Matteo Pugliese was born in Milan in 1969. In 1978 his family moved to Sardinia and lived there for the next 12 years. During this time he developed a strong love for drawing and sculpture and practiced without formal education. After finishing his secondary school studies in classics in Cagliari, he returned to Milan to attend university. In 1995 he was awarded his degree in modern literature at the University of Milan with a graduation thesis on art criticism.

Masakatsu Sashie is a Japanese painter, born in 1974 in Kanazawa. His paintings of spherical structures floating above rubble on the streets, envision a future where environmental disasters have made the cities depicted uninhabitable. While he has been painting since 1999, his work caught more national intention in 2005 at the Geisai art show.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s misfortunes have often eclipsed its good news, with ongoing armed conflicts and most recently an Ebola outbreak. Much of the world knows little of the country’s vibrant arts scene, and last weekend in the capital, Kinshasa, models showed off daring new looks dreamed up by local designers on the catwalk. (Photo by Olivia Acland/The Guardian)

French artist Thomas Lamadieu, also know as Roots Art, must really love looking at the sky. Every time he looks up, Thomas sees a potential canvas where the building rooftops frame the sky. He photographs it and uses the odd sky shapes to create whimsical line drawings. “My artistic aim is to show a different perception of urban architecture and the everyday environment around us, what we can construct with a boundless imagination,” says Thomas. (Photo by Thomas Lamadieu)

Salespeople roll out a reproduction of the famous work “Girl with a Pearl Earring” at the artist village on June 11, 2014 in Shenzhen, China. The Dafen Artist Village in Guangdong province, China, is home to thousands of artists who reproduce some of the world's most iconic paintings as well as create their own works. The village, on the outskirts of Shenzhen, is becoming a major center for original Chinese art. (Photo by Palani Mohan/Getty images)

Cormorant masters and boatmen prepare sea cormorants for the nights “Ukai” on July 2, 2014 in Gifu, Japan. In this traditional fishing art “ukai”, a cormorant master called “usho” manages cormorants to capture ayu or sweetfish. The ushos of River Nagara have been the official staff of the Imperial Household Agency of Japan since 1890. Currently six imperial fishermen of Nagara River conduct special fishing to contribute to the Imperial family eight times a year, on top of daily fishing from mid-May to mid-October. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

“Woman with Umbrella in Rain” by Raimund von Stillfried. Artist: Kusakabe Kimbei (Japanese, 1841–1934), 1870s. Commercial photography studios in Meiji-era Japan were renowned for the subtlety and refinement of their coloring techniques. This hand-tinted image of a young woman caught in a heavy rainstorm achieved its naturalistic effect by knitting together multiple strands of artifice: the greenery in the foreground was a studio prop; the flaps of the kimono were suspended by thin wires to create the impression of a strong wind; and long, diagonal marks were made on the negative to suggest streaks of rain. (Photo courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Inga Paltser is a young painter from Severodvinsk known for her watercolor illustrations and paintings of owls. Inga prefers working with paper, but sometimes also creates on textile, wood, and canvas. She started painting in her childhood at the local school of arts. However, after high school Inga decided to become a biologist and now she works as a researcher. Even though art hasn’t become her profession, Inga finds time to create wonderful paintings presented on this website. Her first owls were painted spontaneously – Inga decided to utilize small pieces of watercolor and pastel paper and created two cute owls called “Friends”. Inga’s owls instantly received recognition across the web and social networks and now are greatly loved by thousands of people around the world.