Doodlers Anonymous

haha, Nikki was a-browsing doodlers anonymous and found a nice little post about myself!

http://www.doodlersanonymous.com/entry.php?entryID=1514

what a nice surprise! (:

Flowerhead: The Illustrations of Olaf Hajek review

all images from Flowerhead: The Illustrations of Olaf Hajek, copyright Gestalten 2010


So this is what we are interested in - what we like - when art and illustration become indistinguishable from one another, and we love Olaf Hajek , this is his first monograph and it is wonderful.

There are a wide variety of commercial and some personal works displayed here and they are inseparable, like Burgerman his work is so strong and unique that there is no need for artistic compromise. This is also a testament to "the artist" and the progression of art; a balancing and acceptance of both personal and commercial project being equally valid.

Unlike Burgerman however his work is a much more traditional easel painting practice, which is by no means a bad thing as his canvases are magical curiosities imbued with a profound knowledge and reference to African tribal art, Latin folk art, Japanese woodblock printmaking, Surrealism and even poster art.

There are also countless contemporary painters who Hajek can easily be alined with such as Ellen Gallagher, Laura Owens or Chris Ofili with their postmodern sampling and referencing indiscriminately combined with an outstanding draughtsman and application of paint, however his commercial projects and truly bridging the hi/lo gap set him apart.

There are not enough words to describe reading one of Olaf Hajek's paintings; folklore, myth and fantasy can play a big part of the decryption, but so can film, music and popular culture and again so can personal experience, which seems to be the key because after the fifth, tenth or twentieth viewing you are still discovering something new.

Available 31st March 2010 from anywhere good.

EdgyCute: From Neo-Pop to Low Brow and Back Again Review

Nicolette Ceccoli
Ryan Heshka
Greg Gossell
Donald Roller Wilson
Kevin Scalzo


From the start EdgyCute is friendly and relatable, it wants to be liked, which is not to say it is going to play nice, it is mean and it will make fun and it will rip piss out of the hand that feeds.

So what is EdgyCute? Well it is the work of certain contemporary artists and illustrators whose work comes from a marriage of obsession with graffiti, neo-pop, j-pop, various subcultures, mass; media, technology and consumerism, art history... and cartoons. Two fantastic essays and an introduction from Harry Saylor (of the Orbit Gallery) really appraise and contextualize contemporary image making, thus terming EdgyCute. Godfathers and components of the movement include Mark Ryden, Tim Biskup and the Clayton Brothers (just to give you a starting point).

Complementing the globalized, superflat subject matter and poppy, playful aesthetic the book also looks at the influence of illustrators on fine artists and vise-versa. It's something few will readily approach or even concede as the idea either muddies fine art with something so commercial and public or contradicts illustration's purely functional nature. Looking at artistic achievements in terms of commissions and exhibitions as well as auteurship and theory is refreshing and it sets it aside from other (still great) books such as The Upset and the recent Hi-Fructose Collected Edition.

Now with such diverse work in terms of both style and content it could have very easily resulted in an incredibly mixed up book, but it is broken up into broad chapters so it is digestible. This does not so much mean the chapters present work as generic, just a case of enabling an understanding of context and relating. For example: Disney Poison shows how evil is forgiven with an innocent, cute face but still contains a wide variety of artists such as Kathie Olivas and her freakishly deformed children and evil disney animal friends complete with halloween death masks, Brandi Milne and her sickly sweet bubblegum food critters and Nicoletta Ceccoli and her mysterious melancholy young girls. Other chapters include Evil Seduction, Mid-Century Nostalgia, Heroes and Surreal.

In the process of exploring this book I discovered several artists who I feel are of particular note who I had not previously uncovered (as well as a few old favourites). Ryan Heshka has been a favourite for a while, his paintings scream classic sci-fi, presenting small stories complete with dialogue, quotes or slogans reminiscent of comics or cartoons and distressed to give a true vintage feel. Gary Taxli's creatures are quirky, weird, vulgar, idiotic little things that bring a smile, reminiscent of early screen print design works on found objects. Greg Gossell's seemingly torn-up billboard paintings are laden with pop images and text taken straight from the collective conscious and rendered in a whole rainbow of colours. Brian Taylor's sci-fi-cartoon hybrid screen prints are thoroughly entertaining in their immediate simplicity and quirkiness. Gerd Dagne's paintings draw you in at first glance with their skill and initial recognizing appeal then disarm you with their subtle complexity and darkly comedic and reflective quality. So I don't go on forever I will finish with comic book artist and illustrator Kevin Scalzo whose layered paintings contain samples from an infinite numbers of image, line and mark sources and belong to a very exciting discourse in painting of sampling and creating and existing somewhere between figuration and abstraction.

All in all this is another wonderful book introducing new image making and its context (and there aren't many or enough). It is thoroughly readable (and understandable), intelligent and fucking fun.

Why Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland Will Probably Suck Balls

I think the best way to go about this is to look at why Tim Burton is so massively overrated and a bit shit, then specifically why he is incapable of pulling a good film out of Alice in Wonderland and finally who would have been better for the job (Michael Bay).

So first things first: Tim Burton has never made an exciting film. Go back and study your Tim Burton; Big Fish is a good film and you may have a bit of a weep (as I did) but there are no real highs and lows to be had, as with everything else he's ever done: its a bit quirky and heavily sedated. Secondly: Tim Burton has never made a really, really good film. In the last two decades the Tim Burton films which stand out in most people's minds are Edward Scissorhands (which is twenty years old) and The Nightmare Before Christmas (which he didn't direct but we'll give it him anyway (and is seventeen years old)), neither of which is amazing by any stretch and leaves seventeen years worth of forgettable films. So two good films plus Big Fish and the above average Sleepy Hollow in comparison to the at best dreary and generally stupid Batman Returns, Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!, Planet of the Apes, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd do not result in the reputation he has amassed. And he makes Johnny Depp do bad things.

Now the more perceptive amongst you will have noticed that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been missed off the dreary films list, and this is because it isn't; it is shite. I went bounding to the cinema with he rest of them ready for this magical visual feast I had built up in my head, two hours later I left feeling sick and empty and another two hours later I was drunk and angry, denouncing the film to all the world (or half the Lake District). I think that it is possibly the worst adaptation of anything ever. Even the soon-to-be released Dante's Inferno game looks fun and the only thing that has in common with it's source is the title, I would rather watch the Resident Evil films or worse still the Alone in the Dark films back to back for the rest of my days than watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ever again. In the 1971 adaptation Gene Wilder's character was eccentric and fucking crazy but at the same time there was still a warmth to him and he was deeply caring. Johnny Depp didn't have a character, he was an empty shell, a bit creepy and possibly a threat to children. And how was it even possible to ruin the Oompa-Loompas?! The images leaked so far of Alice in Wonderland look visually stunning, but so did the ones of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and when the film was eventually released that was all there was; style devoid of substance.

I think in order to make a successful adaptation of something you need to have an understanding of what it is you are adapting (and having read the source material helps too). Well I have and I do and have come up with a short list of who would make a far better film. Terry Gilliam. All you need to do is watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Tideland and an understanding of the temperament of Alice in Wonderland is presented in abundance. Tideland (as intense and disturbing as it is) presents fantastically the heights of fantasy capable of a child's imagination and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas perfectly conveys the mood of confusia, enjoyment and fear of tripping. Alice in Wonderland sits somewhere between the two in the fantastic, absurd things she dreams up, her fuzzy logic and the vague associations she makes and her lack of time, space, and language perception or any kind of an attention span. Guillermo del Toro may also have made a good film.

So there you have it, indisputably Alice in Wonderland will probably be shit. But you'll still go and watch it. And so will I. And so will every other idiot.

Amelia's Anthology of Illustration Review and Amelia Gregory Interview

Thereza Rowe

Leona Clarke

Abi Daker

Lesley Barnes

I won't beat around the bush; this is the illustration book I have been waiting for. If you're an illustrator, hell, if you're and artist, image maker or image enthusiast you need to own this book. And this is why.

For a start it breaches the all-to-familiar format of so many illustration compilations of late which simply buzz: how playful, how creative, how pretty of illustration. That is not to say there isn't some fantastic and diverse makers. Some of my favourites are Barbara Ann Gomez's vibrant images with their vivid colours, intricacy and a real feel of the handmade, as similarly I enjoyed Hannah Warren but with more of a delicacy. I poured over Jess Wilson's works, filled to bursting point with characters, animals, icons, contraptions, text and countless pop and cultural references. My mind boggled at the complex creation process in Kerry Lemon's images that combine detailed drawing (in various media), watercolour and digital manipulation. I loved the magic in the images of Yoko Furusho, the muted palette and the J-pop feel made digitally crisp. And the ultra clean, pattern-filled, colour intelligent compositions of Karolin Schnoor are particularly impressive. The list really does go on and words are no good but check out some of their blogs. Amelia wanted the best from her artists; so she got it.

What makes this best though is that Amelia set a brief for the project tackling a very current global political issue. Now I did have some initial concerns when I read the sub-title 'featuring renewable technologies to prevent catastrophic climate change', as this could so easily have become an overly-romanticised rant condemning the world unless; we the people, take charge, and love our planet, and yader, yader, yader. But the fact of the matter is that there is no overbearing moral agenda forced onto you, just truly informative articles about alternative energy sources that we could consider for the future, and it's delivered in a thoroughly entertaining way. I genuinely came out of the experience feeling more knowledgeable and dare I say: optimistic! I felt I saw real potential in the technology developed by Sky WindPower and thought the inner city car park vegetable farms, circuit board cities and quarried landscapes reformed with greenhouses were really quirky, innovative, intelligent ideas.

The Amelia's Anthology of Illustration project has been a great idea from the word go and I've not even mentioned how well the illustrations and text compliment each other, giving you such a mental picture of how these technologies work and how things may look in the future. Not to mention the fact that it acts as a great reference to some fantastic illustrators- emerging and established- and really gives you insight into working practices, experiences and of course much talk about self-promotion and motivation! This is the illustration book we've been waiting for.

Interview

What made you decide to do this project, did you decide that you wanted to make an illustration book first or did you get the idea for the brief first? (It really worked, I feel much wiser for it!)

I suppose the idea all came together at once; I've worked with illustrators a lot and knew I wanted to make a book that featured illustration, but I also knew that I didn't want it to be like any other illustration book, ie a banal 'best of' collection that said nothing about the context of illustration now. I am interested in the power of illustration to harness the imagination so somewhere along the line I thought it might be possible to combine my plans for a book with a way to show us how a possible alternative future might look. I knew I wanted to make a book that would educate at the same time as inspire, so when I found all these crazy, inventive but perfectly feasible alternative energy plans that aren't really being talked about anywhere they seemed like the perfect subject matter. And then the idea just grew organically from there.

Is there any of the renewable technologies that particularly gripped you? Sky WindPower's Flying Electric Generator sounds like a winner to me!

Well, no bias obviously, but I am sure my dad's Loose Cannon Wavepower idea is brilliant (even though he still won't tell me precisely how it works for fear of losing his right to a patent). I love the Sky WindPower technology too, probably because it just seems so fabulously insane. I think that all the flying kite technologies really grab the imagination- for instance I particularly like the KiteGen idea too- the concept of kites filling the sky to produce power just seems so very out there and unlikely that it might just happen. We never know how the future will look, and that is why it holds such an allure for artists and visionaries. There is the opportunity to be so very creative in the interpretation of the subject matter.

I know it's hard to choose but do you have any favourites amongst the illustrators you've chosen for this book?

The successful partnerships that I have formed with some of the illustrators featured in the Anthology of Illustration would definitely mark them out as my favourites, because it's really important to be able to work with art direction in a successful manner. Of course you'd have to ask the individual illustrators but I feel fairly certain that most of the ones I worked most closely with would agree that the work that we produced collaboratively was that much stronger. I am particularly pleased with the cover of the book, which was produced with Scottish student Louise McLennan, who is an absolute natural and a complete original, despite never having trained as an illustrator. She is going to be very successful. I also worked closely with another Scottish girl, Lesley Barnes, who I think it is fair to say I pushed beyond her comfort boundaries by asking her to work with lots of colour for the endpapers (it took quite a long time to get those right) and I think that she's brilliantly talented, particularly as a typographer. Mia Marie Overgaard has been an absolute diamond to work with over the past year, helping me to produce iconographic artwork for Climate Camp and capable of producing such amazing beautiful delicate illustrations. Others that stand out are Leona Clarke, again for her ability to produce fantastic work under tight art direction, Justin Wallis for the sheer genius of his vision, Thereza Rowe for her quirky papercutting and cheery disposition, Abi Daker for her truly original style and again her willingness to work to a tight schedule and art direction. There are many others - Japanese illustrators Sachiko and Yoko Furusho produce very different work that is just so immensely imaginative in it's interpretation of subject matter, and Liv Bargman has a fabulously creative way of looking at things. I am sure I could go on.... in fact I've thought of several others already, but I'll stop there!

You had an exhibition to coincide with the release of the book at Concrete Hermit with several artists from the book collaborating, is this something you would like to do more of, more curating?

In an ideal world yes, but it takes a lot of time and energy for me to do extracurricular projects, and the major limiting factor on what I can achieve is how much I can actually do on my own. Most of my time is spent dealing with the very unglamourous aspects of running a small business: coping with admin for the website and book, managing interns, and sorting out production and distribution. I don't want to give myself more than I can cope with as I have enough of a tendency to do this as it is! For now I want to concentrate on what I know I need to do to keep all my current projects afloat and viable, and also hopefully give myself a bit of space to breathe as I feel as though I have worked myself into the ground over the past few years.

So what's next for you now, what's the next project?

Well, it's January, which means it's sort-out-my-tax time; boooooring, but that's the nature of running your own business. It will probably take me several weeks to collate and sort out my paperwork even though every year I swear to myself that I will be more organised. It never happens. I also need to concentrate on getting the book distributed abroad, finding PR opportunities, checking up on sales in the UK, and chasing up unpaid invoices dating back to the magazine... lots of fun stuff like that. After that I am going to try and concentrate on making the blog as good as it can be, which will mean addressing ways in which I can make it more sustainable so that is can continue into the future successfully (as it makes no income at present) and writing for it a lot more myself. Sadly, I also need to sort out the mess in my house - 6 years of running a magazine has accumulated into toppling piles of back issues, lookbooks, postcards, boxes, cd promos and so on, so it looks more like a junk shop/warehouse than the lovely home it used to be. Then I might tackle my next book idea.... which could involve looking at how successful sustainable communities come about, but the idea is yet an unformulated plan. Tempted though I am to jump right in at the deep end again I very much need to sort out the basics of my life first! I'll post something on my website as soon as I've decided what I'm going to do so watch this space...

http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/

http://www.therezarowe.com/
http://www.leonaclarke.co.uk/
http://abidaker.com/

http://www.lesleybarnes.co.uk/

http://www.karolinschnoor.com/

http://www.hannahwarren.com/

http://yokofurusho.com/

http://www.jesswilson.co.uk/

http://www.kerrylemon.co.uk/

http://www.barbarana.es/

http://lemclennan.com/

http://www.miaovergaard.com/

Sachiko - http://www.loveandhatesati.com/

http://www.skywindpower.com/ww/index.htm

http://www.kitegen.com/en/

Interview with Lisa Hassell from inkygoodness

Tommy- Right then, first question, will start with an easy one. How would you describe what you are doing with inkygoodness and what are your aims?

Lisa- Inkygoodness started life as a small art show in Bristol back in 2008. Michelle and I were both keen to do something creative together and a show felt like a great idea. We were lucky to sell a bit of work and enjoyed the experience so a group show felt like a natural progression. We were excited about showcasing our work alongside established artists and organising a show was the quickest and easiest way to get our name out there. Inkygoodness 2 showcased artwork by 15 illustrators and we were very lucky to get talented local artists on board such as Andy Council which really helped elevate what we were doing. Following our success in Bristol we hosted 'Wonderland' in our home town of Birmingham last September; exhibiting work by over 25 artists each with their own unique style. We learned that working as a professional illustrator can be very isolating, especially for newcomers who may not know many others in the profession and so inkygoodness has evolved to meet this need by creating group shows where everyone can get involved in curating, selling and promoting their artwork in a professional art show; essential skills to survive as an illustrator.

Tommy- Yeah, that's great, I think that is one of the good things about what you do too, that you do get emerging artists together with more established artists so there's more exposure for the newer artists and that in turn a new audience turns out. And the more established artists see what new makers are doing (and what the competition is!). So next question is there anything else you would like to do with the project, do you have plans to work in any new directions or anything you want to experiment or play around with? I know you'd mentioned the possibility of a print show for instance.

Lisa- Yes! There are lots of things we would like to do with inkygoodness... continue to build on the foundations of our exhibitions, organise more events - maybe a smaller touring show. We'd love to take inkygoodness abroad to Berlin or L.A and involve more overseas artists, but for now our focus is very much UK based talent. We're currently looking for a suitable venue for a show in London next year, tossing ideas about for a theme and the format it may take - we're interested in creating a 3D 'walk through' installation, possibly involving animators. 

We’d love to do a print project in the future, inviting submissions and cherry picking the strongest entries for a printed book. We're keen to showcase creative talent and continue to support our creative friends as they embark on their freelance careers; self-promotion is very important in that respect. We have a strong name and brand identity and are fortunate to be in the strong position of steadily gaining a name for ourselves - its a very exciting time for us, the only difficult bit is deciding which direction to take next!

Tommy- That all sounds cool and I suppose part of the fun is having all that choice! I got particularly excited at the prospect of a walk though installation, I think it would work well with the artists and be something real magical and kinda worlds which you can explore and properly get involved in are always big fun! A book/catalogue would be super nice too, I think when people go to image shows they tend to want to take them all back with them and especially with some of the artists you've exhibited so far!

So what kinds of artists/makers (or anyone else for that matter) inspire you and are you interested in? Obviously there's the people who you've worked and exhibited with so far; Steve Rack, Simon Corry, Gemma Correll Felt Mistress for instance but is there anyone else you're liking at the moment?

Lisa- On a personal level painters such as Kelly Tunstall, Gary Baseman and Souther Salazar inspire me, their work is part illustration, part character art; creating beautifully weird wonderlands, strange landscapes and odd characters who occupy them. I love the idea of creating a narrative through a series of paintings or objects as part of a large installation, and this is the kind of work I aspire towards.

I have huge respect for illustrators too, and I recently attended an exhibition by Croatian artist Yellena James which was fantastic. Adam Hancher and Jack Hudson are incredibly talented illustrators & animators, and have recently executed a music video for Tigers That Talked. Remarkably, they are both still studying and I am really looking forward to seeing how their work develops!

Tommy- It is daunting isn’t it, I remember when we were studying and started Cheap we thought we were doing dead good, then started coming across loads of college kids putting out their own publications, exhibiting and even starting their own clothes brands! It’s good though, I admire people like that, and I suppose it kicks us up the arse a bit too!

So yeah I think that gives us a good idea of what informs you and what you are doing with inkygoodness but I’ve just one more question. I suppose it’s not really a question as to ask quite broadly if you had any other thoughts about image making you wanted to share; any positive or negative comments? Any issues you think people should be conscious of when making? Anything you and Michelle would like to see for inkygoodness?

Lisa- I think it's incredibly important to research, and gather ideas before creating artwork, and it's great to look at other artists for inspiration. However, it's essential to look at a variety of areas for ideas; nature, architecture, music, theatre, literature, to really think about the context of your work. Its no good to just look at other illustrators; if you want to give your work weight and depth, research is imperative. Artists who like to experiment and mix things up, work with different materials and let their ideas evolve and mature, often produce very engaging work and we strive to work with artists whose style is constantly evolving.

Envelop

"I Wonder.."


"I wish I was Audrey Hepburn"

I have just had my first two designs approved and am now a seller on envelop!! You can head on over and buy some cool tote bags now:

http://www.envelop.eu/shop/designers/p/detail/tommy-eugene-higson