Welcome to lowercase focus; our weekly instalment featuring the top 5 emerging artists to follow this week.

Yao

This artist from Taiwan has broken into the contemporary art scene thanks to his style that juxtaposes a nostalgia for the 80s and 90s and our contemporary world.  Although his versatility allows him to work with different media, Yao's works are mainly painting and sculpture. What has distinguished the artist from others is his grim interventions in classic animated toys. His stamp is the disfiguration of faces by including a glitch. Despite the terrifying character the figures do not lose their essence. That gesture associates him with the characteristics of the information age.

Yao grew up consuming popular Western cartoons such as Mickey Mouse, Felix the Cat, and Popeye. This reflects the cultural integration of the country: an ecosystem that has adopted different foreign cultures and incorporated them into its customs. That spirit has created an environment conducive to the mixing of styles and innovations. Inspired by horror films and stories, Yao has been taking advantage of the local cultural context since he began painting at the age of six. What is interesting in Yao's work is his concept of time as destruction. This can be seen visually in the deterioration of his toys.

You can find him: https://www.instagram.com/yaosoart/

Frenetik Void

Franco Verrascina, better known as Frenetik Void, was born in 1994 in Argentina. He currently works and lives in Buenos Aires but his art has managed to break the local barriers and obtain international recognition, especially because of his 3D designs. The artist's interest in digital technology begins at an early age as his father is dedicated to software development. This allowed him to explore and enter the digital universe closely, especially the field of video games which have been a great aesthetic inspiration. His style is not easy to catalog since Frenetik is based on artistic experimentation within the digital medium. Nevertheless, the common factor is his capacity to create imaginary worlds.

The 3D design has enabled the artist to make digital models and bring them to life. One of his most relevant is his work on post-human bodies. Within a science fiction environment, this dystopian reality is filled with mutant or hybrid beings in which the limits between human and humanoid vanish. Between steampunk and surrealism, the bodies are shown suspended in liquids building a unique aesthetic. The value of Frenetik's art lies in its ability to capture beauty and fragility as a metaphor for our contemporary hybrid identity and our technophilia. The fear and curiosity about the unknown are probably what moves his viewers.

You can find him: https://www.instagram.com/frenetikvoid/

BARTS

This is the alias of the artist Bianca Burrows, known for her artistic works on the streets of Florida. Her style is characterized by the use of mixed media that combines traditional elements with a variety of materials such as stencil, spray, or paper. The truth is that there are many urban artists, but few like BARTS. The young woman has created an easily recognizable style that mixes the aesthetics of urban art with pop art and environmental practices. This last point is fundamental to understand her art and her role in the streets. Although the walls of the buildings are her canvas, BARTS has a unique technique based on creating works of paper that are then attached to the design on the wall. This means that the drawing can be removed at any time and will not damage the surface. This highlights the ethics that run through all her art.

BARTS' works are characterized by the brightness of the colors, the play of light, the color saturation, and the sharp outlines. Her two-dimensional images are situated between figurative and abstract language. The artist is part of that generation of urban artists who privilege realistic drawings, which some critics refer to as a painting technique or as the artistic approach of urban art. After all, different styles, inspirations, and artists coexist in the streets, but whatever they are, they are all art.

You can find her:  https://www.instagram.com/itsbbart/

 Johan Vernier

The visual artist comes from Jura, a region of France. He is a self-taught painter who, despite his few years of age, has made a long journey in artistic experimentation. His research began first with acrylic and oil, but then he began to explore the digital medium due to its freedom. His style gradually began to emerge as a cross between minimalist architecture and the colors of pop art. Although they may seem contradictory concepts, Vernier unites them in the same work generating harmony and tranquility.

His main inspirations come from the De Stijl movement and the artists Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Salvador Dalí. Also, the ancient philosophy, especially the Stoic current, has inspired him in his perception of art as a subjective interpretation. The artist is mainly interested in the subtle alteration of reality that causes the viewer to question.

You can find him: http://www.johanvernier.com/

GIORGIKO

This is an artistic group created by Darren and Trisha Inouye, from LA, in 2012 who are dedicated to illustration. Their art is distinguished by merging expressive and minimal characters with painting. Another peculiarity is that their works are on a large scale creating a strong impact on all their audience. Their images are part of Giorgiko's universe, a home for children who wander lost in the pursuit of their dreams and with the hope that they will be found. These fantasy characters can be recognized by their spherical heads and their small facial features to the point of being indistinguishable, like the eyes that are just two black dots, their mouth just one line, and the nose absent.

The style of their illustrations is a clear reflection of the couple's artistic personalities. Trisha has been passionate about drawing since she was a child and contributes her great talent and traditional techniques. She has also been in charge of bringing the sweetness and innocence of Giorgiko's characters. Darren, on the other hand, is a lover of urban culture. Interested in hip hop dance and graffiti, he has added the underground aesthetic to Giorgiko's passages and vagabonds.

You can find them: https://www.instagram.com/giorgiko.la/