Karen Haber Reviews Infected by Art, Volume 5 edited by Todd Spoor & Bill Cox

Infected by Art, Volume 5, Todd Spoor & Bill Cox, eds. (Art Order 978-0-69291-194-5, $49.99, 326pp, hc) November 2017. Cover by Rob Rey & Jeremy Deveraturda.

This year’s Infected by Art annual, the fifth juried volume of Imaginative Realist artwork, is considerably improved over last year’s book, IBA 4. Attention has been paid to margin treatment, proofreading, and general appearance, with a defi­nite payoff. This year’s volume has 20 pages more art, a laminated cover, and marbled endpapers that add to a nice visual package.

IBA began as a juried art competition in 2012. It has grown each year, and the accompanying art annual, now in partnership with Illux Con, is usually filled with an interesting mix of art.

The work ranges from traditional mediums – drawing and painting – to digital art and sculpture. This year’s book offers 300+ works by 256 artists. The color reproduction is excellent, with most of the art featured at good size and only occasional crowding of images per page.

This year’s judges were Bob Eggleton, Craig Elliott, Forest Rogers, and Marc Scheff. IBA 5’s Grand Prize winners were Vanessa Lemen, David Palumbo, Matt Smith, Vince Natale, and Travis Lewis. Body-of-Work award winner was artist Allen Williams. As in the previous year’s annual, IBA 5 also features artwork commissioned for Illux Con 10 from artists Gerald Brom, Forest Rogers, Laurie Lee Brom, and Dan Chudzinski.

Among the new faces were some familiar names: Stephanie Law, Ed Binkley, Donato Giancola, David Palumbo, Ruth Sanderson, Don Maitz, Rodd Lockwood, John Picacio, Justin Ge­rard, Dave Seeley, Marianne Plumridge, Richard Hescox, Tom Kidd, Omar Rayyan, Jody Lee, Stephan Martinière, and Gary Lippincott,

Other standout work in the volume is by Lisa Sprite Hansen, “Shorn” and “Root” (mixed media, sculpture, clay); J. Anthony Kosar, “U-Gene” (sculpture, mixed media); Tommy Arnold, “A Taste of Honey”, “Killing Gravity” (Photoshop); Lauren K. Cannon, “Uzumaki”, “Path of Ruins” (Corel Painter and Photoshop); Tony Troy, “The Clockmaker” (ink, pastels); Donato Giancola, “Arya, Jon, and Nymeria” (colored pencil); Maurizio Manzieri, “The Sassari Spaceport” (digital, Photoshop); Gianluca Mattia, “Phartenope” (graphite pencil, digital); Brian Woodward, “Candelabro” (watercolor, colored pencil); Naomi Van Doren, “Fen’s Forest” (wa­tercolor, ink); Patrick Stacy, “Boudicca” (oils); Carla Secco, “Pensieri” (oils); Rob Rey, “Biolumi­niscence IV” (oils); Alexxandra Pisano, “Revival” (oils); Scott Murphy, “Pounce de León” (oils); Patrick J. Jones, “Ascension” (oils); Natasa Ilincic, “Magpie” (watercolor, gouache, Photoshop); Kelly Hensing “Regret-Me-Nots” (oils); Melissa Gay, “Screech Owl Ponders the Milky Way” (acrylic, Ink); and Lisa French, “Taste” (oils).

This review and more like it in the February 2018 issue of Locus.