abra vana alucinete fogo #1, 2012 - assume vivid astro focus

The artist collective assume vivid astro focus (avaf), made up of Brazilian artist Eli Sudbrack and French artist Christophe Hamaide-Pierson, likes to say that they are "nomads" "born sometime between the 20th and 21st centuries." It makes sense: in their work both geographies and the pre- and post-Internet eras are straddled, creating explosive tableaux are chaotic, visually stimulating mash-ups of references.

Some of these influence are: Sonia Delaunay, Jim Lee/Rob Liefeld/Bill Sienkiewicz/Arthur Adams/Neal Adams (illustrators for the comic books X-Men, New Mutants, and X-Force), inuit modern art, Robert Motherwell, Minimalism, Coco (Ice T's girlfriend), Smooth Magazine, Dzi Croquettes, Gaetano Pesce, George Plank, inflatable sex dolls, Kay Nielsen, trannies, spandex, inflatable body suits, and zentai, to name a few.

Their work often and easily segues into the fashion industry and popular culture. They have collaborated with designers from Comme des Garçons—providing their imagery for both printed and digital matter—to Lady Gaga, who incorporated their art into the Gaga's Workshop display at Barneys New York.

avaf's work—typically titled in an acrostic play on the letters "a" "v" "a" and "f"—has been exhibited at the 2004 Whitney Biennial, the 2008 São Paulo Art Biennial, Deitch Projects in New York, and the Hiromi Yoshii Gallery in Tokyo, Japan, among numerous other international venues. Their creations are included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and have been featured in ArtForum, Frieze, Flash Art, L'Uomo Vogue, V Magazine, and W Magazine. In 2009, the collaborative designed the cover of the New York Times' T Magazine, and in 2010, a monograph of their work was published by Rizzoli and launched at the New Museum, New York. avaf is also featured in the sixth season of the prestigious PBS series Art 21.