Kimochi. 6″x8″. Ink, Graphite, Watercolor wash on Tea-Stained Paper. 2009
Right next to Audrey Kawsaki, Stella Im Hultberg is one of our favorite modern day artists. These new 2009 paintings are currently showing at the Roq La Rue Gallery in Seattle, Washington. As beautiful as they are frail, the women Stella paints all have a serious, introspective look about them.
As one magazine states: “Im Heltburg’s women bleed emotion from sullen eyes. They wear their feelings on emaciated frames. They declare their fragile strength and sensuality in the heavy fall of their raven hair and their simple stylish apparel or lack of. Their solitude and outsider status are pronounced when set against otherworldly surroundings. They lean on bull skulls, lounge beside dead crows and lay introspective in flowered fields. They suffer exquisitely. At times, they huddle together; languishing in an intimate embrace, their solitude momentarily assuaged or in some cases, intensified.”
Falling Awake. 12″x16″. Oil on Canvas. 2009.
Everywhen. 14″x18″. Oil on Canvas. 2009.
Loom. 4.75″x6.25″. Ink, Graphite, Watercolor on Tea-stained Paper. 2009
Our favorites are the ink and oil paintings on tea-stained paper that’s become her signature style (first and last of this post).
See Stella’s work in person in L.A. in July at Thinkspace Art Gallery (thinkspacegallery.com) or at another solo show in November at Copro Nason Gallery in Santa Monica.
More of Our Favorite Art:
Favorite Artist of the Moment: My Korean Sister Stella Im Hultberg
Artist Kendra Binney’s Worried Girls Series (8 Total)
My Modern Movies, Reimagined (8 Pics)
Artist Caia Koopman
Alex Kanevsky