I first found Bethram Dacuma Alegado's work on my Facebook feed – a painting of an astronaut surfing on vibrant water. I clicked on her profile and fell down the rabbit hole. Beth is a self-taught artist from Toledo City, Cebu. Five years ago, she got into a freak motorcycle accident. During her recovery, she started playing around with a paintbrush, and discovered art’s therapeutic power. Beth's inspiration comes from everyday moments and nature, and her portfolio is a delightful mix of hues and emotions. However, she doesn’t let the vibrancy overwhelm the detail. Instead, the colors serve to amplify the realism, drawing you in and making you appreciate the details you might otherwise overlook. In some of her paintings, Beth pays homage to old masters, like Vermeer and da Vinci, by recreating their artworks that feature bubble wrap effect. The bubble wrap isn't a saboteur of art, but a lens that makes us look at it differently. Her work is a direct rebuttal to the grim ...
Ever walked into a gallery or scrolled through your Instagram feed and instantly recognized a painting without even reading the description? One artist who exemplifies this is Naomi Okubo . Born in Tokyo, Okubo collects images from various sources like books and magazines, scans the images, then project them onto a canvas and traces their outline. From there, she hand-paints each image. Her art explores themes such as belonging and societal pressures, and the pattern-filled paintings are full of girls who conceal their faces with their hair. Okubo earned her MFA from Musashino Art University and lived in New York for two years. She has exhibited widely in Asia, Europe, and the United States, and her work has been featured by Airbnb Magazine, Financial Times, Juxtapoz, The New Yorker, and Vanity Fair.