Aes+f is, if anything, the biggest anomaly to have hit the art world in decades. Working as a quartet for over 30 years, which is in itself quite an accomplishment, the group’s award-winning work blurs the lines between the modern and the traditional, the east and the west, the opulent and the deprived, but most importantly, never ceases to be relevant to new generations of art lovers.
Read MoreDutch artist Ruud Van Empel creates photographic images that come across as both idealistic and realistic, and yet they really are collages painstalkingly constructed out of thousands and thousands of snapshots. Life has been busy or late for the 54-year-old. In late 2011, his latest book Ruud Van Empel, photo works 1995-2010 was published, while currently the San Diego museum of photographic arts hosts a major retrospective of his work. Plastik talked with Van Empel about his world and work, his views and visions.
Read MoreIf someone from the far future had to pick a painting that best depicts our time, it would be that of Alex Gross. be it a teenager playing Candy Crush on her iPhone, a couple of Chinese housewives drowning in LV or an iPad-clad nation taking a selfie, the American pop surrealist has crystallized a visual recollection of a vast world made smaller with a click of a button. Touching upon themes like consumerism, industrialization and self-consumption, his paintings can be dubbed ironic, alarming yet surreally real.
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Spanish-born Ignasi Monreal is one of the hottest and most sought-after fashion illustrators and graphic designers in the world today. His work appeared in, among other publications, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue Spain, V Magazine Spain, CANDY and Dolce & Gabbana’s online magazine Swide.
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Signe Pierce first burst onto the scene with the release of her 2014 short film American Reflexxx; a performance art piece featuring Pierce herself, wearing a mask and barely anything else, wandering the streets of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, waiting for something to happen. Little did she know that all hell would break loose as walkers by started attacking her both verbally and physically because of her hyper sexualized demeanor.
Read MoreA winner of the 2016 Hasselblad Masters Awards, 24-year-old Slovakian Evelyn Bencicova is taking the world by storm. Dividing her time mainly between Vienna and Berlin, she has found a delicate balance between aesthetic sensitivity and conceptual sensibility. One of her secrets? It is all about “fiction based on truth”.
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John Yuyi’s work juxtaposes intimacy and sensuality with digital iconography – a daring combination that strikes a chord with an entire generation trying to find human connectivity within a hyper-connected digital world. Anyone who follows Yuyi on social media however, knows that her art is not only manifested through her photography, but through herself. Rarely will you find an artist as candid and open about her feelings, inner-turmoil, and every day struggles, making her not only one of the most relevant digital artists of our generation, but also a poignant digital performance artist.
Read MoreBorn in Paris, Malika Favre has been living in London for over a decade. Having worked for the illustrious Airside design studio until 2011, she is today one of Britain’s most sought-after graphic artists and illustrators. Her distinct, minimal style has been described as “Pop Art meets OpArt” and clearly betrays a love for the classy 50s, Paris and graphic novels. Malika’s clients include The New Yorker, Vogue, BAFTA, Gucci and Penguin Books. Malika talkED to Plastik about the art of illustrating, her career and inspirations, London vs. Paris, and much more.
Read MoreToday marks the completion of Sasha Velour’s ‘so emotional’ reign as America’s Next Drag Superstar, ever since snatching that crown in one of the most iconic moments in RPDG history, Sasha Velour has been turning heads performing to sold out audiences around the globe (including Beirut), creating her own drag show “Nightgowns” and making her mark in both the Art and Fashion worlds. Yet Sasha’s biggest accomplishment is the ever lasting impact she had shedding light on LGBTQI rights, and giving a voice to the marginalised members of the community.
Read MoreYoussef Nabil left Egypt in 2003. yet somehow He never left. With his hand-painted photographs and videos he created his own personal iconography of the Egypt he loved, the Egypt that once was and he wishes to preserve. Inspired by cinema, it is an imaginary Egypt, yet perhaps real nonetheless.
Read MoreAs she was born on an island it is perhaps not so strange that sea and water are dominant elements in the work of Thani Mara. Life seems sweet to the young Spanish artist who loves all things Seventies.
Read MoreSPANISH ARTIST FILIP CUSTIC IS THE MASTERMIND BEHIND SOME OF THE MOST INNOVATIVE IMAGES AND VISUAL CAMPAIGNS THE WORLD HAS SEEN IN RECENT YEARS. TRAVELLING BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN PAST AND FUTURE, SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY, CUSTIC IS THE 26-YEAR-OLD BEHIND THE WONDERFUL IMAGERY ON ROSALÍA’S LATEST ALBUM EL MAL QUERER.
Read MoreINDIG0 HAS A KNACK FOR CREATING VISUALS THAT INSTANTLY EASE THE MIND AND SOOTHE THE SOUL. PART EYE-CANDY, PART ETHEREAL PORN, HER WORK UNSWERVINGLY TRANSFERS YOUR MIND TO THAT TRANSIENT STATE WHERE NOTHING REALLY MATTERS AND TIME STANDS STILL.
Read MoreYOU CAN ALWAYS COUNT ON TOWN AND CONCRETE TO BRING MUCH NEEDED JOY AND WHIMSICALITY TO THE OTHERWISE VERY FUNCTIONAL URBAN LANDSCAPE WE LIVE IN. FASCINATED BY THE NOTION OF SCALE, THE ARCHITECT’S DREAMLIKE INSTALLATIONS INSTANTLY TRANSPORT YOU TO AN IMAGINARY LAND WHERE THE WORLD IS A PLAYGROUND, AND LIFE IS A GAME.
Read MoreAmerican photographer Simone Lueck shot to fame with her series The Once and Future Queens.She talks about that and other beauties, including Minnesota, Cuba TV, the State Fair Dairy Princess and curling. Yes, curling.
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