Teetering on the edge of being disturbing, Michael Hussar from Long Beach, California, produces some of the most mind numbing art I’ve ever had the pleasure of gazing upon.

     While not much is known about Hussar, it is known that he was taught by artists such as; Richard Bunkall, Dwight Harmon and Judy Crook. He also taught at a private college in Los Angeles for ten years teaching others how to paint portraits in much of the same way he does and now travels all over the U. S.  and Europe  giving  people the chance to learn some of his unusual technique.

     Hussar cranks out oil painting after oil painting of wicked characters and scenarios that no ordinary man could conjure up.  A vast amount of Hussar’s paintings portray women that are borderline demonic, taking the liberty of morphing common subjects  into something so evil and captivating that you just cannot help but stare  a second longer. 

Official Website-Proceed with Caution-Content may vary in appropriateness.

   The new year brought a saucerful of awards for J-town’s art department after participating  in this year’s Scholastic Awards. Although falling short of last year’s accomplishments, J-town still managed to bring home twenty-one awards consisting of nine Gold Keys, five Silver Keys, and seven Honorable Mentions  in a diverse spectrum of categories. In addition to an awards ceremony held at Gheens Auditorium on February 11, the Gold-winning work also took part in a gallery opening  from February 5-26 at the Kentucky Center of Art and Craft. Following the gallery display, the work of Gold Key students will be sent to New York for national judging in March . Seniors Sierra Jeffries and Lara Kinne also recieved a Gold Key award for their art portfolios. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners!

Gold Key winners:
Amber Cox, Sierra Jeffries, Lara Kinne, Stephanie Stone, and Alix Mattingly.

Silver Key winners:
Madison Shepard, Lee Cosby, Michael Cox, and Jennifer Lewis.

Honorable Mentions:
Abby Borders, Kel Crick, Nick Waldron.

Slide shows of the winners’s work can be viewed, here.

     If you spend most of your day lurking around B side, you’ve probably seen these students prowling in and out of the art room. But it’s no coincidence.   Art 4 students are constantly at work, sometimes even spending more than one period a day in art class. This time allows for students to create unique pieces that are consistantly used for competitions as well as potential slot fillers for a college portfolio.
But a lot of these students go unnoticed…

Amber Cox

-Favorite artists:
Paul Cézanne, Sierra Jeffries, Lara Kinne, and Betsy Deleon.
-Plans after high school:
College, and maybe look into wedding cake design.
-Favorite medium:
Oil paint.
-Favorite piece you’ve done:
I haven’t had a favorite…yet!

Sierra Jeffries

-Favorite Artists:
Andy Warhol, Phil Hansen, Christo and Jeanne Claude, and Amber Cox.
-Plans after High School:
Go to college and get my education on. I’m not sure what I want to pursue when it comes to careers, though. But I’ll still continue art on the side.
-Things you want your art to say?
Just for them to be interesting enough that people would want to actually look at them.
-Favorite medium:
Pencil and regular paper.

Betsy Deleon

-What do you hope to accomplish this year?
To do good pieces.
-Plans after high school:
Go to college.
-Favorite medium:
Using paint.
-Favorite piece you’ve done:
My painting of Amber’s hands.

Jacob Mueller

-What kind of art do you like?
Graphic and logo design.
-Plans after high school:
Major in graphic design, work for a company, and then create my own brand, “Bordum,” for skate and surf.
-Favorite medium:
Dark led pencil.
-Favorite piece you’ve done:
The J-town baseball logo.

Lee Cosby

-What kind of art do you like?
Art that makes you think outside of the box a little; abstract artwork.
-Favorite artists:
Jason Sluers
-What do you hope to accomplish this year?
I’m hoping to put out as many paintings and sculptures as much as I can, and submit them to Scholastic and hopefully receive an award.
-Favorite piece you’ve done:
My self portrait.

Lara Kinne

-What kind of art do you like?
Anything I can relate or feel attuned to.
-Favorite artists:
Otto Dix, Cindy Sherman, Fernando Botero and David Lynch.
-Things you want your art to say?
I want it to be comfy and unsettling. Everything I create is irrational to the point of whimsy, despite being ferociously serious.
-Favorite piece you’ve done:
My bacon and woman duet painting.

After being popped out as a newborn on March 31st, 1982, Audrey Kawasaki has quite obviously made a name for herself. Hailing from Los Angeles it would be easy to bypass her because there are so many talented artists residing in that location.

Having mastered the skill of applying oil paint to a simple wood panel and making it outstanding, it’s understandable why she is spoken of so highly. Her work is of said to be a mix of Art Nouveau and Japanese manga.

Kawasaki favors painting oddly attractive adolescent girls, risqué most would say. The amount of paint being used scarce, more often than not she allows their limbs to float off into nothing, adding to the eerie essence of the piece.

After studying at Pratt Institution in New York City for two years, she left without even finishing her degree in fine art because she did not agree with their terms of illustrative style. Audrey is one of those people who knows what she likes and knows how she likes to accomplish it. Her ways have been working up to this point in her life, so why stop now?
_____

Audrey’s Site.
Audrey’s LiveJournal

Love Lost, 2000

     A man with good taste is how I would classify rapper Jay-Z, seeing as how recently he’s taken up collecting pieces of art by Damien Hirst. You may never have heard of Mr.  Hirst,  which is truly a shame.  Damien Hirst is a brilliant yet misunderstood artist.  Misunderstood because certain people feel as if his art is not worth being made. To say the least, Hirst’s  art isn’t for the squeamish.
     Hirst’s more well known pieces are of animals.  But not your typical portrait of some pony. His animals are usually split in two, threes or as many times as he would like. A small list of some of the animals he’s used for such displays are cows, sheep and even a few sharks thus preserving the sliced up animal in a solution that allows them to be put on exhibit for all to marvel at. Or it gives all of the people that dislike him yet another reason to add onto their list of pieces they despise.

     Even though a large number of people truly hate his work, having sold his Lullaby Spring, for £9.65 million at Sotheby’s in London, it doesn’t seem as if those who object are affecting him in the least.  Hirst is well worth the money that people are shelling out for his works; he’s quite obviously earned the recognition.

____

Art goes on in your head. If you said something interesting, that might be a title for a work of art and I’d write it down. Art comes from everywhere. It’s your response to your surroundings. There are on-going ideas I’ve been working out for years, like how to make a rainbow in a gallery. I’ve always got a massive list of titles, of ideas for shows, and of works without titles - Damien Hirst.

http://www.gagosian.com/artists/damien-hirst/

Although not a national contest like the Scholastic awards, the All-State Art Competition is still generally very competitive and offers quite a few cash scholarships for our students. Each category (painting, drawing, etc.) is awarded one 1st. 2nd, and 3rd place as well as honorable mentions given out at the judge’s discretion. With so few awards this contest is pretty tough, given the caliber of the competion.

Here are the winners of the 2009 competition:

1st Place Ceramics: Brittany Ellis
1st Place Painting: Amber Cox
1st Place Printmaking: Sierra Jeffires
2nd Place Drawing: Tyray Daniels
2nd Place Textiles: Amber Cox
3rd Place Textiles: Sierra Jeffires
Honorable Mention Sculpture: Karen Chism

All first place winners will move on to the state-wide competition where they will compete for scholarship money and other awards. Congratutations to everyone.  Great job!