It has become commonplace for designers and illustrators to gather up a mass of images when starting a project to create ‘mood boards’ in order to both inspire, set the tone and help direct their thinking toward the desired creative outcome. Consequently there have been a few image blogs (of course there is always Tumblr as well). Haw-lin is one of those blogs. I have heard both praise and hatred for this type of thing from different artists and designers. The chief complaint I hear is that the original creators of the images are quite often never referenced and sometimes not even linked back to. Personally I like them and use sites like this to create mood boards but then often wonder if I am being over influenced by what I gather up.
Dutch artist Juul Kraijer has been exhibiting art since the mid nineties. Over the past 12 years she has devoted herself entirely to drawing having completed a total of 220 drawings.
Here is a quote from the in depth essay at her website:
“Unlike those artists who from time to time venture to take a new turning, I seem to be the type of artist who recognizes a small field as his or her domain, to be explored in depth and detail. In the drawings made during those twelve years, the main principles remain the same. Changes do not occur in the form of an abrupt break; instead, they appear as gradual shifts, leaving the core intact, like landscapes at the turn of the season.”
Her work is very simple yet hauntingly contemplative focusing primarily on the face and the human form interacting with nature. She has also taken up sculpture, photography and more recently experimental video but the contemplative tone remains throughout the new mediums.
There is some nice work in the book and it makes for a nice coffee table inspirational flip through. If you have something you think our readers might like (and please note this material is curated and your item may or may not be selected to be shared) you can send it to the Changethethought studio at the following address:
Changethethought
8100 W 10th Avenue
Lakewood, Colorado
80214
Swedish sculptor Michael Johansson has some brilliant conceptual art in his portfolio. Everything is spot on. The thinking, the use of color and craftsmanship involved in producing the final product just doesn’t miss.
I am familiar with sculptor Simen Johan’s work but was a little shocked to find I had never posted anything about it. His work involves nature themes and is often hauntingly contemplative albeit slightly disturbing. He has recently updated his stunning body of work with images from a recent show that wrapped in October which makes it a good time refamiliarize yourself with his work. Too bad you will have to imagine it in person.
You begin browsing the photographs of artist James Chronister and think, ‘well these are nice.’ Then you scroll down and read the title and description of the work and realize that you aren’t actually looking at photographs, you are looking at oil paintings. Then you really start to pay close attention because the detail is phenomenal.
Victoria & Albert Museum‘s Decode exhibition is underway and will be on display until April 2010. The exhibition features the latest developments in interactive and digital design. The show includes large scale installation work down to smaller computer screens. The exhibition is an exposition upon three themes. Code as a raw material looks at how explores the organic nature of code and how it can be used to generate constantly changing objects. The second is interactivity, which encompasses projects that utilize viewer interaction to either engage or resolve the design. The final theme is the network. The works created under this theme examine digital bread crumbs leftover from by everyday online communication like blogs, social media to GPS data.
V&A commissioned Karsten Schmidt to design a digital identity for the Decode exhibition using open source code that you can download and recode. V&A may even use your recoded version as their new identity. You can read more details about how to become a part of the recoded identity here. The winners works will appear on screens in the London Underground to promote the event. You can see the current ident above.
Wear It With Pride has a new project entitled ‘Originals By Artists’ featuring just that. You can purchase the originals via the WIWP online store. There is some really nice work in there from some notable illustrators and designers. I am not sure if the above painting by artist Tadaomi Shibuya is included in the ‘Originals By Artists’ series but it was one of my favorites nonetheless. Someone else must have liked it as it has already been sold.
Artist Michael Zavros paints fashion-inspired imagery that appears as almost photographic upon first glance. His work is meticulously crafted and the resulting imagery of his labor is genuinely beautiful. Not an easy feat with oil paint.
Sculptor Kate Clark creates unique animal/human hybrid creations that are haunting and leave a lasting impression on the psyche. I would love to see her work in person and I am sure standing in a gallery surrounded by them would be a memorable experience.
Painter Barbara Wijnveld uses big dripping blocks of water color to create some striking fashion-influenced portrait paintings that look much better hanging on a wall then they come across via the web. I’d love to see them in a gallery setting.
Letterpress printer David Huyck assembles a group of selected artists once every 3 months to create a series of letterpress posters around a theme. The recent batch that is fresh off the press is about patterns and is titled Repeat/Repeat. Artists and designers Will Bryant, Dustin “UPSO” Hostetler, David Huyck, Mike Perry, Heather Ross, Julia Rothman, and Bob Staake created the recent series of posters. A portion of sales from this series will go to The Nature Conservancy. It’s a great little project and you could do much worse for some nice wall art around the studio or home.
Painter Luke Rudolf has discovered a magic formula utilizing the interplay between simple geometry, organic paint strokes and use of color to devise images that you just can’t take your eyes off of. It’s almost as if you expect something to materialize from beneath his work.
There is some pretty fun and inspirational visuals collected within the visual diary of Salva López. It’s only 3 pages deep so far but shows a lot of promise.
Artist C.J. Pyle has created some unusual surrealist portraits drawn on old LP record sleeves with ink, colored pencils and graphite. The end result of his work is soft and billowy in some areas and highly textural in others, which no doubt would require some meticulous detail. You can view his work at the Hammer Gallery website.
I am really a fan of the surrealist landscape paintings of Rick Leong. You can see more in his Flickr-folio. There is something almost akin to old Japanese prints happening within some of the imagery. I would love to see his work in person.
Brooklyn-based (yes Brooklyn again) artist Erika Somogyi has managed to combine a sense of human spiritualism with references to nature. The end result of which are some stunning paintings with a bold use of color.
