Apt2B Artist Spotlight: Loui Jover & Scott Rohlfs

Every piece of home decor is a reflection of personality. Whether you’re a homeowner who meticulously curates every piece of decor in your home or you’re a person who acquires all of your decor through local garage sales, the items that you choose to surround yourself with say more about you and your personality than any other decisions you make. And the most personal piece of home decor is artwork. Artwork is an essential aspect of making your house feel like home. Apt2B features artwork by tremendous artists, each with their own distinctive personalities and styles. Help find your own voice and express your own personality by discovering artists that speak to you – and your home. Today we’ll be highlighting two of our favorite artists, Loui Jover and Scott Rohlfs.

Loui Jover: @louijover on instagram

Mystery and Romance

Loui Jover is an Australian multimedia artist who is best-known for painting intimate scenes on a canvas made from pages of old books. The combination and interaction between the printed words, the quality of the paper, and the thoughtful subjects of the paintings create a breadth of meaning that is open to many different interpretations. It is these multiple access points that draw interest for the viewer; lovers of literature, paintings, and romance will all find aspects of the work to enjoy. Jover thinks that, “mystery and romance are good bed fellows.” You can see this idea blossom and populate the settings of his artistic landscapes. He presents a world of somber romance that is at once both hopeful and also deeply nostalgic.

“Mystery and romance are good bed fellows.”

Paint, Ink, and Bamboo

Jover is notorious for his use of black paint and ink applied to his canvases. For most of his large-scale paintings he uses black paint with a bamboo brush so he can create heavy, dark lines. His style is reminiscent of traditional Japanese calligraphy. This idea is further reinforced by the text and texture of the book pages that he uses for a canvas. He specifically limits the use of color in his paintings so that each instance of color immediately catches the eye. He also allows the color of the canvas to play a role in the atmosphere of his landscapes. This scaled-back style brings definition to the form of his subjects. His paintings are perfect for a study, reading room, home office, or minimalist space.

Scott Rohlfs: @scottrohlfs on instagram

Strong Women

Scott Rohlf’s artwork has one central subject: strong women. His art does not only feature women as the central subjects, it also puts them in positions of power. They command the attention of the viewer. In Scott Rohlfs’ artistic world women are imbued with a fantastical and surreal quality that highlights their feminine attributes in a way that makes them appear almost alien – as if you’re seeing women for the first time in a brand new way. This arresting quality pulls the viewer into the world of the painting.

In Scott Rohlfs’ artistic world women are imbued with a fantastical and surreal quality

Eyes Are the Window to the Soul

Rohlfs uses acrylic paint to create eye-popping colors, a high-gloss finish, and an almost cartoonish depiction of his subjects. It’s the eyes of his subjects that bring these aspects clearly into focus. The women in his art are always looking back at the viewer. This positioning gives the women in his artwork an agency that is often lacking in most paintings. Viewers are used to looking at paintings, not being looked at by the paintings. This allows his artwork to function as a sort of artistic mirror between the viewer and the subject of the painting. The women are a reflection of the viewer and represent an idealized, colorful, and magnificent version of themselves. This effect is heightened by the distorted, enlarged eyes of the women in his paintings. The eyes force you to engage.

Love Loui Jover’s atmospheric landscapes? See a reflection of yourself in the Scott Rohlfs paintings? Bring the artwork into your own home by checking out Apt2B’s collection of incredible canvas prints! You can also follow these artists on social media through instagram @louijover and @scottrohlfs !