The photographic works of young Korean Artist Myoung Ho Lee have gained international acclaim for their simple concept and potent outcome. The artist has been developing an ongoing series that take trees in their natural environment and isolates them by placing a white ground behind the tree elegantly altering the viewer’s perception. The subject begins to appear in graphic terms much as photograph would on an immense billboard, inspiring questions of reality, existence, and identity in relation to the surrounding environment. The artist’s work has been featured in several magazines and online publications such as Juxtapoz, Design Boom, Lens and Culture, and Everyoneforever.com.

“Chaotic Explosions of the Eye” is a new exhibition opening this month in Scandinavia at V1 Gallery by Bay Area artist Andrew Schoultz. The artist, one of the first DS daily features, is on the rise, especially in the United States. Rooted in social conscience, Schoultz’s work spans painting and installation and has been presented in countless galleries and city streets. The energy and visual speed of the artist’s work aids in his investigation of ” medieval maps from the 15th century, mid-eastern miniature painting, biblical symbolism and re-interpreted folk art blended in with present-day themes such as war, globalization, and the relationship between man and nature,” states VI Gallery. The artist has exhibited in numerous venues including Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York, New Image Art Gallery in LA and Boston Center for the Arts. Gingko Press recently published a book on the artist’s work entitled “Ulysses – the artwork of Andrew Schoultz,” featuring infamous works completed in the Mission District of SF and in Indonesia.

The new exhibition and book titled “Hybrids” explores various subcultures through photographs taken by Klaus Thymann from 2003 – 2007, investigating gay rodeos, an underwater striptease, snow polo and religious theme parks among many others. The sociological documentation is the material for a new 144 page book that the artist is debuting at the end of next month. The book is printed in a limited edition of only 500 copies, each containing an original print. Thymann will launch the book through several international galleries such as V1 Gallery in Copenhagen and DreamBags Jaguar Shoes in London; a date in New York City is to be determined for November. The artist lives and works in London as a professional photographer and filmmaker shooting for magazines such as ID, Flaunt, and GQ and clients like Depeche Mode and Greenday.

Recent works by artist Marlene Mocquet mix elements of surrealism with a genuine interest in the physical property of paint. In the rendering of each anthropomorphic character, the artist employs a variety of techniques mixing oils, acrylics and gouache, defying her materials and blurring the line between foreground and background. Mocquet’s work has been related to artists Paul Klee (in his early career) and Max Ernst. The artist is a recent graduate of the School of the Fine Arts of Paris. She has exhibited internationally, presenting her work at Galerie Alain Gutharc, Paris, and recently exhibiting nearly 20 new works at the Freight and Volume Gallery in New York City.

In the exhibition “room x room,” currently on view in the James Harris Gallery Project room in Seattle, international and emerging artists come together to investigate ideas related to the architecture of public and private space. Artists in the exhibit include Ralf Bruck, Candida Hofer, Matthew Jordan, Laura Letinsky, and Andrew Moore. Each artist investigates space through deafening images that offer the viewer clues of artistic intention through the formal concerns of style, composition, ornamentation, and light and shadow. In each work, the human element is absent only in that there is no figure present, while the photograph continues to allude to a human presence by revealing inherent social structures contained in each environment. Through the employment of sterile compositions and minimal gestures, the photographers achieve a heightened physiological view of architecture and its ability to shape social interactions.

Opening just last week at Danziger Projects in New York City is the highly talked about photographic series “Sentry,” by artist Andy Freeberg. The series characterizes the New York Art world through its intentional distance and lack of humility. The artist has stated, “It was an odd moment when I walked into that first gallery in Chelsea and saw a large white desk with a head poking up from the top edge of the computer screen. I set my camera, carefully framing and exposing the scene, and the head never moved or took notice of my gaze…” Freeberg’s work is interested in the intersection of art, architecture, and environment especially in its relation to human presence. The artist began his career as a photojournalist completing assignments for Rolling Stone, TIME, and Fortune magazine. The “Sentry” series was recently used for the novel “Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him.” The artist’s work, though not often shown in a gallery setting, has been acclaimed by critics and was selected as the lead images in a recent show curated by Charlotte Cotton, the new director of photography for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Cuban-Dominican artist Quisqueya Henriquez opened his first major museum survey exhibition at the Bronx Museum of the Arts yesterday evening. “The World Outside: A Survey Exhibition 1991-2007,” showcases the artist’s sculptures, installations, drawings, photographs, videos and light/sound works created over the past two decades. In addition to the exhibition, Henriquez was featured in this month’s ARTnews magazine. The artist’s work investigates social environments through cultural cliches, invoking sensory experiences of urban life through his multi-disciplinary works. The artist, who is currently represented by David Castillo in New York City, studied at the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in Havana, Cuba and the Universidad Autonoma De Santo Domingo (USAD) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Henriquez has exhibited in the Centro de Fotografia de la Isla de Tenerife in the Islas Canarias, Spain and Proyecto de Arte Contemporaneo, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico, among countless others. The artist is now in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), North Miami, the Henry Buhl Foundation and the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).