Check out the macabre art of Paris-based Russian artist Dimitri Tsykalov.

Each piece took half an hour to make and I use approximately 1,200 matchsticks for both pieces. More samples of my work can be seen here.

Ellen Altfest (b. New York City) is a realist painter based in New York. She paints still lifes and male figures from life in painstaking detail. Her work is noted for its precision and trompe-l’œil accuracy. Influences include Albrecht Dürer’s The Large Turf, Jackson Pollock, and Lucian Freud.

Rachel Kneebone’s finely sculpted porcelain works erupt with a bacchanal of contorted bodies, limbs and slumped phallic tendrils that emerge from amorphous properties of the material. Sharing the characteristics of Hellenistic sculpture, Kneebone retains the purity of the glazed white surface while the tonal chiaroscuro enhances the intricately modeled ruptures and crevices that inject this conventional material with a sensual physicality and unique energy.

Neil Douglas was born in Bristol in 1978. He graduated from Wolverhampton University in 2000 with a BA (Honours) in Painting. Since leaving University, he has exhibited his work in both the U.K and the U.S.A. Throughout his childhood, Douglas experienced the landscapes of America only through indirect mediums such as photography, television and film. He was fascinated by the iconic and absorbing images of Hollywood films and brand advertising. The paintings in this exhibition portray this idolised vision of Americana he grew up with, an America void of political or social connotations. They are escapist yet realistic representations of everyday life, expertly captured in the photorealist style. When viewing Douglas’ work, one can clearly recognise the influence of certain pioneers of Photorealism, such as Richard Estes, Ralph Goings and John Salt. Douglas shares their ability to painstakingly recreate the complex visual details of American life, be it in the reflection of a cafeteria window, the sheen on a car bonnet or the neon billboard sign, which hangs over a music hall. His meticulous renderings of the Manhattan skyline are perfect demonstrations of this skill and craftsmanship he possesses as a painter. (via Albemarle Gallery)

Not Vital <-- (b. 1948, Sent, Engadin, Switzerland) studied in Paris and Rome before moving to New York in 1974. At present, he lives and works in Sent; Beijing; Agadez, Niger; and NotOna, Chile. Vital's major recent solo exhibitions include Plateau of Humanity at the 49th Venice Biennale, Italy (2001); Not Vital: Agadez at Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany (2005); Not Vital at The Arts Club of Chicago, Illinois, (2006); Not Vital: Schlafendes Haus at KÖR Kunsthalle Wien public space Karlsplatz, Vienna, Austria (2009 – 2010); and Not Vital: Full On at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2011).

” I want paint to work as flesh, I know my idea of portraiture came from dissatisfaction with portraits that resembled people. I would wish my portraits to be of the people, not like them. Not having to look at the sitter, being them. As far as I am concerned, the paint is the person. I want it to work for me just as the flesh does.” – Lucian Freud

Illustrator Ryan Gonzales has a great style, full of color and whimsy. His caricatures of his friends are particularly great. Check it out guys!

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