Like a Grace Jones tune
MIGUEL VALLINAS
Ceci n'est pas la brosse d'un peintre
STRANGE WORLDS
Find artworks by Miguel Vallinas, Maison Onigiri and Pol Kurucz: artists who freely compose forms and colours in order to transform reality.
Abstraction of the Poetic Reality
MIGUEL VALLINAS
Born in 1971, Miguel Vallinas trained at the School of photography and Cinema (EFTI) in Madrid before launching his freelance career and undertaking art projects that enabled him to exhibit internationally.
Inspired by all kinds of subjects, whether it be contemporary architecture, urban landscapes or portraits, the artist reveals himself through his surrealist photos of characters whose heads have been replaced by inanimate objects representing our thoughts, determination, and wishes. He wants to investigate “the animal in each of us” and captures various animals in full view, dressed with contemporary outfits and posing like humans.
“It is important to bring out the animal found in all of us, as though they were real models.”
FOODING AND KAWAII
MAISON ONIGIRI
Deriving their inspiration from a vast palette and the silhouettes of natural foodstuffs, they breathe life into unique compositions, in a bold and feminine style.
Photographer Eri Hosomi and mangaka and graphic designer Kaori Yuki have worked in collaboration under the name of Maison Onigiri, since 2017, after meeting on a commission respectively as a photographer and an expert in digital retouching.
They sustain a great passion for “fooding” and all that is “kawaii” (cute in Japanese). Their talent and unique visual worlds are perfectly compatible.
pop culture
POL KURUCZ
Why photography?
I held art events in Rio in 2014; photographers were expensive and don’t always capture the soul of events, so I bought my first camera and started taking photos. My background as a director slowly came to the fore and I became the events photographer I am today.
What inspires you?
Female protagonists concerned with their content who call social, sexual, racial and aesthetic norms into question. Aesthetically Jodorowsky, Roy Andersson, Tim Burton, Magritte, and Mugler among others.
French-Hungarian artist Pol Kurucz created the nonconformist art collective Kolors in Budapest before exporting it to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he now lives. Through an aesthetic heavily influenced by pop culture, his photos are always anchored in reality and particularly feminism or the defence of minorities.
Photos by Pol Kurucz are now published in major magazines (Vogue, ELLE, Dazed, GQ, etc.) and shown at photo exhibitions (ArtExpo NYC) or fashion weeks (Shanghai and New York).
What makes your photographs unique?
I’d say the atypical combination of bright colours and the considerable eccentricity of the characters.
What was the context of creation of your new series?
In my new series, celebrities from Los Angeles (mainly singers and actors) are immersed in my imaginary and photorealistic 3D decors and tell an extravagant visual story, combining their worlds with mine.
WILD FANTASIES
DENIS OLIVIER
Denis Olivier plays with animals in a whimsical way, staging them in unusual and incongruous settings. Through the use of black and white and long exposure times, the artist thus manages to create a dreamlike, intimate world, where time stands still, reminiscent of our childhood dreams.
