BMX biker and event compere Ben Manuel warms up for the annual Hub Festival May 20, 2011 in Liverpool, England. This weekend's annual hub festival is an urban mix of art, music and action sports staged at Otterspool Promenade and attracts the top BMX, Skateboarders, artists and musical talent from across the UK. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

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)

Artist Christopher Lovell counts himself lucky to have been a child of the 80s. The toys, cartoons and movies of the era left him spellbound, fueling his imagination. He finds this inspiration allows him to express himself very naturally through his art. Having developed a deep interest in fantasy and sci-fi, he spent his childhood and teen years immersed in every aspect of creativity he could access.

In an extraordinary act of devotion to his art, sculptural artist Spencer Byles spent a year creating beautiful sculptures out of natural and found materials throughout the unmanaged forests of La Colle Sur Loup (where he lived with his family), Villeneuve Loubet and Mougins. He worked together with elements of his natural surroundings to create artwork that blends seamlessly with the environment.

Artist Paolo Curcio craves tiny bas-relief sculptures into coins – a traditional art form known as the hobo nickel. Curcio’s coins feature intricately detailed hobos, skulls and a variety of pop culture characters. Plastic castings of his works are available online.

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 Tiny Terrarium collection will be the ideal choice for summer time. Rings and pendants from this collection are true works of art. Each of them contains the part charming forest scenery. No matter where you are, with these accessories a little piece of nature will always be with you. Mai McKemy draws inspiration from the nature that surrounds her. Woodland Belle studio is located in Asheville, North Carolina.

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.