Mind-Bending Photography by Erik Johansson

quote [Erik Johansson is a Swedish-born artist based in Berlin who creates surreal images by recombining photographs and other materials. He captures ideas by combining images in new ways to create what looks like a real photograph, yet with logical inconsistencies to impart an effect of surrealism. Some finished images are the combination of "hundreds of original photographs" as well as raw materials, and Johansson spends dozens of hours using image manipulation software such as Adobe Photoshop to alter the image digitally and to illustrate his idea]. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Cross-Stitched Microbes and Germs by Alicia Watkins

United States-based Alicia Watkins cross-stitches stunning embroideries of microbes and viruses. You can buy and order them @ Etsy.

Whores & Madonnas by Peter Schafer

"Whores & Madonnas contrasts quite a lot to other photo essays on prostitutes, where the viewer becomes a voyeur to a degraded yet exotic existence" ...Peter Brian Schafer Brooklyn based photographer).

quote [I began this project in the fall of 2012, having read Denise Brennan's book, What’s Love Got to Do With It?, an ethnography of sex workers in a small resort town on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. Built upon global inequity, Sosúa is paradoxically a place where women exert much agency and control over their lives. The stories Brennan tells of the women who move to Sosúa to pursue sex work – mostly internal migrants from Santo Domingo – paint a picture not of passive victims of circumstance but of women pragmatically carrying out plans to improve their lives and the lives of their children.
The first half of the series portrays the women at work, inhabiting their professional personas, projecting the promise of sex. Over time, they spoke with me about their lives outside work, how they arrived in Sosúa, their weekly routine of sending remittances home to support their children. As I got to know two of the women better, they gave me access to their everyday lives – their non-performance time – and I photographed them where they lived and out and about during their off-hours].
[Previously: Peter Brian Schafer Photography ]

Hyperreal Paintings by Mike Dargas

Provocative, hyperreal paintings from German artist Mike Dargas who transfers images of women's faces covered in honey onto the canvas.

Jewelry boxes as creative dioramas by Talwst

Toronto based artist Talwst turns old jewellery boxes into beautifully creative dioramas.
quote [Talwst is a Canadian-Trinidadian artist engaged in mixed media and performance practices. Through his work, he explores the narrative of art history, whilst inserting elements of contrasting cultures in order to engage a larger audience and in hopes of broadening the addressed themes in art historical discourse].

The 8 loves of Picasso

quote [Inspired by the 8 loves of Picasso, photographer Steve Shaw and artist Gregory Siff collaborate with their muses].
(via Violet Blue)

Jonathan Viner Art

quote [Jonathan Viner (b. June 1976) is an American painter based in Brooklyn, NY. Working primarily in oils, he fuses a deep respect for the tradition and craft of painting with an appreciation for the dynamic pluralism of current art practice. His conceptually ambiguous, precisely articulated hybrids of portraiture and narrative assert the right of the artist to exceed prevailing institutional conventions in pursuit of highly individualized artistic vision].

World Leaders on the Toilet by Cristina Guggeri

Italian artist Cristina Guggeri (a.k.a. Krydy) creates irreverent portraits of world leaders (Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, Silvio Berlusconi etc...) ...engaged in their "duties"... The serie "Il Dovere Quotidiano" (The Daily Duty), in Facebook.

A Guy Bourdin silent film

Ahead of his retrospective "Guy Bourdin: Image Maker" at Somerset House, watch a super-8 rarity from the late Parisian photographer. (more @ NOWNESS)

Tree Change Dolls

Tree Change Dolls is a project about taking old discarded toys and giving them a new lease on life, cerated by an artist, illustrator and science communicator based in Hobart, Tasmania. Facebook.

quote: "...these dolls have been rescued and rehabilitated from op-shops and tip shops around Tasmania. These lil fashion dolls have opted for a "tree change", swapping high-maintenance glitz 'n' glamour for down-to-earth style. I hand repaint the dolls faces, mold new shoes, and my Mum sews and knits their clothing. My sisters and I grew up playing with second-hand dolls and home-made toys in the beautiful Tasmanian natural environment. I love the satisfaction of repairing and reusing discarded items to give them a new lease on life".

Eric Fortune Artwork

Eric Fortune is an artist based out of Columbus, Ohio.
quote [Lyrical, haunting, yet poignant at the same time, Eric Fortune’s paintings make lasting impressions. These are characters who are neither out of place in the world, nor at home in it — they are characters wrapped in their own worlds. The emotionally complex metaphors Fortune paints are richly evocative. His imagery is quiet yet dynamic, and seasoned with a touch of surrealism that takes us to captivating places, beyond our everyday experience but filled with truth].

Through the Window by Maria Jose Garcia Piaggio

In Maria Jose Garcia Piaggio’s Through the Window, she appropriates found images as part of her investigation about cybersex.
quote [Through the Window is devided into two parts, one part is men looking though free portals and the other side is women that offer live shows where you have to pay to participate. Is a project of accumulation and appropiation of images. I want to be able to show this scenarios that we all know are there but we keep hidden, deconstructing it from the virtual context and taking it to other scenaries to show this two groups to the expectator. I’m interested to show the construction of the body language this women have in front of the camera to be liked and atract the expectator].

The Bold Bakery by Sarah Brockett

If you want to say something, say it on a cake as Sarah Brockett, a graphic designer living and working in Grand Rapids (Michigan).
quote [The Bold Bakery is not where you want to purchase Grandma’s birthday cake from. It is, however, the perfect place to have a pie created for your cheating husband, or your bratty pre-teen daughter. This establishment simply oozes with sarcasm and sass. Don’t have anyone on your “shit list”? That’s okay. Plenty of our customers partake in “cake wars”, where they gift their friends with raunchy baked goods for no reason at all. Sometimes a little crude humor and chocolate cake is all you need to get by in life].

Lonely Sculpture by Tully Arnot

Lonely Sculpture by Tully Arnot is a concise comment on the current condition of "social" networks.
quote [Lonely Sculpture is a piece of technology that reflects the way we interact. Dating apps like Tinder are an aspect of socialization that allows for isolation: it reduces identity and demands judgement. The work heightens an absence or disconnect that already exists with this form of interaction. However, Lonely Sculpture does not reserve judgement. The artist’s mechanized silicone index finger taps yes to every dating profile that appears on the screen, even when the screen is loading new profiles the finger keeps unconsciously tapping, anticipating, longing].

8-Bit Watercolor Paintings by Adam Lister

quote [Artist Adam Lister continues his examination of pop culture and art history through these unusual watercolor paintings inspired by his love for 8-bit graphics found in old Nintendo and Atari video games.
(via Colossal)