French artist Gilbert Legrand’s new series takes everyday objects like corkscrews, tape measures, and more and turns them into hilariously cute characters that almost make you forget their original purpose. Skillfully using each object’s natural shape, he crafts a character full of whimsy and personality. Each is painted to detail, with even the tiniest of characters bearing an expression which leaves no doubt as to their feelings about the situation. It truly takes a talented hand and imagination to turn paint brushes and zippers into humorous characters with surprisingly huge personalities.

I was born in Calella (Barcelona) in 1956, and nowadays I live in Vilassar de Mar (Barcelona). Since I was a child I have been fascinated by painting and I think I'm a self-taught painter because, despite I was taught drawing at Primary School, I have acquired my knowledge thanks to my environment. Painting is my own way to express myself. I can shape my inward in the canvas with the essential help of the palette knife and the colours. As a nature’s lover and great observant, my environment has always been my source of inspiration. At present I devote myself exclusively to painting, my true passion, and that is why I feel extremely fortunate.

“Joan Miro i Ferra (April 20, 1893 – December 25, 1983) was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona. Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride. In numerous interviews dating from the 1930s onwards, Miro expressed contempt for conventional painting methods as a way of supporting bourgeois society, and famously declared an “assassination of painting” in favour of upsetting the visual elements of established painting”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Joan Miro's, grandsons, Emilio Fernandez Miro and Joan Punyet Miro pose beside Personnage (1970) in the Yorkshire Sculpture park on March 14, 2012 in Wakefield, England. Yorkshire Sculpture Park stages the first major UK survey of sculpture by Spanish artist Joan Miro. (Photo by Bethany Clarke/Getty Images)

“Peter Michael Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011) was an American actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the television series Columbo. He appeared in numerous films and television guest roles and was nominated for an Academy Award twice (for 1960's Murder, Inc. and 1961's Pocketful of Miracles), and won the Emmy Award on five occasions (four for Columbo) and the Golden Globe award once. Director William Friedkin, when discussing Falk's role in his 1978 film The Brink's Job said that «Peter has a great range from comedy to drama. He could break your heart or he could make you laugh»”. – Wikipedia

Photo: American actor Peter Falk, best known for his role as TV detective Columbo. (Photo by Harry Benson/Express/Getty Images). 4th October 1965

With its huge eyes, comical name and diminutive size, Mark R. Smith’s image of a baby Hawaiian bobtail squid can’t help but raise a smile. A curiously endearing creature, the cephalopod is just 1.5cm across, its mantle cavity bearing more than a passing resemblance to a rather natty shower cap. But it is also a beautiful example of symbiosis – nature’s version of “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” – for on the underside of the squid is a light organ which houses bioluminescent bacteria. The squid offers the bacteria protection and food, while the bacteria emit a glow – a handy trait that the squid uses to offset its silhouette, helping it to evade predators in the depths below. Mark R. Smith’s entry combines several images of a Hawaiian bobtail squid with different focus lengths to create a final picture with greater depth of field than normal. (Photo by Mark R. Smith/Wellcome Images/Macroscopic Solutions)

A woman wears a mask while carrying a dog in the street on January 22, 2020 in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. A new infectious coronavirus known as “2019-nCoV” was discovered in Wuhan as the number of cases rose to over 400 in mainland China. Health officials stepped up efforts to contain the spread of the pneumonia-like disease which medicals experts confirmed can be passed from human to human. The death toll has reached 17 people as the Wuhan government issued regulations today that residents must wear masks in public places. Cases have been reported in other countries including the United States, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. (Photo by Getty Images/China Stringer Network)

Montegut fire chief Toby Henry walks back to his fire truck in the rain as firefighters cut through trees on the road in Bourg, Louisiana as Hurricane Ida passes on August 29, 2021. Hurricane Ida struck the coast of Louisiana on August 29 as a powerful Category 4 storm, 16 years to the day after deadly Hurricane Katrina devastated the southern US city of New Orleans. “Extremely dangerous Category 4 Hurricane Ida makes landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana”, the National Hurricane Center wrote in an advisory. (Photo by Mark Felix/AFP Photo)

Family members mourn the passing of Manuela Chavez, who died from symptoms related to the new coronavirus at the age of 88, as a government team prepares to remove her body from inside her home, in the Shipibo Indigenous community of Pucallpa, in Peru's Ucayali region, Monday, August 31, 2020. While the lucky are cured with ancestral ailments, the less fortunate often die at home. A government team travels from one spartan, thatch-roofed home to the next, removing the dead from their homes where they took their last breaths. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)