four artists

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Mark Powell. I came across an assortment of sketches done on the backs of old envelopes, at the Humanitari weblog and was impressed. Regrettably, there was little else there [not even a link ] that could then sate my whetted appetite for information. So I googled the man.
   First I found this: Mark Powell, artist. His comments are succinct: "From Leeds now in London. I draw with a Biro pen, i paint with anything. I often run into the sea. // Archive / Art Prints For Sale / Original artwork for sale / facebook / e-mail."
   Apparently working with conventional pens, his work is striking in its detail. I wish I knew more about what inspires him.
   In the search, I also found a different artist with the name of Mark Powell, whose site said: "I have been working primarily on creating miniature environments where imaginary beings evolve, devolve, consume, excrete, multiply and decay.". So as not to confuse the two, I shall have to review his work on another occasion.

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Lily Mae Martin. Lily's work is predominantly figurative and she often likes to explore the division between high and low art, taking her influences from renaissance painters through to contemporary graphic artists. She works mostly in the mediums of oils, ink and pencil.
   Influences include Jenny Saville and Lucian Freud.
   From her website: The "...intention is not to unsettle the viewer, [but to] portray people in an honest, raw and emotional way that often has been described as "confronting" and "brutally beautiful".
   Ms. Martin's first solo exhibition in three years, Brutally Beautiful featuring paintings created in Berlin over the past year, as well as drawings from her blog project Berlin Domestic, opens May 5th at the Neonchocolate Gallery, Lychener Str. 23, Berlin, Germany.
   You can read Ms. Martin's thoughts on her blog.

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Anna Schuleit. After graduating from art school in 1998 she worked on two site-specific installations: Habeas Corpus at the abandoned Northampton State Hospital (2000), and Bloom for the closing of the Massachusetts Mental Health Center (2003).
   Her oeuvre includes ephemeral installation pieces as well as huge paintings that may appear as abstractions until seen from another angle [as seen in the "Just A Rumor" piece at left, installed at UMASS Amherst Fine Arts Center in 2010 ].
   She often collaborates with musicians, and has a keen sensitivity for producing works - with empathy - that evoke the pain, angst and psychic isolation that someone forced to live in a mental institution at times has had to endure. An angst, I note, not borne from any symptoms of "mental illness" but from the lived institutional experience itself.
   I liken her works about mental institutions, as applying an artist's eye, and ear, to describe what Erving Goffman more dispassionately described in his landmark book Asylums.

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Daniel Lovely. From his website: "I've found the human element to be my greatest inspiration. I strive to remain sensitive to my experiences. To remember the world through the eyes of a child, and explore the depths of myself without judgement."
   Working in soft pastels [a medium that I admire but don't work in myself ], sculpture, digital photography and... hairstyling and design. Lovely's work is both bold and sensuous. Many of his images are erotic, though not necessarily explicit. Also among his repertoire are a range of abstract/non-representational work as well.
   Lovely has been published in The National Erotic Signature Publication. His paintings can be found on permanent public exhibition at The Kinsey Institute of Art, and in private collections around the world.
   You can read Daniel Lovely's thoughts on his blog.

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All images above are © of each individual artist. Permission should be sought from the artists themselves if interested in purchase or commercial use.