Femme to Femme Fatale:
The Feminine in Contemporary Art

Image of beauty, grace woman combining independent, craftiness and femininity. The cat has a sense of freedom as it doesn’t want to be caught or locked up by anybody. Also cats are often considered the personification of: desire,perversity and laziness;darkness, witchcraft and evil force the souls of the dead. At the same time elegance, vitality, artfulness and invulnerability are the cat’s inherent traits and can be found in a real woman. Having such traits ideal woman could direct an indefatigable men’s strength and power in positive creative way. If we could equate the role of women in structure of the world to men’s role lot of society’s problems will be solved. The «Sphinx Cat» doll is a manifestation of my vision and feeling of the ideal woman who both cute Flirty and femme fatale inside. She has inexplicable appeal to men. The name of this appeal is Femininity.. I hope that in my works I managed to convey at least part of the spectrum of this mysterious woman qualities.

 My name is Tatyana Trifonova. I live and work in Moscow-city, Russia. After I graduated from the university of MARHI, I took part as an artist-designer in a great number of decorative designs. Those projects were of vast directions and complexity levels, starting with apartment designs and continuing to government order for aircraft's cabin interiors. Developing a wide range of design-projects and solving a lot of artistic tasks coupled with a great passion for the world of dolls and fantasy led me to create the first porcelain doll of mine in the year of 2010. To my surprise, it's obtained recognition among doll-fanciers and professional artists. Those people gave me a lot of helpful advice and shared their rich experiences with me. Eventually all the sudden for me the hobby, so to speak doll by doll, became something more substantial and in the year of 2011 the project "TriffonyArtwork" was launched. Nowadays some of the most popular dolls of "TriffonyArtwork" brand are made not only of porcelain, but using polyurethane in order to meet rising customer's interest and demand for dolls. It allows offering some of the most popular dolls for more affordable prices as well. From the very beginning the most important thing for me was not only focusing on embody conception, but making strong emphasis on fine details which are very important for final image perception. Collaboration with the "Stardoll" company helps to maintain high standards of workmanship quality during production of polyurethane dolls. Welcome to my world of dolls.

Image of beauty, grace woman combining independent, craftiness and femininity. The cat has a sense of freedom as it doesn’t want to be caught or locked up by anybody. Also cats are often considered the personification of: desire,perversity and laziness;darkness, witchcraft and evil force the souls of the dead. At the same time elegance, vitality, artfulness and invulnerability are the cat’s inherent traits and can be found in a real woman. Having such traits ideal woman could direct an indefatigable men’s strength and power in positive creative way. If we could equate the role of women in structure of the world to men’s role lot of society’s problems will be solved. The «Sphinx Cat» doll is a manifestation of my vision and feeling of the ideal woman who both cute Flirty and femme fatale inside. She has inexplicable appeal to men. The name of this appeal is Femininity.. I hope that in my works I managed to convey at least part of the spectrum of this mysterious woman qualities.

My name is Tatyana Trifonova. I live and work in Moscow-city, Russia. After I graduated from the university of MARHI, I took part as an artist-designer in a great number of decorative designs. Those projects were of vast directions and complexity levels, starting with apartment designs and continuing to government order for aircraft's cabin interiors. Developing a wide range of design-projects and solving a lot of artistic tasks coupled with a great passion for the world of dolls and fantasy led me to create the first porcelain doll of mine in the year of 2010. To my surprise, it's obtained recognition among doll-fanciers and professional artists. Those people gave me a lot of helpful advice and shared their rich experiences with me. Eventually all the sudden for me the hobby, so to speak doll by doll, became something more substantial and in the year of 2011 the project "TriffonyArtwork" was launched. Nowadays some of the most popular dolls of "TriffonyArtwork" brand are made not only of porcelain, but using polyurethane in order to meet rising customer's interest and demand for dolls. It allows offering some of the most popular dolls for more affordable prices as well. From the very beginning the most important thing for me was not only focusing on embody conception, but making strong emphasis on fine details which are very important for final image perception. Collaboration with the "Stardoll" company helps to maintain high standards of workmanship quality during production of polyurethane dolls. Welcome to my world of dolls.

We are twin sisters Ekaterina and Elena Popovy, professional artists and fashion designers. We were born and grew up in Perm, Russia. We graduated Ural State Academy of Architecture and Arts in Yekaterinburg. We started making dolls in 2004.

At the beginning we were interested in realistic human gesture. The magic of certain personalities inspired us to create their images. We tried not only to make portrait dolls but also to convey the nature of the characters through the gesture and costumes. Before making a portrait doll of the personality we were interested in we made a thorough research of the biography, read interviews, gathered photos and videos. Thanks to this interest we deepened our knowledge of human anatomy and facial gesture. We also learned to work with various artistic materials: china, self fusing plastics (paperclay, efa plast, la doll), fumo, baked plastics.

However portrait doll didn’t let us express ourselves as designers and we started experimenting with materials. Finally we found a perfect solution by combining our passion for fashion design and dolls art. This has grown into small conceptual collections of 10 to 15 dolls.

Huge amount of preparative work is behind every collection. First an idea/emotion is born and we develop a concept of a project. Then we start preparative work: we learn the history, search for the images, develop the texture, choose technique and draw sketches. Figure’s gesture, stylization, artistic delivery and costume design all of this goes along with one theme to express the idea to maximum extent.

The first conceptual project called fashionMOON was presented at the 3^rdInternational Salon in Moscow. The collection was readily accepted by the audience and justified our boldest expectations. The project received two high awards. This was a powerful motivation for our further creative work.

We challenge ourselves with every new collection. We make several dolls or one collection a year. Every doll is handmade from start to finish. We make them patiently, thoughtfully and with a lot of love. We always work together, inspiring and completing each other, besides it’s interesting and a lot of fun.

During our artistic life we took part in many events: in Yekaterinburg fashion shows and festivals, art-salons in Perm, Novosibirsk, Moscow and international salons in Russia, Lithuania and Japan.

You can see our dolls not only at the events but in various publications, including foreign ones that call us the “new wave of Russian art-doll designers”

Reaction of our audience is very important to us. We love watching the people’s faces. The exhibitions bring us heaps of positive emotions, interesting acquaintances and warm talks with colleagues and audience.

Our projects are not only dolls, but also the way we present them to the audience. This includes decorating of the display area and playing background music. The music is written by Igor Korzhov, a Ukrainian musician (Necrotic Trust project).

Profession associations (we are the members of):

Team Koyaala,  Japan

TSHR, Творческий Союз художников России (Creative Union of  Russian Artists)

MOAK, Международная Организация авторов кукол (International Association of Doll Artists)

UAHK, Ural Association of Doll Artists

Jasmine Becket-Griffith (b. 1979) is a freelance artist who specializes in fairy, fantasy, and gothic artwork. Her preferred medium is acrylic on canvas or wood and her designs appear on many lines of licensed merchandise, notably through the chain stores Hot Topic and collectibles through the Bradford Group including co-branded Disney projects. She is also a staple at fantasy conventions, namely Dragon*Con, MegaCon (Orlando) and FaerieCon.

Since 2006, Jasmine began doing freelance co-branded artwork with the Walt Disney Company as an independent contractor.

Jasmine's physical gallery for her artwork is at Pop Gallery Orlando at Downtown Disney in the Walt Disney World Resort. Her licensed Disney character artwork can be found at Disneyland's WonderGround Gallery in Anaheim, California as well as Disney World's Disney Marketplace Co-Op. She lives in Celebration, Florida with her husband/assistant, author Matthew David Becket, and also maintains a small studio in London, England.

Camilla d’Errico is an Italo-Canadian artist who has been making waves in the fine art and comic industries with her manga-influenced style. Ever the prolific artist, Camilla is comic artist/creator and Pop Surrealist painter, while also contributing to the vinyl art toy movement, and expanding her style into fashion, accessories, toys and other merchandise.

Camilla resides in Vancouver, BC, where she paints and draws comics, and more recently has been working with entertainment companies on feature films and videogames. She has distinguished herself through her ability to seamlessly weave comic art and manga with surrealist elements, wrapping it all together with an extensive emotional palette. Thanks to her relentless energy, dedication, and creativity, she has followed her dream of successfully working creatively for a living.

I've always been fascinated with the concept of duality and the balance between two halves of the same whole. As the title, "Femme to Femme Fatale," suggests, you cannot have one without the other. My painting, "Intertwined," depicts the most known and delicate balance of good vs. evil. Woven together, they know they must coexist, even with their backs turned against each other. The femme and the femme fatale are one in the same.

Glenn Arthur is a self-taught visual artist from Orange County, California. Born in February of 1979, he grew up in a conservative, religious household with little to no influence in art. After shedding his roots he quickly realized that creating art would be his calling. Although he constantly doodled and sketched throughout his youth, Glenn did not come into painting until his late twenties when a friend forced a paintbrush into his hand and said, “You need to do this!”

Since then Glenn has been diligently working on creating his own brand of beautifully painted images. Using several different types of media, he adds in elements and influential symbols of his past and present to each piece. Beyond the aesthetics of his artwork, Glenn brings an overwhelming sense of passion to his paintings. Touching on themes of love, death, conflict and duality, Glenn’s art tells stories of strength and hope through emotion and sentiment with his sensual beauties and signature hummingbirds.

Glenn’s artwork has been shown in galleries and museums throughout the United States in solo as well as group shows. His work has also been published in several art books and magazines. Glenn is sponsored by Trekell Art Supplies.

This of course is a continuation of the Painted Roses theme I am working on, which I believe is a natural fit for the Femme To Femme Fatale show theme. This painting is at once immediate and impactful and reveals more of itself the more it's studied. It's almost grotesque in its presentation of this woman that at first appears to have 3 legs, yet when you step to it and see what it is, you slowly find out that it's a double-exposure of two similar poses that are stacked on top of each other. They both meet in unexpected ways. It is almost like a puzzle that invites the viewer to solve it in their mind, yet is almost unsolvable. I am confident that the viewer will be engaged with this piece.

Sergio Lopez, born in 1983, is a graduate of the Academy of Art in San Francisco - and is an exemplary painter in a variety of mediums. His artistic knowledge ballooned when he discovered his love of oil painting and charcoal drawing. He filled sketchbook after sketchbook with observations from life as well as drawings from his imagination. The Golden Age illustrators, Bravura painters, contemporary artists, concept designers, graffiti writers, and photographers have been some of his strongest influences in his pursuit of painting. He continues to study by visiting museums and observing the Great Masters, which he strives to learn lessons of beauty from.

His paintings of female nudes are unique and arresting. They have been soaring in popularity since they first began appearing in publications such as Juxtapoz, Hi-Fructose, Spectrum, Bluecanvas, and more online publications than are fit to list here. He has even been selected twice as a finalist for the Art Renewal Center’s prestigious yearly Salon.

Sergio continues to work in a variety of mediums and styles. From oil and gouache landscapes in and out of the studio to nude gesture studies in newsprint, he enjoys it all. Sergio especially enjoys discovering new vistas, setting up his easel, and creating a piece on the spot. He believes there is no better way to discover the truth and essence of a scene than by standing before it and studying it carefully. Sergio is a native of Sonoma County. He finds the area ever-inspiring, and never ceases to find a new gorgeous area no matter how often he explores.

Since he began participating in plein air events in 2010, Sergio has won multiple awards, including Epperson Gallery’s Valona Paint Out best of show award two years in a row, 3 awards in the 2010 Paint San Clemente Festival, 2nd place Artist Choice Award for Telluride Plein Air 2013, and Honorable Mention in the Alameda Plein Air event two years in a row. He uses the knowledge gained from painting outdoors in his studio paintings. He also is the co-founder of the North Bay Plein Air Painters group and has been helping organize monthly paint-outs since 2009 .

Chie Yoshii's oil paintings explore timeless psychological themes with a contrasting mix of techniques and styles.

On the one hand, the brushstrokes and the luminosity of her panels are reminiscent of traditional Flemish paintings, in which the details, the quality of shading, and the softness of each character’s complexion are presented in a masterly manner. On the other hand, the subtle symbolism and compelling presence of the figures bring an unexpected air of accessible modernity.

Much of her work is inspired by the relationship between human psychology and mythical archetypes. The enduring themes are woven into surrealities filled with symbols and visual narratives. The enigmatic images embody contradicting elements such as novelty and nostalgia, innocence and sensuality, and strength and fragility, mirroring the complexity of our psyche.

Chie Yoshii was born in year 1974 in Kochi, Japan. She moved to the US to complete her BFA at Massachusetts College of Art in 2000 and studied with a realist painter Adrian Gottlieb from 2002 to 2008. Her paintings have been exhibited in galleries worldwide, including Dorothy Circus Gallery in Italy, Urban Nation in Germany, Roq La Rue Gallery in Seattle, Thinkspace in Los Angeles, and William Baczek Fine Arts in Northampton, MA. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

Chris Berens grew up near the historic Netherlands city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, steeped in the atmosphere exalted by painters like Rembrandt and Vermeer. From an early age, he was immersed in his own inner world, a luminous realm inhabited by enigmatic characters and menageries of strange, compelling creatures. After studying illustration at the Academy of Art and Design in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, he retired to an abandoned building near his hometown and proceeded to teach himself the techniques of the Old Masters, consumed with a desire to document the wondrous narrative unfolding within him. Eventually he set aside his oil paints and began experimenting with drawing inks, a fluid medium which allowed greater flexibility than oils, as well as spectacular distortion effects reminiscent of the view through an ancient handmade lens. When he was able to depict his visions with some degree of accuracy, he moved to Amsterdam, and in 2005 began exhibiting at the venerable Jaski Gallery. After four successful shows in Amsterdam, he released the book 2239, and then moved on to conquer the New World. His 2008 American debut, “Go West,” followed the shambolic journey of his internal universe across the North Pole to the show’s venue in Seattle. Since then, Berens has continued to paint with a passionate fervor, resulting in a remarkable evolution in his technique and three more triumphal exhibitions. In his most recent work, he wraps his visionary mythology around an epic saga about the arrival of his first child, Emma Leeuwenhart.

Amanda Erlanson
Los Angeles, June 2011

The traditional image of a femme fatale is one of a seductress.  This thought, however, was not my intended goal.  I wanted to emphasize the strength that is at the core of the femme fatale... the stature combined with a certain amount of grace and elegance.  The model I chose for Maul is the epitome of these characteristics. Her strength stands on its own while the additions of the feathers adds a certain degree of softness around the edges.

Kate Zambrano explores the human condition though visual stimulation.  Often coupling the standard idealization of beauty with a deep, haunting melancholy, she uses monochromatic and subtle colors in her paintings to create a genuine and simplified journey into individuality.  She works with different mediums and techniques as well as incorporating texture and drips to create an unsettling concept of what is attractive.  

Her work is made to bring up the emotions, ideas, and opinions of the viewer.  It forces self-exploration and internal dialogue.  She leads the viewer to reflect on him or herself. 

Kate is an American painter hailing from across the United States.  She grew up, with her sketchbook in hand, having a fervent desire to recreate the things she found beautiful. Self-taught and ambitious, she works night and day on her passion for art with a temporary head space in her studio.

My work is concerned with the concept of glamour and its role in social identity. I am particularly interested in the idea of beauty through transformation. The notion of the Femme Fatale is of particular interest to me. Seductive and demanding of attention,the viewer is drawn in, yet inevitably kept emotionally and physically at a distance. Intrinsic to the temporary and fragile nature of the make-up often used to conjure up such an effect, the onlooker is forced to play the role of voyeur, never fully engaging with the illusion. 

Digital photography is an essential tool in my work. It creates an emotional platform to connect with the subject, whilst the staging and the artificiality of a photo shoot serve to enhance the visual language of the imagery and the subsequent portrait.

I am a self-taught painter having graduated in a degree in biochemistry at the university of Bristol. I have been a resident of Jamaica Street Studios in Bristol since 2006.

In the last year or so, my work has increasingly focused on creating portraits and figures immersed in the "urban" context. Whether a close up examination of the glamorous and modified, adorned with tattoos and piercings or a figure caught in a fleeting moment of city life.

I am drawn to the vibrant and youthful, care-free characters I see everyday outside the doors of my studio. I am lucky to reside in a beautifully eclectic area of Bristol city where fashion and identity are of foremost importance, and provide constant inspiration and fuel my desire to paint.

In my most recent work I continue to explore the use of paint, mark-making and surface texture within the framework of my hyper-realist technique.

Handiedan‘s artistic universe revolves around some leading visual motifs and yet it amazes thanks to its complexity, both in terms of formal composition and in terms of the technique she uses for making them. These two aspects together determine the irresistible charm of her art.

Undisputed protagonists of Handiedan‘s sculptural hand-cut collages, her vintage pin-ups immediately recall the burlesque genre. However if we look into them further many sources of inspiration are revealed: the Neo-Classical and Victorian ages, the Parisian Belle Époque, up to the 1940’s and Post-War sexy imagery. But none of Handiedan‘s ‘models’ really existed. In fact each of them is composed through by assembling anatomical parts of different pre-existing images. The newly formed woman is the result of a complex layering process that gives to Handiedan‘s art a three-dimensional quality and makes a collaged bas-relief out of every work. Her cheerfully sexy creatures seem to lively bend in and out of their background.

Notwithstanding the ‘less is more’ design theory so prevalent in Dutch culture, Handiedan‘s art responds more to a fascination with minute ornamental details. In each work the background is as much intriguing as the feminine creatures emerging from it. Filled with tiny exquisite details, the backgrounds incorporates old postage stamps, antique currencies, playing cards, music sheets and all sorts of odd antiques, even cigar bands. They are composed as to create elegantly decorative motifs and patterns.

Once Handiedan has gathered all the visual fragments and having in mind an atmosphere rather than a specific subject, she ‘plays’ with them on the computer. When the digital design satisfies her, she prints the elements that will form the layered collage on paper. She also uses old wood and even zinc as a canvas of the final image. Her beautifully complex work is completed by her own drawings and pen doodles marking both the background and the body parts of the pin-ups. Mounted into antique ornamented frames, the works are finally ready in all their exuberant liveliness.

If Handiedan‘s pin-ups look like something in between an orientally adorned femme fatale from a noir film, a sexually joyful pin-up from a 1950’s calendar and a tattooed rockabilly gal, each work also works as a treasure trove of symbols scattered on the background in form of decorative detail. For instance, her most recent work focuses on Quantum Physics, Cosmology, Easter Philosophy and Sacred Geometries. Different ways of observing the continues motion of Energy/Life.

Though she has opted for a monochrome treatment, her new series confirms the complexity and depth coming from this form of layered collage, where everything is hand-cut and assembled with great care. The new pieces are as much proof of Handiedan’s accomplished technique as the previous ones (if not more).
(Margherita Dessanay)

The piece is entitled Niru Bai Mausu (Japanese for nil by mouth) and focuses on the idea that, in certain cultures (especially in the past), a women should be seen and not heard. The blue represents inner security and confidence, as does, the girls stare. In spite of the fact that the headscarf covers half her mouth, the blue represents, in color psychology, communication and speaking the truth. The blocks of blue represent the fact that without a voice a woman, no matter how pretty or alluring, is incomplete.

Fin DAC makes large murals of beautiful women, taking a new turn on 19-century art movement The Aesthetics. He believes, so did the Aesthetics, that art should not be political or social, it should only serve a purpose of bare embellishment of mundane lives. The purpose of art is to bring the beauty to the world. Being that the leading idea in street art is the social and political engagement, Fin DAC chose his theme to be a bit different. His murals depict beautiful women, with eye masks, who wear gorgeous clothes and elegant makeup. He named his style Urban Aesthetics, in which he combines the modern urban stencil art and traditional art of portrait. (via WideWalls)

Femininity is a spectrum of beige complexities that can be harsh as a darkened pupil yet soft as the lilac hue. Of a contingent nature, the modern woman shapeshifts from one role to another, leaving imprints on her body to tell the tales of her intricacies.

TRAN NGUYEN is an award-winning illustrator and gallery artist. Born in Vietnam and raised in the States, she is fascinated with creating visuals that can be used as a psycho-therapeutic support vehicle, exploring the mind's landscape. Her paintings are created with a soft, delicate quality using colored pencil and acrylic on paper.

Nguyen has worked for clients such as VH1, Tor Books, Chateau St. Michelle Winery, and has showcased with galleries in California, New York, and Italy. She is currently represented by Richard Solomon and Thinkspace gallery.

My painting has to do with the modern woman and her lost sense of self; her fragmentation from feminine concepts. She is a part of nature, but when looking to the world outside of herself what is reflected back is a convoluted version of femininity. She as a being is complete, beautiful, strong, wild, nurturing, compassionate, and whole - it's just a matter of her beginning to see herself for herself - not through the lense of our society - but to feel her own body and love her own skin.

Hannah Yata was born in 1989 and raised in a small town in Georgia. She is half Japanese and Caucasian. She grew up with a deep love of nature and animals passed down by the beautiful surroundings in the country and her mother. As a young adult, she studied feminism, psychology, and art in college. Graduating with a BFA in painting from the University of Georgia in 2012 she moved up to New York to focus on her work and how to put her ideas into paintings. In 2015, she was commissioned to do several works of art for musician B.o.B, which are now featured on his latest album: “Psycadelik Thoughtz.”

 In her own work, Yata seeks to interweave political ideas, (using nature, women, and feminism almost synonymously), environmental degradation, and themes of moral injustice into increasingly chaotic paintings. She uses masks from a mix of other cultures to speak to the different relationships that native tribes and cultures have with the earth, while giving anthropomorphic qualities and symbolism to the animals to speak their consciousness. The increasing psychedelic features to her work are inspired by beauty and the energy of nature, while communicating the anxiety and tension she feels brewing in the world. These elements are combined many times to celebrate the female form that denies objectification and exploitation of nature and interweaves them into grotesquely beautiful, surreal dreamscapes.

Pippa McManus has emerged as one of Australia’s best-known fashion illustrators after
a decade of professional work in the industry. McManus began studying fine arts in Perth in 2000 before transitioning into fashion and textile design. She soon discovered she felt at home with a foot in both art and fashion, and began to carve out a niche in fashion illustration. By 2005, McManus began participating in group shows and promoting her work through social media.

It was a community project with Perth artist Stormie Mills that led to a series of collaborations with
other notable artists and designers from Australia and the rest of the world. After Mills selected
McManus and her business partner Leon Krasenstein to be a part of his group exhibition at L.A’s
Scion Gallery in 2007, McManus caught the eye of Perth fashion designer Aurelio Costarella.
Their collaboration saw McManus illustrate the invites for Costarella’s New York Fashion Week show.

But McManus’ first big break came when she was asked to illustrate the 2009 campaign of luxury
jeweller Linney’s. Her work for the Perth pearl company led to commissions from a string of Australia’s top fashion and lifestyle brands, including Ellery, Urban Walkabout, Dusk and Manning Cartell. McManus was also commissioned to create a series of in-store murals for the likes of
Zara Bryson, Chick & Kent, Zomp and Rummage.

McManus’ strong ties to the fashion world mean she regularly attends Sydney’s Mercedes-Benz
Fashion Week and the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival, and is a permanent fixture on the Perth Fashion Festival schedule. Her 2012 entry into an international illustration competition held by London-based designer Mary Katrantzou beat more than 130 other entries to win McManus tickets to the designer’s Spring/Summer 2013 London Fashion Week show.

Since 2012, McManus has sold out four solo shows of her work: ‘A is For Arizona’, an A–Z of her
favourite models; ‘Best Western’, a print exhibition in conjunction with Perth Fashion Festival; and
‘With Flowers In Their Hair’ and ‘Sleeping Beauties’, two shows at her residency at 140William.
These shows have led to a consistent flow of private commission requests both nationally
and internationally. Scoop Magazine asked McManus to blend her illustration techniques with fashion photography for a cover and feature editorial in 2013. She continued her commercial magazine work, landing a two-year contract illustrating teen publication Girlfriend’s monthly star sign feature, Girstrology. This led to a string of art book features including the cover of Somer Flaherty Tejwani’s guide The Art of Fashion Illustration, which features techniques and inspiration from leading fashion artists. Taschen also chose McManus’ work for a six-page feature in the book, Illustration Now! Fashion.

McManus’ strong social media presence has attracted the attention of Australia’s leading fashion
brands. She has been asked to curate the Instagram accounts of one of Australia’s top make-up
brands, Becca, with a series of 10 illustrations released over 10 days. Perth’s premier shoe boutique Zomp also asked the artist to create nine illustrations of her favourite looks from its Spring/Summer 2015 season.

McManus held her first national solo show, ‘Gypset’, at Friends Of Leon gallery in Sydney’s Surry Hills in September 2014, after eight months of research and painting. The show featured 20 highly intricate, bohemian-themed fashion illustrations, which referenced traditional Moroccan, Spanish and Indian costumes. The work sold out a week before the show opened. Additional pieces created for the show also sold out on the night, totalling 30 works sold in all.

Three months later McManus’ year-long collaboration with photographer Caitlin Worthington, stylist Emma Bergmeier-Varian, florist Fox & Rabbit, make-up artist Rebecca Collins and hair stylist Melissa Cook was realised in the form of, a group exhibition. ‘In Bloom’ opened to sell-out success at Fremantle’s Many building. The collaboration featured 10 illustrations and eight photographic prints of model Narcisa Music sporting incredible floral crowns and dreamy fashion and accessories.

This year has presented a diverse array of creative projects. McManus is no longer producing private commissions or commercial work, and has instead been able to contribute pieces to two nominated charities, StyleAid and Cord. McManus’ donated works have been auctioned to help raise money for the important work of these organisations.

McManus is now focusing solely on her fine art, and recently partnered with Perth’s Little Wing
Collective to participate in two ‘Photobomb’ events where selected artists illustrate over a photographic print. The project allowed McManus the opportunity to blend two art forms, and she used an artist talk at Little Wing’s Corner Gallery to reflect on her passion for such experimentation and her career highlights. In May, McManus launched her first online exhibition ‘Teen Queens’, an online catalogue of 20 pieces of work available to an exclusive client list. The artworks were based on images of royal women and combined elements of wicca and religion.

The rest of the year holds some exciting projects, including a group exhibition in October at Friends of Leon gallery that will place McManus alongside 25 of the world’s best figurative female artists. ‘In Bloom Two’ is also scheduled to open in December at a handpicked styled space in Perth CBD’s EnEx building. Studio 281 Gallery has also come onboard to represent McManus and regularly show her work.

McManus has been invited to exhibit at her favourite international gallery, Modern Eden Gallery,
in San Francisco in September 2016. Her work will be part of the group show ‘Femme to Femme:
The Feminine in Contemporary Art’, curated by Beautiful Bizarre magazine’s Danijela Krha.

Client List 

Organisations
Perth Fashion Festival / Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia 
L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival / Propel Youth Arts
The Telethon Adventurers / Art For Spine 

Fashion, Beauty & Lifestyle
Zivago / Zomp / Manning Cartell / Aurelio Costarella / Ellery / Joveeba / Garth Cook 
One Fell Swoop / Mary Katrantzou / Becca / Head Studio / Linneys 
Urban Walkabout / Dusk / Bunkers Wines / Dlux Interiors / Miss Bunting 

Publications
Girlfriend / Catalogue Magazine / Scoop / Skywest Magazine / Box / Russh / White 
Taschen / STM / Sportsgirl / Pedestrian.com / Draw A Dot / Swide by Dolce & Gabbana 

Retail
140 William / Bib & Tucker / Claremont Quarter / Chik & Kent / Rummage 
Chatswood Chase / Hatch / Louis Baxters / Frankii 
Zara Bryson / The Annex / Zomp 

Iconography can tell a story.  Believing it’s subtle power shapes us, Alessandra Maria's work is an attempt to create a modern feminist idol, to redefine feminine divinity and to combat objectification and dehumanization.  Her work re-imagines traditional depictions of female divinity. Throughout history, and particularly within the Abrahamic religions, feminine power has been embodied in three forms with few exceptions: the virgin, the whore, and the mother. Put another way, women's highest expression of virtue was defined insofar as their being a vessel for someone else child. The echoes of these restrictive archetypes inspire her to create icons whose power transcends that of a woman's physical vessel, who’s sexuality evokes strength, stalwartness, and edge regardless of sexuality. 

“Though she graduated from Pratt Institute only in 2012, rising artist Alessandra Maria is already
making waves with her delicate, mixed-media artworks.” - Hi Fructose Magazine

“Alessandra's beautifully eerie illustrations appear to be illuminated by the night sky.
Her subject's glowing eyes make us wonder who exactly they are.” -Juxtapoz Magazine

In today's society I feel we need to celebrate the spirit of the feminine as once upon a time the Pagans celebrated the magic and mystery of Women. It is my hope my portrayal of 'The Woman' is one of all that she encompasses. Beauty, allure, strength, magic, mystery, tenderness, and love.

Bec Winnel is an accomplished Australian illustrator and artist. Winnel’s portraiture combines the illustrative precision of a graphic artist with the sophistication and emotiveness of a painter. The ethereal quality of the her work is the result of carefully accreted layers of pencil, pastel and washes of paint.

Winnel’s work is delicate and otherworldly, and seems to border on the immaterial. Her imagery emerges from the surface like a dream state: soft, plush, and seemingly on the brink of dissolving into thin air. The artist’s subject’s are beautiful, and explore the haunting of femininity, romanticism, nature and a tendency towards aesthetic nostalgia.

Her pieces are rendered in a palette of candy pastel hues, with a gossamer like delicacy. Hyperreal and uncannily executed, the seduction of the imagery is ultimately contemporary and odes to feminine beauty that combine nostalgia with timeliness, hyperrealism with stylistic license – hovering seductively in the realm of dream.

Winnel is represented by Thinkspace Gallery in Culver City US, a member of PRISMA Artist Collective and an advocate with Element Eden.

My painting “Omniscient” represents the quintessential female. She is a balance of the nurturing feminine and the seductive femme fatale. With her lush blossoms and impending thorns, attracting bees and ladybirds, she is self-reliant, yet nurtures community. She is secretive, intuitive and filled with eternal love.

“Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” - Lewis Carroll

For almost twenty years I’ve lived in the Sierra Foothills. My home has a tree house view of the world that has made nature an integral part of my life and my art. The metamorphosis of seasons and the cycles of life and death are reoccurring elements. A collection of curiosities, along with my love of fairy tales, Art Nouveau and Old Hollywood Glamour have also found their way into my art.

I paint primarily in transparent watercolor, layering luminous glazes of pure hue to give everything a candy coat of Easter-like color.  - Tracy Lewis 

Alex Garant studied visual arts at Notre-Dame–De-Foy College just outside Quebec City. After graduating in 2001, she ultimately settled in Toronto, Canada.

She decided to truly commit to her passion for Arts after suffering from a heart attack in 2012, changing forever how she would see the world.

Alex has shown works all over Canada and the United States as well as Portugal and Australia; she also has been featured in publications like Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, Supersonic, Hi-Fructose Magazine, Juxtapoz, My Modern Met, The Huffintong Post, Mashable.com, BUzznet.com  and many more.

Her alla prima oil paintings offer a graphic quality combined with traditional portrait techniques. Garant  uses patterns, duplication of elements,  symmetry and image superposition as key elements of her imagery. Alex Garant's paintings are not far from a perfect optical illusion: her protagonists trying to escape themselves, almost possessed by a distinct version of their own individuality, an exorcism of the soul.

The viewers shall try to unearth the main figure by focusing on making those multiples into one. Alex Garant's paintings are certainly conversation pieces as they are meant to engage the observers into an image investigation process and hopefully enlist their senses differently while doing so.

Julie Filipenko is an artist from Tel Aviv, exhibiting in galleries worldwide.