Shangri-La Springs

Cesar Aguilera

Cesar Aguilera was born in Quito, Ecuador. The art that he creates is inevitably connected with his life's experience and although his works reflect the dramatic impact of living in this age of transition to what is being called the new world of the Anthropocene epoch, they are deeply dependant on life for their meaning and relevance.

To achieve this he adapts the materials he uses to carry a narrative that is expressed in collective efforts of paint, mixed media, found objects and two or three dimensional alliances, where the meaning of the ideas being narrated is made to rest for the benefit of the viewer.

Life itself however, takes center stage in his practice the same as life is taking center stage in this age of the mass extinction and the prospects of the end of human history. His work then is not about what is wrong and who has done it, rather is about awakening to a new world, its challenges and the search for the culture that can prevent its demise.

Learn more @ facebook.com/cesar.aguilera.art

Danielle Branchaud

Title: Charon and Psyche | Media: Acrylic and spraypaint

The things that drive the human experience are based on instinct and emotion. Since the beginning of mankind the ways in which we relate to one another, connect, and evolve have consistently been revolving around those basic drives. And these instincts lurk still, within the depths of the human subconscious.

Title: Through the Veil | Media: Acrylic

It is this that prompts the inspiration for D. Branchaud’s work. Combined with a survey of personal experience, her paintings have created a window through the eyes of the subconscious, into a place that illustrates those basest of instincts and emotions. The goal of works such as the “Emotive” series is to illustrate the universality of emotion. It not only serves as a reflection of the artist’s own experience, but also provides a mirror for the audience to see within themselves.

Her work walks a tightrope between fantasy and surrealism, into an honest realm of pure visceral emotion. The “Emotive” series largely skimmed the surface. Her new work is intended to reach new depths, delving into her personal world of dreamscapes. The nightmarish imagery used to illuminate those unconscious thoughts serve as further exploration into the things that make us human.

D. Branchaud was born in Canada in 1985, and has been painting with acrylics since 2003. She currently resides in Florida, and is continuing her series work as well as various commissions and projects. The intimacy that she employs with the “Emotive” and “Visceral” series’ is also applied to portraits (where the goal is not simply to achieve a likeness, but to capture the essence of the subject), as well as conceptual commissions and illustrations.

This December D. Branchaud will be unveiling the first paintings from a new series that offers a deeper glimpse into the subconscious experience of human life; the 'underworld' of the mind.

—Danielle Branchaud www.dbranchaudart.wordpress.com

Mila Bridger

Born in Poland Mila Bridger is renowned both locally and internationally for fantastical portraits that feature thoughtfully stylized, saturated settings that evince a high degree of kinetic energy and unmistakable Expressionist flair. “I am a photographer who manufactures fantasy and is always up for a challenging shoot.”

Learn more @ facebook.com/brokenpixelproduction/

Tim Smith (aka Mano Mudd)

"My work is a reflection of life. Frozen moments in time and space. The world seen through my eyes and filtered into a production that is original and unique as much as I am." ​I reject the rectangle and the square!

Learn more @ www.manomudd.net