Archive for June, 2012
Street Artist D*Face
I spent my days as a kid in London either drawing, painting or playing with fire. I’m not sure if I hated school or just the system that was programmed to teach that way. That system didn’t work for me you know. I just can’t sit down and read a book and then be expected to remember it. If I wasn’t interested in it, the information would just vanish from my memory!
I remember reading books for chemistry or maths and literally after reading the page I couldn’t remember what I’d just read. I was too busy dreaming about skateboarding, graffities or doodling on my note book. So I didn’t do well at school at all.
I did try to study a degree in photography and didn’t get in anywhere. I had a sudden moment of realization that getting stoned for 2 years and taking average ‘stoner’ photos with moderate skill and commitment doesn’t lead to a career as a photographer. But those years of learning about photography are all part of what shaped me into the artist I am today.
My first job ever was knocking on the rich people houses with my mate, asking if they wanted their cars washing. We set up a nice little collection of people cars we’d wash regularly and make a some nice coin, which we’d spend on cigarettes and alcohol.
My favorite techniques are screen printing and spray paint. I love the instantaneous nature of them both. I particularly love the nuances that you get with screen printing, the mark making and texturing can’t be replicated.
I’ve been working on a prototype painting technique/ live painting/event for some time, combining the 2 most influential things in my life.
Alejandro Cartagena Shoots Car Poolers in Mexico
”Most of my work is related to Mexican identity, but at the end it connects the whole Latin American situation, and I’m interested in exploring this relationship even more and more.
I know there are no ways to be objective but this is really an advantage I have in my work. As an artists, we have to use this freedom to share our own reflections to the audience, observers.
For the past 3 years I have documented several aspects of the bureaucracy surrounding the dream of owning a house in XXI century Mexico. The public institutions involved in the acquisition of houses in Mexico (Infonavit), the people´s pursuit for their mortgage loan, the bureaucrats who demand requisites and decide who gets or not awarded a loan, and the private companies and their merchandising strategies to lure people into debt.
In between all of this, stands the case of my older brother David, who for the past 8 years has been pursuing a loan for a house through all of the above parties. Symbolically, it’s the power and conviction of people’s dreams; both of the soon to be homeowners and of the public and private bureaucrats that pushes the natural landscape to become an urban and suburban space. It seems to me, that landscape as an idea is as much the actual scenario as it is the social, political and economical forces that conform and eventually transform it.”
Colin Chilllag Incomplete Portraits
Colin Chillag is an illustrator born in 1971 in Syracuse, Nueva York. He studied between 1989 and 1993 in the Art Institute of San Francisco where come from his street art inspiring influence. He has a peculiar way of drawing/painting hyperealistic and no-finished as a call to our imagination. Check it out the portraits series just below.
NYC Garbage
“One man’s garbage is another man’s treasure. But New York City’s garbage, well, that’s art”, you can read on his homepage.
Justin Gignac is a New York City based artist. He started looking around for garbage and selling it in 2001 and since then the NYC Garbage cubes have been sold to 29 different countries of the world.
Take a look!
For Help
The Evolution of 8-Bit Art
Beginning with early Atari and Nintendo video games, the 8-bit aesthetic has been a part of our culture for over 30 years. As it moved through the generations, 8-bit earned its independence from its video game roots. The idea of 8-bit now stands for a refreshing level of simplicity and minimalism, is capable of sonic and visual beauty, and points to the layer of technology that suffuses our modern lives. No longer just nostalgia art, contemporary 8-bit artists and chiptunes musicians have elevated the form to new levels of creativity and cultural reflection.
It’s Toasted
“I was born in New Zealand and lived there until I finished University. Then I left to travel. I spent a lot of time living in many of the capitals of the world but New York had the most allure for me. I found people positive and open minded. Once I moved, I visited Brooklyn and it just felt right for me. I like it’s pace, the streets feel welcoming and its 10min to the epicenter of Manhattan.
I began modeling while on holiday in Thailand, I was approached on the street from a stylist looking to cast a western guy for a shoot and my career moved on from there. I had always taken pictures and I loved being on these big flash sets talking to photographers and their assistants about the gear they were using, and ultimately I wanted to be the one taking the pictures.
One thing that always frustrated me about modeling was you have very little control of your own career, and I wanted to be in control of my destiny. So I started focusing on taking pictures .
My first job as a photographer was with a stylist I knew while modeling, John Tan. He believed in me and hired me to shoot musician St Vincent, who has since blown up, for cover of a magazine. I still regularly work with John on his online magazine Visual Tales.
To feel inspired I try to listen to as much new music as I can, I feel this keeps my mind fresh, then I find my ideas trawling through blogs, walking around Brooklyn, using my membership at MOMA, helping friends and playing golf.”
Henry Hargreaves via Bulkka.com
A Mr. Rogers Mashup on the Importance of Make-Believe
It’s been a decade since America’s children had the chance to watch Mr. Rogers change into sneakers and a cardigan and take a trip to the “Neighborhood of Make-Believe.” But PBS certainly hasn’t forgotten the beloved educator or the lessons he taught about ideas, imagination and curiosity. This video remix that they’ve produced with YouTube mashup king John D. Boswell is an inspiring reminder of all that Mr. Rogers stood for.
The song, aptly titled “Garden of Your Mind” features footage of all the things those of us who grew up with Mr. Rogers love—the trolley, Mr. McFeely, and the castle with King Friday and Queen Sara Saturday. And of course, it has Mr. Rogers singing lyrics like “Do you ever imagine things?” and “It’s good to be curious about many things. You can think about things and make-believe. All you have to do is think and they’ll grow.”
The video is a sweet—and tear-jerking—homage to a man who devoted his life to those ideals. It’s sure to make you reflect on your own life and figure out how you can get some more imagination and curiosity in it.
A photographer’s mug
