Art: two contemporary artists

Dima Rebus, "I've been out walking," dimarebus.com

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Taking a break from posts on technical topics, here are two artists that I found online--Dima Rebus, a Russian watercolorist, and Diana Al-Hadid, an American sculptor. It's apparent from the work of both these artists that they have unique ways of looking at the world. Ms. Al-Hadid goes so far as to ask: "How does an artist resist reality?" This may seem a strange question, but not all artists want to blindly copy the world. The video below gives intriguing insights into how the creative process works for her.

Dima Rebus' work is fairly easy to find on the internet at sites like Colossal and Juxtapoz, but he himself is somewhat a mystery. The most in-depth information I found about him was at the site of a  Moscow-based gallery, Artwin Gallery. They say this about Mr. Rebus and contemporary Russian artists:

We are discovering a new generation of urban artists. They prefer personal anonymity while hiding their faces behind avatar userpics and turning their real names into screenname rebuses. Dima’s artistic journey is another generation’s turn in Russian urban painting. It seems like we saw it twenty years ago during Perestroika and during the “Thaw” of the sixties. His young age can be only identified by the mature artistic skills and by the way he looks at the Soviet past, the thing that he never experienced in his real life. This is what represents true contemporary Russian art now, not pseudo-Russian pseudo-art of Old Arbat. Dima Rebus is a young artist masterly working in a watercolour technique. The essence of his unique style is in a delicate drawing and in a keen perception of the surrounding medium. Dima’s works are always filled with air and irony, two elements, that play an important role in his art. Each of his works is outstanding and intriguing. For the painter it is very crucial to show self irony, helping to step aside and not take himself very seriously: “A man who has a sense of humour is beautiful, but a man who has self-irony is even more beautiful” – Dima Rebus. Also Rebus is very famous for his talented illustrations for children’s books, and he collaborates with a number of large publishing companies and design studios, such as Total Football, Snob, Esquire, GQ and others.

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Dima Rebus, "Self-portrait with a cherry," dimarebus.com

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Diana Al-Hadid originated in Syria and was raised in Cleveland, Ohio. She's very clear on what she wants to do with her work. You can find several videos about her at Art21. The video below gives some of her artistic philosophy, as well as personal background.

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-- Marge