National Geographic Best Wild Animal Photos of 2008

Camilla Engman

While I am as impressed as anyone with an artist’s ability to render accurate and lifelike human figures, I’m more often compelled aesthetically by looser and more stylized images such as Camilla Engman’s. The wide-set eyes, bulbous bodies, and skewed proportions of the people and animals in Engman’s paintings lend them a certain expressiveness and melancholy. Read more

Noelia Requena

The work of Spanish artist Noelia Requena is perfectly charming in a raw and spontaneous way. Colors and textures are layered on top of one another, seemingly on the slightest whim. The result being a collection of wonderfully captivating vignettes.

Celine Clanet’s Maze photo essay

There’s a sense of beautiful unease about Celine Clanet’s photo essay, Máze, the icy environment creating a gentle juxtaposition against the subtle warmth of the colors. Of the series, she says: ‘I lived for several months in Máze, up to the north of the Arctic Circle, in Norway. There, I met these quiet people, melancholic, captivating, very proud of their Sami village and territory, proud of these landscapes. They are constantly gazing at it with binoculars which they never separate from, even at home. I have captured these Sami people, along with houses and reindeers that should not be here today as they are flooded with waters from a dam project that the Norwegian government planned in early 70s, but fortunately aborted. This series is all about capturing the perfect moment, when time doesn’t exist anymore and night is gone, at which point they immerse themselves in tasks such as fishing through an ice hole in Suolojarvi Lake, or riding the snowscooter across the tundra; talking, or laying down, doing nothing, saying nothing. Just being’. Read more

Shannon Freshwater

Shannon Freshwater makes a lot of design-y, abstract images and illustrations, but her more involved figure drawings and portraits, as well as her sculptures and photography, reveal a bit of a darker, gothic side. Read more

Daniel Higgs

Daniel Higgs came to prominence as frontman for Baltimore hardcore band Reptile House and later Lungfish, the first non-DC band to sign to Dischord. Now primarily playing solo, improvised, experimental sets with a banjo and a jaw harp, Higgs has become a bit of a Baltimore icon and counterculture prophet, spouting mystical, Eastern-influenced philosophy and spirituality through his lyrics, spoken word, and amazing art work. He is also a renowned tattoo artist, as evidenced by his own extensive ink.

Rye Rye featuring MIA off the NEET label

M.I.A., quick to recognize talent in her own ranks, signed the first act to her N.E.E.T. label — backup dancer and rapper Rye Rye. Ryeisha Berrain made a name for herself in her hometown of Baltimore working with DJ-producer Blaqstarr. Now, with the video for the single Bang, featuring M.I.A., making the Internet rounds, Berrain is set to release an already overdue debut album.