Mural art has been traditionally subjected to prejudicial misunderstanding. Even today, still a considerable lot of people look at these pieces of modern art with a feeling of uneasiness, almost displeasure.  Nevertheless, murals have become a vital part of contemporary metropolitan art, lavishing colour in grey cities, disturbing souls with creepy characters, bolstering the architectural shape of buildings.

Among the most influential mural personalities, it is worthwhile mentioning DAAS, Japan-based American visual artist. Raised to fame for the massive usage of colour, he has been filling cities in the USA, Japan, Dominican Republic and Nepal with large-scale geometric reproductions of animals, insects and even humans.

His third and new body of work is titled Geometrics, a genuine celebration of The Origami Dream, an evolving series of paintings, illustrations and murals inspired by the art form of origami and geometric shapes. As a matter of fact, the paintings mimic the part of a greater colourful puzzle.

Even if many peculiar elements of the artist’s style are replicated in this collection, actually this time DAAS deeply develops further his technique. The use of bright and definite colours is exacerbated by a sharp division among the different tonalities, through the clear black outlines. The main subjects are animals, but some room is left to influential personalities, such as Mahatma Gandhi.

Raising strong emotions is probably not a priority of this promising talent, but, on the other side, his creations are a continuous flow of technical virtuosity and an explosion of colour. Even the greyest of the grey cities could shine with one of these creations.

Eddie del Rio is a concept artist based in the San Francisco area. He has worked for Lucas Arts, Activision, 2K, Disney and THQ; and now, he is currently freelancing for games, films and TV.

A visual feast for the ears, the new Re Discovery show at the Gauntlet Gallery, truly represents a marriage of trending music and art. Presenting selections form various artists, the show is a visual homage to the ever-popular French house duo, Daft Punk who released their latest album, Random Access Memories in May. The show offers an eclectic variety of interpretations most of which reference the iconic Daft Punk robot costumes. An art show dedicated to this particular duo seems fitting considering their reputation for fabulously elaborate live shows in which fantastic visual effects play a huge role in their musical experience.

Daft Punk is perhaps part of a movement in which digital music and digital graphics coexist in a futuristic platform of creative expression. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that so many artists participated in this project offering mediums that range from digital graphics, to oil paint, to sculpture and anything and everything in between.  There is truly something for everyone to feats their eyes on: even a kitten perched on top of a helmet. The variety of artistic interpretations indicates just how much of an influential source of a creative inspiration Daft Punk has been. The show is truly emblematic of the bands iconic history and promising future.

Creative in every way, Aldo Pulella has a passion for producing beautiful and useful things, ranging from photography to digital design; he basically turned his hobby into his career.

The last years he spent mostly working on projects involving digital design. Currently the 28 year old works as Art Director at OgilvyOne, a Johannesburg based company specializing in digital and interactive design.

Whenever there is spare time, Aldo experiments with multiple forms of designs to improve his skills and get inspiration for new projects, leading to a portfolio composed of diverse works and projects.

His approach and also secret to success is a very distinct and experienced approach to the creative process: “Absorb – collect – define – structure – craft – refine”.  As he would say:” It's good to define your process and plotting your course through a project from start to end.” As the outcome proves, this defined approach definitely pays off. Companies like Coca Cola, BMW and Microsoft already profited from his talent to set objects perfectly into scene and create unique, memorable homepages and advertisements.

Inspired by the beautiful things in the world, he tries to absorb as much influence as possible from various forms of design such as photography, digital, sculpture, architecture and online media; but his most important source is still our very own natural surrounding. This can also be seen in his photography, mostly featuring impressive nature settings and beautiful landscapes.

His most outstanding works are a combination of his photographic work, 3D modeling and illustration techniques, influenced by motion graphics and sculptures.

Strong contrast and a great attention to details often incorporating a human portrait or an animal are probably the most distinctive features of the South African creative.

Sometimes admiration of a parent’s artistic mastery can be a valid driver for a magnificent career for the child itself. This is the case of Minni Havas, freelance illustrator from Helsinki that, after spending her childhood contemplating her own father’s manual abilities, graduated from the University of Art and Design Helsinki and then made her first steps in the world of visual design. She’s young but her peculiar talent is already breathtaking.

Her drawings are mainly iconic fashion illustrations, composed through analytical processes of study of every single detail, which result in extreme realism of subjects portrayed (in most cases charming solitary women), in sharp contrast with their look and the environment surrounding them. As a matter of fact, despite their hyper realistic appearance, which reaches the apex in the detailed mouths (Havas’ favourite part of the body), usually characters are portrayed in such not conventional positions that they seem to be perfect protagonists of a modern cosmopolitan cartoon story, another big source of inspiration for this young artist, who has always loved Roger Leloup’s Yoko Tsuno. Any observer could perceive this constant amalgam between realism and imagination, between dream and reality.

Maniacal cure of detail goes hand in hand with a openly declared love for fashion: every character’s outfit is never chosen by chance, and a careful reproduction of current metropolitan fashion trends can be traced in every drawing.

From a technical point of view, each composition is the result of quite a complex work: after drawing by the window, the best way to exploit the power of natural light, using water solvent colours pencils, a rubber and a set of small brushes, Havas turns to modern technology to complete her work. A scanner and later Photoshop are the final steps for completing her perfect drawings, even if this artist is reluctant when it comes to make a massive recourse to automatisms, since her open intention is to generate in the observer that childish feeling of enchantment, of surprise that someone was so able to compose such a perfect piece of art.

If manual abilities are the main priority of this young talent, her dream is to explore the world of photography and of fashion editorials, and the fashion sphere itself: she is starting up a clothing collection, the best way to contaminate with her manual powers other dimensions that, so far, she has just explored through her infinite imagination.

In our Instagram-dominated society, photography has become omnipresent and democratized, so that it is harder than ever to come across unique and original creations such as those proposed by Milan-based Foto Marvellini, recently partaking in  Salone del Mobile 2013 with an exhibition and workshop at Officine Creative Ansaldo in the Tortona area.

The two photographers create portraits of 19th century characters. Historical figures are transformed into superhero counterparts, the presumed ancestors of Darth Vader, Spider Man and the like. These are re-photographed and sepia-filter printed, the print being carried out with traditional techniques giving birth to unique or very limited edition exemplars, available in “Ready To Hang” or “Fine Art” categories.

The result is at the interface of the ironic and the conceptual. The characters are with no doubt somehow ridiculed, but the choice of quirky, witty titles and the inspiration drawn from beloved comics and pop culture makes for an interesting upgrade to the lives of these long-gone people. On the other hand, heroes, comics characters and gruesome icons of the like of Psycho and Hannibal Lecter are demystified when transmuted into the portraits of Alpino Lecter or Young Bane. The juxtaposition of people of the past and future-dwelling characters, enclosed in elaborate and rather traditional frames creates an intriguing time continuum worthy of the attention of science-fiction aficionados.

The comics influence is self-evident, when observing the name of this good-humored duo, which instantly brings Marvel to mind.  Batbarone, Nonna Thor, Portrait of Miss Joker, Portrait of Miss Wonder, Portrait of Miss Vader are some of the titles which coupled with the visual impression of the photographs will inevitably put a smile on the viewer’s face.

Adding to their mystique, an art workshop founded in Milan in 2011, Foto Marvellini has created an amusing narrative around its birth, existence and creations , claiming to be a historical company present in Milan since the birth of photography itself. No wonder “imagination is more important than knowledge” is the quote of Albert Einstein which frames and portraits their photographic philosophy!

Oriol Angrill Jordà is a young Spanish artist based in Palma de Mallorca. Jordà claims that he is still searching for his own style, but his artwork is both distinct and hyper-real, using a combination of techniques with pastel, watercolours, pencils, acrylics, charcoal and drypoint. He has been exhibiting his work since 2008 and he now has an extensive portfolio of fresh and fluid works. He states that when he encountered Esher’s work during his studies, it was the turning point that made him to fully commit to excel in graphics. Some of his early work in graphite and charcoal echoes this influence. The majority of his work shows female figures and faces. Some of his “blendscapes” use a palette of colours that may be reminiscent of the Wharholesque period, while being brighter and translucent, with landscape textures embedded in human figures.

After what appears to be a somewhat troubled start in school, he gradually worked his way  into art and particularly illustration. He successfully completed a degree in illustration at Escuela Superior de Diseño de las Iles Baleares and continued with a course in print making at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London in 2011. Perhaps the ongoing and continued search that is the evolution of Jordà’s work, is a true sign of the beginning of real mastership.

Alice Bouchardon is currently a graphic design student at Intuit Lab School, the French institute of design & communication in Paris in France. Her work on the design of a brand identity for the fictitious vineyard Maison Chatou has been extensively recognised and re-pinned in social media.

It is exciting to see the fresh work of a young designer making a serious claim to such a competitive domain of graphic design. Old-world wine labels have in recent years been going through a virtual revolution in terms of brand identity, probably due to global competition. Yesterday's classic labels are not sufficiently visible in the richness of a contemporary shopping experience, hence bright and clear visual communication is essential. In this case, Bouchardon chose to situate the brand around a classical French hunting theme.

A fox was chosen for the Chardonnay grape, a stag for Syrah, and a wild boar for Cabernet Sauvignon. The complex and expressive heads of the animals have been reconstructed by polygons in a minimalistic approach, which means that from a distance (or as an icon) they look like a high quality photo of an animal, but when you get closer you discover the clever and intriguing graphics. This visual effect may subconsciously induce the idea that the consumer has to buy the product and explore it closer - tasting and experiencing it - to fully appreciate its unique qualities.

Looking at the larger portfolio of Bouchardon's work, her work is still at a formative stage and her interests in dogs, cyclops and zombies appear in several places, all with visual clarity. As part of her studies, she did work placement at Elixir Design in Paris.

Juan Carlos Paz, a self-defined crazy man and illustrator from Madrid,  brings us some quirky and exquisite character design of great impact, which can make a great competitor to the most known and beloved popular comics.

Art Director for advertising agencies such as BBDO in the past and having worked with famous clients of the like of You Tube and Chrysler, Juan Carlos has now dived into freelance work with his own agency called Bakea.

The freaky creatures populating the visual imaginary of Juan Carlos defy some clear definition and escape the antagonist monster category because of their unique emotional character and the impression they leave on the viewer.

One’s attention moves swiftly past the unsettling outlook of these figures to catch some glimpses of the character’s personality, which tends to evoke a mix of vulnerability and aggressiveness, friendliness and hostility. While it takes a while for the eye to adapt, these vaguely menacing strange figures tend to arise feelings of sympathy, and one would easily go as far as considering them cute. As one curls up a tree astonished at the sight of a red flower in the snowy landscape, another zebra-like creature feeds his child with a rainbow of colours. One lies on the grass in disarray, another is attacked in the water. What the designs undoubtedly reveal is soft-hearted characters of uncommon outlook and spirit.

Part of the work comprises alien figures occupying uncontaminated natural landscapes. Digital work is juxtaposed on photographs of mountains, lakes and spacious outdoor dreamy scenarios alike . The creatures are huge and dominate the image.

While the main body of his projects presents characters which are designed as a mixture of different animals with a penchant for the alien, be it monkeys, cows, fish and birds  there are also some series depicting human-like alien figures, all blue and goofy, a Jesus-like hipster character standing out in all the uniqueness of his peculiar expression.

The traits which take most of the visual attention are the eyes: huge yellow bulbs with a restricted spot-like red pupil that are misplaced, multiplied, enlarged or reduced to one. These are what gives characters their rather harmless expression, which contrasts with the often threatening opening of the mouth, strangely morphed and revealing sharp teeth, which gives rise to a general feeling of unease. Multi-color horns and tails often make an appearance and the creatures’ bodies are covered in scales.

The atmosphere is the one of an endless day lit by a feeble sun. Colors are intense, but somewhat  waning and the images appear as aged photographs, as if they were Instragram-filtered.

From front cover sketches of models and actresses, to mixed media collages nodding to futuristic oeuvres, it sometimes happens to stumble upon works which are the visual equivalent of pastry chef creations, sure to appeal to any form of image flicking gluttony. Mustafa Soydan is one of such masters, a graphic designer and fashion illustrator from Istanbul producer of enchanting illustrations.

His work plunges the viewer into a dreamy world of alternating soft nuances and pop colors which perfectly render the glamour and sensuality of female figures. These may exalt make-up, apparel, accessories or simply some distinct mark of high fashion brands.

The atmosphere evoked has a slight 80s spin to it and the images have an irreverent character, a playfully provocateur spirit.

According to Mustafa himself, the precise theme in his works is hard to pin down, as this is directly influenced by his current moods and underlying past memories, future prospects,longings and daily inspirations.

No matter the theme, the end result is unique and equisite with every stroke of color, cheeky brush and, much to the point as  often present in the faces depicted by the author, cheek blush.

The Live/Life Sketch depicts the body of a young woman in bikini. In a stretched-out, arched back pose, her left arm and fingers are engaged in the stroking and twirling of her long lock of hair, which sinuously enwraps her slim body.

The dominating sepia-like color is offset by the brigher notes of her bandeau top and slip, revived by bright pink, red, brown and blue spots. The bright pink splashed background circle showcases flowers of oriental inspirations. This basis of the Live/Life Sketch is actually another work by Soydan,  entitled Soul Bender.  In the Live/Life Sketch, Soul Bender virtually comes to life.  The background is left behind in its flat, two-dimensional position, and the female figure digitally emerges erect from the screen, a veritable Live Sketch.

The medium a photographer is working with is light. Understanding light is a the heart of the art of photography. The Spanish photographer Alejandro Maestre Gasteazi was teaching lighting at Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña, while studying for his BA in photography. He graduated in 1999 and has since then continued to teach, while also working as a professional photographer. His portfolio is wide-ranging, from natural places and people to studio-based work with models. He founded CitizenPixel in 2003, a company working with commercial photography and graphic design with customers including for example Audi and Burberry.

In his work “EL HOMBRE QUE SE CREA” (2010) he showing his fluency with all current digital tools and techniques - as well as his masterful use of lighting. This is probably his most excellent work to date, a portrait series of his friend Julián Cánovas who appears to emerge out of thin air as a pair of hands shaping and sculpting almost his entire body.  For this series, Alejandro Maestre used advanced digital chroma-key technique and tools. Normally, chroma-key (popularly called green-screen or blue-screen) is used for making part of a scene disappear and later to be overlaid by other imagery. In this portrait series, the opposite was explored as the model gradually covered himself with blue mud  and by doing so, gradually becoming visible. What makes these photographs particularly convincing is the digitally created selective drop-shadow that has been added to the background, which gives the images a better feeling of depth. The gestures of the model, the sculptor Julián Cánovas, are also important for the almost tactile sensitivity of the images.

The underlying narrative in this portrait series is also fascinating. Several mythologies use the idea that the first humans were mad from mud. For example in Greek mythology Prometheus shaped man out of mud, and Athena breathed life into the clay figure. In the portrait series, we see man being shaped by himself, which perhaps corresponds to a more contemporary cosmology.

It is undeniable that, within every glimpse, an Ali Cavanaugh illustration holds a watchful and curious eye. Binding is the intrigue one feels, a particular mix of enticement and magnetic curiosity. There is movement in each apathetic image, there’s someone real and truly existent behind every portrait. And what comes next may elucidate this previous idea.

Lacoste has always been known for their tennis shirts. They’re incredibly versatile in their simplicity and variety of colors and styles, yet the shirts are also a status symbol of sorts. The little alligator stitched onto the breast isn’t just a decoration, it’s a brand name projected out to anyone who sees it. It’s not sewn into the back of the neck – it’s right there on the front of the torso. But why not advertize that you’re wearing this well-loved brand?

This new campaign, Locoste Future, shows young people running through a city wearing these shirts, but the logo acts like an iPhone, and the vibrant young people are able to change the color or style of their shirt as easily as the background on their tablet. Everyone is styled in a very classic manner – with the thin, pale girl in high waist pleated pants and tall James Dean types with carefully quaffed and combed hairstyles. This trio rides fixed-gear bikes down cobblestone streets at night, while another lone male walks past, looking slightly upset but always handsome. They’re all stock characters representative of youth, and they’re wearing their tennis shirts with such comfort and freedom. This careless aesthetic of the past paired with this psychedelic morphing shirt of the future places the Lacoste tennis shirt right on the dividing line between the two directions of time. The shirt has always been casually cool, and will continue to be casually cool for the foreseeable future.

The Lacoste tennis shirt is good for goofing off or for dressing up – it’s for warm weather and cool weather, for daytime in the park or for going out at night. It always has been and it always will be – and although they might not ever get around to patenting an alligator appliqué that changes the gradient of the fabric or a shirt that tailors itself on a whim, the Lacoste of the future will continue to be just as versatile, stylish and classy as it always was.

What happens when two highly experienced senior designers decide to collaborate to promote their work? An excellent example of this can be found in the work of Taku Satoh and Issey Miyake.

In 2012, the graphic designer Taku Satoh created an advertising campaign running over several months for the Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake’s label Pleats Please. To give you some background, Miyake developed a novel technique in the late 1980s using pleated polyester, hence the label Pleats Please. The colour possibilities with polyester is also almost endless. The technique was a way to create thousands of very sharp overlapping folds in textiles, giving the material extra volume, texture and a different dynamic, especially when worn by a moving and living human body.

The campaign created by Satoh is a series of posters depicting a range of what appears to be edible and drinkable delicacies, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the original Pleats Please label. The images by Satoh were constructed from pleated textile, but depicting food and drink in the most vivid and stunning colours. It is a highly interesting play on synesthesia, where one sensory perception is crossing over to another. When we first see one of Satoh’s posters, you initially see for example fresh sushi. The hyper-real look forces your curiosity towards a second and third glance and your mind eventually becomes conscious of the fact that you are looking at textiles. All the designs are minimalistically clean, giving them visual punch and emphasis of the virtual materiality, which in turn reinforces the properties of the original Pleats Please label. While Miyake’s work is intended to be worn on the outside of the body, Satoh’s work can be imagined to be appreciated by the inside of your body.

Satoh’s poster campaign won the Japan Graphic Designers Association award for 2013.The posters will go on display again in June at the Tokyo Midtown Design Hub.

Oils are traditionally associated to portraits made between the Sixteenth and the Nineteenth century, usually melancholic and solitary reproductions of great characters of that time, or magnificent views of almost mythological landscapes.

This peculiar technique, so widespread in that lapse of time, is nowadays quite rare, almost forgotten and relegated to a legendary past.
Nevertheless, an emerging talent has chosen it as favourite method of artistic representation. Soey Milk is a Pasadena artist, become in the latest months a phenomenon in the visual design sphere. Her blog has caught the attention of several experts, and her works have been displayed in many exhibitions: founded in late 2008, her blog, named “Milk Bomb”, is a personal display of her works, updated on a weekly basis.
What with no doubt instantly captures every visitor, is not only the extraordinary skills of this young girl with the use of oil, which make every portrait hyper realistic. As a matter of fact, it is her incredible ability of matching such an old-school method with contemporary subjects that leaves the observer…speechless. Every portrait is actually a fairy tale, a story told about the subject, who is always a fascinating but solitary woman, dressed in a modern and alternative way, wearing unusual stuff or surprising anatomic details, such as totally white hair.

Romance is definitely the real protagonist of these portraits: ladies are always alone, portrayed in elegant mood, symbols of pleasure and agony at the same time. If naturalistic symbols appear sporadically, it is the general dark atmosphere that makes these works unique: past and present match perfectly, and a calm sadness is radiated outward through a genuine exaltation of feminine beauty.
Soey Milk’s short stories are a real force of nature, and for sure this is just the beginning of an amazing career. Stay tuned.

Digital artist, Peter La, is the creator of some of the most fascinating illustrations we’ve seen recently. The artist, a well-rounded individual with an astonishing set of skills extending far beyond those of drawing and graphic design, is a former user interface specialist for games. Recently, he decided to shift away from the world of gaming, to that of ethereal concept art and he’s doing a kick-ass job.

With an insane talent, and an outstanding personal aesthetic, he is bound to go places. His pieces reminisce of obscure games, chimerical characters, apocalyptic scenarios and fantastic transformers. The magnetism of his design is to be found in the perfect color mixes and smooth transitions, the carefully balanced intertwining of blurred, fuzzy contours with harsh brush strokes, and the vivid atmosphere depicted. Regardless of the theme of his images, the characters appear almost alive, taking the viewer into a world of fantasy, unlocking the darkest corners of his imagination.
Peter La’s heroes draw almost titanic dimensions, emerging as wondrous Gods, imposing, startling; all pieces evoke a certain anxiety and fear, inducing a rather haunting feeling on the viewer. Looking through his portfolio, you feel as if you are witness to an extraordinary invasion of all-mighty alien gods, with unbounded powers and unheard of qualities, about to have a mythical, surreal sky battle.

Fond of conceptual art, bizarre robotic constructions, and hazy, unearthly vectors, Peter set himself apart from the crowd. His thriving imagination, along with his superior brushing and blending skills, has aided him in constructing a fabulous realm and a set of unforgettable characters.
Just as elusive and mysterious as his titans, Peter La keeps a well-guarded distance from the public eye. He prefers making an impact and telling a story through his work, rather than words. The little information known about him is that he is based in Toronto, Canada, and that he used to work in designing games’ interfaces. The rest, who knows? This makes it all much more exciting and intriguing. Peter La, you’re doing it right!

Bec Winnel is an Australian visual artist, specialised in portraits. She works mainly with traditional tools, such as pencils, pastels and watercolour.  Her style is soft and translucent, but eyes are always drawn quite strong. In a time-lapse video (link below), you clearly see how her process works. Winnel starts out with one eye, hints the other eye, and then the face is built around the eyes and gradually takes shape and gets structure. The finished artwork retains the strong and clear eyes, perhaps being the main portal the soul of the portrait, and the surrounding face is there almost as a decoration or accessory, while still emphasising the spirit of the expression in the eyes. As most of her portraits soften at the edges, there is a dreamlike quality to many of her images. Portraits are interesting, as the human face is our main representation of identity. It also shows age, mood and emotions.

When talking about Bec Winnel development as an artist, she emphasises that she is a self-taught artist, and it is probably true that all good artists are people who worked hard to teach themselves to excel in their art. She also has formal training i graphic design from Swinburne University in Melbourne.

Up until recently she was employed as a graphic designer, while developing her own art at night, but she is now working on her own, full-time, with many exciting projects ahead.

Her works has been shown both in Australia and the US and she has a long list of prominent clients for her commercial works.

You can buy both limited edition and open edition prints from her web site. Start collecting now!

Time-lapse video of Bec Winnel drawing click here

Science-fiction and fashion don’t necessarily sit next one another in the cafeteria, but in the illustrations of Ignasi Monreal, they are intertwined in a strange, captivating way. “I love geek stuff!” Monreal says. It was the geek stuff (and a very cool fashionista he met in Miami) that drew him to fashion: “[I like] the idea of creating new characters and designing their outfits.” By imbuing fashion with fantasy, he unifies “characters” and “outfits” - he creates words, not portraits.

Whether Monreal is making outfitted characters of his own or embellishing the work of other designers, his illustrations are always shrewd - in the sense that their contours are sharp and he does not dabble in cuteness, even when his models have impish or fairy-like features. But to solely point out the sci-fi/fantasy overture does not do Monreal’s gallery justice. It’s little Art Nouveau, a little Egon Schiele, a little like the cover of a 50s detective novel, a little Manga, and even a little Hustler.

Monreal did a series for V Spain in which he had carte blanche to design over famous photographs of models in haute couture. He gave a model in Versace a head full of lush boa constrictors. Her Medusa-esque locks go surprisingly well with the architectural coat-dress she wears with an oversize belt. Snakes, goldfish, flamingos, colorful moths, and some other flora and fauna pepper this series. See what I mean about him creating a world? The unexpected juxtaposition of an ecosystem with haute couture adds a vivacity to these outfits. In one illustration, the turquoise moth on the model’s hair compliments the moth-shaped crocheted pattern on the Givenchy jacket she wears. A few of the models’ faces are enigmatically obscured, but in most of Monreal’s illustrations, the faces stare right back at you, challenging your gaze.

Only 22-years-old, Barcelona-born Ignasi Monreal has published work in Spain’s Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. He was passionate about comic books as a teenager, and until just five years ago, didn’t know much about fashion. “I thought Calvin Klein was [exclusively] an underwear brand,” he told me. Then, a commission to draw a comic strip about the fashion industry, as well as the aforementioned Miami fashionista, made Monreal’s impressionable 17-year-old self stop and ponder. “It was like fate screaming ‘FASHION!’ at me.”

What does any logical, automobile consumer want from a compact, yet powerful luxury car? Naturally the ability to chase down the city’s latest trendy noodle truck of course! Or so dictates “The Next A-Class,” a film by Mercedes Benz created to advertize the Japanese launch of the new, 2013 A-class. The anime film captures the innovative design of the car through the lens of a simple story relatable to the young, hip, adventurous crowd in Japan.

It opens to a young woman realizing that her illegally parked bike has been removed while she was watching a bad movie. Just as she is about to give up on this terribly miserable day, the famously illusive noodle truck in the form of a classic 1955 Mercedes Benz Blue Wonder whizzes by at lightning speed. Desperately chasing after it, she is nearly run over by the new 2013 A-class hatch back, Which is driven by two men also eager to chase down the legendary restaurant on wheels. The two parties join forces in a hot, reckless pursuit of the noodle stand that takes them on a radical joy ride through the futuristic city. A shifting avenue abruptly stops their chase forcing them to reboot. Just when all hope seems lost, the “museum on wheels” zooms by and so begins the second act of the epic chase this time with the girl taking the wheel of the 211HP car.

The chase takes them through a dingy, almost apocalyptic urban jungle, which perfectly juxtaposes the sleek, white finish on the sporty A-class. The hungry urbanites follow the noodle stand up a steep, glass pyramid. As windows shatter and shards fly past them, the camera reveals the sleek new design of this unbelievably powerful and efficient car. Flying off the top of the pyramid, the adventurous trio refuses to give up and land on a rollercoaster of a road that eventually ends, catapulting them through the air spinning over and nearly landing on the noodle truck. Perfectly exhausted the three flop out of the impossibly intact car and are happy to discover they have succeeded. They eagerly slop up their well-deserved noodles. However, the calm is broken when the chef  tells them of a legendary tofu truck. This time, they are ready to take the A-class for another spin.

 

What’s not to love about Brazil? It's no wonder it’s ranked as one of the countries with the happiest populations on Earth when the people simply exude the most contagious optimism. It’s not just a big, fat carnival all year round: they have their share of serious economical and political issues to handle, but their positivity is what keeps them going and really makes them stand out- both individually, and as a nation. From the local upbeat music and strikingly colorful clothes, to all the glitter craze and the funky feathers, to their effervescent events and lately, insanely decorated streets, everything intertwines just perfectly.

Street art is one of our favorite things to watch, in terms of cool hunting. There’s nothing more honest and raw, than a piece of witty, intriguing or good old sarcastic piece of art, taken right to the street. What makes this form of art so appealing to us is precisely the fact that it’s not restricted by anything. It takes a lot of brainstorming and thought processes, then passion and true commitment in order to come up with something truly unique, making use of an urban, boring space. Lastly, it’s an act of bravery and sometimes defiance. And there’s nothing we like more than a badass artist with the guts to follow their vision, and the hot pursuit to share it with as many people possible, through a rather unconventional channel.

In the last couple of years, Brazil has really set itself apart through its outstanding street artists! This project, ‘6emeia’ was the wild child of two Sao Paolo based artists- Anderson Augusto and Leonardo Delafuente- which took upon them the wondrous ‘duty’ of changing the face of the city. They decided to stray from the mass of street artists, who choose usually to slash their art on abandoned buildings or factories. Instead, Anderson and Delafuente decided to approach smaller details of the urban environment- such as storm drains, manhole covers, fire hydrants and light posts and give them a completely new appearance. Overall, their work can be categorized as amusing, slightly sarcastic, utterly creative and quite endearing.

The purpose of the duo was to put a smile on the passer by’s face at the sight of their work. Each of their pieces has its own story, and aims to send a message to the viewer. Some are more simple, aimed at children, others provide food for thought for intellectuals… No matter how diverse the motifs are, or how different in style they seem, the collection as a whole is a cohesive, intriguing one.

Born in Rome in 1975, Filippo Caroti, also known as Thomas Woland, is one of the most intriguing fashion photographers around at the moment. Despite his Italian roots, his home is now London where he has established his own studio.
His alias exudes love for art in every form: Woland is the name of the well-known character of Bulgakov’s novel – The master and Margarita-, and the name Thomas is an homage to the leading actor in Antonioni’s movie – Blow Up.

It cab be said that Woland was basically brought into this world to be a photographer. As a child, photography was just a “a game to record and preserve memories” of his travels. In 2004 he became a professional, working mainly as a portraitist for luxury men’s magazine Monsieur. Thus, in 2006 he decided to naturally switch to fashion photography, and he has since then created an enormous amount of incredible fashion editorials and campaigns for international magazines and brands. Behind this choice lies the desire to tell a story – an unpredictable story where “boundaries between reality and tales are uncertain”.
His style is liquid and his inspiration comes from the never ending capability of a superb artist – Pablo Picasso – to mix different styles without losing the core concept of his art.

As an artist, don’t ask him to choose between Black&White and colors, as the response will be quite vague. And it’s a completely legitimate doubt – colors work for certain subjects and moods, while B&W for others. Woland, though, shoots mostly subjects and moods that are more suitable with B&W, he says “it’s like a father’s favorite son: the other son is likely to be just more challenging to manage, hence possibly more interesting”.

Curiosity, echoes of nostalgia and emotions: these are Woland keywords in response to evolution of his approach to photography and new professional challenges. Evolution is an hard process that requires great perseverance and patience, but that leads you to do and experience new and unexpected things.

Reminiscing the days he he started snapping his camera as a child, photography is now just a bigger and more serious game. Shooting stories for magazines is for him like being a kid at the playground with no mommy surveillance. But the game sometimes becomes complicated, like his latest exhibition temporarily named “The Black Queens”. This is a 3-year project that is most about feelings and mood, so it’s a project in flux, that keeps re-defining itself every day.

Why strictly define photography? A picture is neither one shot nor multi-shot, it’s not production plus post-production. Woland doesn’t seem to have a particular interest in technical aspects of photography, that is quite over-rated and used as an alibi indeed. “There’s basically no difference between Photoshop and Canova's marble smoothing tools” – Woland (ipset) dixit.

“Follow your dreams”: sounds like a thrilling ad, like an easy choice that everyone could make in life, but, in reality, it's not that easy- at all. Quite often, dedication to one’s own passion requires sacrifices and hard choices, and the conclusion is usually pretty unsure. Nevertheless, there are still many young and talented supporters of this old school point of view, among which it is worthwhile to mention Elisa Mariani, ambitious Italian designer that has been releasing several illustrations on Elle.it during this year. After the first period spent writing about the AW 12/13 fashion shows, a crucial occasion to fall in love with the fashion sphere and online magazines’ contexts, this young talent had then the lucky chance to publish on the website her own visual creations on a daily basis.

Proactive mood, undeniable proficiency, modesty, but above all, passion: “visceral, insane, aphrodisiac” passion for drawing, as Mariani herself loves to define it. This is what drives the daily activity and sharply marks the personality of this ambitious girl, who constantly strives to do better and better, to reach a higher level of competence and dexterity in what she does.
Her major kind of work consists of portraits or visual reproductions of outfits and accessories, and, despite the variety of subjects reproduced, one common trait persists in all her works: the search of perfection. Her creations are, as a matter of fact, realistic, hyper-detailed and technically excellent, worthy result of a constant process of self-improvement and pursue of artistic apogee. Detail is what marks her creations, coupled with a sharp and definite use of colors, perfect choice for the glamorous and exaggerated outfits that she seems to love reproducing, but above all a biting pencil stroke.

Her portraits are a pure visual pleasure, bright colors fit well with the lightness of shapes and the admirable subjects themselves. Every single line exudes love and passion that this talent cultivates for her job, a kind of daily self investment that is already giving her considerable returns: if design is the big love of her life (her dream is to keep on challenging herself on this field in the future), upcoming months reserve some interesting news for her, still in the fashion sphere, of course. Stay tuned, without doubt, she will amaze us.

A young and vibrant photographer, Bryan Ishiguro is working with fashion, beauty and advertising producing images of mainly female models in what appears to be extreme action or stylised poses. He works the whole colour gamut, from soft greys to highlighted neons.

His background in graphics shines through, as many of his images have been treated both in terms of shapes and tones. Ishiguro’s work is highly expressive and is rich in gesture.

His list of clients includes prominent brands such as Vogue, Burberry, Cartier, L'Oreal, Harrods, Mexx, Nike, Dove and Puma.

Bryan Ishiguro is originally from British Columbia and grew up in Ontario, Canada. He graduated from Seneca College Graphic Design in Toronto in 2004 and spent a couple of formative years in a continued collaboration with his classmate David Moo King, under the label Mooishi. In 2006 Ishiguro was ready to run his own business and launched ishistudios.com. He is currently based in Paris in Europe but maintains contact points in both North America and Asia.

There is something a bit scary about Tom Hoops photography. Fear is the perfect addition to the frames of beautiful faces and figures. Tom Hoops, a self-taught English photographer whose clients include Vogue Italia and Lab magazine, mixes magnetic blackness with serene light in many of his photographs. His subjects are an array of stunning models, yet they seem almost like phantoms cutting into his light, dark palette.

The facial expressions that Hoops captures are subtle: an upward glance seemingly in motion to return back into the head, a chin tilted just slightly too far back. These marginal imperfections make his work intriguing, and show his extraordinary talent for portraiture. There is an eeriness present in each frame, but not one that you want to walk away from, like a compelling stranger smiling in the corner.

Tom Hoops understands people. He knows that a single facial expression can encapsulate an entire personality. He reveals his subject's micro histories in each frame but he maintains a balance. His subjects are simultaneously distant, but naked for all to see--a satiating mixture for any viewer.

At a first glance of Ruben Ireland’s work, it seems that the London artist has ripped advertisements from Vogue’s September issue and superimposed them with the photo negatives of his most enigmatic dreams. Ireland does not limit his work to conceptual enigma—he is known for using food and dirty water as casually as he would use acrylics. “Steak-and-kidney pie has thick oils and juices that create an incredible variety of dark, murky browns and light, crispy browns,” he told BlackBook magazine. Ireland was the BlackBook Magazine and Society6 New Regime Feature Artist in 2010.

His chimerical illustrations use a combination of traditional techniques and digital modus operandi. His use of pencil is not shy—in fact, the interplay of classic and digital mediums heightens the tension in his portraits. His subjects are in two minds, caught between hyper-reality and illusion, but it is up to us to decide what is more real: the imprecision of handwork, or the retouched digital faces that our modern eyes recognize so easily.

In Greek mythology, Chimera is a fire-breathing female monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail, but in contemporary lexicon, chimera means any mythical animal with parts taken from various animals. Ireland adheres to the original Greek meaning by portraying mostly women, but relaxes into the contemporary definition by giving his models bunny ears, ram horns, porcupine spikes, and in the case of the woman from “A Mile Away From Anywhere,” a teapot that sits on her head like a crown. He respects tradition, from his use of pencil to his mythological subject matter, but is not afraid of pushing into unexplored, at times outlandish, territory.

Ireland’s affiliation with Society6, a company that translates artwork into iPhone cases, t-shirts, hangable prints and more, gives his illustrations the chance to be gazed at outside the dense walls of a gallery. Since Ireland’s work has a provocative relevance to daily life, its presence on practical commodities works entirely in his favor—and makes the aficionado sporting his work look quite intriguing.