Like digital creatures set loose from the world of the movie Tron, two wild animals light up the night with dazzling displays of color illuminating their surfaces. Flashes of bold color flicker across their faceted shapes, sharply outlining their edges or quickly breaking into flowing organic forms like leaves in the forest. It’s not your everyday sight in Rotterdam, but these aren’t your average animals either. [Read more...]
It’s a strange world where, from one moment to the next, nothing familiar is quite as it seems. Warm handshakes turn into mingling horses before our eyes; slicing into a frosted cake is shockingly like slicing into a brain; and what appears to be a sailing ship from above, is actually a stout rhinoceros down below. Some are amusing combinations and others will disturb, but each of these fanciful drawings are fascinating to explore and decipher. [Read more...]
In each of these clever animations a stick figures takes center stage, humorously acting out a looping scene in a colorful cartoonish world. Whether the figure is floating away under balloons or falling off a church roof, he never quite learns his lesson. Where does each animation begin or end? It’s hard to say… and that’s what makes each example so addictive and watchable. [Read more...]
In a world often obsessed with minimalism, Julie Heffernan gives us the fantastic gift of intricate masterpieces – in the form of surreal paintings that harken back to the masters of old. Her work, which is often influenced by the heavily ornamented and ornate Baroque period, is a collection of fanciful environments filled with carefully arranged elements from roses and temples, to skyscrapers and power lines. These later, modern elements of society are easily overlooked on first glance – the classic form and execution of the paintings taking precedence. On closer inspection (a must with these explorable works), we are treated to the realization that these paintings are far more recent than it first seemed. [Read more...]
It’s hard to create more nostalgia than with the faded tones of a vintage advertising poster. Those glorious old ads push just the right buttons, bringing back memories of blissfully warm days, breathtaking views while traveling and good times spent with friends. Danish illustrator Mads Berg works with these classic influences, creating some of the most delicious retro posters we’ve seen. [Read more...]
A gigantic face emerges from the pavement, its features faceted into sharp geometric forms, its color various shades of urban gray. With unseeing eyes cast upward towards the sky, it dwarfs passerby like a sleeping modern day giant born of the city. This is the work of Brussels based David Mesguich, an artist who has been working with polypropylene plastic to build impressive sculptural forms. His work blends the aesthetic of street art with that of the digital world, bringing something that appears computer generated to life before us. [Read more...]
One word that comes to mind when first observing a Ben Grasso painting: dynamic. Just about every piece of his large scale work is in motion – either being blown outward by an explosion, being blown away by a hurricane-force wind, or in many examples, moved by a mysterious energy beyond explanation. Much of his work features classic wooden buildings from the American plains – their timber frame details, long strips of siding and even surrounding foliage moving quickly in divergent directions. It’s a chaotic sight, but one filled with a surprising amount of beauty. [Read more...]
Beautiful faces peer from the pages of discarded vintage books. The printed word forms horizontal patterns in contrast with the curving forms of lips and hair, while giving each figure a certain fragility… “as if the wind may blow them away at any moment.” These are the ink drawings of Loui Jover, a Queensland Australia based artist who has been perfecting his craft since childhood. [Read more...]
Perhaps we shouldn’t call them freaks… these are just normal citizens trying to fit into everyday society. Or are they? From the Edwardian era to the Victorian, these characters are all a bit odd, but they’ve shown up to have their formal portrait taken in their finest clothing; with their hair and beards neatly combed and their individual characters written all over their face (even if that face has only one eyeball). Where did these creatures come from? [Read more...]
Erik Johansen’s pictures are worth more than a thousand words. The German born, Swedish based photographer enjoys nothing more than manipulating the mind with his tantalizing visual imagery. His vivid imagination and surreal forms create brilliant pictures of surreal moments, all with a hint of the believable. Originally a computer engineering student, Johansson currently works on personal projects as well as commissioned ones. [Read more...]
