His upcoming show, ‘The Future is Always Bright’ both honours traditional Buddhist themes and deals with them in a satirical way, with a mix of work that also includes site-specific installations.

We particularly like his intense acrylic paintings. They make such an impact with their colliding shapes, colours and textures. There’s an almost stencilled feel in parts where different applications of paint have been contained in blocked-out areas and set against other opposing elements.

You can catch the upcoming show at the Frey Norris gallery in California from 3rd of May to the 30th of June.

“Tomokazu Matsuyama grew up in both Costa Mesa, California and the town of Takayama City in Gifu Prefecture, Japan.

His sense of cultural displacement and nomadic living has served as a keystone to the creation of his artwork ever since, fusing cowboy American optimism and the exquisite craftsmanship and bushido work ethic he learned by completing a graduate degree in business management. “

“He has completed commissions for Burton snowboards, Le Sport Sac, Nike, The Standard Hotel and a recent painting at The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. For two years running, he was one of three finalists for Japanese National Culture and Arts Affairs award, the most generous grant given to a Japanese artist living abroad.

Presented in parallel to the exhibition at Frey Norris, Matsu has mounted his first solo museum exhibition at the Katzen Arts Center at American University in Washington, D.C.”

© Tomokazu Matsuyama, 2012

Apart from being great examples of work by someone with a good eye for shape and colour, these get me excited about what can be done with 3D computer tools in the context of visual art and illustration.

The series here is part of various experimentations Timothy is doing, that we can now learn some more about…

What by way of experience/training have you had?

I went to school for architecture. Self-taught in 3D, I started out on SketchUp 4 before Google bought the company. I’ve been a 3D illustrator for the last 5 years, mainly working for marketing firms designing exhibits for various clients/brands.

Moved over to Cinema 4D for a job about 2 years ago and absolutely love the software. I’ve learned a lot through my professional work which I like to think helps me push ideas late at night for my own personal work. Most of my work on Dribbble is all self-initiated explorations.

How do you normally go about creating these particular works?

I usually begin with a plane [or any other primitive] and just manually push and pull the points until I’m happy with an initial layout.

Then start adding more details with other smaller shapes. I play around with lighting a lot, usually lighting a scene in at least two different variations until I’m happy enough with one to keep.

Materials are sometimes added, almost always with some subtle texture like paper or simple noise. Finally, some light post-work in Photoshop to enhance the colors and overall feel of the image.

What are your plans from here on?

I’m currently working on an iOS game I’m pretty excited about. Other than that, I’d love to get into storytelling, illustrating children’s books, making short animations/cartoons, more video game design, and I’m completely addicting to taking sketchnotes at any and all meetings/keynotes I attend.

I would like to push those forward as well, maybe traveling more in order to take them. I’ve also got a moleskine full of ideas for some new 3D series waiting to start too.

© Timothy J. Reynolds, 2012

With as much scientific query as artistic, his work considers the engineering principles at work in paper sculpture. Similarly to how you might trace the root of naturally forming patterns to fundamental mathematical truths, Matthew reveals the beauty in physics and displays it in his work. Here, he explains his process more.

“Hi, I’m Matt.  I fold, cut, and glue paper for a living.  

I do design work for Apple, P&G and Ghostly International.  I am working on two NSF grants right now using paper folding as a way to understand micro systems engineering.  I teach at the University of Michigan, show my work at galleries and museums and give lectures and workshops all over.”

“In my work I use paper, tyvek, computers, plotters, laser cutters, bone folders, CAD, x-actos, PVA glue, tweezers …”

“As a paper engineer my work is rooted in print media, book arts and commercial design. Beginning with an initial fold, a single action causes a transfer of energy to subsequent folds, which ultimately manifest in drawings and three dimensional forms. I use my engineering skills to create kinetic sculpture which has lead to collaborations with scientists at the University of Michigan.”

“We work on the nanoscale, translating paper structures to micro folds. Our investigations extend to visualising cellular division and solar cell development. Researchers see paper engineering as a metaphor for scientific principles; I see their inquiry as a basis for artistic inspiration. In my studio I am a collaborator, explorer and inventor.

I begin with a system of folding and at a particular moment the material takes over. Guided by the wonder, my work is made because I cannot visualize its final realization; in this way, I come to understanding through curiosity.”

© Matthew Shlian, 2012

The studio, formed in 2010 by  Remy Clémente and Morgan Maccari, work in both 2D and 3D design, across many different areas. Here’s what they had to say about their project, DURAMEN.

DURAMEN is a series of handmade wooden sculptures. Born of a simple impulse, the one to break with conventional ways of exhibiting, Bonsoir Paris and its team have imagined a series of frames so strongly mistreated that they have become unrecognizable. Their wish is to break the properties of the compound, a form of compromise as minimal and it is efficient. 

They found a subtle twist while remaining faithful to a primitive form of revolt, without getting lost in vain styles effects. The choice of noble materials (Oak, Fir, Wenge, Pear, Linden) and the quest for finesse, enables them – with the DURAMEN series – to position themselves on the razor’s edge between two opposites, that of the deformed and that of the elegant, instinctive and thoughtful.

Art Direction / Design: Bonsoir Paris
Sculpture: Adrien Corroler
Cabinet: Kwantiq
Design / Achievement: Jules Cairon
Photographer: Davina Muller
Post-production: Cédric Hugonnet @ Studio Collet

© Bonsoir Paris, 2012

The resulting typography is a fantastic, surreal, M. C. Escheresque floating city, complete with fields and roads going down and around different dimensions. Check out the details, including a child mid-swing and a roadside accident. They tells us more about their studio and the project.

What we do is creative branding, Soon is a Belgian studio that creates visual identities in combination with photography. Most of the work is hand crafted and afterwards transformed into a digital image.

‘Gent Scheppende Stad’ (‘Ghent Creative City’) is an initiative of the city council of Ghent (together with several creative forces/different sectors of society) to look for solutions for the urban challenges, so they can shape the future of Ghent together.

Soon created 4 big letters G, E, N and T, on which the habitat of Ghent (GENT) was represented by means of scale models.

© Soon, 2012

From paper sculpture, detailed draughtsmanship, papercut, and plasticine modelling, they have been keeping it exciting with a spectrum of different ideas, we can’t wait to see what they have in store for us next. They tell us more about their studio and the project, and give us a glimpse of the backstage process.

The studio began in 1998 in Verona, the romantic city of Romeo and Juliet. In recent years we have worked with both large and small clients, for local agencies and major international companies.

Our approach to design is always the same: designing a logo, an advertising page, a wall or directing a commercial offers the same opportunity to deal with a problem. With time we have become quite good at solving problems. 

Mixing complexity, order and fatigue is our formula for beauty. Always, in addition to the commissioned work, we spend plenty of energy in research and testing. Visual art, typography, graphic design, illustration, animation, film direction and music. We like contamination between creative disciplines and diversity in general.

We don’t like to do the same thing twice and prefer to go beyond what we are already able to do. It is tiring but satisfying. 

We started collaborating with IL – Intelligence In Lifestile Magazine, supplement of Il Sole 24 Ore. Under the creative direction of Mr. Francesco Franchi, each month we develop the title typography for the brand new column “Remo Contro” written by the italian philosopher Remo Bodei. 

© Happycentro, 2012

We were eager to find out more about how they work as a collaborative pair and how they’re pushing Brosmind as an all-inclusive brand.

Having studied art separately, did you actively try and develop a cohesive style or has your work always been similar to one another?

We have been a creative couple since our childhood. When we were kids, we spent all day making comics, building vehicles for our action figures and creating our own movies with a domestic camcorder. 

Juan is only three years older than me (Alejandro) so we have the same background and influences, we think in the same way and share the same kind of ideas. Having said that, it’s true that there were some slight differences between our drawing styles, but when we started our studio we naturally developed the actual Brosmind style.

How does your process as a duo differ from how you’ve worked previously?

Now is easier for us. We can quickly explain an idea to each other and be sure that he is going to understand it perfectly. The cool thing about being brothers is that we can be totally sincere in our criticism or have really big arguments and still be friends. That helps, for sure, to take our work to a higher level than before.

Is all the work produced as Brosmind totally collaborative or do you sometimes allocate individual parts of a project to one another?

We develop all the ideas in common and also develop the pencilled drawing together. When we decide that the pencil stage is finished, Juan does the ink and Alejandro adds the color on the computer.

As well as your work, you get a lot of positive attention as yourselves as artists. Is this something you’ve always thought would be part of the branding of Brosmind, or is it something that’s happened naturally because of people’s interest in you?

We would love being only artists, but for the moment  it’s easier to live from commercial work. For the moment, we’ve just reached a balance between commercial and personal work that makes us feel really comfortable.

Would you recommend working as a team to other artists out there?

Each person is different. For us, it’s great to work together, but our relationship is so special that it would be really difficult to have anybody else in the studio. We also know really talented artists who work alone and also other studios, which create amazing things being a big team.

Continuing from your venture into other products, such as Brosmind Army and Brosmind City, can we expect to see any further expansion of the Brosmind universe in the near future?

Of course. We have two great projects!

We got invited to do the Main titles for the OFFF Festival in Barcelona 2012. And we’ll be working together with Upper First, and that’s going to be big! We are really excite about this project : ) 

We”ll be presenting them on May 2012, so stay tuned!

And, probably on the same dates, we’ll launch an amazing personal project, but unfortunately for the moment we can’t say WHAT’S INSIDE?, so stay tuned!

© Brosmind Studio, 2011.

It seems to have also been quite an undertaking but definitely presented well, having not only a collection of miniature installations around town but also a screen printed, embossed book documenting the project and a larger installation within the walls of the degree show. He tells us more.

I love ideas. The final outcomes of my projects tend to be driven as much by ideas and concepts as aesthetics. Much of my recent work has focused on reusing objects, materials and spaces in ways that give them new life or meaning, allowing them to serve new purposes. I also enjoy physical, tangible objects and being hands on and making things, which is why I think a lot of my work recently has taken a three dimensional form.

This project looks at how today space is at a premium, especially in towns and cities, and with available land steadily disappearing to development, free space is becoming increasingly hard to come by. With this project I aimed to seek out dead spaces, unused spaces, spaces with no visible purpose; spaces that may usually go unnoticed unless brought to your attention, and offer them up for rent as a tongue in cheek comment on ‘free space’.

I found a variety of these spaces in different shapes and sizes around Brighton, settling on 12 to use for my final selection. I then recorded all their measurements and constructed a Perspex fascia to sit in each space. The dimensions, details, prices etc. are all screen printed onto the Perspex and are specific to each individual space.

After installing and photographing all the ‘free spaces’, I collated them into a 26 page estate agents style catalogue with their dimensions, details and prices. The cover is screen printed, embossed and debossed, with screen printed end papers and yellow page details.

Photo of Brighton in the lego model village, from a club excursion to Legoland. 

© Matt Lyver, 2011.

I think it’s great to see an artist working in such a specialised way. There is a unique quality to 3D illustration, especially opposed to digital imagery. Apart from feeling like it being from a children’s book I’ve never seen, Irma’s work inspires me to try something new.

© Irma Gruenholz, 2011

You may at first think they were digitally created but, upon closer inspection, you can see that they are actually complete miniature sculptures. Close-ups are required to see the level of detail he has gone into. Even someone with an aversion to slim, bugs, or gore wouldn’t disagree that these are masterfully created pieces of art.

After his first sculpture on a Vans shoe five years ago, which he describes as a shoe diorama, he has produced sculptures for other advertising campaigns. However, he is also a skilled illustrator and designer, having produced work for Computer Arts Magazine and the BBC.

I know it’s the inner child in me speaking, but a bit of goo will make me buy anything.

© Jethro Haynes, 2010.