A few years back, when I fist moved to Brussels, I visited Alice Gallery for the first time. Over time, this vibrant gallery in the heart of the city has become one of my favorites (showing lots of street art and urban artists), but I often think back to the show I first saw there by the Belgian artist collective Pica Pica.


Pica Pica is made up by Boris Magotteaux (1978), Manuel Falcata (1979) and Jerome Degive (1980), all born and raised in Liege, Belgium. Their work includes installations, paintings, and drawings. And I'm a huge fan. The name Pica Pica comes from the latin name 'the talkative magpie', a bird commonly found in the wastelands around Liège and indeed, the name seems well chosen. Using common materials and shapes, Pica Pica create geometric, imperfect, yet beautiful and fascinating works.


I read somewhere that all works are produced by all three artists together. I would love to see what that looks like.


Links: Website | Blog | Alice Gallery BXL


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I shamelessly copied this post from a Dutch blog called BREKEND ('BREAKING'), which is a great blog on design, culture, art, and technology. I usually try not to re-post anything, but these surreal photographs by Laurent Chehere are just too good. It doesn't seem like my houses-phase is quite over yet.





Link: Website

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Lorenzo Duran is a self-taught Spanish artist who uses ancient Chinese, Japanese, German and Swiss paper-cutting techniques to create beautiful creations out of dried leaves. I can't even imagine the patience and precision that went into creating this beauty, but I love it. On his website, Duran says that working with products from nature feels more pure to him, like he's just bringing out the artistic perfection each leaf intrinsically possesses. Isn't that a nice thought... Link: Website

(via: My Modern Metropolis)

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Cassandra Smith is an artist and curator from Milwaukee. She creates the most amazing pieces of art out of deer antlers and she's also the co-owner and editor of Fine Line Magazine. Now, if I were the Jealous Curator, she'd be pretty high on my list of people to be jealous of.



In the description accompanying her work, Smith notes that MSN dubbed them "chic coffee table toppers", but I disagree with that classification. I think these should go above a bed. Or a fire place. Gorgeous!


Links: Website | Blog | Etsy shop


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I'm not sure where I first saw her work, but I've fallen completely in love with the paintings of Kelly Reemtsen. This Los Angeles-based painter depicts festively clad women, wearing party dresses that remind me of the fashion in the 50s and 60s, carrying around traditionally male power tools. In reading about Reemtsen's work, I've noticed that a lot of people associate the headless portraits to be of highly pissed off housewives. And it's true, behind the beautiful dresses, the candy cane colors and impeccable application of the thick layers of paint, there's a sense of something dark going on. It could be my projection, but I associated these images with the current role of women in society. Not to sound too serious, but I think women nowadays are in an interesting position. Holding on to femininity and the traditional value placed on beauty and sweetness, whilst also trying to 'do it all' - have a fulfilling career, family life, personal life, etc. I think there are very little examples we can look to as women at this point - we're the ones finding new ways of being right now - and I think that's what these images are trying to show. The absurdity of trying to combine it all, whist also depicting the ideal woman of today. Yes.
You see. I really did fall in love with Reemtsen's work. Links: Website | Blog


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Kimberley Laurenti (aka ilovegreyskies) is an artist located in Florida and although she looks perfectly normal and adorable (see a picture here), I think she might actually be a little wacky. The good kind of wacky though.
Laurenti creates these awesome creatures called 'Mooks' (meek?) for a living. They're simple looking polymer clay creatures, often wearing hats or masks and they're this delightful combination of creepy and cool. They're like really sweet, yet kind of disturbed children, that seem to belong in a Guillermo Del Toro movie. I love them. So cool. Links: Weblog | Etsy Shop


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I remember there was a time when I was young (ah, remember that) and dramatic (*sigh*) but mostly heartbroken in only the way you can be when you're still unsure of who you are, when I would listen to Coldplay (of course) over and over again. In particular to that song 'Yellow'. So sad. Now of course, yellow is my favorite color and it cheers me up tremendously (actually, most things are more cheerful now, hehe). So, here are some of my favorite 'yellow' prints of this week!


Love this girl in a yellow dress by Paule Trudel Bellemare - it's so girly and dreamy! Link: Etsy Shop


Now see, this print by Baltimore Print Studios cheers me up a whole lot. I never thought of myself as 'strategic', but now I see myself in a completely new light. Anna, The Master of Strategy, Denise! Links: Website / Shop | Twitter


How adorable is this? I adore the simplicity of Amanda Kindregan's work and this one would just be so amazing for a kitchen, or children's bedroom. Links: Website | Blog | Etsy Shop


I'm always looking out for postcards to send to people I love and care about (although I forget to send them quite often), and these would be amazing to send to my aunt, who could use a bit of sunshine right now. I don't call or see her nearly enough, but these cards by Freya Art are worth remembering to mail out. Links: Website | Etsy Shop


Have a very yellow Thursday everyone!


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