Pixelated Pantone Paintings

British artist Nick Smith speaks the visual language of a true contemporary artist. His work is thoughtful, compelling and current. Seemingly inspired by 8-bit graphics of his youth, Smith recreates recognizable paintings from a variety of famous artists using little more than a brilliant sense of color and some custom Pantone Color Chips. Though the…

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HI-RES

In his latest project, HI-RES, Madrid-based artist Rómulo Celdrán explores the convergence of digital art and fine art through sculpture. Celdrán’s analytical curiosity is especially intriguing for designers like us, who are constantly analyzing, consciously or subconsciously, the visual qualities of otherwise mundane objects all around us. These large-scale, visually arresting creations are really something.…

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Photographic Color Palettes by Nick Frank

The old adage goes, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Munich-based photographer/artist Nick Frank’s series Farbraum, which translates from German to “color space”, is a look at otherwise mundane sights through the eyes of a gifted visual artist. In this terrific series, Frank literally extracts colors from these images, and brings them to…

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A Smile Is Worth a Thousand Words

Not speaking to strangers is a lesson learned early and practiced often, but this fascinating ongoing photography series flies in the face of such prudence. Mumbai-based photographer Jay Weinstein attempts to break down barriers during this particularly vigilant time in world history, one smile at a time. Aptly titled “…so I asked them to smile”,…

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Exposing Environmental Wrongdoings Through CGI

We feel one of our fundamental responsibilities as designers is to employ our creative resources to help communicate and disseminate messages for public good, when possible. The right visuals can be powerful and in this instance, also quite beautiful. Commissioned by German environmental advocacy group Robin Wood, ad agency Grabarz & Partner collaborated with some…

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This Ampersand That

It’s no surprise that we’re big fans of photographer Emily Blincoe (previous posts here and here). Blincoe splits her time between Austin (ampersand) Nashville, creating some compelling photography, that’s both thoughtful and fun. A quick look at her typographic ampersand series, now several years old and aptly titled “This Ampersand That”, is long overdue. We…

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The Brilliantly Broken Compositions of James Bullough

Traditional painterly techniques combined with a modern graphic sensibility makes for some very compelling work. American-born, Berlin-based artist James Bullough’s body of work is the perfect example of this striking juxtaposition. Bullough has a penchant for realism, but also employs a masterful geometric style that sort of fractures his compositions. And his sense of composition…

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The Fruit Bearing Imagination of Sarah Illenberger

We are particularly taken with artists who revamp and re-envision everyday objects (here and here and here), giving new meaning to something very familiar. Berlin-based multi-disciplinary artist Sarah Illenberger is particularly adept at this approach, and we especially like her work involving food (which is reminiscent of the great Brock Davis). Illenberger’s conceptual and compelling…

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Dynamic Photography That’s Anything But Still

While fashion and still life photography can be very straightforward, we’re always pleased when we see it take a conceptual turn. London-based Lithuanian photographer Aleksandra Kingo is particularly adept at elevating her work to art. Her personality shines through, and makes for some very compelling work. In her own words, her work is “feminine, a…

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Scott Blake’s Brave Body of Work

You may already be familiar with the work of contemporary American artist Scott Blake. Blake’s work is not only visually compelling, but also engaging and usually interactive. Some of his most prominent works involve bar codes (aptly called Barcode Art), which fittingly mock consumerism and the increasing societal dominance of big data. Blake has a…

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