Friday, November 6th, 2009
Olympia Le-Tan
I don’t normally go in for crafty stuff, or faux-vintage design, or, um, purses, but I have to say I am really digging these embroidered purses from Olympia Le-Tan. They may appear to be books, but as style.com reports “The ‘books’ in question are actually rectangular box clutches that feature hand-knit copies of the covers of some favorite reads.” These make me wish I carried a purse, err, “rectangular box clutch.” Maybe she can make some laptop bags or something? Or some actual book covers? Come on Penguin, commission this woman!
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
Miwa Matreyek
Los Angeles-based animator Miwa Matreyek completed the above film, entitled “Dreaming of Lucid Living,” as her thesis in the CalArts Experimental Animation program. I am completely blown away by it. I’m not entirely sure how it was made, but it seems to combine live performance with both pre-made animations as well as semi-autonomous, rule based animations that update based on what a camera is seeing. The result is unlike anything I’ve seen before, completely living up to the “experimental” aspect of the program.
Thursday, October 8th, 2009
Taryn Simon
At this summer’s TED Conference, photographer Taryn Simon gave this excellent talk (which is having embed problems) about her work. TED’s description: Taryn Simon exhibits her startling take on photography — to reveal worlds and people we would never see otherwise. She shares two projects: one documents otherworldly locations typically kept secret from the public, the other involves haunting portraits of men convicted for crimes they did not commit. I’m not sure which is more impressive – the photos themselves or Simon’s gall in asking to document some of these subjects. Some of these photos are after the jump, many more are included in her lecture.
Saturday, September 19th, 2009
Covered
Original cover by John Byrne; Marvel 1985. Cover by Josh Holinaty.
Covered is a blog that posts reinterpretations of original comic book covers by currently working illustrators and cartoonists. Some are mostly faithful tributes, others are clever subversions that alter the meanings of the originals. Others still are completely bizarre, eschewing traditional comic aesthetics for something totally different. I’d love to see Kyle Thomas do one of these.
Friday, September 18th, 2009
Bas Princen
Dutch photographer Bas Princen is interested in capturing desolate landscapes throughout the world. Shooting in China, the US, and elsewhere, Princen seeks out areas where man has attempted (and usually failed) to shape a stark and harsh natural environment into a more livable space.
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
Royal T + KAWS
Currently showing at our favorite nearby art gallery/Japanese-maid-themed-cafe/store, Royal T in Culver City, CA, is “I Can’t Feel My Face,” curated by New York artist KAWS. As the website says, “I Can’t Feel My Face shares its title with a painting by KAWS and is a centerpiece of the exhibition, which explores the theme of contemporary portraiture as a vehicle of inherent emotive expression.” The show features work from over 25 artists, including Carol Dunham, Misaki Kawai, Hideaki Kawashima, Ted Mineo, and Takashi Murakami.
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
Susumu Fukuzaki
Japanese designer and all around nice guy Susumu Fukuzaki just sent us a cool little book of us work that he calls his “new anthology” on his blog. Some fairly unusual work…I’m sort of at a loss as for any possible references to describe it. It sort of reminds me the kind of stuff the Church of the Subgenius or Negativland did in the 1990s.
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