Platinum Blend: Curated by Stephanie Chefas

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

Shawn Huckins was first introduced to painting after inheriting his grandmother’s oil painting set at the age of nine. As an adult, it has taken a route through studies in architecture and film, plus a stint living on the other side of the world, for him to gravitate back towards painting. Since graduating from Keene State College with a degree in the Studio Arts, Huckins has taken inspiration from 18th Century American Neo-Classical painters to 20th Century Pop artists and preoccupied his work with a contemporary discourse on American culture. Courtesy of Goodwin Fine Art

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

"I was born in year 1980 in Latvia, a small country in the North-East of Europe, which was at that time under soviet occupation.

My inspirations have been as diverse as: folklore fairytales, children book illustrations, imaginative soviet animation films and supernaturally real classical painting; the colorful forbidden rare secret imagery of the western pop culture surrounded by mystical, almost religious tone for us, soviet children; the terrifying war and deportation stories that my grandparents, and their little brothers and sister witnessed as small children; pompous alienated eerie atmosphere of the catholic church ceremonies, and the breathtakingly beautiful ballet performances in the opera house, where I was taken since the age of two etc. – all the bitter-sweetness and irreality of the every day.

But most of all, life is my inspiration. The way I comprehend it, and myself. People are my inspiration. The state of a human soul - dreams, longing, love, pain - that is what my visual images are about. 

I have been exhibiting my artwork internationally since age of 15.

Till now, my work’s been exhibited and can be found in collections all across Europe – Italy, Belgium, UK, Switzerland, Germany, Lithuania, Russia, Finland, Spain, etc. – as well as in USA and Australia." ~Jana Brike

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

BIO.

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

Henrik Aarrestad Uldalen (1986) is a self-taught artist whose creative production revolves around classic figurative painting, presented in a contemporary manner. Henrik explores the dark sides of life, nihilism, existentialism, longing and loneliness, juxtaposed with fragile beauty. The atmosphere in his subject matter is often presented in a dream or limbo-like state, with elements of surrealism. His focus on atmospheres rather than narratives and realism leaves his painting open for many interpretations.

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

Milan-based artist Marco Mazzoni works almost exclusively with colored pencils to create intricate drawings that depict the cycles of nature and worlds based heavily in Italian folklore. One of his most frequent subjects are drawings of flora and fauna who seem to be consuming or living on top of the face of a woman whose eyes we never see. The artist says he consciously does not depict the eyes so the viewer doesn’t consider the artwork a portait, but instead a still life where all elements have equal importance. Via This is Colossal

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

BIO.

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

Aaron Nagel is a figurative oil painter living in Los Angeles, CA.
Born: 1980, SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

Souther Salazar was born in 1978 in Hayward, CA. In the early 1990s, as a teenager in rural Oakdale, Salazar made photocopied cut-and-paste mini-comics and ‘zines. After graduating from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, he moved to Los Angeles where he lived and worked for ten years before re-locating to Portland OR, where he is currently based. Salazar’s artwork transports the viewer into a vibrant and endless world of overlapping narratives and dreamscapes— half-remembered, half-imagined places “where stories can develop and take on a life of their own.”  Utilizing a wide variety of freely mixed media, found objects and layers of assemblage, his work evokes the wonders and imagination that many of us abandoned in childhood. Salazar often exhibits his collages, paintings, drawings and sculptures in dense and frenzied installations that encourage exploration and discovery. 

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

JEYA is Jeni Yang.

JEYA is an illustrator experiments with a wide range of materials and mediums. Born in Taipei, raised on a staple of fruit tarts and other sweets, she currently resides in Los Angeles with her ‘magical headphones’. While not making stuff, she likes to bake sweets and treats for fun.

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

These are portraits of the forgotten idols, the pieces of the past meant to preserve the highest order of our human ideals. As we move stubbornly forward in time and generations pass on, we see our crowned achievements of art and culture as dust. The rate of decay is governed only by the constitution of the material, be it flesh or marble. These paintings are about interpreting the fragility of our idols and examining them from a humanist perspective. In the end, entropy prevails and only by finding beauty in decay and re-interpreting it do we carry on the indomitable human spirit of progress and artistic pursuit of beauty.

Bradley Platz’ intricate oil paintings deal with the alternating nature of worship in the modern age. Using classical symbolic imagery from old world traditions and transposing subtle hints of modernity, his work might best be described as tarnished elegance. Ever present also are certain whimsical and subtle symbols that carry the viewer through his body of work as a reader through a story, or a craft on the sea.

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

Los Angeles-born artist Elizabeth McGrath has always had an eye for the strange beauty in the grotesqueries of life; this appreciation is nowhere more evident than in her work. Inspired by the relationship between the natural world and the detritus of consumer culture, she brings forth a new cavalcade of creatures from the darker corners of the streets, the city, the imagination. It is this melancholy interaction between man-made status symbols and suffering specimens of nature that make up her intricate body of work

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

Peter Gronquist’s work has always eschewed easy interpretation–the artist is reticent to pick any one sentiment or statement that might easily summarize his art practice. He takes great pains to produce the Neo Baroque high-gloss and gold-gilded finishes found in his signature animal taxidermy sculptures, where he appropriates ultra-masculine imagery creating a juxtaposition of the innocent and the aggressor. Up to 30 hours may go into sanding the finish on an assault weapon antler, and Gronquist employs master gold platers to complete the almost alchemical transformation of adhering pure gold accents, perfecting a process of binding gold and silver to non-metal surfaces.

These objects act as a parody of the role that luxury goods play in what Gronquist views as “hyper American” culture. Designer labels, outrageous bling, and rampant conspicuous consumption point to the consumerism that dominated pre-recession American culture, and the transgression for which we are now atoning amidst the global economic collapse. His use of guns also relates to this “hyper Americanism” and works as a double edge; part empowering, part destructive, it’s a timely criticism of gun culture, which is presented as either wholesome and sporting, or malicious and predatory. Gronquist’s exposure of these characteristics of American culture, the simultaneous rejection and embodiment of the consumerism and apathy we have inherited as the American dream, is possibly the most concise possible interpretation for his work.

About Peter Gronquist:

Born 1979 in the USA, Peter lives and works in Portland, OR after residing in Oakland, CA.. He attended the School of Visual Art New York and received a BA in painting from San Francisco Art Institute in 2001. He has shown at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles, Shooting Gallery in San Francisco, 1 AM Gallery in San Francisco, The Pittsfield Museum of Art, Scope New York and Miami, and is collected internationally. Peter was recently named one of the top 15 new artists to collect by Business Insider.

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

Born in 1983 in New Orleans, LA, Zoë Williams holds a BA in Fine Art from the University of New Orleans and a Certificate in Fiber Art from the University of Washington. Her work in needle felted wool explores the interplay between the (inner) realm of the collective unconscious and the (outer) kingdom of nature. She currently lives and works in New York City.

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

"My work is a release – akin to meditation, a relief from the chaos of our day to day lives. Over the last two years, houses and architecture have become the zenith of my work. They are sanctuaries…somewhere to catch up, take a breath, recharge. The world I portray is sometimes yours and mine and sometimes a more magical place – I call it future primitive. It is a potential path or maybe just a way to reconnect with more pure ideas of culture from our past. It is knowing empires crumble, but accepting the growth that emerges in the aftermath.

I grew up going between the woods/quiet of South Bend, IN and the best city in the world, Chicago. This back and forth continues in my work with conscious, realized line work coupling with abstract mark making. That moment of potential, that feeling of the unknown, is the foundation of my work thanks to years of traveling – staying open to possibility while maintaining a plan, a dystopian harmony between what is and what could be.

My home these days Is Oakland, where the hope of an honest town inspires me daily." ~Max Kauffman

Running ‘Platinum Cheese’ has given me a platform to share some of the most innovative voices thriving within today's New Contemporary Art scene. This latest exhibition represents a culmination of my experiences in the art world, and expands upon the dialogue between artist and audience by providing an arena where fans and creatives alike engage under one roof. Each artist was chosen based on my admiration for his or her unique aesthetic as well as his or her ability to captivate the viewer time and time again. When these singular voices are put next to one another, the perspectives "blend" to create a sense of continuity from one work to the next. -Stephanie Chefas

"My work is a release – akin to meditation, a relief from the chaos of our day to day lives. Over the last two years, houses and architecture have become the zenith of my work. They are sanctuaries…somewhere to catch up, take a breath, recharge. The world I portray is sometimes yours and mine and sometimes a more magical place – I call it future primitive. It is a potential path or maybe just a way to reconnect with more pure ideas of culture from our past. It is knowing empires crumble, but accepting the growth that emerges in the aftermath.

I grew up going between the woods/quiet of South Bend, IN and the best city in the world, Chicago. This back and forth continues in my work with conscious, realized line work coupling with abstract mark making. That moment of potential, that feeling of the unknown, is the foundation of my work thanks to years of traveling – staying open to possibility while maintaining a plan, a dystopian harmony between what is and what could be.

My home these days Is Oakland, where the hope of an honest town inspires me daily." ~Max Kauffman