Daily Art Fixx

A little weird, a little creepy, a little beautiful.  These are the photo manipulations of Jan Oliehoek. Based in Leiden, Netherlands, Oliehoek has a Masters degree in Biology, works as an IT specialist, for a biopharmaceutical company, and creates his surreal hybrids as a hobby.

“I try to create images that are both photorealistic and impossible at the same time. There are countless ways to accomplish this, and combining several animals into one hybrid is one of them. On top of that, I find that some animals just look amazing and beautiful. If on top of that they are then photographed by a really good photographer, I am already more than half way in creating a cool image without even having touched it yet.”

To see more of Oliehoek’s intriguing images, visit JanOliehoek.com.

Sources: The Design Inspiration

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Today’s pic is by surreal and paroday artist AZRainman.  AZ uses Photoshop as his primary tool to depict political satire and world events.

To see more, visit ArizonaRainman.blogspot.com or visit his photostream on flickr.

Girl-in-a Bee-Dress © Maggie Taylor

Some of today’s images may look familiar to you, especially if you’re a fan of the TV show “Ghost Whisperer” where they appear in the show’s intro. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Maggie Taylor has a BA  in philosophy from Yale University and an MFA  in photography from the University of Florida.

In 1996, after more than ten years as a still-life photographer, Taylor began creating her images digitally. Using flatbed scanners and Adobe Photoshop, Taylor creates unique digital collages that “transport viewers to dreamlike worlds inhabited by everyday objects.” Primarily a fine artist, Taylor also spends some of her time creating cover images for books and music CDs. Her commercial clients include Warner Brothers Music and Penguin Publishing.

Taylor’s work is featured in “Adobe Photoshop Master Class: Maggie Taylor’s Landscape of Dreams”, “Solutions Beginning with A” , and “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll . Her images are in numerous public and private collections including Princeton University Art Museum, The Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and The Museum of Photography, Seoul.  She currently lives in Gainesville, Florida.

To see more of Taylor’s work, visit MaggieTaylor.com.

Long Division © David Whitlam

This week’s Deviant is UK artist David Whitlam.  Born in November 1977, David showed an interest and talent for drawing at a young age. While studying graphic art at Leeds Metropolitan University, he developed a curiosity for surrealism and the workings of the unconscious.

Whitlam works in three mediums – pencil, oil paint, and Adobe Photoshop.  His goal is to “tap into the desires and anxieties within the subconscious.”  Whitlam does this by using a technique called automatic drawing working only from his imagination. With no planning, he allows his images to evolve into their own identities rather than attempting to capture reality.  “By re-arranging these universal symbols, by dressing them in carnival masks and making them pose amidst absurdities , I create my own visions, whose meanings are often highly personal and esoteric, yet which somehow echo the aesthetic style of past cultures, and relate to more general themes within the collective subconscious”.

Whitlam is a member of the Vernon Mill Artists in Stockport – one of the largest studio-based art groups in the UK. His paintings have been exhibited in venues around Stockport and Manchester and have sold to collectors around the world. To see more of David Whitlam’s strangely facinating work, visit DavidWhitlam.com or see his profile on Deviant Art.

Sources: The Extra Finger, DavidWhitlam.com