Chinese activist Ai Weiwei has recently created a 760 bicycle installation where the massive stacked structure can be explored from within. The showcase is being held at the Galleria Continua in Tuscany untill the 16th of February.

It's not often that we feature fashion artists/illustrators on EK, but once in a while, we'll come across one that we can't pass up. Carmen García Huerta is an artist currently based out of Madrid, Spain who creates unique fashion illustrations where her subjects look diseased, simply put.

Nathan Ota made his first appearance on EK on 2010. He incorporates elements of graffiti and urban art into his amazing illustrations and sometimes complements his unique style with other talented collaborators such street art extraordinaire, Risky.

Jesse Bromm is a sculptor out of Toronoto, Canada. "I want to know more about the Human condition. Artistic expression to me is an exercise in understanding, whether it is grasping a question or a feeling all my work stems from ignorance. Words elude me and thoughts rampage through unorganized and fleeting memories, working with glass helps me ground internal dispute and challenge external confrontation."

To start the year off right, we bring Agnes Cecile back since her last feature back in June 2011. Cecile creates wonderful mixed media watercolor, ink, and acrylic pieces that initially caught our attention in 2011, and she has new work to present spanning all of 2012 to now.

Originally hailing from British Columbia, Canada, Sascha Braunig creates intense oil on canvas paintings incorporating trippy patterns and distorted figurative subjects. Acid anyone? Braunig is currently based out of Portland, Maine.

Tom Ormond's work was displayed last year in an exhibition called Digital Romantics, which explored artists who were inspired by digital media "to develop a new form of Romanticism." In addition to the appearance of his work, the fact that Ormond creates these digital-looking images from oil paints makes the label "Digital Romantic" fit him that much more closely.

Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla are a collaborative duo of visual artists who live and work in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Their modern body of work portrays sculpture, photography, performance, sound, and video that engages historical and contemporary geo-political realities.

Mel Ramos is an American figurative painter from Sacramento, California, USA, who has been on this earth since 1934. Ramos gained popularity in the 1960's during the Pop Art movement, exhibiting along side Andy Warhol and others, for his pin-up-style artwork of female nudes exploring themes of sexuality and commercialism. Ramos doesn't limited himself to just oil paintings, but rather works with a myriad of different mediums ranging from acrylics, watercolors, and even creating woven tapestry pieces.

Lee Guk Hyun is no stranger to EK. Lee was featured back in October 2011 for his wonderful oil on canvas paintings, landing him a spot on our TOP 100 of 2011. Lee continues his series of figurative paintings of women that we're familiar with, however this time around, he also explores a more abstract avenue for his newest pieces.

Oriol Angrill Jorda is a Spanish artist whose stunning graphite illustrations are fantastically photorealistic - we're smitten!

Rhode Island-based artist Karim Hamid is an oil painter who uses a loose approach for his figurative work. He was previously featured back in March 2010 by Konahrtist. “While the imagery is often distorted or exaggerated in my work, I also expect my work to express itself within its own polemical and painterly distortion of that distortion. It is about the thing/person being observed, as well as the method of being observed.” -Karim Hamid

Aristotle's philosophy on two human beings in love reminds me of Rik Garrett's current series 'Symbiosis'. The fate of two physical bodies that connect and form as one soul, which is similarly portrayed throughout Garrett's mixed media photography. The Chicago based artist explores ideas regarding love, relationships, magic, alchemy and mutually beneficial partnerships in nature.

The family name "Saville" isn't new to the staff at EK. Boo Saville is the sister of Jenny Saville who is no stranger to EK who was featured previously in August 2012, August 2010, and making the TOP 100 of 2010. However, not to ride the coattails of her sister, Boo Saville is an equally talented artist who creates drawings, paintings, and shoots photography herself. She creates everything from ink paintings to drawings to etchings, and even...paintings out of household bleach!

Catherine Nelson is a visual artist who uses the digital medium to paint images together into personal and imaginary landscapes. Trained as a painter in Sydney and London with years of experience in creating visual effects for feature films like Moulin Rouge and Harry Potter, she now has dedicated her skills to her own art work combining the techniques from both these worlds into a new contemporary art medium.

Back by popular demand, we revisit Eric Fortune since his last feature back in April 2010. And when I say "popular demand", I mean it. We were messaged by several EK faithfuls who informed us of Fortune's new work, and we're glad they did! Fortune, based out of Columbus, Ohio, USA, has been busy creating new acrylic on watercolor paper pieces.

The delightfully raw works of the talented  illustrator/comic book artist Olivier Bonhomme. This Emile Cohl graduate currently resides in  Lyon, France.

Another watercolor artist! Aitor Renteria's paintings capture the mood and ambience of everyday scenes. He sometimes finishes his paintings digitally, like the one above.

Mary O’Malley is a sculptor that currently resides in New York where she molds her ceramics out of a barn in the south shore of Long Island. Her porcelain series deals with the themes of the sea and ocean entitled 'Bottom Feeders'.

John Salminen demonstrates his proficiency with watercolor by precisely capturing the details of everyday scenes in his paintings.