A Separate Reality: New Paintings of Dystopian Worlds by Alex Andreev. Trying to categorize or summarize the genre of Alex Andreev’s (previously) digital paintings is nearly impossible. Part science fiction, part dystopian future, the scenes are equally disturbing and beautiful, his characters inhabiting a world Andreev tells me is deeply influenced by Soviet-era literature, music and movies. Based in St. Petersburg, Russia he works primarily with Adobe Photoshop and Corel Paint and relies only on a small selection of brushes and colors to create each illustration, meaning there are no special effects or 3d-rendering of anything.
Andreev recently published an art book, A Separate Reality, which is available through Blurb.com. Illustration. All photos courtesy S. Morita Japan is a country full of amazing art. Some of it is housed within museums and galleries while others are right underneath our feet. I’m talking, of course, about Japan’s peculiar obsession with manhole covers. Just about anywhere in the country you can find stylized manhole covers, each more beautiful and intricate than the next. For the past several years photographer S. Morita has traveled around Japan photographing artistic manhole covers. As to why this phenomenon developed, signs point to a high-ranking bureaucrat in the construction ministry who, in 1985, came up with the idea of allowing municipalities to design their own manhole covers. Thanks to a few design contests and subsequent publications, the manhole craze took off and municipalities were soon competing with each other to see who could come up with the best designs.
You can see hundreds more of Morita’s photos right here. Nico Delort’s Epic Ink and Scratchboard Illustrations Offer an Intriguing Glimpse into Unknown Stories. Artist Nicolas Delort lives and works in the suburbs of Paris where he creates evocative and imposing illustrations using ink and scratchboard. Each piece represents a moment from an unknown narrative leaving me filled with questions in the same way Chris van Allsburg’s The Mysteries of Harris Burdick leaves you curious of the circumstances behind each image. Delort is officially represented by Shannon Associates where you can see much more of his work and hopefully hire him to illustrate a graphic novel that I will wait in line to purchase. You can also follow him on Tumblr. (via behance) Update: An earlier version of this post referred to these illustrations as being “Unknown Narratives” which is not entirely true.
Indeed several of Delort’s ink drawings illustrate key moments from the Harry Potter series or Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. Thanks, all. Valerio D'Ospina Home. Dramatically Blurred Oil Paintings by Valerio D’Ospina. I’m really enjoying the perspective and mood in these oil paintings by Valerio D’Ospina. Born in southern Italy but now living and working in Pennsylvania the artist paints gritty scenes from industry including ship yards, trains, and factories as well as broad “urbanscapes” that are captured from a dramatic, almost blurred perspective. His most recent solo show was at Hall Spassov Gallery back in October. (via cosas cool)