Pictoplasma Berlin #20

BORA is a French interdisciplinary queer artist exploring different mediums to create a universe where imagination is a form of activism. Bora's emotional cathedral is multidimensional, magic, and fearlessly takes on new forms and voices. Dimensions become fluid; digital worlds, performance, sculptural objects, installations, sonic explorations and costume making all intertwine and constantly shift. At the core of it all, BORA’s practice embraces fluidity and is a heartfelt dance with impermanence.

Christopher Rutledge is a CG artist and animator based in Los Angeles who likes to make floppy characters who are slightly ugly and grotesquely detailed but still charming. He specializes in the 3D software Houdini, which enables him to create realistically simulated and rendered characters with satisfying yet unsettling movements. He is always interested in exploring new techniques, tools, and helping others learn 3D and animation. Working independently and in collaboration, his films have screened at Annecy and Ottawa, among others. He co-runs the creative production studio Grin Machine alongside Cole Kush and Dan Streit where he has created work for TV, advertising and music videos, and his collaborations include YONK, Takeshi Murata, BRHTR, MSCHF, Cuco, Nike, Apple, Brockhampton, Abra, Lil Nas X, Sam Rolfes, Hellavision, and Deaton Chris Anthony.

Barcelona based illustrator, comic book author and muralist Genie Espinosa's style is best described by a bright colour palette, exaggerated proportions, twisted perspectives, and oversized characters proudly claiming their space. Working between the purely digital and analog brush for a range of editorial publications and clients such as Die Zeit, Vice, Wired, Apple, Google, and Nike, her uniquely fearless, strong, angry, unapologetic characters often hide secret winks and messages for the viewer.

Joe Bennett is an artist and animator living in Los Angeles. His disquietingly recognizable characters are at once humorous and haunting, often drawing out the absurdities of everyday life. He recently co-created the acclaimed adult science fiction drama Scavengers Reign for HBO Max and is currently working on Common Side Effects, a series that imagines a government conspiracy to protect the pharmaceutical industry.

Joseph Melhuish is a 3D artist and animation director based in London creating acid saturated, contorted, joyous characters who dance and writhe. He uses sculpting tools in virtual reality, tracing the liberation he feels when modelling back to the freedom of sketching in a sketch book. His work builds bright and compelling scenes and situations with witty undertones, mostly focused on music, identities for club nights, DJs and commercials. Selected clients include Nike, Boiler Room, Adult Swim, PC Music and Apple.

Berlin-based Josephine Rais casts modern, diverse protagonists in powerful poses – against summer pastel shades and fluid shapes – creating strong, often female-led compositions that dazzle like a sunset. Lighting up commissions from the likes of adidas, Apple, LinkedIn, Xbox and Aldi, Josephine works across multidisciplinary projects: from illustrations, to original works and strategic design.

Oskars Pavlovskis is an artist and illustrator based in Riga. He is interested in visual storytelling by creating fictional characters and stories that are inspired and borrow elements from his surroundings. The universe of characters he creates inhabits the borders between beautiful and ugly, scary and cute. Oskars’ visual language combines various digital and analogue illustration techniques, academic drawing, comic art, sculpture and 3D computer graphics. Through Biedriba Neatlaidiba, a collaboration with his partner and fine artist Liene Pavlovska, Oskars explores the spatial dimensions of illustration through installations.

Bangkok born, Texas-based artist Parn Aniwat (Wood You Mind) creates whimsical toys from chunks of timber. Believing that simplicity reaches people more directly and helps communicate with the viewer, his sculptured characters are direct and honest, spreading joy, contentment and happy imperfection. Parn uses traditional tools such as a small hatchet and chisel knife, slowly but surely unearthing every character’s distinct characteristics.

Peter The Roman is a digital artist based in the UK. His work centres around figurative pieces that depict melted and bloated forms with an alluring, almost lustful physicality. With a background in traditional painting, his skills have developed to create an enchanting array of forms that are both grotesque and beautiful, always with a hint of humour. His melting, organic objects are often rendered in garish and vibrant colours and convey a sense of constant flux, as if they are frozen in time yet still able to fluidly move and morph. The use of 3D digital software and AI technology lends unpredictability to his work, making it feel alive and otherworldly. It serves as a comment on the relationship between technology and the natural world and the ways in which they can be combined and blended.

So Lazo is an illustrator from El Salvador, now living in Berlin, who is also a book author, occasional tattoo artist and full-time shy clown. Their work is an exploration of magic, clownery, colours, emotions and identity, and they like creating colourful, weird, silly characters and turning them into wearable fashion. So started their own brand in 2016 and has worked with companies such as Adobe, Facebook, Chronicle Books, Casetify, Superplastic and more.

Sophie Koko Gate is an artist, animation director and writer based in South London. In her films, the human condition is examined through the lens of desire. Rare moments of pleasure are interrupted by frustration, a longing for something that is never quite resolved. A recurring cast of eccentric characters live on behind the scenes, aging and shapeshifting as they move between parallel worlds in each film. Her work has been screened at Whitechapel Gallery, Tate Modern, Edinburgh Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival and she has won awards at Ottawa Animation Festival, SXSW, GLAS Animation Festival and Indie Lisboa. She is currently developing an animated series with Sony Pictures Animation and Adult Swim and touring her solo exhibition ‘Milk Bath’.