Julie Mehretu

Julie Mehretu’s paintings and drawings refer to elements of mapping and architecture, achieving a calligraphic complexity that resembles turbulent atmospheres and dense social networks. Mehretu was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia but raised in Michigan. She currently lives and works in New York City.

Gerda Steiner and Jorg Lenzlinger

Gerda Steiner's and Jörg Lenzlinger's work deals with an adaptation of nature through synthesis. The Swiss artists' currency is a Hegelian dialectic that gets an empirical flip sideways with the use of objects such as taxidermied animals and insects, glistening ponds of motor oil, dead trees and plants, and flowing streams of chemicals. Their work deals frankly with the unity of opposites such as life and death, good and evil, and hope and despair. It's an existential see-saw ride that lends beauty to almost anything. - Steve Peralta

Zhou Fan

Zhou Fan's work is based on dreams he had as a child. The artist explains, “Somehow I feel that it is easier to focus on dreams than reality”. The intricate piles and gobs of food, animals and nature seem to overwhelm the person underneath the pile but at the same time seem like they could be almost like hats they must walk around with all day.

Synesthesia

It’s an incredible sensory mix-up. Some people can hear colors. Some taste words. Some read in sounds...

Synesthesia from Terri Timely on Vimeo.

Cisma - Handmade

I love this short film. Watch it in higher resolution here.

Alejandro González Iñárritu

Alejandro González Iñárritu (21 grams, Babel) was the very first Mexican to receive an Oscar-nomination for best Director. He does an amazing job in this 3 minutes World Cup Nike advertisement to tell multiple stories of each players potential.

Buraka Som Sistema - Sound of Kuduro

just dance.

Wangechi Mutu

Wangechi Mutu born in Niarobi, Kenya studied at Cooper Union and received her MFA from Yale. Mutu believes, “Females carry the marks, language and nuances of their culture more than the male. Anything that is desired or despised is always placed on the female body.” Mutu's goddess-like figure becomes an embodiment of the disjointed facets of modern Africa, caught in the flux of Western preconception, internal turmoil, ancient tradition, and blossoming future.

Pepón Osario

Pepón Osorio, best known for large-scale installations, was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, in 1955. Osorio’s pieces, influenced by his experience as a social worker in The Bronx, usually evolve from an interaction with the neighborhoods and people among which he is working. “My principal commitment as an artist is to return art to the community,” he says. His crowded embellished installations bring together Carribean imagery and american kitch, with psychological undertones.

Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry's photo journalism is like a dream- magical realism at it's best.

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo is one of the most influencial female painters of the 20th century. Of her 143 paintings, 55 are self-portraits which often incorporate symbolic portrayals of physical and psychological wounds. She insisted, "I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality." Frida Kahlo is one of four daughters born to her Hungarian- Jewish father and her Mexican-indiginous mother. And was married to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera with whom she had an intensely furious and passionate relationship with.

Olaf Hajek

Olaf Hajek's work explores the opposition between imagination and reality in the context of western cultures. His pieces resemble hallucinations, folklore, and the mystical. They also call to mind Frida Kahlo,but are still strong enough to stand without that comparison.

Mastufa Maluka

I appreciate the play with color, pattern, and flatness used in Mastufa Maluka's large scale portraits. Maluka is South African born and studies in the Netherlands. It is said his pieces are supposed to represent today's stylish young men and women of indeterminate race and nationality. His colorful headshots, which resemble oversize passport or ID photos, are fictional portrayals of today’s global youth.

Scott Fife

Scott Fife uses humble materials: cardboard, glue and wood screws to create life-like portraits of famous figures. Even with their visual imperfections it puts an emphasis on the process of the how each sculpture is made.

Ron Mueck

Ron Mueck has been a favorite of mine for a while. His hyper-realistic sculpture captures every little hair to goose bump. A surprising fact that I wasn't aware of until researching her further is Paula Rego's son-in-law is Ron Mueck. It was Rego that introduced Mueck to Charles Saatchi which kicked off his career from special effects artist to world known art star.

Paula Rego

I was first told about Paula Rego while I was doing my undergrad. I remember not really taking much interest at first. But last year while I was living in Portugal I saw a majority of her work in person and I fell in love with her work and her process. The fact that she builds her sets and subjects herself I love. She is the most famous living artist to come out of Portugal though she lives in England. She was honored with her own museum Casa das Histórias in Cascais just last year and the collection is impressive.