Here at Frames and Stretchers we've had the pleasure of framing several pieces of Ariel Shallit's detailed work. Shallit is a New York based artist who utilizes black and white photos of celebrities and important historical figures in his work. His work draws a sharp contrast between the photographs and the colorful over-painting of lines that he draws on the photographs.
An Ariel Shallit canvas featuring 60s era photography.
We stretched his canvas of Twiggy over a custom heavy duty stretcher for his solo show this past spring and we've continued working with him since then. Typically when we work with Ariel's canvases, we build custom heavy duty stretchers and stretch the canvases over them. The latest canvases we worked with have included photos of Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal. Other recently completed pieces feature model Cara Delvigne and boxer Muhammad Ali. He creates new and unseen impressions of these celebrities through his intense line work by displaying a visual representation of their personality. He deeply individualizes these celebrities personalities, showing an inner interpretation of them that we wouldn't usually see.
Gael Garcia Bernal canvas by Ariel Shallit.
This is precisely what makes Shallit's work so appealing to others. In an interview with Astoria Arts Festival, he mentioned that he finds inspiration in many authors including Frédéric Chopin, Alexandre Dumas, Stanley Kubrick, and Maya Angelou. For more information about Ariel and to see his work please visit his website.
A life size representation of Ariel Shallit's amazing Twiggy canvas.
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