“Scott Weaver’s amazing piece, made with over 100,000 toothpicks over the course of 35 years, is a depiction of San Francisco, with multiple ball runs that allow you to go on “tours” of different parts of the city.”
Wow, imagine the patience if you dare. Definitely, def-def-definitely looks like 994,000 toothpicks. Definitely 994,000.
Just joking, couldn’t resist.
There are some very interesting images and self-initiated projects rolling out of Atelier Olschinsky. They also make some of their efforts available as prints in their shop. You could fair a lot worse if you are looking to decorate with some beautifully modern abstract expressionism.
My friend Mike Walters turned me onto the bizarre Photoshop compositing work of Android Jones. It’s a heavily-layered affair that would no doubt put a crunch on your machine. His work has sparked some interest as of late and he may actually be exhibiting here in Denver soon. Keep an eye out. I would imagine it would be something else altogether to see his imagery in print.
“Gifted is a space for us to work with selected artists, designers and illustrators on creative product ideas. We’re currently working on the full site, but really wanted to get everyone that’s going to be involved next year together and create our first joint project.”
This looks very promising. There are some very smart people involved with this and I would imagine you could count on seeing some great prints come out of this project in the coming year.
I am digging the minimal but artistic silkscreened poster stylings of Primitive Heritage. It’s also doubly nice that they have a storefront full of their interesting works.
“DURAMEN is a series of handmade wooden sculptures. Born of a simple impulse, the one to break with conventional ways of exhibiting, Bonsoir Paris and its team have imagined a series of frames so strongly mistreated that they have become unrecognizable. Their wish is to break the properties of the compound, a form of compromise as minimal and it is efficient. They found a subtle twist while remaining faithful to a primitive form of revolt, without getting lost in vain styles effects. The choice of noble materials (Oak, Fir, Wenge, Pear, Linden) and the quest for finesse, enables them – with the DURAMEN series – to position themselves on the razor’s edge between two opposites, that of the deformed and that of the elegant, instinctive and thoughtful.”
ART DIRECTION / DESIGN Bonsoir Paris
SCULPTURE Adrien Corroler
CABINET Kwantiq
DESIGN / ACHIEVEMENT Jules Cairon
PHOTOGRAPHER Davina Muller
POST-PRODUCTION Cédric Hugonnet @ Studio Collet
“Chris B. Murray is an artist / illustrator / designer who was raised in a small upstate NY town bordering the Canadian border / St. Lawrence River. Although it took several years for him to develop a personal style, CBM’s vivid color use, striking subject matter and technique became apparent at a young age. Chris would spend his younger years drawing endlessly into the night while his friends were our running a muck. During this time he developed a deep fascination for graffiti art / hip-hop culture, comic book and children’s book art. Chris carefully studied the bold color schemes from graffiti, the line work & dynamic compositions shown in comics and the dreamy imagery present in children’s books. From these studies he absorbed enough visuals and information to hone a style he now calls his own. Chris currently resides in Philadelphia, PA with his beautiful girlfriend Emily & their boxer puppy ‘Chunk’.”
“Tom French is a UK based contemporary image-maker, whose recent pieces are an exciting and interesting fusion of traditional fine art and urban techniques.
Born in 1982, and raised in the North East of England, he studied at the Newcastle school of Art & Design before going on to achieve a First Class Honours in Graphic Design from the Sheffield Institute of Art and Design.
He has since been pursuing his painting and illustration practice, drawing on his conceptual design experience and experimenting with stencil, spray paint & collage work. Now we can see a merging of these techniques, with striking results. His recent pieces show figurative charcoal characters merging to create greater darker forms; they are classic and contemporary, dark and beautiful, the mixture of textures hinting at underlying stories and adding depth to each piece.”
Akeno Omokoto is a young Spanish ‘digital’ illustrator living in Galicia. After spending nearly 10 years studying art he decided to quit his program and try his hand at working as a freelance illustrator. He has a varied style, a wealth of technical know-how and is always searching for new inspiration to enrich his work.
Artist James McCarthy paints some really really trippy imagery. Like far out, acid flashback, Dali-dream outer-space type shit. Once you get over all of that, you can then begin to take in how incredibly talented he must be to actually paint what he paints.
He has a truly gifted hand.
Miami-based artist NFN Kalyan created several sculptural portraits for an ongoing series he entitled ‘Nature of the Beast’. The portrait boxes are comprised of 20+ laser etched glass panes and are backlit with LED lighting contained within in a walnut base. The frames for each portrait was hand drawn by Kalyan. Way way cool.
The ever-inspiring photographer known as Li Wei has updated with yet again a flurry of mind-bending imagery that all appear as though they were somehow magically captured in camera.
This entire video was hand drawn frame by frame with markers on paper. ‘As simple as it looks’ but I would imagine it was anything but simple.
If you wanna learn more about how it was done you can do that here.
Local (Denver) artist Jason Thielke recently released a giclée print simply titled ‘Head Study’ that you can pick up here via his personal store front. If you are interested in the original art you can contact the David B. Smith Gallery.
One of my favorite young designers who is now becoming a shit-hot illustrator, Nelson Balaban participated in his first ever solo exhibition a few weeks back. The show was titled ‘Selfish’ (hence the great self portrait above) and he managed to generate some very inspiring imagery for the show. You can take a look here.
Czech illustrator Lukas Brezak has some absolutely stunning and highly detailed yet fluidly artistic imagery in his Behance-folio. It’s a lot of work and it’s a lot of fun to look at.
“Jefta is a young 24-year passion for mixing photography, painting and digital arts.
His work is mainly based on the body that operates in different ways, including encrusting textures or image by dressing.”
Jefta’s photography borders on the surreal psychedelic and it all comes straight out of simple photographs of people. He has an interesting perspective. I’d watch his space for future photography work if I were you.
Salvatore Della’Quila has been busy this past year and updated his portfolio accordingly. I am impressed by the breadth of his ability and how he is able to crank out tight illustration work, slick and colorful vector art and bang out great motion boards. Good stuff. My Partner and Executive Creative Director dropped in on him in his studio during a visit to New York and proclaimed that not only is he talented, he’s a super cool dude. So there that is too.
