Friday, 15 August 2008 |
The name Gary Fernández has started to appear often enough to warrant a closer look. Fernández is a freelance illustrator and graphic artist based in Madrid, Spain, and currently living in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. His client list is impressive, ranging from advertising heavies DDB, McCann Erickson, JWT and Grey to superbrands such as Coca Cola, Nokia and Camel. His illustrations have appeared in numerous magazines and books.
Fernández’s intricate, retro-esque illustrations marry a liquid stroke with a rigid tension, which in turn projects an underlying seething mood and latent danger. For some reason, I’m thinking Dadaism and Salvador Dali mixed with the sixties’ London vibes and New York’s retro fashion illustrations. At the same time, some of his work is almost whimsical and merry; evoking images from Cirque du Soleil and old European circus posters. Whatever you see, you are irresistibly drawn into his world.
A fantastic recent example is his elaborate illustration book titled Introduction to Fantastic Girls, Future Landscapes & the Most Beautiful Birds Ever Seen, available -- possibly -- on his site in limited quantities.
Gary Fernández is also the founder and creative lead of the T-shirt brand VelvetBanana. The name VelvetBanana draws its parts from The Velvet Underground and Andy Warhol’s “banana cover” for their first album The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967).
Fernández started VelvetBanana in 2005 with the goal of redefining the “Art Rock T-shirt” by producing thematic collections. The themes capture certain moods, songs or bands. The latest, Collection #3, is described as having “electrifying, abrasive, furious and hypnotic graphics full of energy” although the photo book of the collection appears indoorsy and tame, with clean yet fashionably brooding models photographed against a pristine white background. The T-shirts are available at Urban Outfitters blog.urbanoutfitters.com among others .- Tuija Seipell
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Wednesday, 04 June 2008 |
Having spent more than enough time travelling the world, I didn’t think
I’d ever been this excited about yet another art event. But Buenos
Aires and its amazing ArteBA Contemporary Art Fair
have just reminded me how exciting art really can be. Forget the
mainstream Basels and Miamis – this is where the world’s hottest art
event is right now, and this is where the art world is really happening.
Argentineans are an extremely cultured bunch, more than any other
nation, and this is the most important art fair in Latin America.
Absolutely everyone seems to be interested in or involved in art here,
and the massive daily line-ups were events onto themselves. This is
where you meet everybody who is anybody, from artists to collectors to
critics to celebrities to the general public. The entire city and its
incomparable art, cultural and tourism charm is turned fully on and you
are going to love it!
ArteBA is a fantastic meeting point of everything that has to do with
art in the Latin American market – new, avant-garde, exotic,
experimental, traditional; established artists, newcomers and everybody
in between -- you name it, and it is here. Mainly visual artist and
galleries from Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Costa Rica, Colombia and
Uruguay displayed their best and their hottest art. The venerable,
17-year-old, five-day intensive art event had an attendance of more
than 110,000 people, and it came close to having more energy and eye
candy than I could handle!
Argentineans are extremely stylish with an edge, and it seems they are
all good looking. So, I found myself people-stalking a lot as well,
even at the art events where there was more exciting art than I have
ever encountered in any art event in any city. From now on, this is THE
one art event I will attend every year.
In Buenos Aires, my home away from home was Palermo’s Home Hotel, one of the Hotels included in our latest book World’s Coolest Hotel Rooms.
and also Tailor Made Hotel in Las Cañitas. Palermo Viejo is Buenos Aires's equivalent to New York's Soho and it is
definitely the trendiest neighborhood and way much cheaper than Soho. The cobbled streets are lined
with fashion boutiques, amazing restaurants and design shops, mostly one-off local brands,
the really interesting stuff. I liked Arte Etnico Argentino
that sells textiles, furniture and accessories made in tribal villages.
Another amazing area is San Telmo with its antique stores
and the hugely popular Sunday antique market. This is the way antiquing
is supposed to feel like!
I have never experienced a city more extroverted and exotic in its
fusion of night and day, history and future, foreign and local. My
every sense has been heightened here by the overwhelming richness of
sights, sounds, smells and tastes, and by the endless succession of
nightlife, tango parties, special events, dinners, clubs...I’ve had an
amazing time and I have Astrid Perkins and her great team at Think Argentina to thank for pretty much all of it. I have never been looked after better than here in Buenos Aires!
A big thank you to LAN Airlines business class for flying me to Buenos Aires from New York. By Bill Tikos
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Thursday, 29 May 2008 |
If in Barcelona, you’ll have a couple of more days to see MWM’s — aka Matt W. Moore — solo show 20/20 by ROJO magazine at Artspace at Carrer Girona 61 Local 02 in Eixample. But it is worth a view online as well at mwmgraphics.blogspot.com and Flickr.
Moore is a 28-year-old Boston-based graduate of Savannah College of Art
and Design. He is a multitalented artist, illustrator and designer who
has worked with Ecko, Nike, Samsung and many others. Fascinated with
symmetry, math and wild color, he creates retro-spirited, abstract
graphics with a wild, graffiti edge. His typography, type treatments
and icons are featured in his annual b/w book – MWM B:4, and in a
comprehensive solo book Vectorfunk by ROJO. By Tuija Seipell
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Tuesday, 27 May 2008 |
If you are in New York, go to the Fulton Ferry Landing by the Brooklyn
Bridge and peer at London with a monstrous telectroscope. If you are
lucky, your buddies in London happen to be on the South Bank by the
Tower Bridge where a similar telectroscope stands. And guess what you
will see? Each other! Why would that be in any way interesting,
considering that we can webcam with anyone any time?
This prehistoric-looking getup is ART created by London artist Paul St.
George. And he, apparently, is only fulfilling the dream of his
great-grandfather, Alexander Stanhope St. George. The elder St. George
dreamt of burrowing a tunnel across the ocean, setting a magnifying
telectroscope at each end so that people could see each other.
If the fake tale isn’t enticing enough, the gizmo itself is worth the
trek. It took two days and nights for the massive contraption to grow
from the river mud and morph from a six-foot, revolving, metallic drill
bit to the final tower of a 37-foot-long telescope. It will be
there until June 15. To set up a viewing date with your buddies at the
other end, go to telectroscope.net. By Tuija Seipell
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Tuesday, 08 April 2008 |
Here is a selection of images straight from the portfolio of the sought-after illustrator Steven Wilson. Because Steven’s impressive client list includes everyone from Coke to Nike, BBC and MTV, it is likely that you have already come across one of his beautiful works.
Steven is inspired by circus imagery, tribal art and 70s rock posters among other things, and he can often be found sifting through flea market stalls looking for obscure books to use as reference. All of this ensures that his work stands out. There is no question that his pieces define and represent a new wave of illustrated art. He has a particular passion for working on albums covers. By Brendan McKnight
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Wednesday, 21 November 2007 |
Forget about wandering through an art gallery and wondering if you’re
the only one who has no idea what anything means. Hannes Broecker
has brilliantly invited the cultural elite to grab a glass at an
exhibition in Dresden, Germany, and drink away the art.
Regardless of what we do or do not understand about art, we can all
agree, it stimulates our senses. Broecker has aroused our sense
of taste (not to mention eliminated the need of elbowing our way to the
bar) by hanging flat, glass containers with a variety of cocktails in
the exhibition space. As the night progressed, the levels of the
multi-coloured infusions diminished. By the end of the event, the
art, itself, ran dry, and empty drinking glasses were returned to where
they were originally placed. By Andrew J Wiener.
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Tuesday, 19 June 2007 |
The beauty of the art of Origami has always been the tradition of which
its based on. The digital masters program at Sydney's University of
Technology has appropriated the very tradition with it's digital
origami. By asking students to study trends in parametric modeling,
digital fabrication and material science, the team created an
amazing display
which reflects on the beauty and tradition of the Japanese art but
delivers its aesthetics in a modern and current practice. The
digital Origami exhibition is a progressive display of re inventing
ancient traditions in digital parameters.
Using 3500 recycled cardboard molecules, University of Technology
design students, under the guidance of lecturer Chris
Bosse, examined various aspects of architectural foundations
through small elements of design.
The result is a cool installation which examines space and
the elements of design including arches, walls tunnels and traditional structures. The room full of Geometric paper
shapes, placed on top of one another and adhered to ceilings and
walls are brilliantly illuminated by expressive neon lighting
which further emphasizes the angular structure of the work itself.
Bosse cites the aim of the project as " testing the fitness of a
particular module, copied from nature, to generate architectural space,
with the assumption that the intelligence of the smallest unit
dictates the intelligence of the overall system. By Andy G. See also WALL ART
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Thursday, 24 May 2007 |
Originality is rare these days in the art world but we’re pleased to
report that we’ve stumbled upon an artist whose work is both innovative
and modern. Matt Bilfield, California based artist, won us over with
this incredible three-dimensional piece “Peggy,” a brilliant and
ambitious interpretation of a painting by famous artist, Roy
Lichtenstein. The mammoth work - it’s seven feet wide and three
feet tall - is comprised of 2788 hand cut, sanded, and painted dowels
that where then assembled together to recreate Lichtenstein’s image.
The result is a cross between a graphic art image, sculpture, and
installation which offers the viewer a different experience from every
angle. By Billy T
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Tuesday, 10 April 2007 |
Sydney based artist, Brian Walker's credits his desire
to seamlessly fuse fashion, illustration and the element of
surprise as the driving creative force behind his artworks.
In a time where the line between hyper-realities and those of our own
are becoming finer, the Sydney artists work speaks a relative language.
The digital artist is inspired by surreal landscapes, the evolution of
fashion and changing popular culture . Walker takes these inspirational
genres and merges them with his concept of 'using photography as a tool
to represent the ideas of the impossible'.
Noting David La Chapelle as a major influence, Walker strives to create
a hyper real visual language which at first glance appears real, and at
second, evolves into the surreal . More of the Sydney artists work can
be seen at lickthesun.com By Andy G
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Tuesday, 28 November 2006 |
The V&A museum in London has a display of a new interactive audio-visual
installation in the John Madejski Garden. Volume is made of a series of
vertical light columns and will respond to visitors' movements,
triggering a display of light and sound.
The collaboration
is between lighting designers United Visual Artists (UVA) and Robert Del
Naja (aka 3D) of Massive Attack and his long-term co-writer Neil
Davidge (as part of their music production company, one point six). The installation is part of the Playstation Season, a
series of contemporary, interactive events at the BALTIC Centre for
Contemporary Arts, The English National Opera, Sadler's Wells, The
British Film Institute and the V&A.
Times: Daily, 10am -5.45pm. Late night opening until 10pm on Wednesdays in 2006 and Fridays in 2007.Prices: Free Nearest Tube station: South Kensington
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Saturday, 21 October 2006 |
Kenji Hirata work
looks like graphic design, but it's bigger and hotter, it's graphic
wall painting.
In his productions, the New York based painter from
Nagasaki, Japan incorporates water, fire, metal, wood, and oil, fusing
a complex narrative out of the five elements. He moves confidently
between compositions of layered density and vast areas of open fields
and clean forms.
Strongly inspired by nature, his work also has strong
reference to the vibrancy of Jamaican dance hall sound systems, the
billboards and hand painted signage of Southeast Asia, the sci-fi
futurism and structure of H.R. Geiger, Phase2, Doze, Skwerm, Mike Ming,
and the Barnstormers crew. As an original member of the Barnstomers,
Hirata has created large-scale public mural paintings in New York,
Miami, Tokyo, and the rural town of Cameron, NC, where the artist
collective was founded. Hirata is an artist who creates work in an
impressive variety of situations, from huge colorful public murals, to
more personal paintings, from animated works for film to illustrations
for books. by Yvan Rodic
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Friday, 16 June 2006 |
Going to a fancy dress party but stuck for a costume? Forget the gorilla suits or French maid outfit and make one hell of an entrance with ‘the baby suit’. This crazy costume will see you covered (literally) with hundreds of baby dolls. We’re not sure if creator Phillip Toledano is actually selling the suits or just photographs of the suit. Whether it hangs on your wall or your body doesn’t matter, it’s still art to us. They are limited to only 12 and cost $2,300. by Lisa Evans
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Tuesday, 11 April 2006 |
Eggciting news from China! Sorry it had to be said. When one thinks of amazing structures in China, the great wall usually springs to mind. Well here is amazing structure number two. This awesome egg structure represents a currency note to its very last detail. As amazing as it is, one might have thought up of a better foundation than a Hello Kitty inspired tiled floor to place it on. by Andy G
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Thursday, 30 March 2006 |
While it’s a little fantastical Balenciaga’s fabulous shoot, which was featured in the New York Times magazine for its trend on platform shoes is a perfect metaphor for the hotter-than-hot label. Photographed by Miles Aldridge, the image features two Godzilla sized Balenciaga-clad-feet stomping aggressively on a cityscape complete with freeways and cars. Following in Godzilla’s formidable footsteps, Balenciaga takes over the world! Indeed. by Lisa Evans
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