Angela Nocentini Creates Couture Made With Magis Adhesive Tape.

Angela Nocentini, a sculpture teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, is known for her fashions made with recycled trash and waste to emphasize her environmental concerns. To illustrate the use of tape as a reusable resource, she collaborated with eco-conscious Italian adhesive tape company Magis S.p.A. (not to be confused with Magis Design) to create these fashions using their products.


















At Magis the respect of the environment has always been one of their main concerns and they have been investing in new technologies with low environmental impact and in the use of renewable energies.

In their production they use highly recyclable materials such as polypropylene, paper, cartons and solvent-free adhesives as hot melt and acrylic water based emulsions.



About Magis
Magis, founded in 1983, was one of the first companies in coating polypropylene film with Hot Melt glue and to experiment with a form of printing called Sandwich, protected between the film and the adhesive. Thanks to these innovations, Magis has shortly become one of the leading companies in Italy, and soon after in the European and International market.

Magis is located in Cerreto Guidi on a production plant of more than 28.000 sqm.Thanks also to numerous investments, new machines and skilled personnel, Magis is able to guarantee the highest flexibility to all its customers and the best quality of the products. Nowadays Magis is one of the leading companies producing customized packaging materials and is ISO 9001:2008 certified.

original images courtesy of Magis, but have been highly altered in color, contrast and cropping by If It's Hip, It's Here

The Beautifully Twisted Photography of Nikita "Nikitzo" Zolotarev.

Russian born Nikita Zolotarev (aka Nikitzo) is both a make-up artist and commercial photographer who works and lives in Leipzig, Germany. With food, fashion and tabletop work and his credit, it is his stunning ballet and contortionist photos that I find the most compelling.




Zolotarev is best known for the calendars he has shot of world-renowned contortionist Julia Gunthel, who goes by the stage name Zlata. I'm not sure if the two are merely business partners or a couple, but both Nikita and Julia were born in Russia, both now live in Leipzig, he has taken almost all her photos for the past several years, travels with her (she has a son) and together they own and run Zlata Media.

The Telegraph covered her 2012 calendar, The Daily Mail featured her 2013 calendar and HuffPo recently covered her new 2014 Calendar, but I wanted to share with you the best from those as well as some of his lesser known photography.


above: photographer and make-up artist Nikita Zolotarev in his studio

I have chosen some of my favorites from the breadth of his work to share with you so you, too, can marvel at both the flexibility of his models,  and the beauty of his work.




















And although not featuring contorted models, here are some of his other fashion photography:






As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Nikita is also a make-up artist. Below he is applying the makeup on Julia Gunthel for the cover of her 2014 Zlata Calendar:


The final cover of the 2014 Zlata Calendar by Nikitzo:


You can purchase the 2014 calendar here

all images courtesy of Nikitzo

Andrew Myers Decides To Screw Art. Portraits Made With A Drill and Philips Head Screws.

It's hard to know whether or not to call Andrew Myers' work paintings or sculpture. A bit of both, Artist Andrew Myers uses anywhere from 8,000 - 10,000 screws (which he then hand paints) drilled into boards to create thoughtful portraits of men and women.




His backgrounds are created from a collage of telephone book pages. Despite the unusual mediums, the completed images are surprisingly soulful.

This recently completed screw portrait used 9,800 screws:


Other screw portraits by Andrew:



above: Portrait of John. Dimensions 48 in x 48 in x 5 in. Medium: screws, oil paint and phone book pages



above: An Artist's winter. Dimensions 24 in x 24 in x 4 in. Medium: screws, oil paint and phone book pages



above: Portrait of Bill. Dimensions 24 in x 24 in x 4 in. Medium: screws, oil paint and phone book pages



above: Portrait of Sabrina. Dimensions 48 in x 48 in x 5 in. Medium: screws, oil paint and phone book pages

About the artist:


Since his early childhood, Andrew Myers has been artistically influenced by european life and culture. Born in Braunshweig, Germany and raised in Ciudad Real, Spain his exposure to modern continental living and classical architecture prompted the universal and classical themes, yet modern design found in his artwork.

At the age of 20, Myers applied to the Art Institute of Southern California (now known as the Laguna College of Art and Design); with no previous art training, he was accepted based upon the natural talent his application portfolio evidenced. The young artist developed his skills through advanced figurative sculpture and accelerated painting curriculum. While these two and a half years of creative training provided Myers with the basic working knowledge of the artistic field, it was his drive, passion, and leap of faith into work as a full time artist that allowed him to cultivate his particular style. Myers blends modern material with classical figurative technique featuring a universal subject matter that is prevalent throughout his work. It is his unification of these three characteristics that results in the innovative and modern artwork that captivates viewers and has been so highly acclaimed nationwide.

Most recently, Myers has been working on public commissions, some of which include, St. Catherine’s Catholic Church in the Diocese of Orange and a public work for the City of Laguna Beach, California, as well as several private client commissions.

Andrew Myers