WILD CARD – BEST ARTIST
Felicia Olin The bright red flowers float effortlessly against a turquoise background as the corseted waif looks on pensively. It’s a scene depicted vibrantly in one of Felicia Olin’s signature paintings, and it shows why Olin was voted “best artist” as a wild card by IT readers. A reader writes: “Felicia Olin blew me away this year with her gallery show at the Robert Morris Galery downtown. Her creative expression is a treat to behold!” Evoking shades of Salvador Dali and Mark Ryden, her paintings convey profound emotion, despite the often impassive expressions on her subjects’ faces. Her style, she says, came from trusting her instincts and making art that she enjoys. “I look at everything, and I take things that I like and mesh it together,” Olin says. Her art hangs in galleries from the Hoogland Center to the Sangamo Club and more. “I think there’s just some kind of connection,” Olin says when asked why her artwork has become so popular. “I’m able to put something on the page that people just relate to.”

BEST TATTOO ARTIST
Kevin Veara, Black Moon Tattoos 1009 W. Edwards St., 793-1875 www.kevinveara.com/art/ Even if you have never had any desire to have any ink inserted into your skin with a pointed instrument, we urge you to visit Kevin Veara’s Web site and look through his gallery of paintings. No sooner will the window open than you will be saying “take this sharp object, sir, and draw this bird all over my face. And let’s throw in some ear gauges while we’re at it. Rawk.” On your skin or on a canvas, his art is just that: art. Beautiful, stunning, intricate, and above all else, passionate art. A selfidentified environmentalist, Veara’s work shows a keen interest in the natural world, and his bird pieces are famous. Using natural color schemes and extraordinary attention to detail, Veara is slowly wearing away most preconceived notions of tattoos and tattoo artists. One pin prick at a time.
Runner up: Jason Lee at New Age