Headache

stop… whispering. Beautiful words, tear my brains….

Mario Sanchez Nevado (pseudonym of Aegis) is an digital artist born in Murcia (Spain), who creates some impressive photo-manipulated artwork. His art is a lush combination of traditional and digital drawing, vectorial art and photographs. This is dark and surreal imagery, combined with conceptual themes as Mario works within many diverse styles and genres. Equally integrated is his use of digital softwares: Photoshop, Corel Painter, Marinates Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand, Dreamweaver - all contribute to the completed designs.

Absent Minded

Hidden Front

See more of Mario Sanchez’s fantastic imagery after the jump. more…

A Thousand Pieces of Cathartic History, 2007 Magazine cut out and ink 30 x 22.5 in / 76.20 x 52.25 cm / Reflections on a Sublime and Mystic Gulf, Magazine cut out, ink and watercolor 30 x 22.5 in / 76.20 x 52.25 cm

These are images of cultural turmoil, presented as frentic masks. If monsters and maidens are traditional contraries in a male- orientated imaginary realm, the suggestion here is that the feminist sensibility knows that they are coincident, that they may dwell in the same body. - J Simpson New York Art World.

Agressive energy, Erotism and Horror feature highly in (NYC based) Debra Hampton’s large, encapsulating multi-media collages. The core of Hampton’s wonderful figurative collages is the color photograph. In particular, from a magazine cut out Hampton intricately places each piece in intentional, random and symbolic presentation. This process is coupled with ink and paint in the exploration of patterns of chaos, chance, and definite order.

Hold Me, Guide Me, Guard Me, 2007 Magazine cut outand ink 50 x 38 in / 127 x 96.52 cm / Tradition in Flux, Magazine cut out, ink and watercolor 30 x 22.5 in / 76.20 x 52.25 cm

To view more of Debra Hampton’s collages / and for more info visit her website. Happy easter to all my readers!

Apricot Circus, 2006 51.5×36.3& Ieraishan, 2007 36.3×30.3

Imperfect love, 2007 36.3×51.5

Mari Yamagiwa is a very original Japanese Painter, Mother, musician and sometimes Model from Kyoto (Japan), she has a unique personal style, with challenging and teasing erotic psychedelic aspects. Her work can be described as “kinky surrealism”. Mari’s work reflects some of her personal life experiences and aspects of Japanese society. Her remarkable paintings are oil on panel, she makes fantastic mixed media collages as well. Mari has regular exhibitions in Japan, Australia and in New York.

“What do I try to express in the art? All except skin color, religion, nationality, sexuality, and gender. A man for whom the woman hopes and a man for whom a man hopes are quite different and, I’m not a man. I’m a woman, and mother. However, such a thing is not a problem. I want to enjoy the reaction that you saw my works. Art is an art and, Art is universal. But, is man a man? Is “your idea” becoming “All people’s ideas”? What is defining the problem? The problem doesn’t exist here. You only see my works here, because the works made by me isn’t a fantasy but a reality. The act of Painting, it is the same as eating, excreting, sleeping, and making love for me.” - Mari Yamagiwa

Pussy cat, 2006 36.3×51.5

Continue after the Jump to view more of Mari’s Kinky surrealism. more…

{chuchoter -}
collage_cut+paste_gouache_sur photocopy montage
30.5 cm x 29.5 cm(12.01” x 11.61”)

Thought Experiments on the Soul

Could I be replaced with such a complete duplicate-every atom, not just genetically identical — it would think that it was me.But clearly it would not be me, especially if I were not destroyed in the replacement and continued to exist off somewhere else. We can imagine that such complete identity might produce a being that would simply see itself as existing in two places at once, but this would require some kind of communication; and that would require the existence of some kind of extrasensory or paranormal connection between the two bodies, which is not now part of established science. Without such paranormal communication, the identical individuals would each think of themselves as the original individual, although only one of them would be right; and they would immediately begin to diverge as individuals because of differing experiences. - Thought Experiments on the Soul by Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D.

Eva Eun-Sil HAN was born in Korea and is currently residing in Belgium. All her sibylline collages feature the element of surprise and unexpected juxtapositions. Her works are constructed of three parts: the ego (conscious mind), the personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious. In this way, (as you might of guessed) she works with many elements from the tradition of Surrealism. I must point out, ALL her wonderful collages are done without using any kind of digital materials and are all hand-made collages.

{les transporteuses -}
collage_cut+paste_gouache_sur photocopy montage
30.5 cm x 29.5 cm(12.01” x 11.61”)

Follow the jump to view the rest of Eva’s fascinating pieces from the One The Soul section of her site. more…

Minako Saitoh Botsford is a (figurative) illustrator from Tokyo, Japan who creates digital paintings of fashion, pin-up girls, beauty and fantasy using Photoshop. Her work is available for commercial advertising agency work for fashion, urban culture, women’s themes, magazine and book publishing, cosmetic and beauty companies, retail and corporate in house freelance work. An highlight of her portfolio is the icon section made for the ‘Ohimesama Exhibition’ held in Gallery Dazzle (Aoyama, Tokyo, 2006), it’s full of these 50s style fashion fantasy portraits of women of all ages. She provides much more than just visual imagery: she offers energy which communicates with viewers at many different level, supported (in part) by a wicked sense of humor.

Minako has worked for major ad agencies and publishers across Japan and abroad. Her clients include SONY, Elle Magazine, Christian Dior, Yojhi Yamamoto, La Foret Harajuku, among others. Minako is represented by Art Limited. Her work is available for commercial advertising agency work for fashion, urban culture, women’s themes, magazine and book publishing, cosmetic and beauty companies, retail and corporate in house freelance work.

For more info on Minako’s gorgeous imagery, visit her site.

River to Paradise, O/C, 130 x 140 cm, 2004

Spring is coming, and the migrant birds on the lower left of the painting have returned. The river depicted in the painting is called the Tongtian River, which literally translates into English as “the river up to the sky or paradise”, hence the name of the painting. With a total width of 800 kilometers, the Tongtian River winds through the valleys between the Tanggula Mountains and the Kunlun Mountains. Relatively inaccessible, the upper reaches of the Tongtian River have remained virtually unperturbed by human activities and are still the most un-spoilt regions of the Yangtze areas. However, recent years have seen a worsening degeneration and desertification of the grassland. A sand dune strip of nearly 40 km has been spotted in the upper reaches of the Tongtian River. From Tongtian River estuary to Qidukou in Qumalar, the river flows for 400 km at an elevation of above 4,000 meters. Until fifty years ago, this area had had no human habitation and had been called an uninhabited area of 800 kilometer.

Wang Yi Guang is at the forefront of the Chinese contemporary art scene. His passion for painting followed in the footsteps of his older brother and pursued his ultimate desire to become a painter. The painting above (River of Paradise) was part of Wang’s first solo exhibition Retrospective of Tibet - The Spirit and Movement (shown in Dec, 2004). This series (in part) was inspired by the humble beauty of the Tibetan plateau along with Tibetan way of life, their respect for the environment and nature, as well as their optimistic approach to life. have provided an infinite source of inspiration to his body of work.

According to the press-release of this show, Wang’s fond memories of Tibet - particularly catching sight of young girls running and laughing across the magnificent Tibetan plains, their sheep and cattle in tow - remind the artist that Feitain (or flying Devi, a mystical character, which is primarily found in the murals at Dunhuang and in sculptural forms in a handful of cave grottoes in China) does exist in life.

Since graduating from the prestigious Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, Wang has participated in various national and international exhibitions, in addition to a number of art fairs in Beijing, Guangzhou, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Wang Yi Guang currently works as a creative designer for the China Railway Construction Corporation.

More of Wang Yi Guang’s dream-like paintings can be seen following the jump. more…