Valero Doval takes found images and transforms them into either hilarious or downright creepy collages. The images from “Circus Pets” and “Ghosts” serve as evidence for such a contrast.
While this is just a sampling of his personal work, Doval’s commercial clients have included The New York Times, Timberland, and Panasonic.
Ethan Garton paints and draws scenes of addiction, loneliness, and corruption in an almost endearing manner. He utilizes a variety of both traditional and non-traditional media, such as pastel, blood, ink, ash, coffee, watercolor, and wine. I’m particularly intrigued by Garton’s line work–from uber intricate and orgy-like to simple and incredibly light-hearted.
It seems like Robert G. Bartholot has done a little bit of everything–fashion, art direction, graphic design, illustration. I especially like his “Fragile” and “Anuk” series (both in collaboration with Álvaro Villarrubia) and “Freakshow” (in collaboration with Patrick Mettraux). All three target the bizarre in some way–through the depiction of unearthly figures, through extreme camera angles to capture distortion, or simply through illustrating modern mythical creatures/ humanimals.
Grégoire Alexandre‘s photographs are full of drama and whimsy. Each piece looks like a snapshot from an insanely epic, Michel Gondry-directed dream. And who wouldn’t want a photo shoot with a life-size origami unicorn?!
UK based Lindsey Gooden is a freelance illustrator and also contributes to a collective at Panther Club. Her collage work combines the digital and the hand drawn, exploring themes like seduction, freedom, hallucination, and transfiguration. I’m really enjoying her use of free-spirited colors and trippy compositions.
1000 Awesome Things
David Thompson, the artist behind Monsieur Cabinet is hilarious. His quirky and sometimes shocking sense of humor is paired well with his simple and almost childlike illustrations. Thompson is a master of visual humor.
23 year old artist Matthew Palladino has been getting a good amount of press, from his show at Park Life to his interview on Fecal Face, and it’s really no surprise because his pieces are conceptually unique and universally beautiful. I’m intrigued by the subjects of his paintings and sometimes titles of his work, for instance, the painting above is titled “Lesbian Jail Wedding”.
Oil and Acrylic on Linen
Alexis Semtner’s abstract paintings utilize optical illusion to distort the viewers spatial awareness. According to Semtner, her use of visual falsity is used to denote perception and draw attention to how ubiquitous the notion of hallucination is in the human mind. I like the comforting and almost calming colors juxtaposed to the disconcerting Escher-esque environments, I think that the combination works well to create a world of constantly changing perceptions.
