‘Box Of Birds’ is the name of Seed Gallery’s latest exhibition. They’re releasing a new range of greeting cards featuring prints by some of their favourite artists and to celebrate they’re dedicating the gallery to both the cards and the originals.
The gorgeous work below is by artists John Pusateri (I have some of his birdy etchings hanging in my home), Annie Sandano and Aroha Lewin.
The gallery show is on till March 28, 2010, but the cards will be available to snap up beyond that. I can’t wait to go buy some… one can never have too many beautiful blank cards.
My pick of the lot? Annie Sandano’s Wise Owl. Naturally.
Nicolas Henry is a filmmaker, photographer and artist. Usually based in Paris/Marseilles, he is currently working on a major photographic series – Les Cabanes de nos Grands Parents. This has seen him traverse the world from Marrakech to Moscow, meeting and engaging with all sorts of grandparents.
Henry travels to the home of each of his subjects (he says a friendship is sealed when you visit a home) and invites them to make a hut or play-space with their personal belongings. Inspired by their childhoods, the resulting huts are intimate glimpses into their strikingly rich and diverse lives.
Delightfully, Henry had the good fortune to meet and photograph my wonderful grandmother in New Zealand. As I understand it they met while she was volunteering at the local visitors centre of her seaside village.
Here she is in her much beloved but wild sub-tropical garden – click for a larger view. The picture above Betty’s head is one of her crocheted woolen blankets and a portrait of her as a young girl. Note the teaspoon collection in the back! I love this photograph so much.
The number one reason for our Wellington visit (I use the word ‘our’ but in reality I was gatecrashing my friends’ holiday) was to go see the Yayoi Kusama: Mirrored Years exhibition at the City Gallery.
To celebrate the exhibition, they kitted the entire gallery exterior out in polka dots!
Yayoi Kusama is an avant-garde Japanese sculptor, painter and novelist.; her work concerns many themes, but is usually expressed through the polka dot and infinity net motifs that are her trademarks. Kusama started painting dots at a young age, after suffering ‘hallucinations’.
In her twenties, Kusama moved to New York and nurtured her talents further, gaining recognition for her large scale works, working in the same sphere as Warhol and other notables. In 1973 she returned to Japan and produced several novels and anthologies while continuing to create art.
Today, Kusama’s trippy paintings, tentacle like sculptures, performance art and installations have attracted a cult following around the world, and she has found acclaim as one of the world’s most important living artists.
The Mirrored Years exhibition is on in Wellington till February 10, so if you’re anywhere in the region and you haven’t scoped it out yet, you simply must! It’s simply dotty, mind boggling and a lot of fun to be immersed in.
I’ve had various drafts on the work of Roger Dean sitting in my to edit folder on my computer for years. He has been one of my favourite artists since my Dad first introduced me to his work as a kid. Not only is Dean a prolific fantasy style painter/illustrator, he is a champion of eco-architecture. This guy has imagination A+ when it comes to creating new worlds!
Here in an assortment of Dean works I really like, starting with his 1989 cover design for the Amiga game Shadow Of The Beast:
An illustrated logo for Virgin Records:
If you like any of these pieces, be sure to check out Dean’s 1975 book Views. It’s heavy, the size of an LP and a intriguing mix of design concepts and finished artwork. I treasure my copy and think it’s worth tracking one down for a look.
Finally, look at these Dean illustrations – his ‘Floating Islands’ and dragons:
If you’ve seen Avatar, these might look familiar. People the world over are speculating that James Cameron took more than a little inspiration from Roger Dean’s fantastic work. I for one enjoyed seeing them come to life!
Guido Mocafino is a photographer for the likes of Wallpaper during the day. By night he gets down with the creepy crawlies. His photography series and book, Serpens, is a look at the most dangerous and beautiful reptiles around – SNAKES.
Hot art tip from my mum, who got back from Sydney last night – “This is the sort of weird thing you’d really like!”
She found a plethora of brightly coloured bird cages strung across one of Sydney’s lanes (Angel Place). There were lots of birds calling, but none visible to the eye! In fact, these were the sounds of Sydney’s lost birds, those that inhabited the area before alleyways replaced trees.
The project is Forgotten Sounds – part of the By George! Hidden Networks 2009 program. I love this idea! Especially the fact that during the evening you only hear nocturnal chirps. You can see more pictures here.
Narwhals, the unicorns of the sea! I like their cute little horned faces so much I got one on my arm. Crappy picture, but this little beast is an absolute work of art. Exquisite. I am so happy to have him on my left arm.
I wasn’t planning a tattoo, but you know, it was rainy and I didn’t want to go to yet another film (three in three days). Tattoos are generally indoor activities, right? So yeah, NARWHAL!
[Super big thanks to Mike Lucena from Flyrite Tattoo in Brooklyn. What a pro.]
At first I wanted these two Japanese jazzalbums based on the track listings, but after seeing the cover artwork, I’m coveting the entire package.
Simple use of block colour, bold lines and a cute play on the theme all adds up to some pretty striking illustrations. Definitely worthy of framing. Have you seen any great record covers lately?
Monday, August 17, 2009 – m4w – (greenpoint)
asked myself why the letter ‘n’ all night long, then you were gone before i got a chance to ask. also, i saved you a piece of cake. do you always sit in a circle of asian girls? and sit at the top of the stairs so everyone gets a crush on you when they get to the roof?
So many questions -will they be answered? Will the sweet scrabble gal get in touch after reading this missed New York connection? Will the buds of attraction blossom into love? No matter, Brooklyn illustrator Sophie Blackall has given life to the sentiment at least. She takes fascinating missed connections and immortalizes the words in a very clever drawing. Once she’s done, she posts her illustrations on her blog. The results are so precious and heart melting.
The NYTimes have published a great piece on Sophie, where she details how and why she started drawing these beautiful, fleeting moments. “These illustrations have recurring themes of love, loss, regret and hope. Even the most grim postings have this little kernel of unflagging hope which is just so lovely and optimistic. I think that is what appeals to other people, too,” she said.
I’ve noticed a lot of cute projects using maps recently. Is it a trend or am I merely a travel bug obsessed with navigation? I think it might just be the former. Funnily enough I have my own map project in the works.
Anyway, here are my picks of the neatest accessories and art to get lost with:
Olivia makes stylish framed maps and thoughts… perfect whether you are near home or abroad! Are those map envelopes in the corner too?
With a wee purse from Map 29 you’ll always be able to get your bearings: “Map 29 was born when looking for a quirky, one off gift to give a friend in memory of our childhood friendship and where we lived. She loved it and told her friends who told theirs…”
Elisabeth Lecourt is the artist behind these exquisite map garments. As described by others already, they would look amazing hanging on a wall; perhaps above a travel-fashion-design writer’s desk?
Shannon Rankin/Selflesh also makes artworks out of maps. I’ve interpreted the selections above as a message that travel opens your mind, eyes, heart. Personal discovery stems from external exploration? Yes.
<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/teststrip/3183547766/” title=”city bag by Amber P., on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3482/3183547766_391f871347.jpg” width=”500″ height=”333″ alt=”city bag” /></a>
“I bought this at the Aotea Square market yonks ago… It’s still alive despite my thrashing. The screen print is of Auckland CBD street map.”
Making this post reminded me of my my old map bag! Do you already own something cartograpy inspired, too?
COME TO OUR SHOW! If you’re in Auckland on September 20, pop along for an evening of scientific education and enthrallment. It’s going to be incredible and I would love to see you all there!
The Happening is MOTAT on crack – featuring collaborative works from 10 of Auckland’s best video, sound and installation artists.
The Happening was born in summer 2001 as part of a series of interactive multi-media events, coordinated by Scotland’s The Forest arts collective. Featuring artists from around the world The Happening encourages its participants to transform the purpose and appearance of each venue into an experience best described as “Ultra Fuck”.
8 years and 7 Happenings on, original members Krumins and Boyd have gathered sound and video artists, performers, sculptors and assemblers from across the city to take part in the Auckland Happening at Cassette Number Nine in September.
The event will involve artists working for and against each other with the sole aim of flipping Cassette over. They’re yanking the tape from its belly and reveling in the opportunity to fuck with the space in ways you’ve never dreamed of.
Auckland participants include: Genista Jurgens, Jonas Besson, Josca Craig Smith, Mikel Krumins Timothy Boyd, Amber Parkin, Melissa Jenkins, Damian Golfinopulous, Sophie Watson and Imogen Taylor.
Previous participants include: Stefan Pavlakis (Athens), Dan Meth (NYC), Aaron Mcloskey (Vancouver), Miroslav Mitrovic, (Bosnia i Herzegovina), The Arctic Circle (Bristol), Dirk Markham (Berlin) and Ryan Van Winkle (NYC).
September 20 is your chance to experience the delightfully interactive Science Museum of Nothing.
Want to add some structure to your creative output? Need to look at the world in a new light? Interested in learning more about how our imaginations work? Then the next book you should read on creativity is Twyla Tharp’sThe Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life.
From the back cover: “Tharp leads you through the painful first steps of scratching for ideas, finding the spine of your work, and getting out of ruts and into productive grooves. The wide-open realm of possibilities can be energizing, and Twyla Tharp explains how to take a deep breath and begin…”The book is divided into 12 chapters, with sparkling little names like “Rituals of Preparation and “Before You Can Think out of the Box, You Have to Start with a Box”. Each chapter delves into Tharp’s professional/personal experience and a touch of history, before finishing with a series of practical exercises e.g. take an inventory of your skills.
Tharp is a dancer/choreographer by trade and has created more than 130 dances for companies all over America, as well as her own. that’s not to say that every single exercise is applicable to our own unique creative practices. I found tidbits that could apply to everything I do – from writing, to photography and installation work. Whether you’re a painter, model maker, musician, designer or thespian, there’s something for you.
I like the book’s mix of tangible and holistic thoughts – driven by the idea that creativity is a habit, something you can train yourself into. Creativity is like a muscle – you have to train it, stretch and grow before you can lift enough weights to break a world record.
After the cut is my favourite exercise from the book – Your Creative Autobiography. It’s an insight to your creative DNA and a good place to get started if you (and often me) are wondering “just what am I doing?”
Hello friends! I know a fair few of you live on the fair and exotic isle of Britain. I also know that there’s many a talented kid out there, hence I thought I would this competition with you (aka share the lurve).
Don’t Panic and Cutty Sark Whisky are offering you the chance to win MONEY, a CASE of whisky and get your art PUBLISHED in Time Out magazine. All you need to do is make a piece of art based around ‘The Independent London Whisky’. Easy, innit?
Amazing fashion factoid you may not know (and will appreciate): the whisky is named after the Cutty Sark – the fastest sailing ship of her time, herself named after a character in Robert Burns’ poem “Tam O’Shanter”: a young witch dressed in a ‘cutty sark’ or ‘short shirt’, who could run as fast as the wind. Just think, in today’s time we could be seeing the good ship Crop Top…
