Shinya Arimoto

Shinya Arimoto was born in 1971 in Osaka, Japan. Leading and supervising the artist-run 'Totem Pole Photo Gallery', and teaching photography at the Tokyo school of visual arts. Shinay is drawn to the square format, and is influenced by Lee Friedlander, Garry Winnogrand, Diane Arbus and the sixties.
His advice to stating Photographers; "Simply keep photographing, and sharing those photographs. It doesn’t matter how – exhibitions, in print, websites, anything."
Interested in extraordinary ordinary people and enjoying to connect with them set him off on his lengthly travels. Mostly presenting his street photography in beautifully graded black & white prints.
If you find yourself in Tokyo you might as well visit the 'Totem Pole Photo Gallery'.

Natalia Fabia

'Punk Rock Rainbow Sparkle' 2012, sensational colors define Natalia's work in this body of work.



In the artist's words: "Punk rock is one of my true loves. Punk to me is an attitude, a lifestyle. Punk is a middle finger, punk is do-it-yourself, do what you want. It's a kind of freedom. I'm attracted to my subjects for having that quality. This attitude is what I wanted to convey in this series. My models (many of which are friends) are all tough, independent, strong, fun, hard working, talented, tattooed and stylishly dressed. I look at punk rock as being dirty and rough, yet sparkly and enticing at the same time, and that's the theme of my paintings."

She used staged photo shoots as a reference , and the vivid sparkling colors bring it to another level. Capturing the true spirit of the community, a bit provocative and a bit decadent.

David Lynch

The music of David Lynch is just as strange as his sensational movies. His first album "Crazy clown time" grabs you by the throat. Dark and unstoppable beat suck you into his thrilling weird, weird world.
Not the first time he gets his hands on music, but this is all David Lynch....
Maybe not the greatest lycris but brought to you by Lynch through vocoders and other modulating effects it becomes addictive. And a sublime piece of self-directed video as well.



His second album 'The big dream' continues in the same disrupting way. Creepy and bizarre songs, with sounds from his youth. Singing and playing the guitar on this album, even surprises us with a Bob Dylan cover along the way.
It’s hard to hear the album without thinking first “I’m listening to a David Lynch album” rather than “I’m listening to music” or “I’m listening to a song.” In other words, without intimate knowledge of Lynch’s aesthetic, place in culture, and oeuvre, the album doesn’t have much to offer. ; Pitchfork reviews (sic)

Hiroshi Watanabe

"Artifacts" Things from Japanese internment camps; Hiroshi Watanabe.

This series started when Hiroshi Watanabe was commissioned by the San Jose museum of art. The project was to photograph the city's Japantown. You can read the story about his work on "Artifacts" here. 

The Photographs are of a beautiful simplicity. Very well printed and with a great soft tonal range, as is all Hiroshi Watanabe's work. I had the opportunity seeing his work at the 8th "Angkor Photo Festival" (Siem Reap, Cambodia). Most of the work was from the series "Kabuki players", prints and presentation were of very high standard.

Andre Petterson

Painter, mixed media artist Andre Petterson was born in Amsterdam, but moved to Canada as a child. Nowadays he is based in Vancouver. Movement, and fabric are recuring subjects in his often photo based work. His work might seem simple at first glance. Freezing the moment (motion) in time and adding carefully placed brushstrokes, it becomes mesmerizing but still exciting or even comical. I love the beautiful chaos Andre is able create.

Andre Petterson-Artist from David Cooper on Vimeo.