The young english artist, James Roper, hails from Manchester, England and has been attracting the attention of art lovers around the world. This multi talented artist creates work in several mediums including painting, origami and even film, a medium he has recently become interested in so that he may explore a more experiential and time sensitive form of art.

Personally, I am most attracted to his “Ecstacy” series. A series in which Roper takes the bodies of sex icons and porn stars such as Jenna Jameson and Sophia Rossi and shows them pealing back their “unpure skin” and releasing “a pure abstract release of energy.” The series was inspired by 16th Century sculpture by Italian architect/sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini. ‘The Ecstacy of St. Teresa’ is one of Bernini’s more controversial pieces – the expression on the sculptures face is often compared to a woman’s orgasm rather than being in spiritual awe.

Roper states that he is “always interested in taking two opposites and pulling them together and in doing so you can find a commonality between them. In this case religion and sex which are essentially working with very basic human instinct. Both are brought about through specific bodily action (sex: foreplay, religion: ritual) and mental processes (sex: fantasy, religion: fantasy). I’ve heard it said you become ‘enlightened’ for a split second at the height of orgasm so if you run with this (somewhat skewed) logic the explorers of this ’spiritual state’ must be porn stars.”

To see more of Roper’s work refer to his website at www.jroper.co.uk Also check out Roper’s interview with Curbs and Stoops here to learn more about his process and philosophy.

At last night’s free art bash at Mass College of Art, many amazing artists from the New England area and beyond decorated the walls of the Godine Family gallery. Pieces came in from all around the world including cities like Seattle, New York and Tokyo. While the works of artists like Noir, Lazar, and Alphabet Soup stood out, the most impressive volume of art was created by Monster Decay.

At first we thought that Monster Decay was a collective, because of the number of pieces and the versatility of pieces which included buttons, t shirts, paintings, screen prints, stickers and more. We quickly found out that Monster Decay was the work of one very talented (and obviously very busy) man.

Monster Decay is an artist from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. His work consists of monsters, zombies and other dark but often comical subject matters in a predominantly illustrative style. Monster Decay’s colors are bright and have a very graphic quality to their use. Neon greens and hot pinks are often used as the skin of creepy monster and oozing blood respectively. In addition to his paintings, Monster Decay is also a prolific toy customizer, street artist and graffiti artist.

To check out more of M. Decays work go to his website at www.monsterdecay.com
We also hope to have an interview with M. Decay posted on the website soon.

We would like to share an upcoming show at one of Eugene Oregon’s dopest art galleries, Fenario Gallery. Normally, Fenario Gallery shows the work of Dalek, Mark Ryden, Mike Giant, Sam Flores and other amazing pop surrealist and urban artists. We got extremely excited when we heard of their next show which opens on May 1st entitled “Menace to Propriety.” The show features the work of over a dozen amazing artists including: Gilbert Oh, Patrick Haemmerlein, Joshua Witten, Leslie Ditto, and Grace Weston.

The show is curated by artist and curator Chloe Gallagher to underscore the provocative side of art. Gallagher who is “tired of boring art shows” believes that “art should push boundaries, [and] inspire reaction.” Her line up of artist will prove to do just that. The artists work are provocative, strange and sometimes eerie. Everyone in the west coast should keep an eye out for this one.

First row of images: Gilbert Oh
Second row of images: Leslie Ditto
Third row of images: Patrick Haemmerlein