A while back, I was browsing one of my favorite home/decor sites, Apartment Therapy and I stumbled upon a tour of an artist’s studio, one Alyssa Monks. Though the place was undeniably stylish…

Since the ancient Greeks, realism has been aspired by Western art lovers, but during the late 1960s and '70s the popularity of highly-realistic drawings reached its peak. Thus, Photorealism and Hyperrealism were born. These perspective drawing genres are still popular, and some artists master their technique so successfully that it becomes hard to tell an oil painting or a pencil drawing from a photograph. Bored Panda collected some of the best examples of this cool art and made a stunning list for you to enjoy.

Pinturas impressionantes de Alyssa Monks. O trabalho da americana Alyssa Monks deixa qualquer apreciador de arte boquiaberto. Pintura a óleo.

Through your works your explore concepts of intimacy and vulnerability in the human experience, when did these explorations first evolve in your practise, and what drew you to exploring them? I always drew from my personal experiences in my paintings, although only became really conscious and intentional about it in the last 5 years or so. I always worked very intuitively and with a sincerity that might seem vulnerable, but I never actually felt vulnerable while making the work. I felt powerful and protected. But in looking back on my earlier work I could see now how much I was actually revealing. And it made me curious about what it was that drew people in. I began to use the elements of intimacy and personal experience more intentionally and somewhat skillfully. It isn’t just about being vulnerable; it is about speaking directly to the viewer’s vulnerability or reaction to the subject’s vulnerability without stepping too hard on the discomfort of it all. Just a little tension, a little discomfort, can be very effective. There also must be some objectivity and distance from the raw emotion in order to paint it. I don’t paint from raw emotion. Rather I use those memories and moments to draw from indirectly, from a distance where I can put it all into a context or perspective. “Fusion” - oil on linen, 2016 The way you use surface and materials to create depth and a barrier between reality and illusion is remarkable, talk to us about the conception of this and how it has developed through your works? Thank you. It developed organically. I followed one idea and attraction from one to the next and that’s how the filters and lenses evolved. I began with water in a bathtub. The idea of looking through the water and seeing how it changes and distorts the form and color was interesting and I wanted to see how it might translate into paint. From there the filters got more and more complex (Vaseline, vinyl, textured glass, steam) pushing the complexity to see how far the abstraction could still feel illusionistic. Now I’m using double images of landscape and figure in a similar way although it isn’t really based on one reality. The filters seem to allow me to invent a painting language, which is what I like, and are no longer about representing real life. The whole progression has been about seeing differently, more carefully, more presently was is here, no matter how strange it is. “Impermanence” - oil on linen, 2016 You worked for a long time on works involving the idea of water, what was it like to devote so much time to really immersing in a series of works, and how did the series progress? Like I said, it started with the bathtub paintings in 2004 or so. I was really looking for the right context for my figures to be in and the bathtub resonated. The water was incidental at first, and then it was the subject. The color and distortion took me down many rabbit holes of curiosity. I explored many different filters and so many showers. What ended up happening was I juxtaposed the foreground and the background of the picture. The steamy glass was the foreground, and the portrait was the background. This concept intrigued me, to somehow make work wherein the atmosphere or context or environment was surrounding the subject completely, even distorting it or obscuring it. “Awakened” - oil on linen 2015 Your current 2016 body of works uses a lot of imagery of women and nature, tell us about the relationship between the two for you and what you hope to convey with the use of them in your works? The series I am working on now is not a total departure actually from the water series. I feel it is the next filter or atmosphere I am considering and one I will develop for a while before moving on. I tend to follow my curiosity however long that takes for however many paintings. Water gave me a lot to work with. Now trees, earth and landscapes are giving me an even more complex filter to experiment with. I’m connecting with the landscape for the first time. I was never really drawn to it before. It began to attract me after my mother passed away 4 years ago. It took a few years to figure out how to synthesize it with the figurative work I still want to make. I feel so different now having gone through a very big loss in my life, I don’t feel as satisfied to stay in a shower any longer. I need more space, more color, and more possibility. The landscape offers me that, and a sense of a connection to an earth larger than myself. “Air” - oil on linen, 2016 A trustee on the board for the New York Academy of Art is a pretty impressive achievement, what does your role involve and in what ways have you seen your position impart on your studio practise? I joined the board of trustees at the NYAA in 2010. I love being part of the NYAA community and family and do whatever I can to help and give back to a school that really helped me shape my skills and find my way in my work. It is such a unique school with fantastic faculty and alumni. There are so many ways to give to the school and to the students. I donate paintings, give critiques, brainstorm ideas at board meetings, and attend every event I can. I’m so proud of that school and its faculty, students, and alumni. I strongly recommend anyone interested in figurative art to visit. “Absorb” - oil on linen, 2016 Alongside painting, exhibiting and being on the NYAA board you also run workshops, not a clue where you find the time, what kind of things can one expect to do in one of your workshops, and what motivated you to start them? I do about 7 workshops per year now. It’s a wonderful experience and I’m so grateful for the opportunities. I love to travel to new places and connect with new artists. I get so much out of it and the students are so eager and present and inspiring. I started 10 years ago when a few schools began inviting me. It snowballed from there. My syllabus has evolved over the years. I began teaching very traditional painting techniques from life, but lately have been teaching students my ideas on how best to use the photographic reference in making paintings. It was something I never was formally taught and learned about in my own practice. There is still some taboo about working from photography among some art circles, and I want to show artists that there is more to it than just copying the photograph. I talk all about being connected to the physicality of the paint and materials themselves and one’s own stroke. I talk about how to edit the information in the photograph and make choices about what to include and how. I see the workshops evolving again soon as I’d like to reintroduce the live model. It’s important to me to keep it fresh and exciting so that I can also be learning and growing as a teacher as well. “Synthesis” - oil on linen, 2015 SEE MORE OF ALYSSA’S WORK AT www.alyssamonks.com INTERVIEW by HANNAH SMITH

Free Planet has featured the once-photorealistic artwork of Alyssa Monks before, now for the new stuff. Since the death of her mother, Mo...

Free Planet has featured the once-photorealistic artwork of Alyssa Monks before, now for the new stuff. Since the death of her mother, Mo...

Oil Painting by Alyssa Monks

With the numerous self-portraits Monks has painted throughout her career she offers her “self” to the viewers while also generating a sense of dissolution.

oil paintings by alyssa monks via

The Art of Alyssa Monks. Selected oil paintings by Alyssa Monks. The selection shows very realistic portrait paintings of bathing or showering women. The

Squid (2011) & Being (2013) by Alyssa Monks

11”x17” digital print. Original artwork created by Alyssa Klash. This art piece is hand drawn and digitally rendered. Free shipping for domestic orders. ©️Alyssa Klash LLC Follow me on Instagram @albinokitty !

There is a magical simplicity about Brookyn based painter Alyssa Monk's oil portraits, where looking at her work is like looking into the reflection of a forest pool. Her images portray ghostly figures that take form at the surface, inbetween the reflection of other natural elements like tree branches and the sun shining peeking through their foliage. Her lush depictions are often described as a blend of the figurative and landscape.

Here in the Northwest, we’re no strangers to the rain. Months and months of time goes by seeing life through a haze of drizzle and mist. Although the rain can be a bit tedious, Mr. Forager …

Stunning photorealistic paintings by Brooklyn-based artist Alyssa Monks. Here’s an interesting excerpt of her interview with Flavorwire: “There are all these ways that water can …

We have shown you the photoreal paintings of Brooklyn-based painter Alyssa Monks in the past in our Erotica section, and today we were really enjoying...

At first glance these portraits appear to be well shot and framed photographs, but they are infact stunning hyper realistic paintings by New Jersey-based artists ... Continue Reading »

Alyssa Monks es una pintora figurativa, nacida 1977 en Ridgewood, Nueva Jersey, quien comenzó en la pintura al óleo desde niña. Estudió en la New School de Nueva York y la Universidad Estatal de Montclair y obtuvo su licenciatura en la Universidad de Boston en 1999. Estudió pintura en Lorenzo de Medici en Florencia y ganó su MFA de la Academia deArte de la Escuela Superior de Arte Figurativo Nueva York en 2001. Completó una residencia como artista en el Fullerton College en 2006 y ha dado conferencias en universidades e instituciones a lo largo del país. Ha sido profesora de pintura en la Academia de Arte de Nueva York, así como la Universidad Estatal de Montclair y el Lyme College Academy ofFine Arts. “Uso filtros como el vidrio, el vinilo, el agua y el vapor, que falsean el cuerpo en espacios pintados. Estos filtros permiten grandes áreas de diseño abstracto. Tengo mi versión contemporánea de las mujeres tomando un baño, en mis temas la mayoría se están presionando en contra de la “ventana” de vidrio, lo que distorsiona su propio cuerpo, consciente y bajo de la mirada masculina proverbial. Gruesos trazos de pintura en las delicadas relaciones de color adonde se empuja y se tiende a imitar vidrio, vapor, agua y la carne a la distancia. Sin embargo, de cerca, las propiedades físicas de la pintura al óleo son evidentes. Así sostengo el momento y las abstractas pinceladas se vuelven algo más”. “Cuando empecé a pintar el cuerpo humano, que estaba obsesionada con él y tenía que crear el mayor realismo posible. Perseguí realismo hasta que comenzó a desmoronarse y de construir en sí mismo”, afirma Alyssa, “estoy estudiando la posibilidad y el potencial en representación donde la pintura y la abstracción se encuentran – si ambos pueden coexistir en el mismo momento”. Fuentes: http://www.alyssamonks.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Alyssa-Monks-118714954510/ http://ikonal.com/peintures-huile-ultra-realistes-par-alyssa-monks http://culturacolectiva.com/las-vaporosas-pinturas-de-alyssa-monks/ https://www.artsy.net/artist/alyssa-monks http://www.guioteca.com/arte-y-diseno-creativo/alyssa-monks-bellos-trazos-de-abstraccion-y-realismo/ Nota: La propiedad intelectual de las imágenes que aparecen en este blog corresponde a sus autores y a quienes éstos las hayan cedido. El único objetivo de este sitio es divulgar el conocimiento de estos pintores, a los que admiro, y que otras personas disfruten contemplando sus obras.

Alyssa Monks Alyssa Monks è una pittrice figurativa, che offusca il confine tra astrazione e realismo. Insegna e tiene conferenze presso università

There is a magical simplicity about Brookyn based painter Alyssa Monk's oil portraits, where looking at her work is like looking into the reflection of a forest pool. Her images portray ghostly figures that take form at the surface, inbetween the reflection of other natural elements like tree branches and the sun shining peeking through their foliage. Her lush depictions are often described as a blend of the figurative and landscape.

Born 1977 in New Jersey, Alyssa began oil painting as a child. She studied at The New School in New York and Montclair State University and earned her B.A. from Boston College in 1999. During this time she studied painting at Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence. She went on to earn her M.F.A from the New York Academy of Art, Graduate School of Figurative Art in 2001. She completed an artist in residency at Fullerton College in 2006 and has lectured and taught at universities and institutions nationwide. She continues to offer workshops and lectures regularly. Alyssa’s sensibility of paint and color allows one to be seduced into the illusion of each image. Striving for anatomical and realistic accuracy, it is her intention to elicit a serious confrontation. The work requires attention to detail and a slow and rich execution. It is this artist’s concern to visually relate the contemporary human experience with sensitivity, empathy, and integrity.

In paintings both visceral and lush, Alyssa Monks aims to express the most fundamental experiences of being human, including love, loss, and the search for self. She primarily concentrates on the human figure, portraying herself and acquaintances and loved ones in intimate, large-scale compositions that appear expressively naturalistic. Though she is fascinated by the material qualities of her medium, her practice is not insular; she paints to connect to the world and to others. As she has described: “My intention is to transfer the intimacy and vulnerability of my human experience into paint for someone else to connect to. Paintings are objects you need to be in the same room with to sense the energy in their surfaces. I like mine to be as intimate as possible, the painted surface like a fossil, recording every gesture and decision.” [Gallery 1261, Denver - Oil on canvas, 25.4 × 25.4 cm]

Alyssa Goodman is a Toronto-based artist who attended OCAD University in her formative years.  Alyssa's painting practice allows her the luxury to speak openly about taboo topics regarding sexuality and identity. Conceptually for Alyssa, the subtleties of watercolor reflect the nuance and intimacy within human sexuality. Alyssa's artwork has been featured in Elle, House & Home, Vogue Living, and more. Pictured here in a size medium.

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Alyssa Goodman is a Toronto-based artist who attended OCAD University in her formative years.  Alyssa's painting practice allows her the luxury to speak openly about taboo topics regarding sexuality and identity. Conceptually for Alyssa, the subtleties of watercolor reflect the nuance and intimacy within human sexuality. Alyssa's artwork has been featured in Elle, House & Home, Vogue Living, and more. Pictured here in a size large.

Alyssa MONKS born 1977 in Ridgewood, New Jersey, Alyssa Monks began oil painting as a child. She studied at The New School in New York and Montclair State University and earned her B.A. from Boston College in 1999.

Brooklyn, New York-based painter Alyssa Monks captures the complex, multifaceted experience of being human in her intimate portraits of people half-hidden