Minneapolis and St. Paul have been placed among the top art cities in the world, but who are the people that bring this title to the cities year after year? Here is a list of the top 10 most influential Twin Cities artists that have captured the voice of the decade and will continue to excel beyond peer competition in coming years. 10. Calpurnia Peach Fashion http://www.myspace.com/calpurniapeach Former University of Minnesota fashion students Luci Kandler and Ashley Wokasch are dissipating the line between visual art and fashion design. The duo adds spice and character to their girlish cocktail dresses by screen printing patterns of salt shakers, roses and even pickles. After deciding to start their own fashion line, the Calpurnia Peach ladies have had the courage and intelligence to break into the cutthroat fashion industry with a flash of style. 9. Jordan Herregraven Visual Local artist Jason Herregraven is sure to dazzle the Twin Cities in coming years. At just 19 years old, Herregraven has recently been accepted into an art academy in the Netherlands and is already wowing Minnesota with his works of epic proportion. His paintings layer dark imagery with protruding layers of paper, macabre hand prints and enough wide-stroke abstractions to bring Helen Frankenthaler to her knees. 8. TU Dance Dance http://www.tudance.org/ Toni Pierce-Sands and Uri Sands have been stirring souls and defying gravity during their short run as the artistic directors of TU Dance company, based in St. Paul. TU Dance is one of the newest and most prolific dance companies in the Midwest and has already received praise from the esteemed Dance Magazine. 7. Greg Gossel Visual http://www.greggossel.com/ Greg Gossel draws on celebrities like M.I.A. and Michael Jackson, warning signs and 1970s romantic comic books to create several series of original, screen-printed graphic works, many of massive proportions. Gossel works by replicating iconic figures again and again but erases and alters their meaning each time through different steps of layering and masking. 6. Tracy Bennett Jewelry http://scoutvintage.com/Scout_Vintage.html Tying together family heirlooms, antique finds and a myriad of pearls and crucifixes, jewelry designer Tracy Bennet’s necklaces are wearable installation art. The melding of fashionable accessories and collective conscious memories results in opulent accessories for the artistically chic. 5. Ed Bok Lee Poetry http://www.edboklee.com/ As the son of Korean immigrant parents, Ed Bok Lee’s 2005 collection of poetry âÄúReal Karaoke PeopleâÄù explores Minneapolis as both his hometown and a foreign land. Lee draws from conversations with his parents, eldest brother and local imagery, perhaps the most striking of which is an African-American homeless man on Franklin Avenue. A sample line of his poetry reads, âÄúWork your ass off and move away from this [expletive] out to the suburbs. Maybe marry a white girl.âÄù His pictures of Minneapolis effortlessly describe it as an exhausting microcosm of the drifting American dream. 4. Alec Soth Photography http://www.alecsoth.com/ Photographer Alec Soth can take photos of just about anything. His work with modern fashion features wide-angle shots of a Chanel stage and Karl Lagerfeld in Grand Palais to fishermen in northern Minnesota. Soth draws parallels between the world of high fashion and the details of everyday life in his book âÄúParis MinnesotaâÄù to transform a series of portraits into an examination of humanity in decadence and poverty. 3. Ruben Nusz Concept, Abstract http://www.rubennusz.com/Art/r_u_b_e_n_n_u_s_z.html This Twin Cities art darling has been stirring up the town with his multifaceted skills, from smeared black and white paintings of Natalie Wood to âÄústill lifeâÄù photography featuring roaches infesting everyday objects like exit signs and bathroom sinks. 2. Wing Young Huie Photography http://www.wingyounghuie.com/ After being named Minneapolis’ best artist in 2000 by the Star Tribune, local photographer Wing Young Huie has continued to create the most poignant and charming photography of the decade. His photographic work âÄúFrogtownâÄù and âÄúLake Street USAâÄù details his experience in immigrant neighborhoods and youth as the only American-born son of a Chinese family. 1. Aesthetic Apparatus Graphic http://www.aestheticapparatus.com/index.php With their work already plastered all over the world, the graphic art collective Aesthetic Apparatus are the voice of Twin Cities design. Designing everything from The Triple Rock Social Club’s new logo to canisters for Andrews & Durham tea to posters for The Decemberists and The Hold Steady , AA is the new-age graphic design dream team repping for its generation.