Probably my most favorite new artist that I discovered down at Art Basel this year is Romanian born painter Razvan Boar. Represented in the US by the Ana Cristea Gallery in NYC, Boar’s most recent work is a colorful mix of painting and drawing and abstract shapes. The Ana Cristea Gallery describes the artist’s intent at his Fall opening: “Mundane daily objects, modems of entertainment, distorted figures and clichéd characters are layered amongst geometric patterns of circles, diagonals and framing devices.” I love how energetic Boar’s pieces are and the way he uses color to stop you dead in your tracks. This large-scale painting called “Cobalt” (below), was what first drew me to his work.“Touchstones of normative desire (a swimsuit cabaret, cocktail waitresses in cocktail glasses) are placed alongside visions of repressed desire (twisted bodies and faceless forms),” explains Boar’s gallery. “By blurring the lines between culturally entrenched iconographies of commercialism, such as advertising, cartoon, children’s book illustrations, comics, film and stocks from classic showbiz, and the subjective motifs of dreams, Boar produces a wealth of double entendres.” Below, “We read the naked ladies alphabet” is a great example of his signature mash-up of 50’s style pin-up girl iconography with colorful, abstract painting. 
Below, “We read the naked ladies alphabet (The Knot)”A pair of works hung for viewing at a gallery–you can see how large-scale some of his pieces are. The colors of these two pieces are brilliant together. Here’s a slightly older piece of Boar’s called “April.” Incredibly beautiful and quite different from his new work. To see more of Boar’s paintings, click here. Have a great weekend and hope you enjoyed seeing some of Razvan Boar’s work!