Columbian artist Diana Beltran Herrera carefully sculpts incredibly detailed paper birds by hand, representing real and imagined species with bright (and sometimes glittery) plumage. Though her creations are static sculptures, they seem to convey an incredible sense of movement and life. This is reflected in Herrerra’s choice of paper as a medium, which she uses for its sense of lightness and freedom. She also frequently creates paper habitats for her birds, ranging from jungles to woodlands.
What may at first look like a sketch of a classic sculpture is actually a mass of tiny doodles by Japanese artist Keita Sagaki. Sagaki manages to turn drawings of UFOs, skulls, and aliens that you’d see on the edges of your middle school notebook, into beautiful works of art. These tongue-in-cheek works combine the artist’s respect for classic paintings and sculpture with his love for modern comics and graffiti. Sagakis art can take months to create since each work is composed of millions of smaller compositions. Each of his drawings are improvised and drawn directly onto the surfaces he uses without being drafted.
Artist Kate Shaw uses a acrylic paint, water, inks, and airbrushes to create these surreal landscapes. The images seem somewhat of this world, but with colors and textures we’ve never seen. After pouring out acrylic and resin, she lets the paint form naturally, looking for familiar shapes like mountains or tree branches, and collages these shapes together. She then uses an airbrush to create watery surfaces, or delicate clouds. Each of her pieces celebrates the beauty of nature, but at the same time presents dark undertones of acidity and decay.
