Image: Eugenio Recuenco

Picasso is known to have said,

It isn’t up to the painter to define the symbols. Otherwise it would be better if he wrote them out in so many words! The public who look at the picture must interpret the symbols as they understand them,

about his well-known political comment Guernica. In a similar vain to this abstract visual analysis of the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, many of his art works are provocatively open to interpretation. In fact, some of the characters featured in his portraits are depicted in such an abstruse manner that one may say they are ‘decomposed’.

It’s because of this interpretive nature and its obscurity that it seems hard to believe — and at the same time the obvious modern derivative of Picasso’s work — that Madrid-based photographer Eugenio Recuenco would manage to accomplish a cubism-inspired fashion photo shoot while remaining in line with the Spanish painter’s strangeness. The models’ clothing, make-up as well as posture form a beautiful realist reproduction of Picasso’s cubist portraits. Recuenco also makes use of some split screen-like divisions, which add distortion to the image and thus render his work all the more Picasso-esque.

Image: Eugenio Recuenco

Image: Eugenio Recuenco

Image: Eugenio Recuenco

Image: Eugenio Recuenco

Image: Eugenio Recuenco

Image: Eugenio Recuenco

Image: Eugenio Recuenco

Images: Eugenio Recuenco

Rob McLeod, a Glasgow born artist who emigrated to New Zealand has been developing his art since he began studying art in 1969. His latest collections feature grotesque figures in bright hues, twisted limbs and organs in an array of the most vivid colors.

Having begun his training in Glasgow, McLeod left after completing his degree due to the stricture on the art scene in Glasgow at the time. He moved from genre to genre, figurative, to abstract to splatter painting, but a love of experimentation and trying to avoid being pinned down to one type of art led to the “ Meet Mutant Mickey” series.

Featuring the well know Disney character or parts of him, interspersed with references from the artist’s life in frantic scene’s and figures that are painted on ply wood. The unconventional canvas has supports, making this art a fluid installation, and creating a tension between shape and color.

The artworks are a pastiche of frenetic  imagery, your eyes struggle to absorb the detail and references contained in these moving works of art. And why does he do it? As he explains in his youtube video, it makes him happy and he’s no good at anything else.

For more of Rob McLeod’s art click HERE.