From Dog Walkers to Butchers and Squash Players, there is always this subtle combination of leisure and raw commitment in Dave Imms’ projects. It’s all about ‘the things we do to get by’. Here we uncover the fragile nature of the human condition in these post-game portraits. These harsh, revealing images are strengthened by the dissection of the playing areana with the markings and the natural studio-esque appearance of the courts themselves.

SPONSOR

A beautiful dreamer, a mystic who creates dreams out of reality, and a transporter of worlds; all from behind the lens and through those eyes. Magic is real. Photographer Bhumika Bhatia will make you believe it is.

Many species of primates are endagered. They are victims of their own cuteness (illegal pet trade), of deforestation, of poaching for bush meat and traditional medicine. This portrait series by Sham Jolimie seeks to raise awareness about the plight of our distant cousins.

Check out Erin Gallagher’s portrait of Alexis Krauss and Derek E. Miller of Sleigh Bells. Her voice is like crystal and his guitar shreds. Perfect combo!

Photographer Alahay captures stunning landscapes in intriguing detail. He makes trippy photo-manipulations, plays with reflections in water, and paints with coffee.

SPONSOR

Davin Youngs has got something sweet going on. His pictures, as he calls them, are the of-the-moment kind. Y’know, the spontaneous, romantic, stylised yet amateurish thing photographers are doing these days. Like American Apparel, but lost in the woods or asleep on the toilet. I really appreciate it. What I appreciate less is Davin’s written and photographic portraits of his relationships with his closest friends and family members. It’s a nice concept, but I just see it stumbling drunk into a bush of self indulgence.

Anthony Kurtz recently sent me an update including imagery for his upcoming show at the W Hotel in San Francisco. This new body of work is a collection of photos he took while on a trip in India. At first glance, the art-techie type might think these photos are taken with HDR technology, which I became an instant fan of. Thankfully, though, Anthony reassured me that images like this can still be captured the good old fashioned way: manually.

Photographer and web designer Jan Sochor was born in the Czech Republic but moves between South America and Europe often. Over the past five years he has lived and worked in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Spain, the Czech Republic. His photographic work ‘focuses on showing and documenting the Latin American continent, the everyday life, social and cultural issues’.

What do you call a group of men, a little girl, three hyenas, four monkeys, and a few rock pythons? Well, apparently, Gadawan Kura. South Africa-based photographer Pieter Hugo first heard about the group (whose name means hyena handers) from a friend who’d taken a photograph of them with a camera phone on a trip to Lagos, Nigeria. The image stayed with him (understandably) and so he tracked down this mysterious group — a modern-day, wandering circus — photographing them first in 2005 and then again in 2007. The result is a haunting series of portraits as regal and dramatic as they are odd and disturbing. In one photo, a man proudly straddles a chained and muzzled hyena; in another, a young girl lies across the hyena’s back as a man shows off its fangs. It’s quite frankly the most unusual wild-urban hybrid I’ve have ever seen.

SPONSOR

Artist Yumiko Kayukawa states: ‘I’d rather my paintings hang next to rock star pin-ups than on museum walls. Ultimately, I want to connect with people all over the world on that level’. It seems whatever she’s doing is working because, to date, each one of the 100 pieces she’s created has sold. Apparently there’s even a waiting list to snap up one of the manga-pop art inspired pieces. All that hype is genuinely justified. Want to be part of the in crowd? [see also the work of Japanese artist Fuco Ueda]

Mr Frivolous is an artist, illustrator and designer based in London and notorious for his felt-tip art. By his own admission he is an ‘in-the-closet O.C. fan and is not ashamed to shop at LIDL’.

Maria Parrish takes her inspiration for her sparkly illustrations from ‘candy, jewelry, Christmas lights, animals, fashion, textures, and beauty. But really, I just like pretty things in color’. [see also the Japanese-themed illustrations of Dennis Juan Ma]

Tom Heaton’s work is creative and conceptually adventurous, as the photos and illustrations on his Blogspot site suggests. [see also the work of Undoboy]

SPONSOR

Says Melbourne-based photographer Morganna Magee on her latest series: ‘Tyler is a 5 year-old who had cancer in both of his eyes and now has glass eyes. He is the happiest little kid ever, and he and his family have managed to live a fairly normal life since he lost his last eye late 2006. I’ve been taking shots of him for a while, trying to get a full series showing what his daily life is like’. She’ll be having a show later in the year to raise some money for the guide dogs.

Katy Smail’s illustrations are kind of like candy floss sticking to wind blown lips — sweet, tempting, yet always just a little bit out of reach.

Brooklyn-based artist David Kassan paints such lifelike portraits, they practically leap off the canvas: ‘As an expression of his own calculated observation and visual consumption of surrounding environment, introspective glimpses of reality imbue the art of David Kassan. By immersing himself into his subject matter, Kassan is able to infuse his paiinting with life and realism’.

New York-based artist and illustrator Olivia Edith graduated from the California College of Arts and Crafts before studying art in Paris. Her work isa beautiful collection of every dream you’ve ever had. [see also Luke Feldman]

SPONSOR