![New oil painting “Prince Street” for my show opening TOMORROW NIGHT in NYC at Spoke Art (@spoke_art) from 6-9 PM, 210 Rivington Street on The Lower East Side. This piece is inspired by the Brothers Grimm's fairy tale “The Frog Prince”. 🐸👸🌹For every frog out there looking for that special lady to turn him into a prince. Email nyc@spoke-art.com to purchase. “LAX / JFK” is being curated by the folks at @thinkspace_art and opens on November 11th. See you there!](https://cdn.viewing.nyc/assets/media/84c7c96631f7948ce365a828f4f5f1f0/elements/6efd8bb4e190233bfbb2c823a309cd9a/xl/208cba2c-04da-471e-89d2-7ed24dcb01a8_2x.jpg)
![This is the second of two father and son pieces I painted for my last solo show. I loved the Babar books when I was a kid and painting this really brought me back to my childhood when my parents read to me all the time. I’m finishing up several new father/son paintings for my show coming up in New York at @spoke_art. 'LAX / JFK' is being curated by the folks at @thinkspace_art and opens on November 11th from 6-10 PM. Save the date! 🐘📕
Prints of this painting available at grabelsky.etsy.com](https://cdn.viewing.nyc/assets/media/da91323d35d79c62eaf77cdfe581cd29/elements/3a9ad9992e2c76090a71510044a7ddc7/xl/a5a92b7e-3a44-4b76-acca-ee393e4e5efa_2x.jpg)
![Just landed in San Francisco for #MoleskineVI opening tonight at @Spoke_art. 816 Sutter Street, 6-9 PM. The show will feature over 60 international artists, each creating an original work in a Moleskine notebook. If you're in the Bay Area come say hi!
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To inquire about this painting email the gallery at SF@spoke-art.com.
#moleskine #parrot #macaw #spokeart](https://cdn.viewing.nyc/assets/media/79212cf7171f761794896bd5041c5920/elements/7126c90b235ab2a5de47e936a821675d/xl/b7d7abba-cf5d-49a8-bbb0-48b04c710dc5_2x.jpg)
![These painted dogs will be on view at 'FLOURISH' opening TONIGHT at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum at the Mesa Arts Center @mesaartscenter in Arizona. Opening reception 7-10PM. Show runs through August 12th.
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Email contact@thinkspacegallery.com to purchase.
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Prints available at grabelsky.etsy.com](https://cdn.viewing.nyc/assets/media/3e04fc5725f7b7a3ae898c60bc36f9d1/elements/14dd46ed8f6db02073f2a555b1940560/xl/be9ca4da-7b26-4905-a3ad-c658a2fa7246_2x.jpg)
![New oil painting ‘The Panda Express’. This is the third piece I’ve done with pandas and they are definitely one of my favorite animals. Fun panda fact: they eat 20 to 30 pounds of bamboo a day! It takes a lot of bamboo to stay this adorable. 🐼🐼🐼](https://cdn.viewing.nyc/assets/media/ea2e9704cb299e9b13fcf5ee8e9392e9/elements/f47a5b494f140a4e6fd058518ced80db/xl/328c703e-6887-4fe9-8d69-150638288783_2x.jpg)
![I painted this special piece for my grandma, her name is Rose. She’s named after a flower, her house is full of flowers and she paints watercolors (it runs in the family👍) of flowers so I did a painting full of powerful flower references.
The characters embody the story the child is reading: "The Story of Ferdinand" - my parents used to read me this story over and over when I was little. It's about a bull who doesn’t want to fight, he just wants to lie under a tree and (you guessed it?) smell the flowers!
I created the advertisement behind their heads for a florist, where the caption reads “Stop and Smell the Roses”
The father’s tie is a poppy print (the California state flower😜, just a bit of my current life in there)
And, for a whimsical touch, I added a pealing sticker of a rose. Because what's more NYC than strategically placed stickers on subway walls?
Do you see anything else?😉](https://cdn.viewing.nyc/assets/media/f93b33f5d162a6b0669b272c54ace98a/elements/fce0fc3f9a7c88fec724fb172cb6c3c9/xl/09e11da9-e19d-4854-9f4c-9df20b762e1a_2x.jpg)
![This seagull is relaxing on Miami Beach as part of Art Basel Week. 🌴⛱🕶 Come see him @scopeartshow at the @thinkspace_art booth through this Sun., Dec. 10 on Miami Beach (entrance at 8th & Ocean). Tickets at www.scope-art.com. And if your looking for Christmas gifts, check out the prints in my etsy shop: grabelsky.etsy.com](https://cdn.viewing.nyc/assets/media/2fa22f899d310aedb14c69696114974d/elements/0f2e03609698551f4883297e92a8eff6/xl/89c29496-063c-4aac-bcb7-88ffe226bb7e_2x.jpg)
![‘Downtown Express’ on view at ‘Gumbo’ at Thinkspace Gallery (@thinkspace_art). If you’re in Los Angeles and looking for something to do this weekend check it out. Show runs through May 16th.
Thinkspace
6009 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
Tues. - Sat. Noon to 6PM
http://thinkspacegallery.com
#thinkspacefamily #thinkspacegallery #gumbo #newcontemporary #art #surrealism #surreal #popsurrealism #oilpainting #painting #art #la #losangeles #ny #newyork #subway #grabelsky #matthewgrabelsky](https://cdn.viewing.nyc/assets/media/6d1461168edee0b7a6faebaea89d0231/elements/665d4c04d94efad5e11d4d6e790ae881/xl/9315fe1f-7990-4360-9105-919b2cb69b96_2x.jpg)
![Here’s the last oil painting from my recent show in New York. I’m so excited that my friend who modeled for this panda is pregnant! Look for some mother-daughter panda paintings coming up in 2018! 🐼](https://cdn.viewing.nyc/assets/media/8437410933557f0fa5ddc91464d57110/elements/62d453437a4bb0369536fb9e8129ee88/xl/c6736837-d799-4205-af06-36d429b78a5c_2x.jpg)
![New oil painting “Avenue of the Americas” for my show opening TONIGHT in NYC at Spoke Art (@spoke_art) from 6-9 PM, 210 Rivington Street on The Lower East Side. When I was a kid my parents told me that I could grow up to be anything I wanted. I took that literally and decided I would become a bird so I could fly. When I got older I found out that I could not actually become a bird so I became an artist instead. This one goes out to all the veterans on this Veterans Day. “LAX / JFK” is being curated by the folks at @thinkspace_art. See you tonight! 🇱🇷🦅 #FlyLikeAnEagle](https://cdn.viewing.nyc/assets/media/e71bf7041bcee8aa99ef8235ca97b645/elements/27d847eb0bacf73e5d9f723c126f1ef2/xl/37f0d553-213a-4947-afed-b72d9a41b105_2x.jpg)
![It’s summer vacation and this family is waiting for the train at Columbus Circle to start a fun New York adventure! This is the first piece I’ve done with different animals. 🦏🦆🐼🐨 While I was painting I was thinking about how each animal captured the specific personality of the person. A fun little detail: all the animals are herbivores and yet the mother’s bag is alligator skin. A little twist to predator/prey dynamic. At 40 x 55 inches this is one of the largest oil paintings I’ve made to date.](https://cdn.viewing.nyc/assets/media/f435acdec0dae7a9c047bdcc0bbc60f9/elements/3b09bb474f8abc1ced072fcc18bf00c8/xl/683f1760-15ed-4040-bf0b-1b86f4016534_2x.jpg)
![I was seeing spots in this oil painting for my show that just closed in NYC at Spoke Art (@spoke_art). When I was a kid my parents read to me all the time and Dr. Seuss was one of my favorites! 🐱🎩📘#DrSeuss #CatInTheHat #SnowLeopard #NYC](https://cdn.viewing.nyc/assets/media/065cfda46a6f07310ab38d2d50a60dd5/elements/b1a319f3076182a8717a14b2af1dc550/xl/cfa8330b-4994-42d1-a14f-9a1628df9834_2x.jpg)
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Los Angeles-based artist Matthew Grabelsky has an interesting series of surreal portraits of people on the New York City subway that are normal from the neck down, but who have their heads replaced by a variety of wild animals.
Having grown up in New York and being fascinated by the imagery of Greek mythology as a kid, Grabelsky’s paintings are an exploration of human nature and of the way that animals represent various parts of the human subconscious. “The characters are symbolic of the kinds of thoughts that lie under the surface of people’s minds, and they reveal that the most extraordinary can exist in the most ordinary of everyday settings,” the artist told Prohbtd in an interview. “This theme is communicated through the juxtaposition of these ostensibly irrational images with otherwise completely mundane scenes. My idea is that my creatures are not original but are ultimately part of a much larger cultural continuum.”
Check out his portfolio and/or follow @grabelsky on Instagram for more.
via Colossal
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