A selection of recent paintings by New Haven, Connecticut-based artist Mel Arzamarski (previously featured here). Inspired by elements of fiction, surrealism, and Trompe l’oeil — an art technique based on the use of realistic imagery to create the illusion of three dimensionality — Arzamarski’s work often plays with ideas of perspective and what is real:

“With the new paintings I wanted to be more varied in tone. Including more elements of dark humor is something that I have been interested in. I’m looking for the tension that comes from a painting that is appealing to look at, but is also a touch off putting. For the last two years I have also been consistently consuming literature that falls somewhere within the weird fiction genre. Primarily short stories, often obscure titles from 20th century magazines but also classics like Dracula and Frankenstein, I feel like this has embedded the work with a more specific type of bizarre fiction.”

Arzamarski is one of the 50 artists featured in our latest art book, Quiet. See more of their latest work below and click here to check out the book in our shop!

See more images below.