Oleg Dou’s photo manipulations subvert the elegance of classical still-life or mutate the subjects of his quiet portraits. The award-winning artist, hailing from Russia, has shown these creations in shows across the globe. Recent work takes the everyday table settings of the Renaissance and stirs sexualized conversations.
Honolulu, Hawaii based photographer and designer Petey Ulatan often creates images that explore the impossible. A recent series, which Ulatan posts to his Instagram page, takes this idea and applies it to infinite scenarios: digital photo-manipulations of his own photographs from his travels, others from Google images, that re-shape the world as if it were folded into a giant cube.
Budapest, Hungary based photographer Flora Borsi specializes in digital photography and photo manipulations, where she seeks to visualize the physically impossible. We first featured her work on our Tumblr blog, a surreal series that imagined what the “real life models” of abstract artists Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Rudolf Hausner, and Kazimir Malevich might have looked liked. Her new series, titled “Animeyed (self portraits)” digitally overlaps images of the artist’s own face with animals into a single “animal eye”.
Vilnius, Lithuania based photographer Ceslovas Cesnakevicius says that he first got into taking pictures for the purpose of creating his surrealistic photo-manipulations. A browse through his Facebook page will transport you into a dreamy other-world where magic is real; old-timey explorers ride hot air balloons made of puffy white clouds, while men in top hats enjoy a sunny afternoon snooze in paper sail boats. His latest series titled “The Zoo” imagines what it would be like if we shared our every day world with wild animals in whimsical black and white images.
Oakland, California based photographer Debra Kay Burger, aka DK Burger, creates ethereal and provocative images that look like they are from another time. Using traditional darkroom techniques, she gives her work the qualities of foggy vintage snapshots with a touch of Odd Nerdum. Some of these techniques include dodging, burning, and masking, which look similar to digital manipulations, but everything is done by hand.
Lisbon, Portugal based artist Paula Rosa combines digital painting with photo manipulation to create surreal black and white landscapes. Most incorporate painted areas and photography, all put together in Photoshop CS4, merging technology with visions from Rosa’s imagination and dreams. Exploring psychological themes, her landscapes usually portray nudes morphing with their sterile and polluted industrial surroundings.