Existence is a topic close to the heart of Belgian artist Kris Martin whose work Verwandlung is based on Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Martin copied out the text of the story in its entirety, using only one page. The result is an elaborately framed piece of white paper with layers of black cursive. The story exists on paper, but its meaning is lost or obscured by its physical being, which in turn negates its existence. Martin’s work Untitled (vase) is a seven-foot Chinese vase that he topples over before installing it in any exhibition.

Artist: Kris Martin
+ sieshoeke.com

Maya Weyermann’s prints of digital renderings of spaces based on actual rooms and buildings involve varying degrees of transparency which sometimes help and sometimes hinder the perception of the space depicted. Luxus I and Luxus II are based on an actual Berlin bar, but it is of interest to note that Weyermann does not manipulate photographs, but creates them. Weyermann plays with reflection as well, and this, combined with the transparency, makes for an ethereal quality to Weyermann’s work in this series.

Artist: Maya Weyermann
+ veramunro.de

Guy Limone is a Marseilles artist whose installations are based primarily on the three themes of statistics, colour families and miniature figurines. Statistically speaking, Limone chooses stats based on poll results or population growth to mount installations using thousands of miniature figures that he paints by hand. Other installations are composed of approximately 400-500 photos of a wide variety of scenes and objects all connected by a common colour. Sometimes Limone will choose to use colour photocopies or cut out magazine images in order to create a colour-themed wallpaper as an installation, all in the name of making sense out of global chaos.

Artist: Guy Limone
+ centredart-castres.org

Michael Wolf is a Hong Kong-based photographer whose photography and toy installation “The Real Toy Story” is a look at the toy industry in China. Wolf’s homage to Chinese factory workers was in the form of about 16,000 toys that covered the walls of the John Batten Gallery in Hong Kong, framing portraits of the factory workers who made them. The idea for the installation came about when Wolf covered every surface in his son’s room with a copious amount of used toys he picked up at a second hand store.

Artist: Michael Wolf
+ photomichaelwolf.com

West Coast painter Rebecca Campbell left her Mormon roots and a naïve sense of the art world behind in Utah when she headed off to art school in Oregon. But it didn’t take long for Campbell to trade the security blanket of her religion for the trappings of feminism as she started to explore themes that took on more social relevancy. Campbell’s paintings are sometimes reflective of a rural past, but don’t be fooled by the wasp in a jar. Campbell’s work is quite varied and the sexual imagery in her paintings can be quite graphic, no doubt due to time spent hanging around strip clubs.

Artist: Rebecca Campbell
+ rebeccacampbell.net

Henrik Drescher and Wu Wing Lee are the collaborators on Gravity, a print made using letterpress over silkscreen with some handwork. The first glance brings to mind images of 1950s wallpapers in the style of Lamartine Le Goulon, but upon closer examination, one sees this is the result of the artists’ own work on the theme of gravity. The print is in an edition of 31 and there is limited edition book, Babblelab, of prints as well.

Artist: Henrik Drescher + Wu Wing Lee
+ babblelab.com

Mark Newport is an Arizona knitting artist specializing in the cult of the super hero. A recent series of work focuses on life sized knitted super hero costumes, but don’t think Newport is afraid of a little comic book cover embroidery or beading trading cards of athletes and porn stars. Newport grew up absorbed in comic books, but more for the visual artistry than the plotlines. Eventually he too became an artist, like his heroes, and started examining gender issues at a time when the art world was experiencing a backlash against the male art star.

Artist: Mark Newport
+ asuartmuseum.asu.edu

Peter Doig was born in Edinburgh, lives in Trinidad, incorporates Canadian landscapes into his works and is currently exhibiting at the Saatchi Gallery in London. But Doig cannot be called a simple painter of landscapes, as evidenced by Concrete Cabin, which borrows from architect Le Corbusier to create what is most likely (but not necessarily limited to) an imaginary landscape. Doig works with photographs, stills from films and news footage to layer imagery onto the paintings, adding dimension and altering their identities. There is something dreamlike about Doig’s works, like images of distant memories.

Artist: Peter Doig
+ saatchi-gallery.co.uk

Pars is a Seattle painter and illustrator who has created a world peopled by wide-faced, hooded characters that are sinister, yet endearing. In The Floral Derangement series of enamel on glass, the Parskids (who look like adorable mutant jellyfish in papooses) are busy growing flowers from their stomachs, or displaying floral entrails. The situations grow darker in the Pleasant Monstrosities series and are downright dire in the Pasty Dark grouping. Pars is also a doll maker - the plush Parskids wear handpainted anguished faces.

Artist: Pars
+ parskid.com

Oh No, Sour Apple-Chan is a recent work of gouache on paper by the duo of Kozyndan, highlighting once again the enormous creativity of this team of illustrators. The armless bubble gum schoolgirls run amok as one of their own is stuck to the ground. Capitalizing on the Cult of Cute is another work from a recent show in LA, firmly tongue-in-cheek, yet also slyly self-referential. The Make Out Club is an interesting piece culturally, as it shows one of many clubs in Vietnam where young people go for a bit of “privacy”. Whatever will they come up with next?

Artist: Kozyndan
+ sixspace.com

Kozyndan are two California illustrators with an amazing sense of humour evident in their art. Their panoramics are wonderfully detailed flights of fancy. Kin-san’s Business Trip is about the stereotypical Japanese salaryman who drinks too much, but really wants to live life as a schoolgirl. The Yum-cha Militia tells what happens when a fictional group of mah-jong playing old women take to the streets as virus vigilantes, angry that this new activity is cutting into gossip time. Like Sands Through the Hour Glass depicts one of the couple’s favorite streets of London (where they once had a fight) and a family of veggie monsters gorging themselves. The panoramics are best viewed on the Kozyndan website where one can truly appreciate the detail of the illustrations and better enter into the visual narrative.

Artist: Kozyndan
+ kozyndan.com