Five Fine Artists You Should Know (Intense!)

Re-Post Of StudioVox Crew - July 22nd, 2016

Because I love this site and love what they do and are doing with spreading the word around of amazing artist is so many forms I am glad to have the opportunity to be able to re-post there daily post that I get from them straight in to my gmail.  Lucky me and lucky you since now I am posting them here.

No this is not some lame way for me in skating by and taking it easy in creating new post just for my blog here................ or is it.........  OK, maybe a little but really, for at least a couple of weeks now I have been wanting to figure out how to save all the wonderful emails I do get from them on a daily basis and only wish I had been doing it sooner but glad I am doing it now.

So I will probably be posting these past paragraphs for a little bit until I feel it is necessary not to do so and a link to StudioVox's site as you see below.

Five Fine Artists You Should Know

The StudioVox Crew

Since the dawn of time, humans have demonstrated their desire to express emotion through artistic forms. Sometimes for personal enjoyment, but more frequently serving the larger purpose of sharing feelings with other human beings.

This desire to connect emotionally has led to the creation of the world’s artistic masterpieces - brushstrokes telling a story more nuanced than a million words could ever say; feeding the human soul.

The fine artists we’re celebrating today expertly communicate the deep complexity and simplicity of people, time and place through their paintings; they are emotional explorers sharing the beauty and humanness of life through their art. And we thank them.

Calvin Lai

Fine Artist - San Francisco, CA

Artist Calvin Lai describes art as “the monkey that climbed onto his back” while he was drawing a self-portrait in kindergarten. He recalls that his passionate relationship with art began the moment when he was trying to get the loops of his shoelaces just right. 

This fascination with detail drove him towards realism, and he began teaching himself the basics of value and perspective at a very early age. His addiction to art progressed, and people became his favorite subjects. He eventually moved from where he grew up in Los Angeles to San Francisco where he studied drawing and printmaking at San Francisco State University. In 2008, he enrolled in the Academy of Art and began painting. Oil paints are now his primary medium.

Since then, working from his San Francisco studio, he has continued to develop and refine his painting skills. Lai’s work has been shown nationally in galleries, group exhibitions and juried shows. He has executed a large number of portrait commissions over the past several years, and his paintings have appeared in national and international publications. Though Calvin mainly focuses on figurative and portraiture, he is driven to capture all that he finds compelling through his paints, brushes, and determination.

You can see more of his work on his website and on StudioVox. 

Lauren Hana Chai


Fine Artist – San Francisco, CA

Artist Lauren Hana Chai was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii being the first of her family to be born in the United  States. Raised by her grandparents who are from South Korea, she grew up with dual cultures.  She was raised with a very traditional Korean lifestyle at home, while at the same time being immersed in the western world outside. 

In 2010, Lauren moved to San Francisco to attend the Academy of Art University and graduated in 2015 with her BFA in painting.

You can see more of her work on her website and on StudioVox. 

Tibor Simon-Mazula

 Fine Artist – San Francisco

Raised in Hungary, Fine Artist Tibor Simon-Mazula completed his BA in drawing and mathematics at University of Szeged, Hungary  before going on to study filmmaking and cinematography in Budapest. For eighteenth months Tibor worked in Dubai as an Art Director. In 2013 he received his MFA in painting from the Academy of Art University. Tibor has internationally exhibited both painting and film. He currently lives in San Francisco with his wife Diana who inspires his paintings.

On the canvas, sometimes thick oil paint is mixed with bone ash or marble dust curls so that is cracks like the dry earth, but some areas are left empty as if a storm had swept through the image.

You can see more of his work on his website and on StudioVox. 

Rita Cirillo

Fine Artist – Victor, Colorado

While raising her family, Artist Rita Cirillo earned a BS (with honors) in Computer Science from the University of Colorado and a 1st degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Subsequently, while working as a software engineer and a part time karate instructor, she devoted her spare time to improving her drawing and oil painting, with an eye towards eventually switching over to painting full-time.

After working for 18 years as a software engineer, Rita decided to "Live the Dream." She gave up her day job to pursue her art career in earnest.  She has been juried into prominent exhibitions, including Colorado Governor's Art Show, Oil Painters of America Western Regional, American Women Artists Annual, Greenhouse Gallery Salon International, Scottsdale Fine Art Salon, Plein Air Artists Colorado, Paint the Parks (Top 100), Plein Air Rockies and Wyoming Plein Air.

In 2010, Rita was invited to attend The Artist Ride, a photography opportunity, in South Dakota. The Old West models, props and the scenery were so inspiring that she set out to explore the American Frontier through research and paintings.

“There is an fascinating dichotomy of the American Frontier Days -- the romance contrasted against the harsh realities. I am seeking to find a balance to show the beauty and the truth of our history in my paintings,” she says.

You can see more of her work on her website and on StudioVox.  

Agnieszka Pilat

Fine Artist – San Francisco, CA

Artist Agnieszka Pilat makes it clear that she doesn't paint people.  She paints time.  “I think of time as a person who exists only in my mind,” she says.  “The young subjects in my paintings, rather then being literary representations of children, are allegorical symbols of choices that make up our individual existences. Every choice offered is a promise of a new beginning... at that precious moment a child-like innocence was granted to a new idea. Old life deconstructed.”

Most of her paintings are of the same little girl, who is a metaphor for time. She has been Pilat’s model for her work over the last two years and will continue to be in the future.   

“By painting a model that changes over time, my whole body of work becomes time based,” she says.  “If you look at my paintings across the years, you will see the impact of time on the model and on my personal style. It’s a decades-long commitment on my part.”

You can see more of her work on her website and on StudioVox.