Eat. Drink. Design.
Founded in 2007
It’s still early enough in the year where a new 2024 calendar still isn’t out of the question. Japanese artist FU created these gorgeous risograph printed poster calendars that would look amazing hang side-by-side. The way she was able to capture a lens flare, or like staring into the sun, in such exquisite colors, is stunning. And they’re only ¥3,000, which is about $20! Such a steal for such lovely pieces of art.
I feel like I’ve been posting About Christoph Niemann a lot lately, but he’s been creating such a wide range of interesting pieces that I feel like it’s warranted. He created a large scale mural in collaboration with The Horst Janssen Museum in Oldenburg, Germany, illustrating a person drawing, with their creations springing to life along the outside of the building. What’s quite novel is that what you see during the day is then transformed at night because of a carefully laid out white neon, giving the space an entirely new meaning. Such a wonderful public intervention, I bet this is lovely to see throughout the day and the night.
I was talking with a friend yesterday about the art and creative surrounding 90s and early 2000s skateboarding, and he reminded me of someone I hadn’t thought of in a while — Thomas Campbell. A key figure in the “Beautiful Losers” movement, I was always so impressed with Campbell’s ability to dabble in so many mediums. Paintings and ephemera sewn together in abstract quilts (literally), charming hand painted lettering, and pattern-painted ceramics all were part of his creative worldview. If you’re unfamiliar with his work, I’d highly recommend this interview with Campbell by Chloe Roth who goes deep on the artist. He has such a unique POV.
Ben Newman is a UK-based illustrator and artist who’s primary work is focused on illustrations for children’s books and toys. Yet, I want to focus on his newly burgeoning fine art that began to crop up in late 2022. The pieces are somewhere between paintings and assemblage, with random shapes building together in some fascinating ways. He’s created pieces that seem to focus on the macro, lots of circles and blobs and triangles coming together in a chaos of shapes, as well as the micro, seemingly close-up details of larger compositions which are equally as delightful.
An illustrator based in Japan, born in Tokyo and graduated from the Department of Graphic Design at Tama Art University, Taku Bannai works in a broad range of areas such as advertisements, books, magazines, and artwork for record covers. He captures our everyday scenes in a papercut, minimalist style, which creates a “blank space,” as he calls it, which allows the viewer to imagine their own stories. I find his work so calming, and I love all the small imperfections that can be found throughout.
Happy Monday, I hope your weekend was mostly relaxing, maybe some good wine or food. I’m not sure I’m ready for the week yet, though some good music can help you ease into most situations. I can’t quite remember how I came across Nico Georis and his album Cloud Suites, I believe it was one of those rabbit hole discoveries.
Nico Georis is an LA-based “keyboard player, experimental composer & songwriter” who composed Cloud Suites in real-time to render specific clouds as music, each named after a particular formation. It’s an album filled with soft, melodic songs which augment your mood or surroundings. I’ve been writing to this album for the last couple weeks and I’ve found it to be so additive to whatever I’m doing, enhancing my mood and sharpening my focus. Hopefully you find Nico’s music equally as enjoyable.
A lot of art, inherently, is about memories. Things seen and remembered, and then recorded through a medium, be it words, clay, or paint. In the work of Japanese painter agoera, it feels like you’re quite truly viewing a memory from his life, like a snapshot from a movie. Born in Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka-ken, Japan, and currently residing in Kanagawa, he graduated from Tama Art University in Tokyo with a degree in, surprising to me, graphic design. On the other hand, his sense of composition is spot-on, so perhaps it helped to set a foundational understanding. I find his work to be so lovely, little snippets of life captured in the dreamiest ways.
I chanced upon the drawings of Kyoto-based illustrator Junkama, aka Jun Kumaori, who’s illustration style is one of the most unique I’ve seen in a while. The best way I can describe it is they are creating pixel drawings of photos from a digital camera from the 90’s. Odd bots of digital artificating popping up here and there, colorful moiré patterns, it’s such a fascinating approach.
Artist Miya Ando has created an installation in New York City that uses 72 cloth banners to draw attention to the shift in traditional Japanese seasons caused by climate change. The large-scale banners represent one of the 72 seasons in the Japanese Kō calendar, which was initially developed in the 7th century. Unlike the standard Western calendar, the Kō calendar responds more closely to the natural environment by breaking the 365-day year into seasons of around five days each. The installation aims to highlight the micro-seasons lost to climate change and raise awareness of the impact of climate change on traditional Japanese culture.
“I’m hoping that the public art can serve a function — even just if this calendar exists,” she said. “In the past 100 years, and 1 to 2 degrees of the earth heating up, the planting system is completely off. Geese don’t fly back, frogs don’t sing when they’re supposed to sing. [The Kõ calendar is] a really, really good data source because it’s collected with eyes and real people.…For me, it’s data and information being put forth that is more easily digestible.”
You can experience the installation at Brookfield Place until September 14.
I bumped into the work of Zack Rosebrugh and was pleasantly surprised when I dug further into his work. A self-taught artist based in Los Angeles, he creates these pleasing compositions that feel very graphic at their core. Lots of flat planes given life through tasteful color combinations that bring depth and movement to the pieces. I would highly recommend following his Twitter, you’ll get a charming look at his process and sketches. Always nice to see how such graceful art is made.
Loved this interview with Wilfred Wood on Everpress about how he got his start, the way he captures the “essence” of his subjects, and how you know when a piece is finished.