Cosmic Eye
As a photographer/digital artist living in the Coachella Valley (originally from Malaysia & Canada), I enjoy capturing snapshots of nature, architecture, and socio-culture that express a realistic representation of natural beauty, identity, and diversity from my perspective while conjuring up deep emotional, mental, and spiritual connections.
Exploring modernistic contemporary photographic art has allowed me to combine my photography with digital techniques to go beyond the traditional form. I love experimenting with lighting, exposure, tone, angle, texture, and scale to highlight unique features and natural vibrancy from a raw subject capture to a refreshed art form. As I develop my craft, I also aim to broaden my photography to include abstraction and even surrealism while preserving a photographic eye.
My photographic artwork has received multiple awards in both national and internationally-juried exhibitions, online & book publications in, (and a TV newscast with KESQ in Palm Springs), US, Canada, Germany, and France (Paris), and Hungary (Budapest), including a “Winner” and “Finalist” in the Budapest ArtBIAS 2 International Exhibition (June 2024); 1st Place “People’s choice” award with Desert Art Center (Nov. 2024); Finalist Award: Blue Space’s “Representation v. Abstraction – 2024”, June – July 2024: “Best in Show” (2023) & “Exhibition Finalist” awards (2024, June 2025) at Fusion Art, two “Bronze Award”s & “Artist of the Month: (Oct & July 2023) with Camelback Gallery, and multiple “Honorable Mention”, “Special Merits” and “Recognitions” awards in 2023 and 2024 with Light Space & Time, Teravarna galleries). Locally, I have exhibited at the Artists Council Center, Palm Desert; Desert Open Studios 2024, 2025); Desert Art Center, Palm Springs; and currently with the Living Out Palm Springs Art Project. My publications include “60 Artistes Du Mouvement Art Resilience,” France, and “Fictional Narrative,” Decagon Gallery, New York.
As a photographer, I aim to capture images that captivate with intricate patterns, angles, and shapes from nature and the elements, i.e., fire! This “Cosmic Eye” is born out of a fiery glass-blowing furnace. Its symmetrical central point dazzles with a psychedelic focus while the edges are framed with an expansive nebula enhanced with hand-drawn digital painting. By distorting images with glass and utilizing digital techniques and painting, I add my artistic textures and tapestry to create designs reminiscent of fractal art or mandalas.
It is my hope that this image welcomes an exploration of visionary art, combining natural color saturation and abstract forms to evoke a sense of cosmic energy and mysticism.
Cosmic Rose
She studied painting at an art school in Florence, Italy, and learned painting techniques from artists in each country while traveling around the world 5 times 60 countries. In 2022, she set up an atelier in her birthplace Awaji Island, Japan, and use it as a base for creative activities.
She has presented her artworks at international art exhibitions in the United States, Italy, Spain, France, and more, also produced picture books using art in 5 languages and expanding them to the world.
“Create art that will last for 100 years and touch people’s hearts around the world! ”
It’s a miracle what can be completed in a moment, using materials from each country, and colorfully and dynamically drawing the inspiration that springs up from the heart while feeling the energy of each country.
Harmony of love and soul.
The power of pink color, It’s love itself.
Love is handed down from parent to child.
That love sublimates one’s soul by repeating creation and destruction, eventually, it will create a world of harmony between the world, the earth, the universe, and all living beings.
Using pink as a keyword, I expressed the possibilities of a harmonious world vividly and dynamically.
First of all, make your heart happy, and then fill it with love, which will unite us in world peace.
See the warm and colorful world through the eyes of Lun Lun.
Cosmoses
I hold a Doctorate in Philosophy from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, a Masters Degree in Philosophy from SIU-C, and English from Eastern Illinois University. I am a 61-year-old survivor of oral cancer living in Danville, Illinois, who suffers significant complications from surgeries and radiation. As I cannot generally attend festivals, I rely on online submissions to showcase my work. I also was once a reporter for the Danville Commercial News, but my PTSD made it very difficult to write. I took up painting and digital photography to express what I can no longer write about. I taught philosophy for 28 years, 18 years of which were full-time before my inability to swallow or speak for any length of time forced me to retire. In the last few years, I have taught art and film as well.
I have been shown in at least 10 galleries in the U.S., such as Hawaii, Indiana, Illinois, Colorado, and Rhode Island.
I also have been shown on at least 10 online galleries, especially KBM.
I love abstract painting and digital designs. I love to paint, but also have lately taken to digitally manipulating “bad photographs,” structuring the image so that there is an unironic tension in the work between the beautiful and the distressing. This tension is found in all my works – an otherness with a desire for itself (to put it philosophically). This calls into question the artistic object and reference since I drain the referential content of photographs. My influences include Modernist Art – Rothko and Pollock especially – Pop Artists, and the rather unclassifiable Gerhard Richter.
Costa Del Sol
Karen Safer, a native Angelino, is an internationally exhibited, award-winning photographic artist and poet with a musical bent. Her passion for art began when given a camera and crayons at age three and immersed in California’s visual language. A lifelong traveler, she has explored over 230+ countries & territories, embracing both the exotic and the unexpected. Influenced by her father’s black-and-white photography and her mother’s insatiable curiosity for knowledge and travel, her inspirations range from ancient Assyria to the conceptual works of Cindy Sherman. She began as a painter before discovering photography in college, earning a master’s degree in art (UCLA & CSULB) and building a career in design and architecture.
With 14 solo exhibitions and participation in over 590 shows, she has received more than 480 awards, including the Julia Margaret Cameron Award, PISPA, TIFA, reFocus, and Exposure One. Her work has been featured in 130+ publications, such as LENS, Dodho, ArtTalk, ArtTour, One Eyeland, and Spotlight. She has exhibited in major cities worldwide, including London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Venice, Florence, Barcelona, Budapest, Dubai, São Paulo, Seoul, Tokyo, Zurich, New York, and Los Angeles. Her work is held in numerous collections, and she is a member of many organizations, including LAAA (825 Gallery), LACP etc. A self-described “romantic old soul” with intellectual cravings, she navigates the digital world while remaining deeply connected to art’s timeless essence. She embraces color but venerates black and white, realistic and abstract.
“I am a ‘romantic old soul’ with intellectual cravings now living in a Digital World.”kjs
I’ve always been an artist. My passion for art and photography began early in my teens. I embrace the natural world and man-made as well. I am influenced by everything from the ancients to Cindy Sherman, and while I embrace color, I revere black and white, realistic and abstract. I am a student of the universe, history, art, architecture, music, literature, and all the arts.
I got a camera and some crayons as a kid,
journeyed along a path in life – far from what I’d expected,
moved from youth to middle age,
did some work, had some fun, got high, got low,
and just continue doing it – never tiring of the next visual surprise.
– Life is still a mystery, after all. – kjs
My Motos: “A photographer has the whole world, big or small, to capture.” kjs
“And, wherever I am in the world, it is my favorite place!!” kjs
Cottage On The Pond
John was born in Columbus Ohio, graduated from Ohio State, and lived in Southern California for 30 years. Although John learned to draw and paint as a young boy, his degrees are in the computer science field. It wasn’t until 2010 when his wife bought him a large easel and encouraged him to start painting again, that he began to take his art career seriously. Since then John has been selected in over 250 gallery shows and juried contests, including the National Oil & Acrylic Painter’s Society 2014 Best in America show. John’s Carousel Horse #1 was featured in the June 2014 issue of the Artist’s Magazine Competition Spotlight, and he was featured in the ‘Artists to Watch’ section of the Southwest Art March 2016 edition. John’s acrylic paintings have been included in AcrylicWorks Best of Acrylic Painting volumes 1 through 10 and his paintings have been voted FAV15% in Bold Brush on a number of occasions.
I create realistic impressions of what Nature has already created. Using heavy body acrylics with lots of detail and bold colors, I interpret a thing – a car, a forest, a face, a farmhouse – using my own voice with only one rule: don’t lose the magic. I approach each new work with a concept, a learning goal, various reference images, and a color palette. My sketches are brief because I know the painting will change many times before completed. I usually paint from the inside out, starting with the main focal point. For instance, the eyes are the first thing I paint in my portraits. If I get them right the rest will follow.
Couleurs De La Ville
Ananda KARABO is a Los Angeles-based contemporary painter whose work harnesses the emotional volatility and vivid spontaneity of Abstract Expressionism. Her canvases serve as profound meditations on contemporary struggles, focusing on the interwoven narratives of mental health, multicultural identity, and the relentless pulse of urban life. She aims to create spaces of recognition, validating the journey of embracing the unknown.
KARABO’s distinct visual style is defined by her command of texture and contrast. She works in a powerful combination of acrylic and oil pastel, applying the paint with techniques such as aggressive impasto for three-dimensional density, grattage to scrape back layers and reveal history, and rhythmic drip-painting for spontaneous energy. This tactile, physical process imbues her art with a raw, undeniable energy.
Her paintings have been exhibited across the West Coast, with notable showings at dnj Gallery in Santa Monica and Woodward Contemporary in San Diego. Highlighting her commitment to her core themes, her work is currently on display at the Marilyn Hilton MS Achievement Center at UCLA Health.
My work is an inquiry into the complex interplay of memory and urban space and the resilience of the human spirit. As an artist, I challenge the viewer to look beyond the surface of the familiar, revealing the hidden emotional architecture that defines our shared existence.
My process is a dialogue between intuitive gestural application and the unpredictable nature of my chosen mediums – acrylic, gouache, and oil pastels on canvas. I am less concerned with faithful representation and more focused on achieving a state of visceral energy where color, form, and texture become a language unto themselves.
Each piece, whether a sprawling mural or kinetic installation, is a chapter in a larger exploration of how the contemporary experience fragments our identity and the search for a permanent belonging. The deliberate layering and juxtaposition of rough and smooth textures invite a deeper contemplation of their own place within a rapidly changing world.
Ultimately, I create art not to provide answers, but to frame more urgent questions. My mission as Ananda KARABO is to translate the chaotic harmony of the natural world into a lasting visual experience that resonates with both intellectual rigor and raw, emotional honesty.
Cowboy Dream
Marion Kahn is an award-winning, contemporary oil painter. Through vivid interpretation, her paintings share the unceasing mystery of the world around her.
As an artist, Marion confidently captures surprising details that draw in the viewer. Her palettes can be soft or bold. She uses color to carry the message of the painting, whether expressing a quiet meditation or exuberant joy. Marion’s work is found in the homes of sophisticated collectors around the country as well as healthcare institutions.
“My desire to paint exploded in Sicily when I saw two young artists atop a scaffolding restoring a 400-year-old fresco,” says Marion. “I watched, mesmerized and full of questions.”
Marion studied with established artists including renowned photorealist painter, Robert Cottingham; abstract painters, Sammy Peters, and Lauren Mantecon, American Impressionists, Kim English, and Barry Thomas; abstract colorist, Casey Klahn, and plein air painters, Jean Perry and Joan Hoffmann.
I speak in color. I offer a joyous journey into a chroma-saturated world on a path of discovery, of the art, myself, and hopefully for the viewer. As an artist, I try to express the truth I see and feel, primarily in oils.
As light filters through elements, I see their reality. But when I imagine the potential of sight or vision on a canvas, I see color. I see what could and may be. At a cellular level, there is color. I’m not repainting the world. I’m just offering a different idea of how things could be.
Painting, for me, is a Zen-like activity. It provides a great deal of peace, even when I’m debating a painting. In the honorable struggle of creation, I remain committed to the discovery and to creating compelling works.
It is my wish that, through my paintings, viewers never find the last idea but rather the ongoing inspiration of possibility that I, too, enjoy.
Cozy And Warm
Growing up in Honolulu, Hawaii, and now living in Los Angeles, Brandon Shim leveraged his love of working with people in his portrait photography. He is most fascinated by the unlimited aesthetic options in crafting an ideal portrait, and then in selecting the best. A University of Southern California (BA & MBA) graduate, Brandon has studied and utilized the USC campus in both architectural and portrait photography.
Brandon’s creative photography journey started when he borrowed a family member’s camera, and then he learned from different mentors including his two nephews: James and John. He sharpened his skills by going on organized photo shoots. In his endeavors, Brandon inspired his portrait photography subjects to increase their confidence and develop their own personal artistic style.
In addition to still photography, Brandon has produced or co-produced several short films including Different Quake, Quad, and God’s Voice. These films have been screened in Los Angeles, Palm Springs, and London.
As both a photographer and video producer, I enjoy collaborating with highly talented individuals to create innovative art. To achieve this goal, I take the following three steps.
First, I inspire my portrait subjects to unlock their own personal beauty and unique style. Second, I experiment and encourage my photo subjects to experiment with different wardrobes, lighting, emotions, postures, and scenic backgrounds. Finally, as a creative team, both my photo subjects and I endeavor to captivate our audience into entering our magical world. In short, we create photography to engage people in our distinctive narrative.
Cozy Corner
Shanoor is a Lebanese-Armenian-American fine artist, designer, speaker, and CEO and Owner of Devarj Design Agency, Inc.
His artistic career began at the tender age of 16 in Beirut, Lebanon, where he lived until 1975, when, because of the Lebanese civil war, he migrated to the United States. As a precocious sixteen-year-old, his work was exhibited in the Armenian Genocide Exhibition in Beirut. That year, his paintings were also accepted at the German Cultural Association for International Children’s exhibitions. His work was later featured in the Children’s Museum of Armenia (1966) and in a group show at the Musée Sursok (1967). In 1969, Shanoor assisted in sculpting the official portrait bust of The Honorable Sami (Bay) Solh, the Prime Minister of Lebanon, and in 1974, marking an important final achievement in Beirut just before moving to the US, Shanoor participated in a milestone group show at Galerie Contemporaine with Middle Eastern artists Rafic Charaf, Fateh Al Mudarress, Juliana Séraphim.
He was educated in advertising design with a BFA at London’s Barking College, and following Shanoor’s move to Chicago in 1975, he was educated at the Art Institute of Chicago. He began a career in art direction, branding, and design for advertising agencies such as Leo Burnett and BBDO before eventually opening his own design firm in 1984. Alongside his fruitful career in design, Shanoor continued to develop his personal artistic practice. He began experimenting with painting on a range of new materials, including large un-stretched canvases, shower curtains, and found paper, and held shows at various alternative and traditional art spaces and world wide tours including Spain, Switzerland, Berlin, Greece, Dubai, Venezia, NY, Miami, Amsterdam, Chicago, Boston, LA, SC, NC, Missouri and Indiana. Neo Symbolic Surrealist Series 01-15 to 02-15 2025, Shanoor’s paintings were selected for a group exhibition at the Palm Art Gallery titled Landscapes of the Mind. The titles of the paintings are The Visitor, Petrified, Mega Morphosis, Empower 2, and Acceptance.
Landscapes of the Mind Exhibition you can find here:
01-29th February 2025, Group exhibition at Thomson Gallery, Switzerland
01-31st January 2025, Group exhibition at Thomson Gallery, Switzerland
01-30th November 2024, Group exhibition at Andakulova Gallery, Dubai
11-26th 2024 to 01-25th 2025, Shanoor’s paintings were selected for a group show at the Naturalist Gallery Subconscious Exhibition. The titles of the paintings are Petrified, Rebirth, Whirlwind, and Mega Morphosis.
The Naturalist Gallery Subconscious Exhibition can be found here: https://naturalist.gallery/collections/subconscious
01-30th October 2024, Group exhibition at ArtEXPO, Paris
01-30th September 2024, Group exhibition at Thomson Gallery, Switzerland
08-20th 2024 to 10-19th 2024 – Shanoor’s paintings were selected for a group show at the Naturalist Gallery’s Humor Exhibition. For more exhibitions, visit shanoor.com
Art transcends isolation—it becomes a universal language, a bridge to connect us all. For Shanoor, this truth has been a guiding force in his life and work. Arriving in Chicago at 26, Shanoor brought with him a profound passion for visual storytelling. His journey began with formal training in advertising design in London, which led to a successful career as an art director at the esteemed Leo Burnett agency. Yet, his heart always belonged to painting, a practice he has pursued since the age of six.
Born into a family shaped by the pain of displacement, Shanoor’s art is a reflection of his personal history and a powerful statement on the human condition. His work is driven by an urgency to express and disrupt, creating a dialogue that challenges viewers to confront the unfamiliar.
Shanoor describes his unique style as Neo Symbolic Expressionism, a response to the extreme conditions of our time. Inspired by surrealism and the transformative power of Picasso, his art reinvents reality on canvas. Eyes multiply, lips stretch into otherworldly shapes, and hands transform into fluid, clay-like forms. These extraordinary subjects, set against stark, simple backgrounds, create a provocative interplay between the ordinary and the hyperreal.
The tragedies and triumphs that have marked Shanoor’s life are deeply embedded in his creative process. Drawing from the displacement of his parents and his own sense of dislocation, he crafts characters and worlds that exist on the edge of the real and the imagined. Through his art, he explores themes of identity, memory, and transformation, creating a new reality where free expression reigns.
Shanoor’s work is more than an artistic vision—it is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. Each piece invites viewers into a world that is simultaneously strange and familiar, urging them to reflect on their perceptions and embrace new perspectives.
Through his paintings, Shanoor not only tells his story but also offers a space where others can find meaning, connection, and inspiration.