-art photographer based in London, UK. Most of her work is self-portraiture and use to express a wide variety of messages ranging from the everyday to the otherworldly. Natalie Dybisz - also known as Miss Aniela - is part of a new breed of photographers circumventing the traditional path to success in the world of fine art photography by utilizing photo sharing/social networking sites like Flickr to build a fan base, launch a portfolio and get noticed. Natalie's images - many of them self portraits - are unique in that they aren't shot with high-end equipment or studio lighting and often include multiple instances of herself in the same image (via Photoshop-magic).

Denis Peterson was one of the first Photorealists to emerge in New York. He is widely acknowledged as the pioneer and primary architect of Hyperrealism which was founded upon the aesthetic principles of Photorealism. Denis Peterson learned drawing and painting under the lifelong tutelage of his grandfather, a master painter and protege of Claude Monet. Denis earned a BFA while restoring 16th and 17th century Flemish paintings for museums and worked as a graphics illustrator while attaining a Painting MFA at Pratt Institute where he was later awarded a teaching fellowship by Richardson Pratt. His early photorealist paintings were shown in New York at galleries and in public exhibitions including the Brooklyn Museum, one of the premier art institutions in the world. Following two decades of painting, the next two were a disconnect from his work in order to pursue other interests. Then, breaking with the formal conventions of traditional painting and its aesthetic limitations, he later pioneered hyperrealism, now a widely acknowledged school of art with a significant international following.

Canadian Photo Based Mixed Media JAMES VERBICKY
Both borderline tongue-in-cheek and overtly sardonic, Verbicky explores the resurgence of the survivalist world-view and it's manifestation in today's egalitarian or "green" culture as a form of pathological mediocrity and stereotypy. Verbicky's imagery depicts a fixated pursuit of happiness spurred by a deep, self-fulfilling fear of annihilation that requires us to "fit-in" or die. Interestingly, "Sheeple" was inspired by a recent trip to Paris for a show at the Louvre where he witnessed the remnants of previous great cultural shifts laying stagnant against the status quo. These sky captains are on "auto-pilot" careening through space listening to a bad mix in their headsets, grappling with their joysticks in an asphyxiating masturbatory fantasy because they just don't know what else to do. The four panels represent the stages of a thought that never manifested but instead was left usurped by the absurd condition of self-distraction in the face of self-destruction. In Polish are the words, "It feels so good when you joke." - a superficial attempt at happiness seen in the final panel, that never seems to permeate.

New York Photographer VENTIKO
I get visions. Compelled to create, I am obsessed with reaching the unattainable: perfection. I am a photographic artist. Perpetually dissatisfied with the real world, I find comfort and joy in creating my own. This process begins with constructing sets. I believe in utilizing found objects to create these sets recreating a frozen frame of the film that constantly runs in my brain. When the subject steps into my studio they enter my version of reality. This reality is most often accompanied by the classical music of Erik Satie, costumes, wigs and assuming a character. The final image is a portrait of the essence of the individual free of constraint. Ventiko was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1978, raised in Indianapolis, Indiana and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Gerard Basil Stripling draws on all aspects of life creating unique and meaningful contemporary fine art bronze sculptures. Stripling grew up in the heart of Los Angeles. At an early age, he became aware that his passion was to be an artist. After receiving an AA degree in Fashion Design and years of worldly travels, Gerard began his own self taught approach to creating fine art sculptures in different mediums such as ceramic, wood, steel and bronze. Gerard's new original bronze work focuses on the sculptural representation of the preservation of time. "The current pieces that I am creating are based on preserving the past and protecting the future. The objects and forms represent ideals, beliefs and opportunities. They represent the importance for us as adults to fight for the freedoms and experiences that we enjoyed in our childhood. If we do not leave this country in a better state for our children, all we will have to show are our memories. Thus the pieces are wrapped and preserved as a memory of what used to be." -Gerard Basil Stripling.

Los Angeles based Artist David Limrite's work is a powerful yet lyric interpretation of the human condition. Using primarily graphite and charcoal, his paintings combine virtuoso drawing with a cathartic expressionism while hints of color expose a haunting quality of the fantasy of the unknown. His new work focuses on the imagery of mermaids depicting whimsical half human half fish portraits. Unlike typical mermaid representation, Limrite's creatures seem beautifully disturbed, perhaps at the confusion of their place in existence.