A self-taught painter, Fatima Ronquillo layers her portraits with the traditional symbols and charms of classic-style portraiture — objects that meant different things in different times and have to be studied to be completely understood. Ronquillo’s subjects similarly face the viewer decorated with blindfolds, eye patches, fauns, flowers — and by pulling them into the contemporary, we are reminded us of the aesthetic value of these objects that we are free to attach our own significance to.
For his series, Wilder Mann, photographer Charles Fréger traveled to 18 different countries to capture the costumes and masks of folk festivals and traditions. Creatures like bears, stags, mysterious hybrids and the occasional Krampus appear otherworldly—fashioned from materials like animal hides, bells, antlers, twigs and leaves. Photographed within their natural settings, the results are more film still than portrait instantly conjuring primitive stories and fairy tales. (via)
New York-based travel photographer Sivan Askayo explores intimacy through a universal behavior: hanging clothes out to dry. Askayo’s series Intimacy Under the Wires depicts clotheslines from around the world—snapshots likely more personal than intended. According to Askayo, the project began in Tel Aviv, and continued through Madrid, Barcelona, London, Florence, Venice and Buenos Aires, and we have to take her word for it: aside from small hints in t-shirt logos, random signage and perhaps an architectural clue, locations are largely a mystery.
The style of Copenhagen-based animation director and illustrator Helena Frank plays with hyper-realism and proportions—very serious big heads balancing on little bodies. Though she encourages people to view her “best work” at her website, her awesome tumblr gives us a piece a day, “no exception.” (via)
Photographer Minh Tran captures the raw, gritty nightlife of Portland in his series Nights, Camera, Action! The images simultaneously surprise with their intimacy and reflect what one might expect in a Portland night out complete with some PBR cradling. It’s a fun, seemingly endless scroll of people who just look like a real good time. When you make it over there, make sure to keep an eye out for a Stevie Wonder cameo.
The shapes of Rorschach tests are intentionally flawed and ambiguous — allowing us to draw conclusions about a person’s psyche based on what organic matter they claim to see growing in the inkblots. In her series, Mirrors, photographer Traci Griffin flips that concept. By applying symmetry to natural subjects, they are rendered unnatural and too perfect for this world.
The photographs of Katerina Plotnikova are apparitions of fairytales. Female subjects are cradled by ghosts and smoke while narratives come through pops of color. The resulting composition is a dreamlike fashion editorial hinting at both the wistful and sinister. (via)
With found Flickr photos as his source, Jeremy Rotsztain‘s series Obsessions (Flickr Pets) “document the love and obsession that people have for their pets.” The individual images are color-blocked and reductive, verging on abstract in some instances, yet the subject matter keeps them recognizable and full of personality. Each still is the result of animations made in C++ using the openFrameworks library — which just sounds impressive for a series from 2008, right. Rotsztain’s catalogue has a wealth of series that explore the overlaps of technology, culture, behavior and art.
