artists
my favourite
Painters
Brendan Monroe
I love how Brendan Monroe is a scientist and an artist. He blends the two together seamlessly and I feel like he really gets what I mean when I say life is art and art is life. He can look at something concrete, like DNA, and turn it into something beautiful with the flick of a brush.
He creates art using logic and intense study, and I think that’s something that a lot of people get wrong about artists. We’re imagined as floaty, head in the clouds types, when in reality, we’re very methodical and results based. Monroe is a bastion for demonstrating that to the world.
OS Gémeos
This isn’t so much one painter, Os Gémeos are twins from Brazil and they’ve somehow managed to bring an underground, South American street art style to the forefront of the art world’s perception.
They’re mural based, and that’s how they made their name, but I love that about them. They’ve taken something that anyone can do and made it something creative and beautiful and meaningful.
ROSSON CROW
I’ve saved the best till last. Rosson Crow is an idol to me, she is so sure of herself and so confident and so creative. The fact she spends most of her time in showgirl outfits is enough to make her my hero, but her large-scale paintings are incredible too.
Her work is so playful and tongue in cheek, you can’t help but smile when looking at it. Everything is so modern and bright and it’s got a colourful pop aesthetic which is just so uplifting.
my favourite
Graphic designers
Marian Bantjes
This Canadian lady is the queen of typography Weaving typography in and out of extravagant and ornamental graphics is truly ground-breaking and beautiful to look at. She’s so creative and so ingenious and her work truly takes my breath away.
You can make letters look however you want and Bantjes grabs that sentiment by the horns and runs with it. I love how she’s totally down with graffiti as a form of art as well. Graffiti can take hours upon hours to complete well and it needs to be more recognised for its creativity.
SHIRO SHITA SAORI
Another strong leading lady, Shiro is Japanese but works in Berlin and she creates really intricate and interesting studies of Japanese pop culture. She’s pretty young too, but sometimes these young minds are the most creative. They’re not dragged down by the passage of time and can use their youthful innocence to imagine and create things that older people could never even dream of.
My favourite piece of work by Shiro is actually a poster she designed for Ad Council of Japan. ‘Media Literacy is an Imagination’ was a dark but cute exploration of how the abundance of media and information can actually make it harder to see clearly.
PHILIPPE APELOIG
Apeloig is really well established on the graphic design scene. The French artist has been active in the field since the 80s and he’s only grown in strength and artistry since then.
He’s very up to date with current affairs and it really reflects in his work. As he promotes art and culture, he often cites this profession as a way of connecting deeper with the world, and it shows.
I love how he seems to consider every aspect of the visual when he creates his work, the space, shape, typography, form and emotion. He really is one of the best out there.