Two artists I found intriguing enough to consider buying pieces from get the spotlight tonight. First Aaron Kraken (with two examples of his style that I like). This is actually quite similar to the work of a high school classmate of mine, with less sexual overtones. The pieces incorporate a number of mediums and I am curiously drawn to the eyeless faces of his figures, the phrases/messages interlaced through out the canvas, and the human/machine hybrid theme that seems to recur with regularity. I find it hard to say they are beautiful pieces, yet I have to admit I continue to come back and look again and again, so there is an attraction on some unconscious level for me.




The second artist is St.Even who works primarily in oil/Photoshop meshings to create "Visionary Portraiture for Visionary People". I think he prefers to be called Saint Even, although Steven works as well. His pieces I find devastatingly beautiful. "Spiritual Armour" is the piece below. I have a couple prints that I embarrassingly have not hung due to a lack of decent frames. I was actually negotiating with him a couple years ago to have a piece commissioned and have recently started thinking about it again. The only reason it did not happen before was my brother getting a divorce and me having to sink about $20k into his legal fees, which of course put a strain on my extraneous spending.