Far from simply photoshopping an animal head on a human body, the pet portraits of Valerie Leonard reflect a level of care and personality that's peerless in the field. Inspired by the Old Masters, as well as film and family portraits, her images balance a level of whimsy with a stateliness befitting their regal subjects. Based in Connecticut, the artist devotes days to each portrait. …
Taking Surrealism back to its roots, Denver-based painter Christian Rex van Minnen has a less direct approach but similar style to that of Giuseppe Arcimboldo's sixteenth-century portrait heads. Playing with finely-rendered textures and visceral components suggesting organs, skin, meat, crustaceans and plant life, but also including more literal elements like flowers, clothing and silhouettes, the artist uses dramatic, one-point lighting adding a depth and creepiness …
by Julie Wolfson Marla Rutherford's dramatic images turn heads. Her subjects include everything from celebrities and fetish models to babies, convicts and more. While her work references several different genres of photography, it's all highly stylized. Recent sitings include pieces in the group show "Bettie Page: Heaven Bound" at Los Angeles gallery World of Wonder and "characters," like the iconic image of the fiery redhead …
