The Incredible Illustrations and Doodle Art of Maahy

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Chances are that a lot of you might already be familiar with the stunning illustrations of Maahy, an 18 year old artist from the Maldives who has nearly 16,000 Likes on Facebook. Over the years, this brilliant upcoming artist has always taken my breath away with his works, drawn in his bold, signature style. Full of intricate details, his pieces have many hidden surprises that reveal themselves on closer inspection.

Maahy is a self-taught illustrator, a dreamer whose passion and joy for art manifests itself in his pieces. Growing up in the Maldives, a country blessed with sunny skies and crystal clear seas, caused him to be inspired by the beauty of nature.

My art portrays the minimalism of black and white as well as the chaotic beauty and mystery of doodling, zentangles, streams of flowing lines and the fascinating scent and touch of coffee. I work intimately with ink pens and graphite pencils. For me, The key to finishing a detailed art piece is immense patience and perseverance. I always carry a camera with me to capture organic and  interesting patterns, shapes and designs I see every day. Whether it be on the road, in a mud puddle, the dancing clouds, or in a trailing foot print, I always keep my inspiration rolling.

Apart from undertaking commissions, the artist has also begun designing tattoos. You can buy select limited edition prints of his works at his online store.

Link to the artist’s site | Facebook | Tumblr.

(Thanks, Rayne Chapman)

You can check out more illustrations and a few select photographs taken by the artist, after the jump.

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Killer Allergies: An Art Zine by Mexican Artist Alfonso de Anda

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Alfonso de Anda, an interdisciplinary artist from Guadalajara, Mexico, sent in some art and a promotional video for his new art zine.

Limited to a run of only 300 signed and numbered copies, the zine will have 32 pages of awesome grayscale illustrations inside its 2 ink offset-printed covers.

Link to Alfonso de Anda’s site.

Hit the jump to see more images and the video.

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Brazilian Artist André Azevedo’s Latest Artworks

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It’s always wonderful to see talented young artists experimenting and trying to breaking the mold. André Azevedo, a Brazilian artist whose works have been previously featured on JazJaz, is one of the new wave of creative people who are making some really exciting stuff.

His latest pieces are inspired by his observations of the small gestures and actions of people. He combines several artistic techniques; drawing, painting and even sewing over fabrics to create layered artworks that create an illusion of “frozen” movement in the eyes of the viewer.

Late in the night the silence dominated the room, in the thoughts images in a constant movement were watching in a way that seemed not to make sense. I took paper and pencil to try to materialize those ideas so I started to draw.

Some of André’s works are an unabashed, loving study of the unclothed male and female human form, so his blog is NSFW for that reason.

Check out more images after the jump.

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The Art of Italian Artist Cristian Grossi

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Cristian Grossi, an Italian artist based in Parma, Italy, sent in some images of his fantastic illustrations and mixed-media artworks.

Cristian says that his childhood was an interesting blend of “loneliness and mad and chaotic fantasies.” This led him to experiment with various illustration techniques, patterns, colors and abstract designs. His childhood feelings manifest themselves in his paintings and sketches, and he tries, as he says, “to walk the line between kitsch, minimalism, and pure white feelings.”

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Lola Dupré’s Sensational Paper Art

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Mehdi writes, “Hi, just thought i would show you this link to the work of Lola Dupre, i have been checking her site for a few years and she has an amazing collection of paper and scissors photomontage, lots of themes and looks.. thought you might like it..”

Scottish artist Lola Dupré is a master manipulator of form and paper. Using scissors, glue and a whole lot of patience, Lola painstakingly works her way through copies of famous photographs and paintings, for hours together. The results are sometimes humorous, sometimes terrifying, but always phenomenal.

Link to her official site (some images are slightly NSFW).

There are more images after the jump.

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Annie Vought’s Hand Cut Paper Letters

Artist Annie Vought creates her mindboggling and intricate artworks by painstakingly hand cutting letters from paper.

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She states:

Email, text messages, instant messaging and Twitter are all examples of fun and immediate means of “written” communication. Through the computer I am in touch with people I may never have seen before and I can respond in real time to a loved one. But with the ubiquity of this access and convenience, we are losing the tangible handwritten letter. Handwritten records are fragments of individual histories. In the penmanship, word choice, and spelling the author is often revealed in spite of him/herself. A letter is physical confirmation of who we were at the moment it was written, or all we have left of a person or a time.

I have been working with cut out correspondence for the past four years. I meticulously recreate notes and letters that I have found, written, or received by enlarging the documents onto a new piece of paper and intricately dissecting the negative spaces with an Exact-o knife.  The handwriting and the lines support the structure of the cut paper, keeping it strong and sculptural, despite its apparent fragility. In these paper cutouts, I focus on the text, structure, and emotion of the letter in an elaborate investigation into the properties of writing and expression. Penmanship, word choice, and spelling all contribute to possible narratives about who that person is and what they are like. My recreating the letters is an extended concentration on peoples’ inner lives and the ways they express their thoughts through writing.

She also has a fantastic little ‘letter project’ going on. Just send her your address, and she just might mail you one of her handmade letters, in return.

Annie was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but is currently based in Oakland, California. Besides having had her art exhibited in numerous galleries in California, she will be featured in a show in Milan, this December.

More images after the jump.

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