SPACES by Grant Yun

April 30, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, Art, Portfolios, South Korea, NFT Art

Grant Riven Yun is a Korean-American digital artist known on the NFT scene for his minimalist “Neo-Precisionist” style, capturing quiet moments in American suburbia and landscapes. Balancing life as a medical student, breakdancer and NFT OG, Yun blends nostalgia and precision in digital scenes inspired by artists like Hopper and Sheeler. His work has been exhibited internationally and featured in collaborations with Moma, Sotheby’s auctions, and NFT platforms, providing a fresh perspective on the beauty of the everyday.

“SPACES, Grant Yun’s latest body of work, thoughtfully investigates the profound transformations in our built environments driven by technological innovation, automation, and shifting labor paradigms. Created over several years, Yun’s vector-based illustrations reflect critically upon how exponential advances in artificial intelligence, remote work, digitization, and data infrastructure have reshaped the relationships between humanity, productivity, and physical space.”

SPACES is a series of 20 artworks. Each is a 1/1 NFT edition with an accompanying 3 + 2 AP print, with print edition 1 available to the NFT holder at cost. They are available via 24hr auctions (Ξ0.1 reserves) on fellowship.xyz, starting at 1pm ET on Apr 30th.

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Ballpoint pen art by Castro Adefisayo

April 29, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, Art, Illustration, Nigeria, NFT Art, Portfolios

Castro Adefisayo is a talented artist based in Nigeria, celebrated for his incredible ability to craft stunning portraits using only a ballpoint pen. His artwork showcases the diverse beauty of humanity, capturing the essence of individuals across various genders, ethnicities, ages, and socio-cultural backgrounds.

Through meticulous attention to detail and a unique technique, Castro brings his subjects to life on the canvas, inviting viewers to appreciate the intricate stories and emotions that define each person he portrays. His work highlights the aesthetic charm of human figures and conveys a powerful message about the universal dignity and worth of every individual.

Follow up artist

Curly Bahar

April 22, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, Art, Iran, NFT Art, Portfolios

Curly B or Bahar is a young artist from Teheran finishing her Masters in Arts. Her confident, angular brush strokes give the painting a raw, expressive energy. There's a sense of fragmentation, but it's intentional—almost like emotional cubism.

She may just started (assuming the artist career) pouring oil on canvas but the use of light feels dramatic, theatrical even it directs your focus almost subconsciously.

One also need spend some time watching her inks getting stronger in a sketchbook pages she shared on OBJKT as NFTs. Really impressive strokes catching the characters.

Follow up artist

City Pop by Hiroshi Nagai

April 17, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, Art, Illustration, Lifestyle, Japan, Portfolios

Hiroshi Nagai (b. 1947) is a Japanese artist known for his vibrant, nostalgic illustrations that capture the dreamy essence of summer. Inspired by the 1970s and ’80s pop culture, his work often features palm trees, swimming pools, and sleek architecture under bright blue skies.

His signature style became iconic during the rise of Japan’s City Pop music scene, especially through album covers like Eiichi Ohtaki’s A Long Vacation. Blending clean lines, bold colours, and a calm, minimalist aesthetic, Nagai creates timeless scenes that feel both familiar and surreal.

@hiroshipenguinjoe

𝗛𝗲𝘆𝟰𝗿𝗼 solo exhibition 𝗙𝗔𝗦𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 2024.8/17 at Excube Japan

Heyshiro - Painting in Whispers of Light

April 13, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, Art, Japan, Portfolios

Heyshiro’s approach to acrylic is unlike anyone else’s. Instead of bold, heavy strokes, he builds up his paintings slowly—thin, watery washes layered over faint sketches of colour. The effect isn’t just an image; it’s an atmosphere, a depth that feels almost luminous like the light is coming from within the canvas itself.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Heyshiro (@hey4ro)

His recent portraits are quiet but powerful. They start fragile, almost tentative, before sharpening into clarity. The surface doesn’t feel painted so much as breathed onto—soft, delicate, like fog on glass. Then, at the very end, he anchors it all with faint pencil lines, just enough to pull that dreamlike quality back into reality.

Heyshiro doesn’t just paint figures. He finds them, layer by layer, through light and shadow, working at a pace that feels more like meditation than art-making.

@hey4ro

Transhumanism by Joanna Grochowska

April 07, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, Art, Photography, Portfolios

What future do we want?

What must we do to get there?*

"TRANSHUMANISM" is an exhibition and a conceptual book by Joanna Grochowska affirming the transhumanist philosophy, worldview, and movement. Building on her earlier project Opening the Future (Munich, 2021), Grochowska explores the merging of human and technology, embracing concepts of human enhancement, morphological freedom, and the aesthetics of the posthuman condition.

Through distorted, purposefully incongruous, and slightly unsettling imagery, Grochowska confronts viewers with evolving notions of beauty, pleasure, and identity. The works are more than speculative visions of a dystopian AI future—they challenge the ethical boundaries of what it means to be human in an era of unnatural, edited, and superior life forms.

Latest “Transhumanism” solo show took place at the Galerie Verbeeck - Van Dyck in Antwerp.

The TRANSHUMANISM exhibition continues and extends the discourse initiated by Jeffrey Deitch’s 1992 Post Human series, drawing upon the ideas of thinkers like Elon Musk and Raymond Kurzweil. It addresses shifting paradigms of gender, body, and self in the face of accelerating technological evolution—ultimately seeking a new aesthetic language for the future human form.

Discover Joanna Grochowska’s book, “TRANSHUMANISM,” a compelling monograph featuring insights from Raymond Kurzweil and Stefan Lorenz Sorgner.

joannagrochowska.com

Amy Hui Li

March 17, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, Art, China, United Kingdom, Portfolios

Born in the vibrant city of Guangzhou, China, Amy Hui Li pursued her passion for Fine Art at Goldsmiths College in London, a prestigious institution known for its creative approach to the arts. She then further honed her skills by completing a Masters in Painting from the renowned Royal College of Art. Since then, Li has exhibited her captivating works extensively across major art hubs, including London, New York, and Taiwan.

Notably, her participation in two significant group shows, Unit: London Calling in 2023 and Worlds Beyond in 2024, has garnered attention and acclaim. Recently Li is set to present an exciting solo exhibition at the Unit London gallery, where she will showcase her innovative hybrid fabric artworks that skillfully interweave elements of sculpture, painting, and installation, inviting viewers into her unique artistic vision.

Represented by Unit London

Kama Reis Art

March 16, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, Art, Portfolios, Spain

Kama Reis is a contemporary artist whose work captures the essence of nostalgia and individual discovery. Using coloured pencils as her medium of choice, she masters the art of the medium in order to convey the pure freedom of childlike imagination as she investigates richer issues of individualism, culture, and existence itself. Her work considers the duality of human existence—its fleeting insignificance and yet the lasting mark each person leaves on the world.

Raised in a small village in Upper Silesia in Poland, Kama's own life journey took her from Kraków to Italy and now Barcelona in Spain where she continues to evolve as an artist. In her work, Kama invites viewers to engage with individual and collective identity and to craft a narrative spanning past and present with a rich and reflective hand.

@kama_reis

The Blooming Soul

March 12, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, Art, Events, United Kingdom

The Blooming Soul: An Artistic Act Through the Lens of Botanical Metaphors

From March 12 to 17, 2025, the Eight Squared Gallery in Folkestone hosted the art exhibition "The Blooming Soul: A Celebration of Spring and Nature’s Awakening." This exhibition brought together eight outstanding international artists, each creating their works in various mediums ranging from abstract and figurative art to interactive installations.

The group of artists—Igor Khlopotov, Irina Slepko (Gauk), Iryna Yauseyenka, Mariia Babina, Natalia Titova, Svetlana Sycheva, Victoria Dini, and Yulia Rotkina—explored the interpenetration of artistic methods of understanding reality and various botanical concepts, techniques, methods, and established expressions. This interplay between the artist's symbolic field and the semiotic field of the gardener (botanist, florist, forester, naturalist, etc.) is a key conceptual finding of the exhibition, seemingly aimed at overcoming the fundamental boundaries between spheres of human activity and perception in pursuit of a hypothetical sense of wholeness, interconnectedness, and inseparability.

This exhibition is not merely a statement within the frameworks of unreflected eco-positivism that accompanies us from supermarket to trash bin; it is a bold and successful assertion by young outstanding artists striving for a deeper level of reflection that complements social anxiety with rhetorical intuitions, activist slogans with a metaphysical superstructure, and humanity's longing for nature with a bitter existential poetic humility.

The wide palette of artistic means and techniques, vivid images, and sumptuous colours—depicting themes of germination, the birth of life, the sprouting of seeds, swelling buds, sticky leaves, budding, and vegetative reproduction—poses a complex challenge of creating a non-trivial lexicon of new, previously non-existent symbolic connections that precede future neural ones. This allows us, for example, to transcend superficial sexuality in the imagery of the pistil and stamen and perceive in them a mystical or even religious yearning.
Each of the eight participants in the exhibition developed their paradoxical artistic strategy, revealing and enriching the aforementioned theme. In this article, we would like to focus in more detail on the works of two participants.

Within the exhibition 'The Blooming Soul,' the digital collage works of artist Natalia Titova stand out distinctly. Unlike the other participants, she uses direct visual botanical metaphors less prominently; however, it is this visual elusiveness that renders her works resonant, piercing, and aesthetically sharpened to the maximum. The artist simultaneously constructs and deconstructs, manifests and mythologises, and creates and destroys. Her collage series titled "Tove" serves as a captivating visualisation of the modern artist's thought process as they grapple with themes of life, nature, memory, cultural interactions, and the dissolution of perception boundaries regarding various substances. For instance, in her works, a wired earphone may represent both a sperm cell and a rope for tying, as well as the contour of an unidentified object. A golf club can be interpreted as a grass-cutting scythe, a contour of a fractal universe, and a blade severing a character's legs from the solid ground beneath them.

The subtly botanical metaphorical nature of her works levels all objects of memory against one another, literally endowing each object with the properties of the plant world. A cloud can become the earth from which identical bodies or body parts grow, while air can transform into the ground from which clouds arise. The objects simultaneously serve as items from the real world (coloured) and artefacts of memory, documents of the past (black and white). A dress becomes the sea, an earphone turns into the moon, and suddenly, the late British queen and a naïve monocle appear. Nevertheless, at the top of Natalia Titova's collages, flowers are always positioned, adding a hint of sorrowful hierarchy to her dynamic pluralistic rhizomatic artistic world— "Flowers above all."
The most striking aspect of these digital works is the sensation of lightness and imaginative freedom, albeit this lightness is produced by an inquisitive and critically self-reflective artist. Upon closer inspection, one can recognise the immense labour and meticulous development invested in these works, which imbue the collage compositions with the potential to resemble a Hindu abode of demigods (loka).

"On The Road" by Yulia Rotkina is an intricately organised piece of artwork. Upon encountering it, we may succumb to the charm of traditional mediums (canvas, oil), the cosy minimalism of the composition, and the soothing thickness of the brushstrokes; however, this should not obscure from us a whole range of the artist’s identities, which are masterfully concealed in the painting (like seeds in the ground) and reveal themselves, harbouring immense perceptual possibilities. It is this balance of the hidden and the manifest that structures or organises the complex attraction of engaging with the painting's message.

Firstly, one of the artist's identities is that of a critic of binary oppositions. All paired phenomena in this work undergo a process of critical reflection. It is particularly peculiar that the composition reads as a triptych: earth, sky, and the figure of a person. When we attempt to analyse the various elements of the painting in pairs, we find that there are no explicit pairs present. The artist transcends binary thinking through the active use of non-obvious trinaries. In the pair "human and nature," she adds another layer of nature. In the pair "blue and green," she introduces an ambivalent object that can be both blue and green, depending on the perspective.

Another identity of the artist is that of a synaesthetic experimenter. The minimalism of expressive means in Rotkina's work is complemented by a maximalism of perceptual approaches. For instance, the deliberate relief indicates a dynamic and emotional dimension, while the use of a limited palette of complex cool colours sets the tone for the blurring of boundaries and an asserted homogeneity of things. The third identity of the artist is that of a post-storyteller who has abandoned key elements of storytelling but preserved the essence of her narrative message through the vast possibilities of direct silence. Where she remains silent, kaleidoscopes of our viewer interpretation emerge. This work inspires and amazes with its complexity of conceptual development and unparalleled technical execution.

Eight Squared Folkestone

Minimal Precisionism by Russell Green

March 10, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, Art, Lifestyle, NFT Art, Portfolios, USA

If you’ve dreamed of perfect illustrations for Jack London’s novels, we've found them in 2025. Talented Russell Green calls his style “Minimal Precisionism”. Combine the lost look of one-storied America with a gentle midnight colour palette, and you've captured a perfect sense of nostalgia for places you've never been but always desired to see.

@russellgreenart

Eclipse by Reine Paradis

March 09, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, Art, France, Events, Photography, Portfolios

KÖNIG TELEGRAPHENAMT is pleased to present ECLIPSE, a solo show with new works by French artist Reine Paradis.

Born in 1989 and a graduate of the Gobelins School of Visual Communication in Paris, Reine Paradis has lived and worked in Los Angeles since 2012 – a city of cinema, stories, fantasies, and eternal self-reinvention. It provides the perfect environment for the creation of her works which include photography, painting, film, and sculpture.

Solo show “Eclipse” at “KÖNIG TELEGRAPHENAMT”, Monbijoustraße 13, Berlin: 13 Feb – 15 Mar 2025

Paradis’ process includes several steps, the first of which is the imagination of a scenario. From that vision, she creates a small, collaged maquette on paper. This maquette is used as a blueprint when she scouts for the perfect location to photograph a scene – the scouting process alone can take years. Once a location is found, Paradis designs and creates costumes, props, and her origami-influenced sculptures, which will all be part of the scene. With the help of a partner who shoots the images, Paradis stages herself as the main figure in the work, adding a performative dimension that is essential to her process – “living” the scene allows her to fully transmit her original vision. Unflinching in the face of extreme situations and shielded by a blond wig, she embodies another character as an extension of herself, through which she can experience an alternative life, if only momentarily.

Editing the photos is a meticulous process completed by Paradis herself, in a game of perspective and depth she projects her world onto ours, changing each individual tone of the image to fit within her minimalist color palette. One usually thinks of photography as a tool to capture reality. We should start from the opposite assumption in the scenes of Reine Paradis. The resulting self-portraits bear witness of her imagination while transporting the viewer into a perfect frame of her world.

In the same rigorous spirit as her photographic works, Paradis creates paintings that are deeply rooted in memories and places while exploring the simplicity of the language of her surreal universe. Additionally, she transforms some of the origami props from her images into neon-translucent uranium glass sculptures—another dimension to Paradis’ multimedia approach.

Through the use of these different mediums, Paradis is able to create a world that exists in reality and imagination simultaneously. The use of reflective and transparent materials in her works obscures, reflects, and absorbs light while creating an aurora-like barrier –one that can hide but also illuminate. ECLIPSE, her newest series of works, is an audacious dive into Paradis’ mind, inviting viewers to witness her inexhaustible quest to transcend boundaries.

The award-winning feature film QUEEN OF PARADIS (Amazon Prime, 2020) follows Paradis on a journey across the United States to complete her previous series MIDNIGHT. The film captures her process from beginning to end in a dramatic adventure that peels the curtain back on how Paradis creates her surreal images. A second feature film, PARADISLAND, which follows the making of the current series ECLIPSE, is set for release in the fall/winter of 2025 for a worldwide theatrical and streaming audience.

@reineparadis

Leah Gardner

January 19, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, Art, Lifestyle, Portfolios

In March 2020, Chicago-based Leah Gardner picked up a paintbrush as a distraction during the global pandemic. What started as an experiment soon blossomed into a passion for oil painting. After months of trial and error, Leah developed her skills and started selling her work.

By next year, Leah went full-time into painting. Locally, her work is displayed in area businesses, shown in Chicago art fairs, and hangs in private collections, all reflections of her unique and emotive style.

In her free time, Leah likes taking walks with her dog, doing some planting, and reading fiction novels. Her story testifies that art can indeed thrive during tumultuous times.

Follow up artist

Paul Reid reviving mythology with art

December 25, 2024 by Arseny Vesnin in 2024, Art, Portfolios, NFT Art, United Kingdom

Paul Reid, a Scottish figurative painter born in 1975, has garnered acclaim for his contemporary reinterpretations of ancient myths. A Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee graduate, Reid's work reflects the narrative depth and technical precision reminiscent of old masters like Rembrandt and Caravaggio. His paintings breathe new life into Greek mythology, presenting timeless narratives through a modern lens that resonates with today's cultural context.

Reid's dedication to classical themes has earned him significant recognition, including inclusion in the New Statesman's "Best of Young British" artists under 35 in 2002. His collaborations with His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales further underscore his prominence in art. Exhibitions such as "Mythos" (2019) and "Gods, Heroes and Beasts" (2017) at The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh have showcased his ability to bridge the past and present, inviting viewers to engage with classical myths in a way that feels both evocative and thought-provoking.

www.paulreidart.co.uk

Post-WiFi Art by Mika 100o111

October 20, 2024 by Arseny Vesnin in 2024, Art, Germany, NFT Art, Portfolios

The works we have shared by the artist Mika fall into a category that we could describe as post-crypto and post-Wi-Fi art. She blends elements of digital culture, technology, and modern life into physical or conceptual pieces that question the relationships between technology, symbolism, and daily objects.

Post-crypto art is generally developed after or in response to the rise of blockchain technology and the NFT market. Most works reflect the hangover or disillusionment from the previous promises of decentralisation, democratisation of wealth, or even "crypto utopia" we all had in 2021.
Mika's works seem to record an irony or judgment toward this ultra-modern, technology-marinated world, in which crypto art was promising to change but then primarily problematic.

Therefore, these objects in the images have an implicit dialogue with the viewer, an invitation to consider some thought about tradition—for instance, swords, tea bags, crosses—and modernity; what better examples than laptops, Bluetooth, or iPhone chargers?

Mika works are reflections upon the omni-presence of internet connectivity and how it is affecting the physical world. In post-WiFi art, a common theme is a disconnect between virtual and real-world interactions, critiquing the reliance on constant online presence.

Mika invites deep reflection on the state of modernity through her work, critiquing or accepting the role technology plays in redefining our relationship to power, comfort, connectivity, and even spirituality. In the post-crypto, post-WiFi era, as we call it, these works toy with the absurdities of modern life and digital reliance, pushing back against the elevation of mundane or obsolete symbols to objects of reflection.

Follow @100o111

Visual Tension and Emotional Depth: Olga Feldman’s Journey in 'Frequencies'

August 19, 2024 by Arseny Vesnin in 2024, Art, NFT Art, Russia, Portfolios

Digital artist Olga Feldman, a professional with an extensive background in graphic design, vector art and abstract 3D drawing, recently began a new art series titled "Frequencies." In the collection of monochrome graphic art, Feldman aims to capture essential ideas and feelings through a simple yet striking visual language, representing a generative perspective of reality.

Complexity and Simplicity

Feldman uses classic graphic tools and methods in "Frequencies," notably the stark contrast between solid black background and subtle white lines. Her systematic technique and minimised palette highlight her ability to generate complex thoughts through simplicity. The artist's careful craftsmanship and grasp of wave theory and electromagnetic oscillations are evident in every item in the series. By reducing expressive techniques, Feldman creates surfaces inviting viewers to explore the subtleties of perception and the nature of light.

Visual and Emotional Impact

The monochrome nature of the series allows for a focused exploration of form and texture. The contrast creates a dynamic tension that draws and holds the eye. This visual tension is further amplified by the optical illusions in each work, which seem to oscillate and shift as one moves around them.

One particular piece in the series, "Emotional Landscapes,” presents an abstract artwork executed in the artist’s favourite monochromatic palette. The composition grid, based on the Fibonacci sequence, contains multiple rectangular sections, each filled with intricate white lines, creating a complex geometric structure that challenges the viewer's perception of space and form. Each segment contains a unique pattern of lines, ranging from undulating waves to more angular and geometric forms, creating a fascinating interplay between organic and structured elements.

The lines of the artworks generate an illusion of volume and texture reminiscent of topographic maps, ocean waves, or natural formations, inviting the viewer to explore the depths of each section. Despite the static nature of the image, the lines convey a sense of movement and flow, suggesting unseen forces at work within the composition. This juxtaposition of stillness and motion adds a layer of complexity to the viewer's experience.
The handmade quality of the artworks reminds of a human presence, emphasising the artist's direct engagement with her materials and subject matter. Feldman’s approach subtly contrasts Bridget Riley’s optical art, blending precision with perceptual experimentation.

“I am fascinated by the physical fact that the entire world visible to the human eye can be described by wave functions. That light, colour and form as we see them are nothing more than reflected waves and their refractions. I’m trying to show this in some of the simplest ways available to me so as not to lose the idea itself at the core.”

— says Feldman

The series resonates on both an intellectual and emotional level. Conceptually, it engages with scientific principles in an accessible and visually compelling manner. Emotionally, the works evoke wonder and curiosity, prompting viewers to question their perceptions and explore the boundaries between art and science.

Artistic Background

Olga Feldman was born in the north of Russia, in her words, "in a land of endless darkness", and currently lives in Israel. Before diving into monochrome art, Feldman garnered significant acclaim for her digital illustrations and graphic design. Her works were showcased at the OFFF Barcelona festival, a renowned event in the creative industry. Additionally, her digital illustrations have been published multiple times, including publications in "Hi-Fructoze" magazine, the book of digital and analogue illustrations "Dark Inspiration" by Victionary, and others, further solidifying her reputation as a versatile artist.

The graphics Olga Feldman created demonstrate her ability to blend conceptual depth with technical accuracy to produce visually captivating and intellectually engaging pieces. Feldman's continued investigation of minimalist expressiveness and generative perception demonstrates her potential and uniqueness as a creative.

Her use of frames in various shapes gives some of her pieces an additional layer of intrigue, which heightens the overall impression of her work. The intricate patterns and rhythmic repetitions create a meditative quality, encouraging prolonged contemplation and allowing for multiple interpretations based on the viewer's perspective and experiences.

Feldman's graphic works represent noteworthy accomplishments in modern art. They resonate with op art and minimalist art traditions, inviting the viewer to carefully examine and reflect on the interaction of forms and space. They ultimately showcase Feldman's mastery in creating complex visual effects through simplicity of line and contrast.

Follow up artist

xhairymutantx by Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst

August 12, 2024 by Arseny Vesnin in 2024, Art, AI Art, USA

Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst’s "xhairymutantx," featured in the 2024 Whitney Biennial, is a bold exploration of identity within the sphere of artificial intelligence. This project exists both in the physical space of the Whitney Museum and online, where it challenges how AI models perceive and represent individuals, particularly through the lens of Herndon’s digital persona.

Herndon, a prominent figure in digital art and music, has become a recognizable presence in AI-generated content. When her name is entered into text-to-image programs, the output often reflects her signature look—white skin, red hair, and bright blue eyes. "xhairymutantx" takes this familiar image and distorts it, using AI models trained on manipulated photos of Herndon in exaggerated costumes.

The result? Strange, mutant versions of Herndon push the boundaries of her identity within AI.

This project isn’t just about creating unusual images—it’s about questioning how AI models, which often strive for "objective truth," can reduce complex identities to superficial traits. By amplifying Herndon’s distinctive features, the artists explore the idea of reclaiming some control over how AI represents individuals. They suggest that by exaggerating clichés, we might influence AI to redefine its understanding of identity.

"xhairymutantx" is both a playful and thought-provoking critique of AI’s role in shaping our digital selves. It challenges us to think about who controls our online identities and how we can assert agency in a world increasingly dominated by algorithms.

Whitney Biennial 2024

Enter the project

Art of Hanie Soltani

July 17, 2024 by Arseny Vesnin in 2024, Art, Iran, Portfolios

Born in Iran and currently residing in Tehran, Hanie Soltani is an artist whose work is deeply inspired by a profound love of nature and the intricate spectrum of human emotions. Renowned for her vibrant use of colours and delicate brushwork, Soltani finds solace in the beauty of the natural world, striving to capture its essence in her art. Yet, it is the complexity of the human condition that truly captivates her, fueling her creative exploration and expression.

“As an artist, my work is a manifestation of my deep exploration into the human experience and the raw emotions that reside within us. Through my paintings, I aim to evoke a sense of connection and introspection, inviting viewers to embark on a personal journey of self-discovery.”

— Hanie Soltani

@haniesoltani

Art by Karina Eibatova

June 24, 2024 by Arseny Vesnin in 2024, Art, Illustration, Russia, United Kingdom, Portfolios

Karina Eibatova is a visual artist who has previously published work on our website and has also appeared in Juxtapoz, the New York Times, Wired, and The Verge. She has shown her artworks in Vienna, Berlin, Tokyo, London, and Los Angeles. Karina, born in St. Petersburg during the USSR's twilight, has pursued her passion for art and established an international career and academic trajectory from a young age. At the moment Karina is based in Devon, UK.

Karina's first collaboration with a UK company was with Atlantic Records in 2010. The artist created the cover artwork for the Versaemerge "Fixed At Zero" disc. The popularity of Karina's graphics in the early 2010s brought her many projects around the world at the very beginning of her artistic career.

Karina began her fine art studies in 2007 at a foundation school in Sweden. In 2014, Karina studied at Central Saint Martins in London on the Fine Arts 4D faculty. She later studied art in Tokyo and attained her first MA in fine art from the Art Academy in Vienna.

Solos show Project Space 1, AUP, Plymouth

Later in 2020, she did a cover for the fabulous British musician Tom Adams, which will only be released this year. After, Karina pursued her second Master's degree at the Art University Plymouth in the Southwest of the UK. There, she reached a new level of creativity, where her practice took on a more personal and profound approach: her paintings increased in size, and from watercolour and pencil graphics, she began to focus more on oil painting.

Renowned artist Richard Kenton Webb, who is an award-winning artist and educator with over 30 years of extensive experience at institutions including The Slade School of Fine Art, admires Karina's work, and he has left a review of Karina's last exhibition.

“What am I considering when I encounter Eibatova’s visual poetry? A sublimity of mind and a genuine ambition for wonder. These thoughts have been my companion when I engage with this painter’s vision. A vision that is both compelling, fresh and unnerving. I am not necessarily comfortable or put at ease when I spent time with these accomplished paintings, I like that fact, they are enigmatic. What I find is I am compelled to look, digest and converse with them face to face, to behold and hear their voice asking me questions. They certainly ask why to any certainty I consider a fact of seeing.
I find I am writing the words, apocalyptical and visionary. We could discuss English qualities of the painter and printmaker John Martin or the writer and academic J.R.R.Tolkien, or the extraordinary Gray’s Anatomy as sources, if necessary, for inspiration. Yet we for all this referencing we are certainly in what painting is now, contemporary thinking and making, not in a past, but a forward thinking, inside cinema graphic questions of fiction that are rooted deep in nature.
We are in the language and use of colour. Where colour is used to carry a magnificent narrative, that speaks into the soul of the viewer from an exquisite detail to a soft velvetiness of flat colour. I witness the sensibilities of the Cornish painter Peter Lanyon, his eyes and inheritance of being in Devon and Cornwall. Where painting is made air-born. Her diptych that is so beautifully original and statically poised about this particular place and landscape. As a gull floats on the wing, looking, stationary high over hundreds of feet of cliff beside the ocean. It makes me understand being inside a thought.
Karina’s paintings are like a dial in slow motion materializing hope. Of being a witness inside a dream, and renewed because of it. Collectively the ten paintings in this exhibition organise a great sense of otherness that we have shared in a great calm, like witnessing a flower open into its glory, but it seems just for us alone.”

— Richard Kenton Webb, 2024

From the author’s manifesto

“Currently, my personal creative practice is centered on oil on canvas. I explore imagery drawn from nature, dreams and imagination and strive to create an immersive and contemplative experience for the viewer through color and symbolism. My painting is at the crossroads, somewhere abstract, in some places not so much: a landscape or a body, a stone or a tree. In my recent works I try to reflect the value of the human body and of life itself, without resorting to depicting human figures, I try to depict our inner world, a secret landscape full of organs and light. Through a combination of neon, dark and pastel colours I want to express a sense of hope”.

This year, Karina was awarded the “Artist of the Month” prize in Zima magazine, one of the most recognised Russian-speaking media projects based in London. One of her works is on display in the city centre of London this summer.

“Karina Eibatova’s works combine tenderness, organicity, lightness of abstract forms, painted with special care, expression and force, a kind of rumbling, reminiscent of works about the terrible judgment of the English Romanticism artist John Martin. In her paintings there is a certain confidence, power and resilience of a soft, feminine flow of forms – not something corporeal, not something cloudy, not something earthy and tangible, not something airy and elusive. This remarkable balance of opposites allows the viewer to feel a profound visual comfort. The works envelope the beholder like a soft blanket and immerse him or her in other levels of this visual aesthetic, where he or she encounters an intense vitality, some even doom. One plunges into this painting like a cloud, which, while outwardly harmless, carries thunder and lightning. Karina has been shortlisted for the prize several times and we are delighted to finally present her with the award she deserves”

— Katya Granova, curator of the Artist of the Month project

Intriguingly, two individuals made a similar comparison with English painter, engraver, and illustrator John Martin, which prompts the audience to contemplate the relationship between the apocalyptic landscapes of the 19th century and Karina's dramatic works. We'll continue keenly observing this gifted artist's upcoming creative endeavours.

About the author

Arseny Vesnin founded Designcollector, a platform established in 2003 in Russia. Designcollector is one of the pioneering digital magazines dedicated to covering and supporting the digital art scene and creative communities in Russia and beyond. The platform showcases a variety of content related to digital art, design, and visual culture, providing artists, designers, and creatives with exposure and inspiration. Over the years, it has expanded to include digital art events like the Digital Decade, an exhibition featuring emerging visual artists and designers. Designcollector has always covered the intersection of art, design, music and culture.

Featured

Nov 29, 2019

Illustrative world of Karina Eibatova

Nov 29, 2019

IT'S A JOURNEY by INA VARE

June 13, 2024 by Arseny Vesnin in 2024, Art, Glitch, Digital Art, Latvia

'TIDES' is the opening chapter of 'IT’S A JOURNEY,' an epic visual saga by video artist INA VARE that celebrates exploration, valour, and axe mastery. This first part features several GIF artworks, marking the journey's beginning.

INA VARE is a seasoned analogue video and glitch artist with over a decade of experience and has been a part of the crypto art scene for over three years. Her work uniquely blends technical skill with poetic expression, often incorporating performance art.

In winter 2023, INA VARE debuted with an axe in her conceptual video artwork 'BEAR SERENITY'. This piece was part of the 'BITCHES, BUTCHES AND BEARS' exhibition, curated by OONA and SamJ, and minted on the CampFire platform (Avalanche blockchain).

By December 2023, INA VARE repurposed footage from 'BEAR SERENITY' to create a meme artwork aligned with the #TEZPOLE trend, which she minted on the Tezos blockchain.

THE JOURNEY

INA VARE's cross-chain project kicked off with the minting of 'THE TIDE IS COMING' on the Tezos blockchain on June 7, 2024. This single-edition NFT was auctioned off to much acclaim. Now, INA continues the saga on Foundation/Base with three new artworks that build on the original piece.

These three artworks depict the arrival of the main characters at the sea.

INA describes it as a sea of opportunity that is cold and salty. There's not much to do here, so it's a good idea to practice some axe moves in the calm and chilly air.

About Artist

INA VARE is a Latvian glitch and analogue video artist.
Her artistic journey stems from her innate technological curiosity, which crosses from the physical world of analogue to digital. Her creative energy has given her growing recognition in the CryptoArt movement.

Her signature style has developed through her deep understanding of digital, VHS and circuit-bending tools and processes. By experimenting with retro-analogue video aesthetics, INA re-creates a nostalgic visual experience which reflects the depths of noise, error, and glitches. Her artistic narrative is balanced between sentimental and deeply personal matters ranging from complete abstraction to parody and the grotesque.

Mint “IT’S A JOURNEY”

Tania Font

May 28, 2024 by Arseny Vesnin in 2024, Art, Portfolios, Sculpture

Tania Font is a versatile artist trained in painting, drawing, engraving, sculpture, and jewellery. Her diverse skills have led her to work on theatre and television scenography and collaborate with biologist Ramon López on hyper-realist scientific sculptures for museums.

Font’s art profoundly explores the human figure, focusing on women. Her work delves deep into the construction and deconstruction of feminine identity, offering a unique perspective on women's complex relationship with language, a relationship often marked by a long history of silence. This depth of exploration sets her work apart and makes it so significant in the contemporary art scene.

Font creates impactful art pieces reflecting society and culture, standing out in today's art scene. Her work speaks to diverse stories and delves into the complexity of human life.

@taniafont