‘The best reason to paint is that there is no reason to paint.’ Keith Haring‘s mantra can act as inspiration or deterrent, depending on the perspective of the listener. The artist that picks up a paintbrush out of duty to self and to no other greater purpose is in line with Haring’s sentiment. 

The shades of gray in Neal Russler’s drawings trick the eye — those washes are minuscule dots. That smattering of blood and mucus on the woman’s face is simply a collection of pen marks compressed, a constellation in miniature. The paper bright and infinite with his precise penwork making each face a galaxy of the beautiful and the grotesque. Calling his skill a ‘trick’ betrays the depth of Russler’s penchant for exactness and level of patience. With his art being something he does outside of his regular job, it is incredible any of it exists at all.

For his art print ‘Siege,’ Tong pauses the moment of death of a single soldier. This is not modern warfare but something more ancient. The armor and spear give the figure away as a citizen-soldier of Greece, a hoplite, a force of free citizens that utilized precise formations over military training and quality weaponry. Tong shows us the dying soldier, with her foe tied to the same bleak fate.

To translate the entirety of opera to a modern audience is a difficult task, but singer Anthony Roth Costanzo is fully capable. In opera, there are vocal types — categorized from low to high. Female and male. Costanzo is a countertenor or to the layperson, he sings falsetto — think Thom Yorke, Michael Jackson. Think Prince and Justin Timberlake. His is a powerful instrument trained to fill a theater for long stretches of time sans amplification.

In each poster from Munich based illustrator and printmaker Simon Marchner you find an environment of absolute mood. Marchner’s shapes are crisp, perfect beyond the real world. His is a purposeful form of minimalism, bypassing cleverness for stark realism.