Jamies Wang

Jamies Wang, whose real name is Tzu Ting Wang, is a young artist from Taiwan. Her drawings and painting studies capture an ephemeral moment; the passage of time. She doesn't use reference images as a starting point. Rather, she begins with a gesture, a soft mark that slowy becomes heavier as the intention and focus becomes narrower. She attempts to tap into the subconscious to create an intuitive landscape characterized by thought rather than what's physically accurate.

Hatsuki Yamashita: Design Festa Tokyo

Hatsuki Yamashita's mixed media work is haunting. Yamashita's landscapes seem photographic in their detail, but the main character and focus feels empty and sinister. There isn't much information online about the artist (and my Japanese is a little rusty). These pieces were seen at Design Festa Art Fair in Tokyo. Design Festa features the work of about 10,000 artists working in a wide range of media. The two-day show is held biannually and was started in 1994. Next show date: November 10 - 11, 2012.

Jeff Mermelstein

A photographer with a direct and distinct vision, Jeff Mermelstein can grab your attention and hold you in that one instant of happenstance which everyone else missed. Once described as “an absurdist with a sense of humour” it is easy to connect to “funny humanity” but harder to refine on the dramatic composition and impossible light which seems to recall divine intervention rather than street-style spontaneity. Mermelstein is a bit of a legend in the field with his images appearing in magazines like Life and The New Yorker, and looking at them now, it’s like he’s the narrator in the very best New York novel. (Text from It's Nice That)

Matthias Heiderich

Matthias Heiderich captures the brighter side of Berlin with his cheery, minimal photography. Heiderich focuses on things like vintage roller coasters, murals, and playgrounds making Berlin look more like a doppelgänger of Santa Monica. The compositions are flat and pretty barren, and taken together, they evoke a drugged-out listlessness. Heiderich is self-taught and uses a wide range of camera types including a medium format twin lens camera, Polaroids, and Holgas.

Jazmín Berakha

Jazmín Berakha, a Buenos Aires-based artist, composes delicate embroideries in a simplified style often reserved for drawing. A punch of color and pattern here and there strike the perfect balance with the pencil-thin body outlines. Her subjects are not overwhelmed by pattern, bundling up in one or two distinct articles at a time. Berakha will be exhibiting at Heskin Contemporary in New York City until July 2nd, 2011.

Josh Cochran

Josh Cochran is an illustrator who has lived in Taiwan, Los Angeles, and currently resides in New York where he teaches at Parsons School of Design. In school, he had aspirations of becoming a background painter for DreamWorks, but saw that hand-painted murals were being replaced by digitally printed backdrops. He preferred personal, imaginative work and turned to illustration. His mix of realism with cartoon inspired elements and quirky humor have brought him work from a diverse group of clients for editorial, advertising, books, broadcast, and internet media including Ace Hotel, The Atlantic, Volkswagen, New Yorker, Esquire, GQ, Billabong, Sony, and McSweeney's.

Lee Mawdsley

Lee Mawdsley is a London based photographer whose commercial portfolio is packed with quietly engrossing architectural images. He strikes a different chord with his personal work which features kaleidoscopic flower arrangements. Titled "Garlands," the set creates an essence of hedonistic beauty directly taken from the natural environment.