I spent a few hours today in the galleries of Chelsea and found three new artists (at least new to me) whose work I have fallen in love with.  The image above is from the exhibit I Said You Fckn Die! by Justin Francavilla.  He paints aggressive paintings of men attacking each other.  The effect is amplified by how he paints: using spray paint to create the backgrounds and adding blots of paint randomly in the background.  The paintings are meant as commentary on the nature of Wall Street and modern political campaigns

This photos is from Muzi Quawson’s exhibit Pull Back the Shade.  In 2002 she randomly bumped into a young mother from Georgia while on the streets of Manhattan.  Muzi spent the next four years living with (and photographing) the woman as she moved to Woodstock to start a new life.  The photos are incredibly poignant; you feel like you are a voyeur in this woman’s life as she tries to relate to both her children and her new partners.  Some commentary from the Tate Modern here.

Drew Tal grew up in Israel, travelled extensively and now lives in New York (where amongst other things, he’s discovered photoshop).  I saw the photo above and fell in love with it; there’s a complementary image that featuring a male model.  Don’t have too much to say; it’s just great photography...

Bonus item

I snapped the following photo inside the stairwell of one of the galleries