SKAGGS

Fubiz tuned me on to these beguiling images by Parisian illustrator Jules Julien [note–not work safe]. Does this work imply that within a consumerist culture, we are soon defined by the products we consume? Or that globalization leads to the loss of cultural identity?

It’s interesting to consider just how many brand services and products each of us consume every single day. This point is well made by annonymous blogger Dear Jane, whose timeline of every logo she sees on an average day rings true for most of us. Take a moment to think about it: what would yours look like? No doubt there’ll be a Facebook/Twitter application out there soon.

Way back in the summer of 2001, I visited my good friends Ping, Li and Mengye in Kunming, capital of China’s Yunnan Province. In July of that year I was in Beijing, where there was widespread excitement about the Olympic bid. When it was announced that Beijing had been chosen, the city erupted into parties, celebrations on the street and a palpable feeling that Beijing’s moment had arrived on the international stage.

Seven years later, there’s no doubt that the city has exceeded all expectations as Olympic host. Beijing has a new airport, an astounding Olympic stadium, and international focus has turned to emerging Chinese artists and the Chinese role in global media. The world is gearing up for the opening ceremony this Friday, with billions expected to tune in.

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I’m all about random designer luxury goods. Not so much the handbags, umbrellas and cell phone cases. More like KVD’s Chanel Surfboard and my Mark Jacobs Bean Bags (courtesy of Cara). I see them not as luxury goods - but more like works of fashion art. When I came across Peter Gronquist’s latest exhibition at the Gallery 1998 in LA, I positively leapt out of my chair with glee. Weapons aren’t really my thing BUT I will make an exception for the Chanel Rocket Launcher, The Prada AK47 and of course the Louis Vuitton Chainsaw.

The artist and animator Blu proves that with enough patience, time and skill, you can make moving art anywhere.

One of the best things I’ve noticed recently about drawing and cartooning blogs is the growing phenomenon of “discovering” artists and illustrators who might otherwise have slipped into anonymity.

Mystery stories! All of us have an old children’s annual, record sleeve or illustrated cookbook tucked away at the back of the shelf. Did you ever wonder who the illustrator was, and where you might find more work by them? There are some dedicated sleuths out there, and plenty of real-life mysteries waiting to be solved…
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I came across David Shrigley’s work and absolutely love it! While his drawings are my favorites, the photographs are cool too…not sure I’d get a tattoo though.

I met and interviewed Marjane Satrapi in October of 2003, when her graphic-novel memoir Persepolis was already a bestseller in France. The comic, the first part of which had recently been translated into English and published as Persepolis: The Story of A Childhood, was the focus of my undergraduate dissertation.

At the time, a major exhibition of her original artwork opened in Ravenna, Italy, where she also taught a comic art workshop. There was a real sense that Persepolis had the potential to push quality comic art into the cultural and critical limelight in Britain and the United States.
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I came across Visionaire’s latest must have, a little late for Xmas but it’s a very cool gift for anybody that loves music. It’s basically a portable record player with over 100 minutes of sound on five 12” vinyl record picture discs and 2 CDs

Visionaire 53. SOUND will consist of five 12-inch vinyl records, imprinted with images (picture discs), containing approximately 100 minutes of sound content featuring audio experiments, unreleased songs, samples, and spoken word pieces. The 5 records are packaged inside a domed case that also houses a custom-made MINI Clubman “Vinyl Killer” Record Player: a battery-operated toy car containing speakers and a needle.

It’s also got a stellar contributers list made up of those in music, art and fashion: David Byrne, U2, Courtney Love, Cat Power, Yoko Ono, Helmut Lang, Christian Marclay, Doug Aitken, Carl Michael Von Hausswolff; Hiroshi Fujiwara; Karl Lagerfeld, Alexander McQueen, Stefano Pilati and many more.

Lately I’ve been getting more and more interested in Origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. Incidentally, the name, origami is derived from the Japanese word, “ori” meaning “to fold”, and “kami”, meaning paper, and changed to voiced sound “gami” according to Rendaku. I’ve pretty much mastered the pig, crane, and what I would consider to be the strangest looking frog ever and decided it was time to broaden my horizons.

That is when I came across Brian Chan and his incredible and amazing work. In the video below, he folds the MIT logo from a single 1 meter square sheet of paper. All I can say is that I have a ways to go.

Happy New Year!! New Beginnings, New Projects, New New New!
I thought I’d start my first post of the new year with a little color…

Who doesn’t love a little color on their walls? Although it can be hard to make the right decision with what you want, and investing hundred$ (thousands or millions) of dollar$ on pricey artwork can be daunting, especially if like me Warhols aren’t exactly in your budget. I recently came across Domestic.

Conducted by Stéphane Arriubergé and Massimiliano Iorio, Domestic is introducing collections of objects designed by designers, graphic designers and artists gathered around innovating and original concepts and themes. All these objects have the distinctive feature of offering an area for working and freedom in the creative process and their end use.

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