Jorge Mayet

 
Jorge Mayet is of Cuban descent, living and working in Mallorca. A painter and sculptor with a photographic memory. His sculptures seem to be ripped out of their natural environment, left to float in mid air. These little green islands are created out of electrical wire, paper mache and green painted sponge, but they look very realistic.

Sebastiao Salgado

People all over the world have seen Sebastiao Salgado's images. Breathtaking, high quality images of often unbearable human suffering, the destruction of nature, and tribal live. Sebastiao Salgado's work, life and ideas are at the centre of 'The Salt of the Earth' by Wim Wenders.


TEDtalks with Sebastiao Salgado

Sebastian C. Adams

A monumental piece of history well worth mentioning; Adams' Illustrated Panorama of History, by Sebastian C. Adams of Salem, Oregon.

This is the third edition of 1878, first edition was published 7 years earlier in 1871. It is gigantic, measuring 27 by 260 inches or 68.58 x 660.4 cm. The panoramic diagram starts in 4004 BC with the creation of Adam and ends in 1878. Adams centers his chart on the Stream of Time which is divided into decades and centuries. This chart is so rich in detail and information that it is all but impossible to fully give it credit here, however, we encourage you to use the zoom engine here to thoroughly appreciate this remarkable document. for more info visit Geograficus.

This chart is so rich in detail and information that it is all but impossible to fully give it credit here, however, we encourage you to use the zoom engine above to thoroughly appreciate this remarkable document.
- See more at: http://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/WorldHistory-adams-1871#sthash.IsVX4jbH.dpuf

Nguyen Manh Hung

Nguyen Manh Hung is a Vietnamese contemporary artist. His art draws on the national and cultural history of Vietnam, as well as personal and contemporary life experiences. As a multi-disciplinary artist, he creates sculptures, paintings, digital images and installations. He is a performing artist and musician as well. Influenced by early and contemporary surrealism this emerging artist is living and working in Hanoi, where he is also known as the curator of the Nhasan Studio.

"Living together in Paradise" a diadorama sculpture by Nguyen Manh Hung.

I was born and raised for 20 years in an apartment block in the Vietnamese capital city of Hanoi.  Contemporary thinking might see this urban structure as one that isolates people even while living at such close quarters.   I experienced it more as a complex "village" stacked vertically rather than spread out horizontally.  
"Living Together in Paradise" is an extension and improvement of this urban village and living space.  One where farming, growing vegetables and upgraded living conditions prevail.  A place where people share everything, but do not have much privacy. I asked myself: "Could angels live together in a paradise?"

"One Planet / The Barricade" 

In this difficult time of the subsidized economy, a standard apartment can be shared by two or three families. They have to negotiate how to divide the space to live together. If one family gets the bathroom then they have to give up the kitchen to the other family, and share the toilet.  With cramped living conditions, lack of water, and a difficult economy, these families often have to expand the living space with a cage, install their own water pump and pipes, and bring livestock and poultry into their apartments to improve their life.
These factors alter the shape and structure of the building as much as they affect the lifestyle of the inhabitants.  Life in these buildings isn't the usual life of people in urban areas, but rather a high-rise village superimposed on its urban cousin.
The people of Vietnam continue to suffer the consequences of a violent war history.  In this work, I use images associated with Vietnamese life and war, such as apartment blocks and barricades, combined in one installation.  This presents a perspective about war in the language of art.

 

Douglas McDougall

A Scottish artist turns paper and charcoal into fascinating portraits, Douglas McDougall is based in Glasgow. Impressive realistic portraits with an extra dimension, drawn with charcoal on paper and later on tackling it with sandpaper, Stanley blades and erasers. At first glance you could be fooled into thinking 'this is a picture', but it's all manual labour. Every portrait has another, deeper layer, looking like an ancient tattoo or a surgical pathway to a darker secret.

Vallée Duhamel

Vallée Duhamel, a studio founded by Julien Vallée and Eve Duhamel, specializes in high quality, lo-fi and often handmade visuals and installations. Working from Montreal, Canada, Julien and Eve combine their creative skills to wow the world with ingenious and lighthearted creations.
Watching the end result makes you wonder "How did they do that?". There is of course the team (about 10 people), the high end equipment.... but handmade? Just watch 'Metamorphose making-of ' below, almost as much fun as the whimsical end product.







A Very Short Film from Vallée Duhamel on Vimeo.

Thomas Medicus

The ’Emulsifier’ is a hand painted anamorphic glass sculpture made out of 160 glass strips. Thomas Medicus studied glass art, but his artwork goes beyond the boundaries of this craft. While rotating 'Emulsifier' reveals four hidden animals. 'Faces' is an earlier rotating work, not as spectacular though. Thomas Medicus is an Austrian artist based in Innsbruck.

emulsifier from thomas medicus on Vimeo.
'emulsifier' is a hand painted glass sculpture by Thomas Medicus.

Fredrik Ödman

'Bent stories' it's all about a banana. You might wonder how many stories a banana can tell, but every new image makes you smile again. Fredrik Ödman from Ängelsholm, Sweden, a photographer with a keen interest in photoshop. A photo manipulator if you like. Besides photography, Fredrik has a background in painting.
"Fredrik Ödmans images explore and uncover an enchanted world. The pictures take the viewer on an extraordinary journey into the borderland between dream and reality. The meeting point of logic, imagination and madness."

Nuala O'Donovan

Nuala O'Donovan slowly constructs her porcelain sculptures over a period of weeks or even months. Drawing her inspiration from natural forms and patterns. Her decisions are guided by the characteristics of irregular/fractal patterns. 
Nuala O'Donovan; "My decision to research patterns and forms from nature stemmed from my interest in the narrative quality of irregularities in patterns. The history behind a scarred or broken surface is what fascinates me. The evidence of a response to random events visible in patterns in nature, is testament to the ability of living organisms to recover, to respond, and to continue growing and changing. It is the imperfections in the patterns caused by a unique experience that are evidence of the life force in living organisms."