May 25th, 2012
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Michael Jason Enriquez’s (an Advertising student at Art Center College of Design) Cholafied comes from the mind of an LA kid who grew up in the 90′s. It’s a throwback to Chola gangster style: Sharpied eyebrows, dark lipliner, and the fumes from a can of Aqua Net. It’s a product of LA where subcultures, celebrity obsession, street art, and stupidity are rolled up together like one of those bacon wrapped hot dogs sold on Hollywood Blvd.

Things can get jumbled up living in LA. It can be very glossy and image based. The many subcultures in the city are a reflection of wanting a sense of belonging in what some consider a very lonely city. This is a town where icons are manufactured. We have the Kardashians, American Idol, and Lindsay Lohan. We root for these people, we rally behind them, and then we beat them up to see if they can stand back up again, like jumping them into a gang.

Cholafied tries to capture as many different fandoms as possible on the site. Tumblr is perfect for this because people in the different fan bases reblog and ‘like’ the same things between each other. There is a group mentality that draws an odd parallel to gangs. So Cholafied labels a cultural icon a chola, gives them a chola look, and then jumps them into a gang of ridiculousness by posting them on the site.
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May 25th, 2012
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Until recently I was unfamiliar with the artist Alex Ebstein, but I am glad to have rectified my lack of awareness.  There is an honesty to Ebstein’s work that I find readily engaging.  The use of yarn or string in an artist’s practice can often shift the aesthetic towards a decidedly crafty end result, but Ebstein manages to use the material with such purpose that it might as well be a drawn line in an architectural blue print.  The effectiveness of the work hinges on her ability to merge direct compositional tactics with a more playful approach to the selected materials.  Ebstein’s use of string also elevates the intentionality of her mark marking, and then quickly reasserts itself as a method of creating illusory depth in what would otherwise be relatively flat pieces.  Taught angular moments combined with purposefully relaxed textures start a visual conversation that I am more than happy to participate in.

I could have just included the ‘eye chart’ pieces because I found them extremely aesthetically pleasing, but the back-story provides a bit of insight that I think most would enjoy.  Think of it as a ‘Director’s Commentary’ for the work.  Courtesy of Miss Ebstein, “…then for the eye chart pieces. They are more of a weird reflection on (and obsession with) eyesight and my existing eye problems that force me to visit the doctor every month. I’ve had four eye surgeries in three years… I am always nervously checking my vision against things, one eye at a time, so these drawings were kind of my own dark humored joke about being an artist and constantly worrying about my vision.”  I am of the belief that ‘going blind’ is one of (if not) the most terrifying things any artist could imagine, and I appreciate the candor with which she addresses what could be an immobilizing reality to those with a more pessimistic outlook on life.  Ebstein will be starting grad school this fall, and I am eager to see how this focused environment will affect her work.  I also encourage anyone interested in contemporary art to check out the consistently interesting programming at Nudashank – a gallery she co-runs with Seth Adelsberger in the Baltimore area.

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May 24th, 2012
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The Fresh Blood Hunt art competition is going strong in its second week with entries coming in from all over England.  Open to all illustrators, designers, and artists residing in the UK,  the Fresh Blood Hunt Art Competition is a chance to flex your design skills on the Tim Burton produced Vampire thriller Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter! Not only will the winner have their work immortalized in London by talented muralist Jim Rockwell but they will also win a brand new 17″ Macbook Pro and Adobe Creative Suite 6!

With a chance to collaborate with one of the biggest film makers of all time , have your work blown up to larger than life proportions, and win thousands of dollars worth of products there’s very little downside to this competition.

Did we mention that Beautiful/Decay gets to help pick the winner as well! If that doesn’t seal the deal I don’t know what will. The competition ends May 30th so get to it Britain and lets show the world how talented the Cult Of Decay really is!

 

May 22nd, 2012
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I’m really enjoying the bit mapped illustrations and designs of Marcello Velho A.K.A Kingdom. His stacked illustrations look like unexplored levels of 1980′s video games that one would play while taking massive amounts of acid.

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May 21st, 2012

The world of child mafias, gooey relatable beasts, funky leathery space dudes, soft bodies, diseased bodies, and crusty bodies, is the world of DeForge. Toronto-based Michael DeForge is running amuck in the independent comic’s scene. He is consistently putting out top-notch work executed in his very distinct style, a style that allows for plenty of room for experimentation while still being immediately recognizable as the “DeForge touch”. At age 24, with just a few years solidly devoted to comics, it’s amazing to imagine what he will achieve in his lifetime. On top of that, he does prop and effects for the wonderful Cartoon Network series Adventure Time. He has the drive. He has the look. He has it all. He is King Trash.

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May 21st, 2012
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Dutch art collective WE MAKE CARPETS create a contemporary interpretation of the centuries-old medium of carpets but with the weaving method, materials, and patterns reflect the 21st century. At a distance, you simply see a decorative carpet. Closer inspection will, however, surprise you as WE MAKE CARPETS uses everyday items to create large carpets.

Products that normally have no value once they have been used, such as plastic forks, plasters, paving tiles, pasta, cotton balls and pegs are arranged in an inventive way to form a graphic pattern. WE MAKE CARPETS are inspired by the color, shape and possibilities of the discarded and cheap materials.  The result is not just a decorative carpet, but an object that makes us think about the consumer society that produces these ‘weaving materials’.

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May 21st, 2012
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Dutch  design duo Raw Color toast the opening of Martin Creed’s grand overhaul of London’s Sketch restaurant with graphic still lifes dedicated to the restaurant’s new menu. The Turner Prize winning artist’s takeover saw him entirely revamp Sketch’s interiors, hanging his large-scale paintings along the walls and hand-picking each individual table, chair and piece of cutlery, as well as contributing in the kitchen. Sketch co-founder and Michelin-starred chef Pierre Gagnaire conceived two playfully named dishes dedicated to the conceptual artist––“Navet Martin Creed” and “Dundee Pinky”.

Raw Color concocted their Irving Penn-esque visions from each dish’s disassembled ingredients, including black olive jelly, squid ink and parmesan cream. “The cooking side of the project was harder to translate into our own visual language,” says Christoph Brach, one half of Raw Color with Daniera ter Haar. “But looking at Creed and his approach to projects, how he organizes things, stacking from big to small, we knew we could take the ingredients and do something similar with them.”

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May 18th, 2012
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Calling all UK based designers, illustrators, and creative minds: Beautiful/Decay has teamed up with 20th Century Fox to bring you the bloodiest, goriest, most epic art competition, Fresh Blood Hunt. Fresh Blood Hunt is a rare opportunity for UK-based creatives- lend your skills to design an art piece inspired by the upcoming Tim Burton film Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter!

The contest winner will have their artwork turned into a mural, painted by the talented Jim Rockwell AND win a BRAND NEW 17″ MACBOOK PRO and ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE 6! That’s one  “suite” prize! The chosen artist can join Jim Rockwell in London while he’s painting the mural and the whole event will be captured in a time-lapse video.

So get to it, Cult members across the pond, enter the Fresh Blood Hunt Art Competition and show the world that Britain’s got horror movie illustration skills!

 

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