We love: ShakeyLens

 

We love:Hanna Viktorsson

Respect to: Amy Sarkisian

 

Amy Sarkisian (born 1969 in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.) is a contemporary artist^[1] living and working in Los Angeles, California. She received a BFA from Kent State University in 1994 and a MFA from UCLA in 1997.
Sarkisian is primarily a sculptor^[2] but works in a variety of media that includes painting, drawing and collage. She is known for her jeweled skulls.^[3][4] In a 2011 interview, she named Brancusi, Eva Hesse and Louise Bourgeois as among her influences.^[5]
Sarkisian is represented by Galerie Carlos Cardenas in Paris and Kathryn Brennan Gallery in Los Angeles. She is also a member of Artists Pension Trust Los Angeles.
Sarkisian has exhibited internationally in galleries and museums

(source Wiki)

 

Respect to : Damien Hirst

 

“I just thought, ‘What can you pit against death?”
‘For the Love of God’, a platinum skull set with diamonds, is one of Hirst’s most important and widely recognised works. Its raw materials define it as an artwork of unprecedented scale. The 32 platinum plates making up ‘For the Love of God’ are set with 8,601 VVS to flawless pavé-set diamonds, weighing a massive 1,106.18 carats. The teeth inserted into the jaw are real and belong to the original skull.
The skull from which ‘For the Love of God’ was cast, was purchased from a London taxidermist and subsequently subjected to intensive bioarchaeological analysis and radiocarbon dating. This research revealed it dated from around 1720 - 1810, and was likely to be that of a 35-year-old man of European/Mediterranean ancestry. The title originates from exclamations Hirst’s mother would make on hearing plans for new works when he was starting out as an artist. As he explains: “She used to say, ‘For the love of God, what are you going to do next!’” 
‘For the Love of God’ acts as a reminder that our existence on earth is transient. Hirst combined the imagery of classic memento mori with inspiration drawn from Aztec skulls and the Mexican love of decoration and attitude towards death. He explains of death: “You don’t like it, so you disguise it or you decorate it to make it look like something bearable – to such an extent that it becomes something else.”



The incorporation of the large central stone was inspired by memories of the comic ‘2000 AD’, which Hirst used to read as a child. He relates how the comic, “used to have a character in it called Tharg the Mighty who had a circle on his forehead. He was like a kind of powerful, God-like figure who controlled the universe,” Hirst explains. “It kind of just looked like it needed something. A third eye; a connection to Jesus and his dad.”
Alongside their dazzling brilliance and “Eucharistic” beauty, Hirst’s fascination with diamonds results partly from the mutterings and uncertainty surrounding their inherent worth. In the face of the industry’s ability to establish their irreplaceable value, it becomes necessary to question whether they are “just a bit of glass, with accumulated metaphorical significance? Or [whether they] are genuine objects of supreme beauty connected with life.”The cutthroat nature of the diamond industry, and the capitalist society which supports it, is central to the work’s concept. Hirst explains that the stones “bring out the best and the worst in people […] people kill for diamonds, they kill each other”.
In 2010, Hirst created a second, baby diamond skull called ‘For Heaven’s Sake’ using pink diamonds.

 

A short film of ‘For the Love of God’ is viewable here.

 

We love: Jorge Monreal - Cocoaspen

 

 

2 Years Ago Today This Was Us! Gosh That Was A HOT Day!!!

We love: Daisy Watson

 

In her own words: "my name is Daisy Watson, i was born on the 30th of August, 1991. I live in Kent, England. I studied art at school, where my teacher told me it was okay for my work to not make sense, which is the best thing i ever learnt in education. Apart from that, i am basically a self taught artist. I have done various pieces of commissioned work, varying from album covers, festival posters to canvas artworks, and i am always open to do more. I am inspired by music, cats, birds, the sky, pylons, telephone wires, cute things, fluffy things, colourful things, and feeling happy"

http://daisyannewatson.carbonmade.com/about

We love: Charmaine Olivia

Charmaine Olivia spends the majority of her days continually teaching herself how to paint and draw. She is extremely curious and passionate about life, beautiful things and creativity.  The best way to know her and her work is through social networks: Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, & Facebook.
Her illustrations, photography and paintings have appeared in publications, museums, galleries and private collections throughout the world. Some of her clients and projects include Urban Outfitters, Lady Gaga, Hallmark, Volcom Stone, Element, Nylon Magazine, & Inked Girls Magazine.

How It All Started

Three years ago today was how it all started. Izzy and Lyns had met at St. Martin's College...
Lyns invited Izzy around for a washed out Jubilee Party... where by which they ended up creating this Jubilee Pin-Up Girl! An alliance was born... A year on Sugarskills came to be!!

We love: Bmd Design

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bmd designConception graphique et direction artistique depuis 2001.

Le cliquetis des machines se fait entendre, l’odeur de l'essence pénètre dans nos narines, les lettres dansent et s'étirent, gorgées d’encre noire ou bleue, tracées par des mains expertes. Le travail de BMD nous projette aux États-Unis et en France, dans les années 1930. Pourtant, derrière ces trois lettres se cache Bruno, qui a créé son studio au début des années 2001. De sa formation de dessinateur de publicité à la fin des années 1980 au lycée Jolimont de Toulouse, le graphiste a gardé un amour pour le travail artisanal, celui d'avant l'ordinateur. Rotring, crayon à papier, cutter, colle, pinceau, roughs, composition manuelle, caractères au plomb... Travailler manuellement lui prend plus de temps mais lui permet de faire corps avec ce qu’il crée, de stimuler tous ses sens. Aujourd’hui, le fait main suscite un véritable engouement, et beaucoup de marques se tournent vers les valeurs qu’il véhicule. Authenticité, savoir-faire, retour aux racines, l'artisanat rassure et sécurise. Dans une société en crise marquée par l’individualisme et par des rythmes effrénés, le handmade humanise, comme un supplément d'âme... Des marques comme Nike, Levi’s ou encore Fuel Motorcycles ont fait appel à BMD Design pour sa capacité à intégrer les codes du vintage à une communication d’aujourd’hui. Logos, typos, pictos, Bruno fait et refait, trace, gomme et encre, poussant toujours plus loin sa quête d’un graphisme référencé. Afin de nourrir son vocabulaire visuel old school, il écume les archives françaises. Riches d’un patrimoine typographique considérable, elles sont sa principale source d’inspiration. Si l’ensemble de sa production respire les États-Unis, le travail de Bruno est résolument français par sa volonté de prolonger un héritage graphique. Ses créations regardent aussi bien du côté des lettrages sur porcelaine et des calligrammes d’Apollinaire que des archives industrielles qu’il déniche dans les brocantes et les bibliothèques. Constamment à l'affût des moindres signes ou indices typographiques, il les répertorie, les classe et les regroupe. C’est en passant ensuite par la main, par sa main, qu’il se les réapproprie.

 

We love: Bafefit

 

 

You can say this about Bafefit’s work: the black and white of his hand manage to contain all the colours with which it is possible to express the emotions». - Paris Match

This young talent, originally from Puglia, transplanted to Rome where he now lives and works. Bafefit’s works are characterised by his skilful use of the rapidograph: pen and ink which was initially created for technical drawing and which has been pushed to the extremes of its capabilities by artists. The portraits are of a world with a predominantly dark atmosphere and characters are caught between the thin line between life and death.

Bafefit is bestowed with an extraordinary inventive irony. He prefers to express his imagination working on late nineteenth century paper. The results are pictures capable of containing the narrative of real and living stories; placed in a particularly dark atmosphere congruous with the with the artist's vision. Skilled with ink, Bafefit is also known abroad, particularly in France, where he participated in the publication Métamorphose en bord de Ciel by Mathias Malziu, along with the artists Nicoletta Ceccoli, Ciou and Benjamin Lacombe.

Prior to his Paris exhibition, which opens its doors in May, over forty of Bafefit’s works will be exhibited in Mondo Bizzarro Gallery, in what is the first solo of “golden boy” of hyper-contemporary Italian art. This event promises to be exceptional and in addition to works on paper, a site-specific project will be presented. Quite the best way to approach the work of an original artist and visionary.

Bafefit was born in 1980.

His works have been published on 'DY' magazine (USA), "GRAB" and "Bang Art". His ink's works are often carried out on XIX century's paper bought at markets and antique shops.

 

We love: Andre De Freitas

Andre De Freitas and is a photographer and an illustrator.She studied in Full Sail University and got a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Animation. But oddly enough, the concept of stillness captured her imagination, and she focused more on illustration. Instead of just drawing, she tried to imagine myself taking photos of her subjects. That way the illusion of stillness would be a little more believable, almost like a photograph. After that, her insertion into the world of photography was almost based on instinct.

We love: Amelie

Respect to: Audrey Kawasaki

 

 

We are totally loving (and are ever so slightly creeped out by) Audrey's Skull!!

 

 

 

 

Audrey Kawasaki (born March 31, 1982^[ in Los Angeles, California) is a Los Angeles-based painter, known for her distinctive, erotically charged portrayals of young, adolescent women. Her works are oil paintings painted directly onto wood panels, and her style has been described as a fusion of Art Nouveau and Japanese manga, with primary influences like Gustav Klimt and Alphonse Mucha, saying quote “The merging of realistically molded faces and bodies against the contrast of flat lines and patterns is so stimulating to me.”

Kawasaki studied fine art painting for two years at the Pratt Institute in New York City, but left after two years without completing her degree. She has reported that several of her professors suggested that she should stay away from her particular style of painting nudes. She cites the emphasis in the New York art scene on conceptual art, an approach at odds with her figurative, illustrative style, as among the reasons she left.As of 2006, Kawasaki is considered a rising star in the Los Angeles art scene. In 2005, Kawasaki designed the cover art for Alice Smith's For Lovers, Dreamers & Me. In 2011, singer Christina Perri was tattooed with Kawasaki's painting, "My Dishonest Heart", by Kat Von D on an episode of LA Ink. Kawasaki has also been featured in several art magazines including Hi-Fructose and Juxtapoz, and has started developing more commercial products such as phone skins and mint boxes.

(source-wiki)