MFA Candidate: Allan Innman

Voyage of the Ancient Sea Legs, oil on canvas

Allan Innman has been painting a series he entitles “Flights of Fancy” that is based on childhood make-believe. In previous work, he painted still-lifes of childhood objects and has since begun submerging them in surreal environments where they can interact and be brought to life. 

“I think they wanted to come to life then. I just didn’t give them the permission to. Now, I try to put them in their own world where they exist by themselves. Hopefully they are taking on a new life,” says Innman about his transition into more dreamlike scenarios. 

He says that a lot of it is about trying to imagine himself as a 5- or 6-year-old again. With childhood innocence and make-believe, there are no limits. Any objects can become toys. A lot of the toys he paints are his, but he finds others at places like the J & J Flea Market. 

“I start out with a visual collage or a photograph, and I paint it. While I’m painting, a lot of times my idea completely changes. It’s a lot of documenting, dropping back into Photoshop and collaging on top of that,” says Innman. 

In the laboratory of his studio, these toys come to life, immersed in a fantasy of bright, dreamy colors. Large canvases allow viewers to get lost within the nostalgic yet unfamiliar worlds he creates.

Innman’s paintings will be shown at the “Master of Fine Arts Degree Candidates Exhibition” at the Georgia Museum of Art from April 11 to May 3, 2015.

http://allaninnman.com

MFA Candidate: Andrew Indelicato

                  

Andrew Indelicato creates digital paintings filled with 1980s nostalgia and visual reminiscences of video game images. He uses photoshop to create vibrant prints that reference early computer graphics, neon, glitching, and computer manipulation. He makes gifs and is interested in new media, net art, and cross-platforming.

Colliding color fields with overlapping patterns make his prints bright and compelling. To create these images he seeks inspiration from grids. The idea of the grid is prevalent as a visual component for his work as well as a structural guideline. Whether or not it is shown, he says that it still plays a role in guiding his process.

“When the grid is integrated, it becomes a protagonist, and in other other imagery it is used as a launchpoint. It gives me a set of rules and a structure that I can manipulate from,” he explains.

Music is another influential component of Indelicato’s work. He listens to electronic music and lets it guide him through the development. The music and the repetition of the beat help him determine where to lay certain colors. As a result, his work appears very rhythmic and filled with patterns. 

In order to achieve even more visual vibrancy, he suspends neon over his prints. In his upcoming show he will be installing a six foot tube of turquoise neon over two ten foot prints.  The display will integrate new technology while using two different types of media.

“I have a lot of neon.… It makes everything ‘sexy,’ changes the saturation of the colors, and with nice paper the neon bounces off of the paper,” he says.

Indelicato’s prints will be on display at the “Master of Fine Arts Degree Candidates Exhibition” at the Georgia Museum of Art from April 11 to May 3, 2015.

http://www.andrewindelicato.com