MELODY POSTMA

Savannah, GA | USA

"Melody Postma holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Savannah College of Art and Design. She says her work is a multi-layered evolution of vivid color, playful shapes, and rich textured surfaces."

Her subjects vary from pure abstraction to references of textural fragments, nonchalant figures, landscapes, and dreams."
- From description on Bennett Gallery website

Postma's colors, cut-out figures, drawing, and shapes create an interesting combination of work that look to borrow from works by Basquiat and others. Some whimsical, some serious, her mixed-media work is fresh, interesting, and inquisitive.

WEBSITE: melodypostma.com
INQUIRIES: Postma's work can be found at the Matre Gallery at Tula Arts Center in Atlanta and Bennett Gallery in Nashville. Prices start around $800+.
All images Copyright Melody Postma.

WALLACE MERRITT

New Orleans, LA | USA

This recommendation from GALLER|b reader Lucas:

I'm a reader of GallerB and just bought a print from a New Orleans photographer, Wallace Merritt. He's a cool guy, a Katrina survivor from New Orleans, and he is now doing his black & white photography full-time and committed to staying in New Orleans.

Such is the power of his work that I saw one of his photographs hanging in a house in 1998 in New Orleans, and never forgot it. I just fulfilled a dream of mine, which is owning a print of that photo. (It's so very haunting, like all good art, I guess.) I tracked him down and just ordered it from him and he's shipping it to me in Atlanta!

He has no idea I'm writing you, but I just thought your blog would be a great way to introduce him to a Web audience, and share his artistic vision with your readers if you like it. Additionally, I'm sure he'd get a kick out of it, too!

---------------------
Many thanks to Lucas for introducing GALLER|b to an outstanding photographer, and for sharing your comments with our audience.

WEBSITE: www.wallacemerritt.com
INQUIRIES: Inquire directly at Wallace Merritt's website. Prices start around $600+.
All images Copyright Wallace Merritt Photography.

SHEPARD FAIREY

San Diego, CA | USA

Shepard Fairey's work is typically more familiar to kids skateboarding on the steps of museums, than it is to the people browsing inside. With his iconic Andre the Giant "Obey" sticker campaign, Fairey's mocking of commercialism has become omnipresent in many cities throughout the US and beyond.

But Fairey's work is far more than just the stickers and stencils he is best known for. His art is always clever, often political, and typically very divisive depending on where the observer stands on war, social acceptance, and the role of politics and big business in shaping culture . By utilizing polarizing figures such as Mao and Lenin in his work, Fairey champions individual thought over the blinding forces of oppression of the masses. Although most of his work is driven by the concepts behind the "Obey" sticker campaign, his pieces are anything but simplistic graffiti works.

In his art, Fairey covers a wide range of subjects, from politics to music. Rappers; rockers; Republicans ... they all have a place in Fairey's work, even thought they may not be treated with equal reverence and respect. Fairey's work is addicting and interesting, no matter what the subject matter, and he is in extremely high demand both as an artist, and as a progressive iconic figure of today's youth.

WEBSITE: www.obeygiant.com
INQUIRIES: Shepard Fairey's work can be found at galleries throughout the country, such as Merry Karnowsky Gallery , but the best place to go is his own website, Obey Giant. Prices start at $30+ for limted edition prints signed and numbered by the artist (a typical edition size may be of 300 - 400).
All images Copyright Shepard Fairey.