April 2016 Unicorns Of The Month: Annika Connor & Nicholas Papadakis
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| I know, you missed me. |
The residency is China over,
the paintings are back in America, my vacation in Bali was glorious, and Art
Basel Hong Kong was a blast. Special thank you to Scott Dietrich and Isaac
Leung at Videotage for the hospitality while I was in Hong Kong.
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| SAIC Alumni reunited at Art Basel HK. |
I will post an update about the China Paintings soon, but for now, it’s time to bring back
something I started in July of 2015, Unicorns Of The Month!
Not only are Annika
and Nick accomplished artists, they just published a gorgeous art book called
Point Suite.
Point Suite.
If you’re a lover of books, art books especially, you should really pick this up. The easiest way is through Amazon but if you’re old school, you can visit these various bookstores to see the publication for yourself:
Charleston:
420
King St.
Charleston,
SC 29403
Los Angeles:
1407
Ocean Front Walk
Venice,
CA 90291
310-399-2360
San
Francisco:
50
Second St.
(Between
Market & Mission)
San
Francisco, CA 94105
415-495-2992
1400
18th Street (at Missouri)
San
Francisco, CA 94107
415
255-8802
599
Valencia St
San
Francisco, CA 94110
900
Valencia Street
San
Francisco, CA 94110
Annika Connor
Her work depicts a fascination with beauty and decadence. The paintings portray fragments from a daydream and a longing for a time of romance and pleasure.
In 2002, Connor received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied painting and philosophy. Connor has worked professionally as a painter in New York, London, and Stockholm.
In 2006, Connor founded Active Ideas Productions as a means to explore ideas outside of the studio.
Today Active Ideas Productions is an innovative artist-run organization committed to the education and development of emerging artists and the art community. Connor is currently based in Brooklyn where she maintains an active studio.
More of her work can be seen on her Website, Facebook Page, Instagram, and Twitter.
Nicholas Papadakis
The works in Nicholas Papadakis’ ongoing series of metaphorical portrait paintings strive to capture signature moments in the lives of people with whom he’s familiar. These moments that flash or recognition remind us of the individual’s unique charm (and often times reveal life-changing states of mind) are ultimately expressions of universal human qualities.
Annika Connor
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| Marilyn Multiplied. Watercolor On Board. |
Her work depicts a fascination with beauty and decadence. The paintings portray fragments from a daydream and a longing for a time of romance and pleasure.
In 2002, Connor received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied painting and philosophy. Connor has worked professionally as a painter in New York, London, and Stockholm.
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| Camus. Watercolor On Board. |
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| Colette. Watercolor On Panel. |
In 2006, Connor founded Active Ideas Productions as a means to explore ideas outside of the studio.
Today Active Ideas Productions is an innovative artist-run organization committed to the education and development of emerging artists and the art community. Connor is currently based in Brooklyn where she maintains an active studio.
More of her work can be seen on her Website, Facebook Page, Instagram, and Twitter.
Nicholas Papadakis
 |
| Precession. Oil On Panel. |
The works in Nicholas Papadakis’ ongoing series of metaphorical portrait paintings strive to capture signature moments in the lives of people with whom he’s familiar. These moments that flash or recognition remind us of the individual’s unique charm (and often times reveal life-changing states of mind) are ultimately expressions of universal human qualities.
 |
| Gilded Age. Pigment and Gold On Panel. |
In his attempt to explain these archetypes through metaphor, he has chosen to represent each vignette as a montage rather than a literal portrait; by layering imagery culled from the public domain along with his own drawings and photography, Papadakis shows his intention to introduce as much shared reference as possible while still retaining the original portraits that are both familiar and unique.
The final synthesis as transparent glaze oil paintings solidifies these ideas for Papadakis into a seamless whole. By translating the entire original source material into one medium, and residual contextual barriers are removed: the result being a unified vision that transcends even the brush strokes.
More of his work can be seen on his Website and Instagram.
More of his work can be seen on his Website and Instagram.
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