Zeljka Fuderer Levak

Femke Hiemstra

Femke Hiemstra’s beautifully rendered and haunting images transcend those of typical neo-surrealist fairytale artists — her mixed-media paintings and graphite drawings of anthropomorphized fruits, vegetables, toy parts, and animals reference retro packaging from around the world and have an expressive complexity about them, encompassing entire narratives within single panels. Read more

Shelby Fischer’s mixed media

Shelby Fischer is a mixed media artist living in Central Virginia. Her work is beautifully realised, laborious in its detail and subtle in its colorings. ‘My mixed media collages and assemblages blend surrealism with otherworldly imagery’, she says. ‘Each work is a fragment of an intuitive story — odd and mysterious narratives that are familiar echoes of a long lost, often twisted fantasy or nightmare’. Read more

Barry Hughes’ time-based media

Barry W. Hughes is an Irish media artist who has exhibited both digital and analogue photography, video and web-based projects throughout Ireland and internationally. Hughes’ practice involves the use of time-based media in exploring the conceptual themes of his work, such as psychological states relating to the process of time as interpreted by physical activity. He currently lives and works in Dublin. Read more

Empire Of The Sun’s Secret Playlist

We checked in with Luke Steele from Australian duo Empire Of The Sun and asked him about the music that was inspiring him right now. He started with the Holger Czukay song, Persian Love [listen below]: ‘There is so much depth in this track. It’s like the magician chef who can transpose flavors when people’s expressions change during meals. It’s a dream of spices’. Read the rest of Luke Steele’s Secret Playlist.

Mad Hot Ballroom

Set in the bustling metropolis of New York, this brilliant documentrary by Marilyn Agrelo takes an insiders look at the annual ballroom dancing contest that sweeps through the public school system every year, wrapping a select group of Gotham kids up in the excitement and emotion that characterises the event. Who would have thought such a traditionally staid pursuit could be so dramatic?

Dalek contributing to Lost At E Minor

Dalek’s paintings were originally populated by Space Monkeys, creatures inspired by the artist’s childhood and teenage years in Japan. His most recent paintings have metamorphosed into incredibly complex abstract works, emphasizing his meticulous attention to detail and amazing sense of colour and composition. Dalek’s work has been widely exhibited internationally, and he recently spent a year as an assistant of Takashi Murakami, probably the most famous artist in the contemporary art scene. His latest exhibition Dalek and Delta, runs at the Elms Lesters Painting Rooms from August 28 to September 26. He’ll be contributing guest posts to Lost At E Minor over the next two weeks on the art and music that’s inspiring his own work right now. Read more