Babeth Lafon's illustrations feel French. The pastel blues are reminiscent of the periwinkle shade found all over the south of France. The still lifes, accoutrements of women impossibly glamorous; leave it to the French to give even drafting paper their je ne sais quoi. Even her branded perfume bottles, already works of art in their original form, are infused with…
Have you ever felt like your vegetables were not to be trusted? Cast a baleful eye at your pile of peas and wondered if you saw them glare back? If so, you might see something strangely sinister about the Angolan born (now London based) artist Alida Rodrigues' produce themed portraits. These hapless Victorian men and women find themselves with onion…
Connectivity between humans and nature seems so foreign in todays industrial society. Merve Özaslan is bringing back this long lost connection through beautifully edited photography. Superimposing colourful nature scenes with black and white city scenes, these photos call into question whether humanity is taking the beauty of nature for granted. Özaslan perfectly describes her intent on her Tumblr site,"It is…
Flowers go with everything. This appears to be Clare Celeste Börsch's motto when it comes to her collages, and you'd be hard-pressed to disagree. Börsch delightfully incorporates both the ordinary (birds, branches, and butterflies) and the unusual (water-skiers, hot-tubbers, stray hands) in her offbeat compilations. Born in Thailand, Börsch has lived in 5 different countries before finally settling in her…
In celebration of International Dance Day, we ask: if dance is an artform, then is dance as a subject in visual art self-referential? Born in Chile but based in Berlin, Jose Romussi grew up with an artistic mother, but didn't seriously pursue art until his early thirties. In his "Dance" series, Romussi emphasizes the lines and movement of his ballerina…
A is for apple, B is for ball, C is for cat... When was the last time you actually learned something from an alphabet book? Well, writer Kate Schatz and illustrator Miriam Klein Stahl want to change that. Rad American Women A-Z published by City Lights contains the names and biographies of 25 world-changers, that, yes, happen to be female.…
Remember fold-ins? Popularized by Mad Magazine, a richly illustrated cartoon of one thing would ostensibly turn into something entirely different after folding the page left and back so that "A meets B." Eli Craven employs a similar technique with his project "Screen Lovers," to R-rated effect. The images are taken from a book with the same namewith stills of old Hollywood love scenes. In original form, the pictures might be sensual, but Craven magnifies the sexual undertones of the image by melding different photographs together.
Twilight. Before it had the misfortune of sharing a name with a certain pop culture phenomenon, it was just a term for a time of day. One dictionary defines it as "the soft glowing light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon, caused by the refraction and scattering of the sun's rays from the atmosphere." Anthony Samaniego incorporates that pinkish glow to full effect in his nature photo compositions of Los Angeles. Some feature shifting clouds, ominously making their way over an otherwise static landscape.
Do you like your rainbows served up saccharine free, with a little bit of kick? Jean-François Painchaud's gifs might be just what you're looking for. The colour palette might remind you of Lisa Frank, but that's where the similarities end. These pictures are definitely for a mature audience (the gifs here are toned down). The movement of colours and shifting…