painting
Hailing from Philadelphia, PA, Morgan Thomas has spent the majority of her life in observation of the people around her. She has studied art and art history around the world and graduated in 2007 from Williams College with two degrees (in studio art and sociology). Thomas' main subject is human but strives to examine more emotion and communication than the classic portrait. Utilizing a semiotic vocabulary built up through the existence of the human race, Thomas records the world around her as she perceives it visually and spiritually. She aims to communicate to her audience the honest image and heartfelt meaning of a moment in time as it can be understood through form, color, and symbolic imagery. Thomas' work is sociological, allegorical, and historical record. It does not try to comment on an event, but rather represent it for the audience to bring judgement to.
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photography
Dustin Fenstermacher is an emerging self-taught photographer based in Philadelphia. He spent his formative years conjuring ways to escape Pennsylvania; ever since he picked up a camera, he never wanted to leave. Aside from capturing images in the first person and writing in the third, Dustin enjoys creating and consuming music. He dislikes driving but loves discovering new places. Dustin used to have a cat named Raygun, whom he adopted from a Siamese rescue agency. Raygun is 5 years old.
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painting
Rachel has a BFA in illustration from the Maryland Institute, College of Art, and is now living in Philadelphia "to be closer to the love of [her] life, Cheez Whiz". You can view her at www.racheljcox.com, and you can buy her prints online from Charmingwall at www.charmingwall.com.
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photography
In his paintings, Benjamin Long has been combining images, often on separate panels, for many years. This aesthetic has been carried over into his recent photos, in which images are placed side by side into a panoramic-format picture wherein the individual elements relate to and support each other visually and conceptually. Using vintage cameras which require a slower, more thoughtful approach to photography, he shoots on various types of film: transparency, negative, and instant. His work is an ongoing effort to reconcile disparate elements such as structure and chance; personal information and an aesthetic connection to the viewer.
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photography
James performs in industrial rock concerts, bitches incessantly on his blog, skulks about in dark recording studios, and writes dystopian graphic novels and novels for a generation of disenfranchised drug addicts. He has become something of a mainstay in independent and fringe media, though rumors of being a key member of a harem of feral lesbians are slightly exaggerated. He will sleep when he is dead.
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photography
"THE GUN COLLECTION" is a set of images using toy guns as the subject ... the viewers initial reaction may be to think of violence ... but on closer inspection ... you realize that its just a toy ... see more at gunnstudios.com
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photography
Paul Drzal works as an architect in
Philadelphia, PA. He has been using photography as an extension of his creative processes in concept and design.
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painting
Noel Hefele paints post-industrial urban spaces where nature and culture co-exist in interesting ways. He hopes that, through the attention of looking, value systems that shape our environment can be unveiled. He is just as interested in the conversations that occur because of the paintings. He hopes that the dialogues can lead to a repairing of our complex relationship with planet earth. There is a participatory engagement in the process of painting. Noel has no interest in contributing to the isolation of contemporary art and instead advocates for a pragmatism that addresses some of the issues we collectively face.
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digital
J.D. Lovejoy is a 23 year old freelance artist and designer living in Baltimore, MD. He attended Maryland Institute College of Art. He currently works professionally in the fields of marketing and communications, product development for a new game company, and web design. In his spare time he works in a wide array of media drawn from life and the mind, ranging from oil on canvas to audio and video. He always has multiple different projects in progress at once, rotating his concentration from one to another at will. For more examples of his work, visit his website.
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illustration
Kenyon's work can best be described as graphic satire. From social and political commentary to pop-culture subvertising, each piece is laced with a polluted sense of humor and sarcastic wit bordering on offensive.
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painting
In my paintings i attempt to capture the beauty of faded memories and dreams. i think there are certain things in life that all people have been astounded by, hence my large skies, distant horizons, and imaginary creatures. i hope to create not moments of greatness, but rather moments where greatness has become mundane an attainable, moments that the viewer can place themselves inside. i try to create images that are like a warm blanket that the viewer can wrap themselves up in as protection from the coldness of the world.
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digital
Chris Thompson is a digital artist raised in NJ, but living and working in Philadelphia. Chris's unique aesthetic combines his learning from Lehigh University with his current occupation as a stained glass artisan. The work consists of corrupted, compressed, and manipulated digital pictures that become something Chris calls "pixelism," a portmanteau of pixel and pointillism. The finished images are very textured and most easily enjoyed by zooming in and exploring the world of the digital file. For this reason, the full resolution files are licensed under a Creative Commons license and available for download for free from his website.
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drawing
I've been drawing as long as I can remember. At least since I was 4. Although I've used different mediums and methods in the past I've always come back to pencil and paper. I like the texture that I can create with hatching and different pencil leads which you can see in my portraits. I have a place in my heart for digital work but the computer should enhance the foundation of traditional skills and not be the skill itself. Character designs are also a great love for me. I grew up in an animation/comic book/video game dominated era and sometimes it shows. Although, these things don't influence me as much as they once did.
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photography
Gene Smirnov is a Philadelphia music and portrait photographer. A complete failure to play a guitar when he was 12 and love for music kept him in the industry as a hungry observer. One time he was asked to photograph a friend's band (we know that story). He has been happy taking pictures ever since.
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painting
In this body of work I have used my hometown, Racine, Wisconsin, as a backdrop for larger, universal narratives. Racine remains the landscape of my psyche and my perception of the visual world is perpetually gauged against these early surroundings. Postwar America was an orgiastic celebration of mass naissance, rampant consumerism and a wholesale rejection of the past. A brave new world with lies perpetrated by advertising, sitcoms and propaganda not unlike that of the present. These paintings are a careful and conscious reprocessing of the barrage of influences that a child of the first TV generation could not escape.
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photography
These works are a reflection and contemplation on human being's place in the world and in reality as one travels through mental, emotional, spiritual and physical landscapes of ones being.
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photography
Christina is a Graphic Designer, Illustrator and Photographer who has been doing commissioned work for over 20 years. Her Graphic Design background draws her to the use of typography and signage in various environments. Her current series is on finding the beauty through color and composition in decaying elements in an urban environment.
painting
The complexities of the universe combined with the confusing chemical reactions controlling our human brains produce the ambition behind my creations. I have not yet gained full consciousness on my purpose in life or to what my actions will lead; nevertheless I have accepted that this knowledge is most likely unattainable. In the meantime, implementing the ideas formulated by experience, emotion and observation in the form of visual art aides my quest for answers and objectives.
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illustration
Hello. I'm Shannon Collins. My illustrations are the result of my obsession with old yearbooks, antique board games, vintage women's advertising, pop culture and an increasing love for animals. With tracing paper, markers, and acrylic paints, I try to translate these idiosyncratic preoccupations with poodles, people and dirty words into something resembling art: Pepto-Bismol chugging roosters, Chihuahuas with Snoop Dogg faces and bunnies (lots and lots of bunnies). But whether it's through paintings of Michael Jackson's dharmic transference or just through drawings of my family and co-workers, my main goal is to make people smile.
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