By Travis Hill

Among the characters parading past his West King St. office, Perry Knotts noticed a peculiar constant. His black, shaggy hair had just a hint of gray coming through; a black, gunslinger-style mustache dominated his unshaven face; and, for a homeless guy, he seemed just friendly enough to be approached.

“That was in 2004,” Knotts said. “At that point I had no idea I wanted to take photography this seriously. I had an interest in it, but when I started with Armando, I was just dabbling.” (more…)

By Paulette Perhach

How does one measure the success as an artist? Is it a measuring stick notched with the number of pieces sold? Is it a scrapbook of magazine articles and opening announcements? Or is it an hourglass with bits of sand bursting with color, showing the amount of time you spent simply creating? (more…)

You want to call the Pegasus Gallery about the artwork on its walls? You can’t. No phone.
You want to walk in and get the tattoo your drunk friends just convinced you would be awesome? You can’t. No walk-ins.
And that is exactly how owners Stevie Floyd and Kimberly Wells like it.
“We didn’t want a normal tattoo shop,” said 25-year-old Floyd, cleaning up after finding a stopping point on a customer’s arm. “We wanted a nice atmosphere, something quiet and intimate, so we could really give our clients good attention. We wanted something low-key.”
Mission accomplished. (more…)

His subjects are the slick-haired gentleman, the perky-nosed blond, the drama between them that the prim and proper culture of the early ‘60s hid behind suits and beehives. With no visible brushstrokes, Jacksonville native Mark George, 37, portrays the drama of his subjects on pieces of torn, polyvinyl chloride panels, giving them the feeling of pieces from a collapsed façade.

Drift: How did you get into art, and how did you discover your style? (more…)

In her living room studio, Fang Ling Lee paints a slick black stroke, taking her hand on a curving trail to the top corner of the canvas, where the hair of two beauties flows in the air.

The figures, naked and swaddled together in sweeps of gray paint, stare out of their speckled world back at their creator, working in bum-around clothes, her feet bare but for splotches of paint.

Finishing her ladies, she signs “Ling” in pink oil pastel. A finished piece calls for a celebratory cigarette. (more…)

Leif Kruse never looks at his paintings with a satisfied smile. He never thinks, “Oh, I like that.”

More likely, Leif will just stare. And when that doesn’t help, he’ll make himself a drink or go for a ride on his bike. He’ll get away.

“I’m probably my worst critic,” said Leif, 26. “I’ve gotten some nice comments. I choose to ignore most of them.” (more…)

Ian Latchmansingh didn’t take any art courses until college. Instead, he spent his formative years as his middle school’s assistant system administrator, remotely kicking his classmates off the computer for playing unauthorized games. Is this the make-up of an artist, post-technological revolution?

“I don’t paint at all, but I do draw. I have an interest in fine art, but as far as painting goes, I never really tried it.”

At 22, Latchmansingh has been doing Web design for about seven years. “I was one of those young kids who got into it,” he said of his early foray into online design. (more…)

Matt Beyrer watches with his head tilted to the side as his hand brushes clouds into the hazy sky of a canvas standing next to his water heater. His clothes drip seawater onto the floor of his garage.

Outside, a white Ford Windstar minivan, the one he’s slept in while doing the show circuit, sits in the driveway.

A tool box blooms with tubes of oils. The tools he uses to sculpt wood fill shelves on the wall.

That’s his day job: helping sculptor Paul A. Baliker carve driftwood into scenes from nature.

But it’s not his art. (more…)