Brian Ponto Graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2004. His thesis, the “Proactive Project,” bled the line between design, authorship, media, and public space. This experience brought him to some of the most renown design studios in New York City, including James Victore, Inc. and the Pushpin Group, Inc.

The Studio of Brian Ponto specializes in serving clients with a conscience. Recent work includes: the United Nations Food Program, the City of New York-Gates to Harlem, the Gaia Institute, and independent publishers and music groups like Dim Mak, and North Drive Press.

His projects have shown internationally at the Type Director’s Club, the New York Art Director’s Club, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, the Visual Arts Gallery in Chelsea, and the Instigator Gallery in Brooklyn His works has been published in the New York Times, Step Magazine, Communication Arts, Print Magazine and Paper magazine. More of Brian Ponto's work can be seen here.

"Two Heroes are Alexander Beloff and Stanislav Gordiyenko. Since 2006 the Two Heroes art group has been working on concept projects. One of them, which is called The Double is dedicated to existentialism in the works of Dostoyevskiy. A person assigns her subjective attitude to real events and objects. Operating with terms which are far from reality, the Person seeks to justify all her actions, frame up a logical explanation and add sense to the actions." Click to continue to the Two Heroes site.

"Passive Illumination is my attempt to breath life into the past: I found several old photographs of my family, enlarged them and mounted sections of the enlargements on the sides of 78 small boxes that I constructed. The boxes were then mounted in two wooden grid shelves and then animated using digital stop motion with some post-production done in Aftereffects. The result is akin to a dream or a rush of memories with a strong sense of longing." Jesse S. Clark Studios web site

"Inspired by and aspiring to make impressions of daily life, Lorenzo loves life. His photos exemplify what is extraordinary in the ordinary—showing us what most of us do not see, if only because we are too hurried to notice. Lorenzo was recently selected by HP (Hewlett-Packard) to be the emerging artist to launch a national advertising campaign this month. He is also the author of 25 Lessons: The Art of Living, published by Cyan Books in Spring 2008." See more of Lorenzo's work

Maryna Butenko of Los Angeles, organic lines and her cool palette of colors makes the Elemental Series is a unique exploration of nature and it's simplicity "Painting gives me the ability to express myself without saying a word. I experiment with texture and space, as a result my work has a variety of looks. I realize that ignoring all the rules of formal training is what makes my paintings truly unique." Visit Maryna's portfolio.

Rufus Clark is a recent graduate of the Art Institute of Washington DC with a B.F.A. in Media Arts and Animation. We first saw him at his school's portfolio show at the National Building Musem. We were impressed by his presenation and his Illustrations. View his online portfolio here.

Kalliope's cinematic approach to lighting, costuming and make-up gives her portraits a feeling of eras past. She explains her work: "As an artist I work with the self-portrait photography as a means of exploring issues of identity, myth and archetype. Self-portraits are inevitable, because I am the only one capable of accurately expressing the images that take shape in my mind. However, I have a hard time identifying with my work as "self" portraiture, because all of these characters and personalities are their own. I try give them life for a moment, acting as a screen for these various identities, moods and personalities" To view more of Kalliope Amorphous' work click here.

GJ Lee of Jersey City, NJ takes a different approach to illustration: "After working with traditional media through college, I took an interest to working digitally; mainly with illustrator. I enjoy putting things together; through a series of adding and subtracting i use shapes and forms to create flat scenes of repose and/or tension." See more works at neonjelly.net