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Lee MuslinGrimes & JonesJo Eun HuhAltea NoriTashi Marouf

The L25 Spring/Summer Contest Winners Issue

Level 25 Artjournal...art should be shared

Portraits 2014

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http://level25art.cominfo@level25art.comSean David Wright, Founder and Chief Editor

Featured Artists

Amber BaileyBlack Eyed JackAdriana Fratila

Tom LevyRudy MartinTracy Mason

Kristian McElroyVictor Perez

Timothy PowalaJoanna Sokolowska

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“The Sheets Are Washed”Tashi Marouf

“The Act of Defiance”Clay

Joanna Sokolowska

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Amber Bailey(USA)

People move me. There is no greater inspiration than human life for the cre-ation of art. The form and face reveal much about what it means to feel, to be connected to one another and to be completely alone all at once.

My work explores raw human emotion and its physical, visceral manifestation. From body language to facial expression, the physical form provides the clues we need to read emotion. This is what drives my continuous study of anatomy.

http://amberlbailey.com

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“Rob”Oil on canvasAmber Bailey

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“Lorraine”Oil on canvasAmber Bailey

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“Frozen”Acrylic on canvas

Amber Bailey

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...the physical form provides the clues we need to read emotion.

“Languid”Acrylic on canvas

Amber Bailey

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...the physical form provides the clues we need to read emotion.

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Black Eyed Jack(UK)

www.talesofblackeyedjack.com

These are the Tales of Black Eyed Jack, 50’s hair connoisseur, Tattoo lover and Polaroid snapper.

With work dripping with off kilter roguish charm, be bedazzled by anthropo-morphism to famous faces, with fridges filled resplendently with haunted ceph-alopodic terror thrown in for good measure. Expect lots of biro and bewilder-ing sights

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“Hayley”Biro, pencil crayon, watercolour

Black Eyed Jack

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“Fisherman”Biro, pencil crayon, watercolour

Black Eyed Jack

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“Stacie”Biro, graphic print

Black Eyed Jack

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“Harriet”Biro, pencil crayon, watercolour

Black Eyed Jack

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Adriana Fratila(Romania)

I find myself between sacred and profane and sometimes I search for myself and wonder how much of all this is me? then I wait to understand: is this all I want? ... or have I nothing else to do. I have always known this is what I must do, and now all I do is to fulfill my destiny.

I like to believe that in each of my works I get in something we are all happy to search for our entire lives ? something undefined yet, however something that exists in each of us, meant to change the world and beautify it.

In everything I paint I try to find myself as I have been designed originally, untainted by later influences. Thus, I want to enjoy the most powerful human desire of all: THE LONGING FOR ETERNITY.

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“Adela and Her Shadow”Oil on canvas

Adriana Fratila

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“Venice Carnival Woman”Oil on canvas

Adriana Fratila

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“Mihai Istudor”Pencil on paperAdriana Fratila

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“Florin Zamfirescu”Oil on canvas

Adriana Fratila

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Tom Levy(UK)

Talking about it reduces its impact as through my words I will be spoon feeding you. Visual art is visual, not written or verbal. If the eye is pleased in even some small way then the mind will look. After giving some time to looking at art one is rewarded in much deeper ways. But for the sake of formalities I will explain the practical sides to my work.

Firstly it is extremely varied in style but the majority of my practice for the last few years has been highly figurative mixed with abstraction, oil paintings on glass panels...

Why glass? It frees me from the constraints of the canvas, I can experiment more and it suites my style of working. Conceptually the glass is closer to where I want to be and what I am interested in. The fragility of reality in images and how we perceive the world. I feel that there is much potential in working on glass as a surface, it can be layered, scratched, blurred, smooth, rough, smashed, clean, inside out, reversed, 2d and 3d at the same time. :) I would say that I am the same as any artist, our work is a visual representation of what we have in our minds and what we are interested in and passionate about.

www.tomlevy.me

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“Stella”Oil on glassTom Levy

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“Andria”Oil on glassTom Levy

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“Traveling to...”Oil on glassTom Levy

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“Lizzy”Oil on glassTom Levy

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Rudy Martin(USA)

As an artist, I think of myself as a realist. I like to paint real people in real scenes doing real things. I strive to capture the expression of the moment and meld emotion as well as motion into the natural and geometric forms, colors and di-mensions of the art I create. Every drawing or painting provides me with the opportunity to become a better craftsman.

Each piece that I render in Oils, Pastel or Watercolor enables me to create a bet-ter work of art that exhibits both beauty and timelessness. It’s exciting to consid-er that maybe one day one of my paintings may become a cherished heirloom, providing deep meaning for many generations to come.

I feel I’ve been blessed with a special gift and it’s very satisfying to know that I can use my talent to bring joy into the lives of others. I have spent most of my career creating art as a Graphic Artist, Photographer and Printer. I lost all vision in my left eye and 85% of my right eye due to Glaucoma. Forced to retire from the world of commercial art, I have become a full time (legally blind) Artist/Painter. All of my work since year 2003 has been done in this condition.

www.rudymartins-creativeart.com

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“Is All the Lipstick Off?”Watercolor on paper

Rudy Martin

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“Ariel and Natalie”Watercolor on paper

Rudy Martin

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“Ellen at the Gallery”Watercolor on paper

Rudy Martin

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“Rev. Reginald T. Jackson”Watercolor on paper

Rudy Martin

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Tracy Mason(UK) www.traceymason.co.uk

My subject matter is the framework within which I paint, it allows me to con-nect with personal memories and experiences. Each painting has a nostalgic charge, populated by images of my close environment, family and friends, pass-ers by or simply an interesting object that catches my eye. They are all painted with a simplified realism, free from distracting detail or complications.

By transferring these images onto canvas they move from the past into the pres-ent. They become about the here and now, the moment that you are looking at them. They become real again.

I have recently applied this method of painting to a series of portraits. A side-ways glance, the shape of a nose or even a big cheesy grin can all be implied with just a few blocks of colour that all fit together to form a image that still conveys the person portrayed.

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“Alice”Emulsion paint on fine linen

Tracy Mason

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“Katie and Jazzie”Emulsion paint on canvas

Tracy Mason

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“Katie and Olivia”Emulsion paint on canvas

Tracy Mason

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“Alice by the Window”Emulsion paint on canvas

Tracy Mason

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Kristian McElroy(USA)http://kristianmcelroy.wix.com/mycrazycreativemind

I started drawing when I was 6 years old. Drawing helped me escape from the trauma and abuse that filled my childhood.

Now at 29 years old, though I have taken 3 art classes, I am mostly self-taught. Diagnosed with Bipolar I Disorder, PTSD, Dissociative Identity Dis-order, and Cerebral Palsy; my artwork has been a way for me to cope with and manage my illnesses and the everyday challenges life decides to hand me.

As a trauma survivor, engaging in the creative expressions has allowed me to communicate myself and my experiences in a way I wouldn?t be able to otherwise. I am fortunate to have a small, but yet very good, support net-work without which I wouldn’t have gotten through the years and months without them. I am hoping that as I get more exposure as an emerging art-ist, I can share my story and my artwork with the rest of the world.

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“Woman of Color--Self Portrait”Drawing

Kristian McElroy

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“Reflection of My Jekyll and Hyde”Charcoal and pastel drawing

Kristian McElroy

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“Alone”Pastel drawing

Kristian McElroy

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“Lovers”Pastel drawing

Kristian McElroy

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Victor Perez(USA) http://victorperezart.com

Drawing upon the awkwardness of being, I attempt to make light of life’s absurdities and revel in the possibility of the situation. Through the work, I explore themes of iden-tity, anxiety, and failure using a lexicon of familiar forms that bind the absurd and poetic. I am interested in creating a space for these forms to exist that can be both playful and horrific, a space in which, like a dream, the codification of these forms can come into question. In using humor I am able to not only create a means of coping with the ideas presented but also create accessibility into the work while providing a lifeline by which to explore.

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“Canaries in the Mind”Acrylic on canvas

Victor Perez

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“Defrosted”Acrylic on canvas

Victor Perez

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“The Horror”Acrylic on canvas

Victor Perez

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“The Truth”Acrylic on canvas

Victor Perez

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Timothy Powala(Germany) www.powala.com

Tim Powala creates photo montages from photographs he has taken of peo-ple, places and objects.

Influenced mainly from cubism and surrealism, Tim is also curious about how our perception might be beyond the third dimension.

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“Father and Son”Digital photograph

Timothy Powala

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“Daughter”Digital photograph

Timothy Powala

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“Soldier”Digital photograph

Timothy Powala

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“Mother”Digital photograph

Timothy Powala

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Joanna Sokolowska(USA)http://joannasokolowska.wordpress.com

The human being, with his dual nature-sensual and spiritual, is my biggest inspiration and focus. Through figurative art I transfer elemental content of human existence that people, in a natural way, may come to read, even without knowing the code and cultural context, which is often necessary to read abstract art.

My fascination is with the boundaries man crosses; boundaries between good and bad, spirit and flesh, life and death, dream and reality. The human form is like a temple; a sphere of sacrum, which hides richness of emotions and experiences.

These states of mind are sources of exploration for me to seek those binding qualities that make us hu-man. Sculpture is a way for me to convert intangible feelings into three-dimensional forms.

I am fascinated by the richness of human interior life and the ways we express feelings outside of lan-guage. Asking someone to feel some intangible emotion has become my biggest challenge when sculpt-ing the human figure.

Some of these emotions, as part of our existence, include pain, suffering, sorrow, longing, desire, to name a few. My works are evidence of a search for the means of expression that split the self into a di-lemma of human experience.

Face expressions, gestures, serve as references for form. My works become ‘a meeting place’ – a meeting with the inner and exterior selves, while at the same time opening up a meeting space with another’s essence.

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“The Dreamer”Alabaster

Joanna Sokolowska

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“The Act of Defiance”Clay

Joanna Sokolowska

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“The Hotshot”Clay

Joanna Sokolowska

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“The Pouter”Clay

Joanna Sokolowska

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