%1

Poems. That’s what artist Monique Belitz calls them, artworks built by small pieces, marks, colors, spaces, placement, rhythms—what she refers to as “tesserae of texture.” As visual poems, her works offer poignant scenes related to identity, belonging, and the hope for sanctuary. Each image merges human dignity and frailty within immense and unfamiliar landscapes, which are as beautiful as they are severe and threatening.

Fikos is the pseudonym of a Greek street artist who in normal times would be up a ladder with a brush painting public murals. Working indoors during the pandemic, he created this tempera on paper on panel painting in what he calls a “Contemporary Byzantine” style, showing Jesus teaching his disciples the ultimate lesson in humility.