5 Hip Artists Making Beautiful Things

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#1

Daphne Van den Heuvel

A fashion designer and bombshell illustrator, Van den Heuvel studied Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, where she currently lives. These pieces are from her “I Love Stripes” series, which was actually an assignment in school. She learned that stripes were first used in fashion for sailors because they stood out from nature so well. Also, escaping prisoners and sailors fallen overboard could be spotted more easily while wearing stripes. Coco Chanel apparently brought them into mainstream fashion we know today! Aren’t these illustrations so delightfully feminine and fluid? I love the contrast of the ink colors on the kraft paper.

#2

Laurent Laveder

A Brittany, France based artist, Laurent Laveder specializes in landscape astrophotography and is also an astronomy journalist. His work is the definition of knowing your subject and having it “down to a science.” I tend to gravitate towards art that incorporates a bit of sense of humor, and these also have a touch of children’s book illustration with their fantastical undertone.

#3

Kris Johnsen

A New Hampshire native and graduate of Maine College of Art, Kris Johnsen designs and screen prints by hand all of his pieces right here in Portland, Maine. He makes gorgeous concert posters (“Strong to the Finish”, below, is also being customized into a Moe concert poster,) album artwork and event promotions, so his work should be familiar to any discerning, observant New Englander who cares about good design. Perfecting the screen printing process is part of why his art is so intriguing to me, and luckily enough, you can actually watch Kris in screen printing process action right here.

#4

Fab Ciraolo

Fab Ciraolo hails from Santiago, Chile, where he (obviously) studied Graphic Design and Illustration. His work today is mixed media, including digital coloring, painting and photo processing. Visit this website to learn about his process and you’ll see that he takes commissions to do custom portraits and his turnaround time is a mere FIVE DAYS! The irreverent commentary and his ability to merge modern images with  historical icons with the vintage aesthetic I so adore just blows me away. I want to keep it all for myself.

#5

Stuart McLachlan

Originally from Adelaide, Australia, Stuart McLachlan has lived and worked all over the world and has been featured in Vogue, The New Yorker and Newsweek. He began his career in Graphic Design and Illustration and has only recently begun his foray into paper styling – a man after my own heart! Not only is his work precise and insanely intricate, he has figured out how to bring it to a much larger scale in advertisements, on fashion runways and in art editorials. The silhouette of cut paper designs is a beauty in its own right and his portfolio deserves a closer look.

Category : Art, Design, Fashion, Look
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