Art lessons: Alaya Gadeh

Have you ever had a dream so beautiful that you wish you could permanently capture the images that played in your head?  German photographer, designer and artist Alaya Gadeh seems to have the rare ability to do just that. Alaya’s works are beautiful, imaginative and inspirational. She combines various art techniques  to create images that appear to be dream-like and full of fantasy. While viewing Gadeh's work, I feel almost as if I am seeing a part of myself that I buried deep down. Her work is subtle. She uses bold colors, but frequently mutes the tones with an overlay of texture or pattern. Gadeh incorporates elements from nature in her self portraits. She also creates colorful and intricate mandalas, which often aid in meditation and the process of finding one's true self. Here are some of my favorite works by Gadeh.

Couleur Royale de la Mandala, no. 1

Floral Dream



Art Lessons

I have been home sick for the last few days, so I have spent most of my time sleeping or searching the Internet for cool stuff. This morning, I found the COOLEST of things - the work of Alexandra Valenti. Alexandra Valenti is a photographer and artist. Her images seem almost like vintage snapshots from a trip to the dessert in the late 1960s. Valenti is from Berkley, made her way to New York and now lives in Texas and it is obvious that these locations have influenced her work.

The black and white images and the contrasting bright painted shapes make for such engaging images. They are serious and happy, serene and vibrant at the same time. The images are simple, but the added colors make them so interesting to view. Valenti's images remind me of the gorgeous, laid back attitude of the West Coast. They are one part hippie and one part magical, which makes a lot of sense considering that she has photographed ad campaigns for Free People.