artist

/ Don

“Cubes,” by Lernert & Sander

“Cubes,” by Lernert & Sander
“Cubes,” by Lernert & Sander
“Cubes,” by Lernert & Sander
“Cubes,” by Lernert & Sander

The idea for Cubes came to the Dutch artists, Lernert & Sander, when newspaper de Volkskrant commissioned them to take a photo for a food-related feature. The only guidance the newspaper gave was that the work had to be tied to food. But, “food is an overwhelming subject,” Lernert said. “You can go so many different ways. How can you photograph something when you can’t decide?” So they did the only thing that could be done: make all of the food seem equally important by cutting everything into uniform pieces, he said.

As for the rationale behind which food they chose to use for the cubes? That was determined by what they could find in local grocery stores and shops. And the foods couldn’t be processed, at least in the traditional sense. “We realized that if you cut up everything, it has this nastiness of everything becoming processed,” explained Lernert. “That’s the inside story.”

(via bonappetit.com)

Category: Pix
/ Don

Copies of a Copy

In 2007, an investment firm hired my studio, ERA404, to design an “Indiana Jones diary” for a global investor, as a unique way of showcasing their findings from a literacy study they conducted. Part of the project was creating a dozen or so original illustrations from his travels. One of the illustrations was of Huckleberry Finn rafting down the Mississippi River. I confess that I borrowed inspiration from an iconic book cover when creating the artwork.

"Huck Finn River" Google Search ResultsA few weeks ago, a friend and colleague pointed my attention to an article on VentureBeat.com which incorporated a cropped version of this illustration. On a whim, I did a Google Image Search, and was able to find that this image has been reproduced, re-cropped, and re-used in 8 pages and 90 links worth of results, making it one of the most frequently returned images in Google searches with the keywords “huck finn river”.

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/ Don

Takahiro Iwasaki

Japanese artist Takahiro Iwasaki creates sculptures from the unexpected materials like electrical tapes, toothbrush bristles or towels. His recent works like “Floating Reflected Temples” (below) made of Japanese cypress exhibited on The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art.

Victoria Peak

Victoria Peak (a mountain in Hong Kong) on a roll of vinyl electrical tape by the artist Takahiro Iwasaki. Read more

/ Don

Mark Khaisman’s Packing Tape Artwork

Ukrainian born mixed media artist Mark Khaisman uses translucent packing tape on Plexiglas panels with a light source behind to create incredible images that have the shadow and depth of large scale paintings. Khaisman uses several layers of tape to give the pieces contrast and thinner stripes of tape to achieve smaller “brush strokes” and utilizes the natural crinkles to create subtle texture as needed. The artist achieves even complex features in the faces of his characters. It’s pretty incredible. The most original use of tape since this.

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/ Don

Ian Wright’s Paper Trail

Ian Wright—the artist, not the English footballer turned television and radio personality—made this illustration with pieces of paper for the cover of the current album of T.I. called Paper Trail. On Wednesday, September 22nd, he’ll be speaking for AIGA/NY’s Small Talk Number 1. Shame that I’ll be out of town, but I really love the quality of craft and originality of his work.

Here’s the recap from the AIGA site:
A Londoner currently based in NYC, Wright has been making portraits across art and design since 1978 for clients such as Vitra, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nike and Issey Miyake. After a sharing a studio with designer Neville Brody at “The Face” magazine in 1981, Wright set up his own studio.

Enjoying the unpredictability they offer, his use of deliberately inexpensive materials has included salt,  cassette tape(s), pin buttons, mascara brushes and paper cups.

Wright’s illustrative artwork has been exhibited internationally, including the London Design Museum (2007), the Exposure Gallery (2007), the Cosh Gallery (2007), Rosemary Gardens (2005), Pentagram  Gallery (2005), Reed Space NYC (2006), Mass Production at The Christopher Henry Gallery (NYC) (2006), and Issey Miyake (2002), among others.

/ Don

Pete Goldlust

Artist’s statement: For several years, my work has explored a sculptural landscape where human urges (libidinous, predatory and monstrous) are acted out by half-recognizable, otherworldly surrogate creatures. The work reflects my interest in mutated, hybrid forms, and the disjunctive psychological states that they represent.

I’ve explored these themes using a variety of media. These have included traditional studio techniques, digital imaging, industrial manufacturing processes, and children’s arts-and-crafts materials. A sense of play is key to each of these creative strategies. For several years, the work has been largely focused on polymer clay sculpture.

Since 2005, I have worked with painter Julie Hughes to create collaborative mixed media installations that reflect our shared fascination with reconstituted, fragmented biomorphic form. Installations typically interweave Julie’s paintings on shaped sintra panels with my own polymer clay and mixed-media sculptures across a backdrop consisting of cut vinyl wall drawings. These environments explore the gray areas between seemingly distinct states of being: the alluring and the repulsive; the playful and the threatening; and the natural and the synthetic.