Ray Hassard
Widely traveled artist Ray Hassard was born and raised in the New York Area and is based today in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. His unique style combines much of the best of European and Asian art traditions into a distinctive American view. Hassard’s work fuses realism and symbolism into an immediately accessible yet deep, subtle, and dynamic portrayal of human interaction with the world. For more information about this outstanding artist and his work, please see rayhassard.com.
Joe Barsin
American artist Joe Barsin is known for his immediately recognizable style of graphic design: bright, bold, and witty. Barsin is a master at mixing eclectic elements into a smooth, charming, and humorous blend. He produced many of the covers of L. G. Hertz’s collected works, combining historic and modern angles that reflect the poetry itself. Born and educated in Ohio, Joe Barsin is based today in Annapolis, Maryland, where he specializes in the applied art of the Chesapeake Bay region. View more of his work at jebdesign.com and citizenpride.com.
Olivier Ramonteu
Versatile French photographer Olivier Ramonteu, now based in Lyon, ranges in his work from realism to fantasy, from portraiture to dream visions. With a background in literature and communications, Ramonteu brings to his photography a finely tuned subjective depth in a way that is both subtle and striking. On this website in particular, two works of Ramonteu’s capture reality in the act of changing into mythology: Les Moires (“The Fates”) and Aubes Blanches (“White Dawns”). Ramonteu’s work can be explored at olivier-ramonteu.fr.
Brian Burt
Classically trained oil painter Brian Burt can turn a still life into a food icon with his unique, realistic depiction of modern objects using traditional techniques. Cooking, baking, and gardening are sources of inspiration for this Ohio-based artist. His works can be enjoyed at bmburt.com.
Jeff Scovil
An expert in mineral photography for more than 25 years, Jeff Scovil is renowned for his dramatic and revealing images of the world’s finest collections of minerals, fossils, and lapidary materials. Winner of numerous awards, Scovil is an acknowledged master at the meticulous control of lights, backlights, filters, and reflective surfaces to produce the perfect shot. He was raised in Connecticut and is now based in Phoenix, Arizona. Jeff Scovil’s work is on display at his website jeffscovilphotography.zenfolio.com
Steve King
Award-winning photographer Steve King specializes in modern and contemporary architecture and design. While most of his work is from the Southern California region, he has also worked and photographed worldwide, most notably in Norway. His striking presentations can be viewed at stevekingphoto.com.
Richard Thacker Morris (1912-1981)
Richard T. (“Dick”) Morris was a professor of Sociology at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) for more than twenty-three years. His work as an artist ran closely parallel to his academic career. As one of his colleagues put it, “Dick Morris’s love for painting and the arts generally showed everywhere.” Morris’s paintings were once characterized as “delicious double-takes,” and that certainly is true of the painting on this website (“The Carnival Runs Riot”) where the carousel horse has an almost predatory gleam in its eye.
Charles Bell
A photorealist painter of still lifes, Charles Bell often included vintage dolls and toys in colorful, haunting compositions which he took into the realm of the surreal and symbolic. Originally from Oklahoma, Bell followed his artistic career in San Francisco and New York. Bell’s paintings with his immediately recognizable style are included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan, among others.
Giovanni “Gianni” Benvenuti (1926-2005)
Gianni Benvenuti was a multifaceted artist with achievements in a variety of genres. Born in Tuscany, Gianni Benvenuti began his artistic career as a painter and designer but turned to sculpture in the 1960s. He moved to the United States in the 1980s where in addition to continuing his own projects, he provided illustrations for many world classics. Today he is especially well-known as an illustrator of children’s books that have been translated and cherished worldwide. (photo source: fantlab.ru/art30232)