illustration: CHRISTOPHER DAVISON

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Tatiana Plakhova Draws Inspiration From Symmetry

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

These symmetrical flurries are only one portion of artist Tatiana Plakhova’s art portfolio, but they are certainly amongst the most immediately gratifying. Something about these jellyfish-like whirling ornaments just seem comforting.

See some more of her works on Flickr or Behance.

Byrony M Quinn Turns Volcanoes Into Pixelated Psychedelia!

Friday, July 16th, 2010

This series of works by Byrony M Quinn is probably called Eyjafjallajokull because they gleaned inspiration from Iceland’s latest exploding magma source. The influence is minute in these black and white collaged works, but one can gather some presence of smoke clouds. Add some pixely noise, and these pieces are surprisingly easy to get lost in.

Nick Beery’s Zombie Rappers

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

I ‘m going to preface this post by saying that I am deeply afraid of zombies. We all have our irrational fears, and mine happen to include being cold, the texture of chalk, and above all else, zombies. So when I say that I absolutely love Nick Beery’s zombie rapper series at Urban Light Studios, you should know that it counts for something! Nick gets around sticky copyright issues by sticking to depicting only rappers that have died, so we might have to wait a while for new additions to his awesome series…

zombie5zombie1zombie4zombie2

Sofia Ajram Has Some Magical Tendencies.

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Montreal-based photographer and deigner Sofia Ajram is stupidly multi-talented. I’m not sure whether to pay more attention to her photography or her design. But it’s her designs that really stand but to me, because they’re from her experiments in “Make Something Cool Every Day”. It’s amazing what some people can crank out on a daily basis. Here are my favorite entries from the ongoing series.

Blog Alert: From Brazil, With Love!

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

This is our first Blog Alert, but you can bet we’re starting it off with a good one. The Brazilian blog, From Brazil, With Love, features collages by all types of artists. The idea: artists collage fashion advertisements to create newly remixed works of art.

I love their mission statement. Hear, hear!

“APPROPRIATE TO RECRIATE. DAILY ARTWORKS FROM THE BEST MAGAZINES AROUND THE GLOBE. STYLING THE ALREADY STYLED. DIY. WITHOUT POWER, CORRUPTION AND LIES. SINCE 2008. X”

Go on, choose your poison. Let’s start with Malcolm McLaren.

And move on to Cristina Ricci.

How about Helmut Lang?

And let’s end with a good one… Lara Stone!

Go to their website for more, more, more! More!

Monsters And Marilyns With Jesse Lenz! Genius! Genius! Glorious!

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

What happens when you mix two familiar faces together? The result can be scary, we’ve learned, from those image-generating programs that mash two adults together to create warped, inbred-looking potential children. But somehow illustrator Jesse Lenz has mixed Andy Warhol’s iconic image of Marilyn Monroe with creatures like Frankenstein and dictators like Chairman Mao to create strangely visually-appealing hybrids. I mean, maybe it’s just me, but even Predator mixed with Marilyn Monroe is pretty freaking cute. It’s no coincidence that a lot of dictators seem to show up in the works alongside monsters, though. Lenz’s artist statement on the subject includes a C.S. Lewis quote and a George Orwell 1984 reference. And that’s just the beginning. Visit his Flickr to see the entire collection, which is screenshotted below, and to read his artist statement on the series.

In addition to the screenshot, of course, I must include Predator-meets-Marilyn. I was serious. I’m in love.

Keep Portland Beard At The Tribute Gallery!

Monday, April 19th, 2010

As if Portland didn’t already have a big enough reputation for being a beard-friendly city, The Tribute Gallery has a new show, titled Keep Portland Beard, opening tonight. But don’t worry: the opening itself isn’t until April 24th! If you’re not sure whether you want to turn out for the event, hopefully the images below will convince you.


The Renaissance Man by Rachel Caldwell.


Quickly by Chad Eaton.


Beard Hat by Kyle Durrie.


Your Great-Grandfather Would Be Proud by BT Livermore for his own company. Awesome!


Portland Hipster Bigfoot by Santiago Uceda (that’s kind of a beard, right?).

These are just a few of the artists showing. There’s more! A bunch more! (This is strangely a very blue post. I don’t think the show will be a very blue show.)

Guest-curated by Michael Buchino of BeardRevue. RSVP here.

Bored Of Everyone Collaging Up A Triangular Storm.

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

I’m getting a little bit tired of all of the collage artists who think that cutting a few triangles and overlaying them with another image makes unique art. Yawn and a half. Luckily, Arn vleespapier is trying at least a little bit harder to be creative, and you know what? He’s succeeding. Some of his works feature rips and tears rather than scissor-cut geometric shapes, but even his pieces that are neat and symmetrical stray from feeling stale or calculated. Perhaps it’s because his body of work is so diverse and spans so many styles that there isn’t really a question of whether it’s genuine or not, but there’s just something more to this artist than all the other recycled mofos.

Also notable are some “printer jam” images. Beautiful abstractions.