Krista Huot

Another amazing contemporary artist working in Los Angeles is Krista Huot, whose work I just became acquainted with at the Crazy for Cult 2 show at G1988 in August.  I was so swept away by her Snowfall over Poppies painting, which was one of my favorites of the show.

Again, I love the fantastic fairy-tale like charm, yet there's still an undercurrent of darkness and foreboding in her works.  The colors are so rich and warm, and the way she renders the female form (especially the eyes) I find myself emulating over and over again in my own work, because I admire it so much.

I really dig her recent series, which are portraits of plants as rendered as female forms, and she has some works that are very fairy tale-like (or in some cases, retellings of fairy tales, like Cinderella).  Definitely an artist to check out!

Krista Huot's website
Flicker site

Snowfall over Poppies

Death of a Maiden

Hemlock

Trumpets of Datura

Sylvia Ji

I just caught one of Sylvia Ji's paintings on the cover of an LA Weekly, and WOW. I'm just blown away by the beauty of her Dios de los Muertos paintings..

I love the feminine qualities (delicate yet sexy), the Day of the Dead references, the colors, and the gothic meets old west saloon girl qualities.

She's a contemporary LA artist- currently exhibits down at Corey Helford. Definitely worth keeping an eye on!

Article on Metromix
Corey Helford Gallery
Some pics on flickr

Marigold

Blue Rose

Dona Delarosa

Rosemary