Maurizio Cattelan

Dark humoured, contemporary thinker and satirist Maurizio Cattelan is also an Italian-born artist, writer and curator (phewf). He is a strong believer in flattening the art approach—removing it from it's high-society pedestal. Mostly famous for his performances and his sculptures—some of which are shown here—Cattelan participates in a group show opening next week at New York's New Museum. Info on that can be found here.

From top to bottom: La Nona Hora (The Ninth Hour, 1999); A Perfect Day (gallerist Massimo De Carlo, 1999); Par peur de l'amour (2000); Frank and Jamie (2002).

Nicole Palmquist

Toronto-based artist Nicole Palmquist is hosting a reception tomorrow (July 17th) for her current show at Jet Fuel. The new works revisit Palmquist's earlier work that depicted perfectly rendered and shaded parts of the human anatomy. In place of those references, the subjects are from her magical Booleep world—two-legged beetles with scratchy heads, skinny human forms stretched upwards presenting oversized heads, etc. Palmquist's exhibit runs until July 31st.

All works ink and graphite on mylar pinned to wood.

Work In Progress v3.0

I'm commencing work on a body of paintings of shelling details photographed in Osijek and Vukovar, Croatia. Both towns are set on the eastern edge of Croatia where it borders with Serbia. It was hit very hard during the 90's Yugoslav wars, more specifically during the Croatian War of Independence. Life is continuing—Osijek's damage has mostly been restored—but in the smaller town of Vukovar, scars are everywhere. Croatia nearing it's European Union membership, it's only normal that federal funds are spent elsewhere. For now, Vukovar's habitants continue waiting for their town's complete restoration.

From top to bottom: An amphitheater in the centre of Vukovar; a faculty office in the old town of Osijek. These are the resource photos, not the paintings.

Those Eff!n Scrawls

"I do like what you're doing there. It's just all those scribbles that I can't stand." This came from a property owner who was intrigued by me painting his neighbour's wall. I was carefully painting a large piece—he was referring to all the tags around the area.

In a nutshell: tags are quick to do and immediately show your level of expertise as a graffiti artist. This is unfortunately lost on the general public and not yet understood by graffiti-beginners. You have one chance at making the tag. There's no covering up a mistake and starting over like you'd be able to painting a mural. It's that simple.

Above are a few examples of great tags. I'm also linking here a video of Denmark-based artist Bates tagging "Masterpiece" with a very large marker—the size only makes things more difficult. Find here Philadelphia-based artist Enem showing his whole artillery of Philly-style tags.

From top to bottom: KR 2001 NYC (by Krink from New York, caught in Venice); Twisto One and Meta One (by Twist and Meta from California, found on Robots Will Kill); a half-grotesque, half-tall Spoter (by Spoter, caught in Toronto); Shower One (by Shower, caught in Zagreb); Sayce SB (a classic Philly-style tag by artist Sayce, found on 12 Oz Prophet); and Bates, Cyprus 2007 (by artist Bates, while in Cyprus).

Annie Pootoogook

Canadian Inuit artist Annie Pootoogook's coloured-pencil drawings have gained lots of attention in the last years and rightfully so. Coming from a family of successful graphic and fine artists, it's no surprise that Pootoogook's work is refined and right to the point. Her depictions of contemporary Inuit life underlines the constant pressure incoming from outside societies and how these influences change the traditional northern lifestyle.

More on Pootoogook's work can be found on Feheley's website. Here's another feature by the CBC.

Alessandra Sanguinetti

Photo-based artist Alessandra Sanguinetti—who was nominated to join the prestigious Magnum Photos collective in 2007—lives and works in New York. She was born in New York, but grew up in Argentina. Her most known series, including the work shown above, were produced there. Find her site here.

These images are from her series entitled The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and the Enigmatic Meaning of Their Dreams (1999-2002)

Sue Williams

American artist Sue Williams initiates abstract discussions about violence, human interaction, sexuality, entrails and orifices using rich monochromatic colour confrontations. Her canvases are big, detailed yet contained, and totally saturated. Read more about her work on Secession's website and see lots more on David Zwirner's site.

From top to bottom: Opaque Invasion (2003); Violated Abstract (2003); Humanitarian Intervention (2006); Frequencies (2006).