Allen Stickel’s portraits are loaded with colour, yet do not ooze the good cheer usually associated with such brights. Loneliness pervades the scene of Yellow in Pink, despite the rosy tones, and Suburbia #2 speaks of uncertainty. It is only Indian Blue Sky that might keep us on an even keel, but still it cannot be said that the girls look happy. Stickel’s small acrylics cling to the imagination.

Artist: Allen Stickel
+ redcakegallery.com

We recently discovered the Red Cake Gallery, an on-line gallery that features extremely affordable original artwork by a real cross-section of artists who work in a variety of media. This week we will be featuring five of Red Cake’s artists, starting today with Anna Kipervaser.

Through her travels, Anna Kipervaser has felt a pull towards cultural and socio-political issues, and yet she deftly manages to keep her Bird series accessible by combining classical oil painting techniques with a touch of the Middle East. The headpieces sported by a variety of birds lend an endearing air of intellect. Born in Ukraine and now based in Chicago, Kipervaser uses her own sense of being the outsider as a perspective in her work. Also of interest is the series iamyouandyourareme.

Artist:Anna Kipervaser
+ redcakegallery.com
+ anna.kipervaser.googlepages.com

PEEL: The Art of the Sticker by Dave and Holly Combs, the founders of PEEL magazine, is an entertaining and informative book on the topic of stickering today. The format includes interviews with a wide variety of sticker artists from all over the world, their work and a selection of stickers that can be used by the reader. The authors developed a keen interest in the topic after being awed by the stickers they saw in NYC while participating in the post 9/11 clean-up. Because stickering often has to be a somewhat anonymous art, this book provides a great look into the personae and personalities of this group of sticker artists that includes Buff Monster, Olive47, Shepard Fairey. Lots of images and a plain old good read.

Hardcover, 160 pages. Mark Batty Publisher, 2008. $20.40 at Amazon.

+ Peel: The Art of the Sticker at Amazon

Danish photog Jakob Hunosøe reminds us to enjoy what is left of the summer and dupes us into thinking that winter is really pretty. Via iheartphotograph.

Notcot shows off the complete set of Wish Come True blindbox toys from Friends With You that was at Comic-con recently. Each friend is super-cute, wobbles and emits a little tinkly noise, so you can't go wrong.

While conventional wisdom tells us to keep away from dark alleys, photographer Xavier Nuez goes looking for trouble, or at the very least, signs of it. Being accosted by addicts and dealers, chased by gangs and questioned by police is all part of a night’s work. Nuez is inspired by inner-city ruins, dead ends, back lots and uninviting urban corners, partially due to a family history of homelessness and the fear that he too would succumb. To counteract this past, the artist creates monuments of the gutters, working with Hasselblad film cameras and shooting with lights and gels, and very long exposures.

Artist: Xavier Nuez
+ nuez.com

Emily Niland’s mixed-media work is a collage of ideas and images. Freedom and captivity are two of the themes that run through this artist’s work, not only physical but emotional and intellectual as well. Niland looks at media and mimicry, and movement contrasts with sitting still in stagnation. We cannot help but wonder when we will wake up from the American Dream.

Artist: Emily Niland
+ emilyniland.mosaicglobe.com

Buff Monster’s distinctive use of black, white and pink for happy flowers and breasts in the place he calls Lollipop Land reminds us that “Pink is Power.” This artist has postered the streets with thousands of silkscreened works, turned his hand to vinyl toys and is not averse to gallery shows as well. Now based in LA, but originally from Hawaii, Buff Monster, who started his career by using flattened spray cans as his canvas, is inspired by heavy metal, kaiju monsters, kawaii, the female body and ice cream.

Artist: Buff Monster
+ buffmonster.com

Usually recent work by German painter Sven Kroner features the blues and greens of landscapes that catch the eye thanks to the placement of tiny human figures, so it is unusual to see this earlier piece of men at a urinal where the yellow background really stands out. Bold strokes of colour show texture and emotion in scenes that span the seasons and offer a variety of topographies. The viewer is drawn to the lakeside settings, or people deep in a meadow, or the approach to a cosy snow-covered house.

Artist: Sven Kroner
+ sieshoeke.com

Runyon Canyon, a new exhibition of work by Christian Vincent, features vivid patterns, a menagerie of animals and mysterious goings-on behind beaded curtains. The scenes are sometimes surreal, what with furry animals and parrots heaped upon young men and women, yet at others they are quite serene as a young girl listens to guitar music or another has a cup of tea. But the fellow seated at a canvas is not having a very good time at all – is this a portrait of the artist as a young man?

Artist: Christian Vincent
+ mikeweissgallery.com

The series of plates in Topologies by Portuguese photographer Edgar Martins is an eerily beautiful depiction of ordinary landscapes. From Iceland’s earthy colours or whiteouts and an almost deserted beach at night, to Portuguese forest fires and the exurban patterns of highways and airport runways, Martins teases out the charms hidden in the details. The introductory essay by John Beardsley provides excellent insight into Martins’ work and methods (large format camera, long exposure, lack of staging, etc.), and there is also an interview with the artist. An interesting note about the cover photo of a woman on the beach reveals that, in this series of objets trouvés, Martins came upon her by happenstance as part of someone else’s photo shoot and just snapped her from behind.

Hardcover, 128 pages. Aperture 2008. $36.50 at Amazon.

+ Topologies at Amazon

KidRobot is poised to release a set of 24 redrawn Simpsons figures (blindboxed). Via Josh Spear.

A 1949 iconic Eames House in chocolate by Thomas Haas. Via Notcot.