Internationally celebrated artist Brian M. Viveros has an unmistakably arresting hand. His highly detailed paintings of female beauties summon a raw poetic of intractability. Beautiful and yet barbarous, they draw from the power of the feminine and its reconciliation of vulnerability, beauty, and power. These hyperreal portraits deliver cult worthy heroines emerging triumphant from battle, complete with cigarettes anchored from parted lips, and tattoos and wounds to rival any soldier’s; they are steel tough victors rendered with the technical precision. Viveros’ work elevates the iconography of the femme-fatale as a powerful emblem of strength and retaliation: insubordinate beauties undaunted by the unruliness of a messy fight. This world that Viveros has created over the past 10 years has evolved into a universe unto itself. Its protagonists are ruthlessly strong, its imagery is adamant and unwavering, and its women are kick-ass, unapologetic champions. Welcome to the DirtyLand, there’s no place like home.

The artist’s recognition and exposure was catalyzed by his participation in a major group exhibition in Switzerland in 1997, entitled The Art of Porn, in which he exhibited alongside celebrated artist and academy award winner H.R. Giger. Since then, Viveros’ work has been widely exhibited in North America and Europe, extensively published in print, and showcased in numerous international art fairs. An accomplished surreal filmmaker, Brian Viveros’ films, in keeping with his painting, capture something powerfully uncanny and symbolically unsettling from the depths of our strained psyches, and yet keep us entranced by an undeniably seductive urge to keep looking.