Common Thread: Modern Embroidery of Victoria Villasana

The Royal Family is all the rage lately, and we recently came across some intriguing artwork of Queen Elizabeth… beautifully woven colorful thread over a simple black and white photo. Upon further investigation, we discovered a treasure trove of incredible works by Mexican textile artist Victoria Villasana. The unexpected can be powerful in art, and…

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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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Fluid Sculptures of Felix Semper

We’ve seen a lot of intricate artwork fabricated from paper in new and interesting ways, but nothing quite like this. It’s the work of Cuban-born, North Carolina-based artist Felix Semper. While his sculptures resemble traditional stone busts, Semper injects a bit of a twist, literally, into these awesome creations. Rather than a hefty, solid material,…

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Rice Paddy Art That Takes a Village

Autumn is finally upon us, and time for all things pumpkin spice (don’t get us started), as well as corn mazes and such. Which got us thinking… have you ever seen rice paddy art? Originating in Japan, rice paddy art is achieved when people plant rice of various types and colors to create giant pictures…

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Lighthearted LEGO Masterpieces

LEGO bricks are no longer just plastic construction toys, they have permeated all facets of pop culture lately… showing up on the silver screen, in video games, on clothing and even fine art. Classically trained Italian artist Stefano Bolcato has had such a penchant for the timeless toys since childhood that he began using them,…

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Hidden in Plain Sight

Pointillism, a painting technique in which distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image, dates back some 130 years, though the technique is actually analogous to four-color CMYK printing process and RGB displays we designers are all too familiar with. Some of the most notable artists who have employed this technique…

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Butcher Billy is Killin’ It

Pop art is alive and well. Having materialized in the 1950s as an alternative to the traditions of fine art, the movement draws from popular culture and often relies on irony. As we’ve noted before, our highly connected, celebrity-obsessed culture is a breeding ground for such art, so it’s no surprise that it seems to…

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Mosaic Master

Exercises in typographic and mosaic compositions bring us back to our early studies as designers. Not because they are novice or effortless, but because they touch on the fundamentals of good design. Italian artist/designer known as Antonio Village9991 is quite adept at both, as exhibited by this sampling of his impressive body of work. For…

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One Man’s Trash is Tom Deininger’s Treasure

Trash versus treasure is all relative, as everyone pretty much knows by now. Rhode Island-based artist Tom Deininger takes the old adage to heart through his remarkable collage work. From idealistic landscapes (one of which is inspired by Impressionist master Monet), to detailed portraiture, to denim seascapes, to large-scale commissions, Deininger truly transforms found, often…

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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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