Artist Evan Wondolowski uses thousands of paper strips from shredded U.S. Federal Reserve Notes to create these amazingly detailed portraits of celebrities and politicians. Evan says that he starts with an underdrawing of the portrait on newsprint and then glues each shred of currency piece by piece before finishing up with a little vine charcoal to increase contrast. Each portrait can take up to a month or more. Keep an eye on his website for new works in the future.
I first discovered the gripping portraiture of accountant turned self-taught photographer Lee Jeffries back in December and have been following his journey ever since. His gritty and powerful portraits, most often of the homeless, have since appeared on CNN, Time and the Independant, and he’s even landed behind the camera from Olympian Sir Roger Bannister. Most recently he has a great interview over on 500px. I enjoyed this question:
Most of your portraits are closely cropped to reveal just the subject’s face. Can you explain your decision behind that?
It’s true… my images can be biased to front on views that closely frame the face. Processing in black and white reinforces the contrasts and shapes in the portrait. Infused with light and shadow, I make a conscious effort to place the emphasis on the relief of the face and the strength of the photograph lays in the emotional connection to the subject. I try to magnify the character… tell their story so that it is no longer possible for the viewer to remain indifferent. My photographs become an intimate and personal document which narrates a myriad of emotion.
Jeffries also has a number of prints now available through YellowKorner.
Artist Russ Mills creates these astonishing images using a wide variety of traditional methods including painting and drawing with ink and pencil, but also utilizing scanned textures including splotches of paint (or “painting disasters” as he calls them) as well as photography. The resulting paintings are sparse in color but seem to contain explosive amounts of energy as displayed in the rough brushes of paint and the almost perfectly manic pencil strokes. Of his work Mills says:
My work dwells in a netherworld between urban fine art and contemporary graphics, a collision of real and digital media it is primarily illustration based with a firm foundation in drawing, I focus mainly on the human form particularly the face, interweaving elements from the animal kingdom often reflecting the absurdity of human nature.
You can see many more paintings on Behance and limited edition prints are available in his shop.
Lithuanian photographer Tadao Cern’s hilarious/disturbing photography project Blow Job was one of the most popular posts on Colossal for quite some time. If the photographs of individuals being blasted in the face with high-powered wind wasn’t enough for you, he’s followed up with this companion video which is every bit as awesome as the photos. Filmed by Spotas. (via vimeo)
I first covered the work of Amelia Fais Harnas last year when she had just begun experimenting with a series of portraits involving wine stains and embroidery. Harnas has spent the last few months perfecting the technique and now has some two dozen works on display. Via her website:
A portrait artist at heart, I am particularly intrigued by the challenge of trying to control the unpredictable nature of wine bleeding through fabric in order to channel the equally imprecise nature of a person’s character. In addition, the sacred aspect of wine lends itself to religious iconography, reminding many of the Shroud of Turin: one who drinks wine may come to feel a certain level of saintliness sipping on this liquid form of divinity. So, this is a form of consecration.
I’m also fascinated by the aspect of control in how she forces the wine to create line and tones, it would be great to see a video of the process.
Constellation is an ongoing series of portraits by New York artist Kumi Yamashita known most prominently for her innovative light and shadow sculptures. Each image is constructed from a single unbroken black thread wound through a dense array of galvanized nails mounted on a painted white board, meaning that the darker areas within the portrait are formed solely from the density of the string. Colossal is no stranger to artworks created with thread and nails, but these are certainly some of the most impressive and intricate works I’ve ever seen made using this method.
These vibrant paintings by artist Danny O’Conner are created using acrylic, spray paint, emulsion and correction fluid resulting in explosive portraits that seem to shatter and pulse off the canvas. He currently has a number of original works available in his shop. (via cosas cool)
I just stumbled onto these beautiful acrylic paintings by David Agenjo who is a self-taught artist born in Madrid but living and working in London. He has a number of prints and several original works available over on Saatchi Online.
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© 2010-2013 Christopher Jobson, all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. I try my best to attribute images, videos, and quotes to their creators and original sources. If you see something on Colossal that's misattributed or you would like removed, please contact me. The Colossal logo and name Colossal are the trademarks of Christopher Jobson.
