Based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Joe Castro is a collage artist who arms himself with an X-Acto knife and matte medium gel to create his art pieces. "I enjoy the challenge of limitation–fixed sizes, shapes and colors–of having to figure out how to take a specific collection of images and bring them together into a form that then takes on a life of it’s own. Mentally, moving the pieces of paper around is like playing a never ending game of chess with yourself that only ends when your opponent stops breathing.

Freelance illustrator Tobias Hall creates beautifully composed pieces using the written word, specializing not only in digital art but  lettering, and mural painting. Gotta love a man who keeps such a classic form of art like hand made typography alive and well.

What's creepier than clowns or dolls if you have a phobia? How about a bunch of different faces all mashed together to make a bigger one?! John Boelee is an artist currently based out of Rotterdam, The Netherlands who produces hyperrealistic acrylic paintings comprised of a number of different faces that are carefully arranged together in order to create a larger one.

Currently splitting her time between Los Angeles, California and Ireland, Mercedes Helnwein creates intricate pencil drawings of "weird goings-on" that brings her back to our humble site since her last feature in September 2010. Not to name-drop, but Mercedes is the daughter of Gottfried Helnwein...dun-dun-dun! I swear...talent breeds talent!

Oh Yunko Shimizu, I'd ask you what I have to do to stop loving your work so much, but I just don't wanna stop. I posted Shimizu's work on October, 2012, after a double appearance on EK, first way back in 2010 and then on February 2012. Here is a look at some recent boss illustrations by the talented Japanese artist, as well as some stuff you may have not seen before.

Previously featured back in September 2010, Kevin Francis Gray returns with new sculptures carved out of marble and bronze that reminds me why I give sculptors mad respect for their skills.

Lente Scura is a digital artist who uses photo-manipulation to create emotive digital paintings of female subjects caught in a confusing space caught between reality and dreams. Most of Scura's subjects appear to be struggling with emotion filled with dramatic anguish and sadness...haunting, but damn beautiful.

Archan Nair (b.1982, New Delhi) is a self developed visual artist, illustrator and Art Director, specializing in mixed media, illustration, and digital art. Archan is inspired by various phases and forms of life to create highly intricate works that connect the various dimensions of our existence.

"Even though we, as unique individuals, live in a different environment, at a point of time we feel the same when we look at an object. When I am having a conversation with my family and friends, I feel that we are of a same mind. I believe that one admits the difference and similarity of each creature through interacting with each other. Based upon the perception of such commonality, I try to put the incidental excitement into a two dimensional surface of colors to propose you to another imaginative phantasmal world." -Rim Lee

"I love working with the feminine form. The female embodies so much in terms of imagery and symbolism. For things such as nature, oppression, beauty, love, emotion, sexuality there are so many layers and facets one can glean from representing the woman. As I approach the idea of femininity I bring with it my own experiences growing up as a woman and the difficulties and struggles that I have fought. The psychology of how women are portrayed in art and the media are amplified and exposed in my work. In turn, I’ve reinterpreted my experiences and how women are portrayed in today’s society to also extend to how it seems that we as individuals and as a race have objectified, commodified and exploited women, animals, and nature." -Hannah Yata

NANAN'S BACK! Nanan is an all around sculptor-painter-photographer who produces Toy Art of the collectible designer type, which still remains on my wish list as I stated in Nanan's previous feature back in November 2011. If anyone is wondering what to get me for the holidays, here it is!