Zaniness

Spreading love, joy, and robots are Jon Reinfurt's mission. His digital collage consist of a signature style that is distinct with the lines, curves and shapes by usage of collage, mixed media and paint to create his work of art. Jon graduated with a BFA in illustration from the University of Arts in Philadelphia. He has numerous recognitions such as Communication Arts and How Magazine. Jon Reinfurt is currently living in Philadelphia, freelancing in illustrations and teaching at University of Arts, his alma mater.

Daydreams To Sketches

Welding his images together with photography, 3D images, and painting, Jericó Santander is an artist from the Canary Island, Spain, who find inspiration from Mars-1, Josh Keyes, Alex Trochut and Microbot. Jericó gives credit to his grade school teacher who encourages him to draw rather than giving a grammatical lesson, as well as his cousin who introduced him to Flash and Photoshop. Jericó Santander claims to have ideas he dreamed up prior to beginning the process and other times ideas evolve during the sculpting process. He mainly uses Photoshop, 3D Studio Max, and his own illustration skills in his artwork.

Existence Of Dichotomies

These creative work displays a lonely, innocent girl in nature, accompanied by friendly animals, and her eyes reaches out of the canvas, grabbing the attention of every viewer. What is the message behind the painting? Who is the girl? Kendra Binney, the artist of these fascinating artwork stated, "I find an endearing absurdity to the world around me. The dichotomy of cruelty and beauty, sorrow and joy, memory and decay, the significance of brief fleeting moments and my inability to hold onto them. My paintings are an attempt to catch what can't be caught and express what I can't articulate."

With work displayed and sold globally, Kendra Binney spends her days alone in her small studio in Portland, Oregon. Kendra would incorporate found objects or personal artifacts in her work. The color scheme reflect the green and water of Portland, and the watery lines are the rain drenched windows of her studio. Visit her website to view additional work..

Seven Seas Of Cultural Inking

The clashing of two cultures of Japanese and European heritage, Nanami Cowdroy is a self-taught artist who fused two different cultures to create these beautiful illustrations. Nanami grew up with contrasting cultures which explains the influence in her artwork. She was born in Sydney, Australia with frequent trips to Tokyo, Japan to visit her Mother's family. Growing up in a family of artists, being creative is just second nature. Nanami Cowdroy uses a mixed media of pen & pencil, ink, water color, spray paint, and a hint of digital elements to complete her artwork.

Horror Punks

An Art Director in Chicago, Illinois, Charlie Owens uses mixed media to create these raw and distressed work of art. Merging his talent in illustration and design, his work strikes a statement with typography, stylized female figure, and pop culture references. Charlie is influenced by gritty surface textures and street torn advertisements, as well as his passion in skateboarding, metal and punk rock music from his youth, and horror movies.

Charlie Owens quoted, "I have a huge attraction to raw unrefined abstract art but at the same time the clean lines of typography and clean lined illustration really appeal to me. I try to combine these two styles into something I can call my own, to try and create a very iconic visual." He also states, "As for my usual stylized female figures... I'm not really trying to create any sort of pin-up style, or even trying to capture the female form accurate at all times... it's more important for me to get an attitude, a mood... or just simply a strong bold visual that captures the viewers attention."

His work has been featured in exhibition and galleries across the United States, as well as other medias in print and TV. Check out Charlie's website featuring additional work, as well as prints for sale.

Stories From Maui

A graduate of Art Center College of Design with honors, working in the entertainment field as visual effect consultant, art director, storyboard and concept designer, Edwin Ushiro redirected his available time for his personal creation. He made time to respond to few questions.

Monzuki > What are you trying to say with your work?

Edwin Ushiro > Most of my paintings are inspired by ghost stories I had collected as a child and it's association to my childhood growing up on the island of Maui. I am sharing a personal story.

Monzuki > How did you choose your subjects?

Edwin Ushiro > All the characters in my paintings are portraits of people from my childhood. Friends, family, the neighborhood dog, my cat, they all live in this world just like they did in real life.

Monzuki > What are your process in creating your artwork?

Edwin Ushiro > The process can take many steps depending on what mood I am attempting to achieve. But normally it goes like this: pencil and paper with ink, water color washes and acrylic, it is then scanned and colored in photoshop, transferred onto t-shirt transfer paper, mounted onto frosted vinyl and finally painted on with acrylic to the front and back of the image.

Monzuki would like to thank Edwin Ushiro's time from his busy schedule. Edwin is from Maui, Hawaii but currently living in Culver City, California. His work was recently displayed at the Scion Installation Tour at Miami Art Basel, The Japanese American National Museum and The Museum of Kyoto In Japan. Edwin's upcoming exhibitions in a group show, "Go East" at LeBasse Projects in New York on November 5-8th.

Urban Scrawl

I saw Rik Catlow's Edward Scissorhands a couple months ago at the Crazy For Cult 3D, and I was very tempted to purchase it. Trying to refrain in owning additional art with not enough walls to claim it, I walked away in pain but that is not going to stop me from blogging it.

Rik's process in his art is using found items, magazines, drawings, and acrylic paint. There is no rule in his process but mere randomness. His influence is the raw city streets of New York City, filled with graffiti, post bills, signage and discarded papers. I like his usage of space, great character design and vibrant colors. Rik Catlow is located in Charlotte, North Carolina. He studied illustration at The Kubert School and The School of Visual Arts in New York City.