New Signing: Mark Ward

Born in South London in the early 80's, Mark grew up surrounded by the grey suburban landscape, on a healthy diet of candy coloured MTV and Thrasher skateboard magazine. Mark combines surreal elements of pop culture with a truthful mundane undertone to create his own iconic visual language. Mark produces bold and original ideas through his universe of characters, typography, animations and everything in between. To view Mark's folio click here.

New Signing: Andrew Bannecker

A collecter of old ephemera and just about anything wood and metal, Andrew creates inspiring art that captures the imagination and tells a story. He works in a studio in Washington DC, beautifully cluttered with everything from toy rocket ships to vintage glass beakers filled with skittles. Andrew is a rare talent who has worked with an array of exciting agencies and brands worldwide, boasting a vast amount of experience within the industry, whilst keeping his finger firmly on the creative pulse. To view more Andrew Bannecker click here.

JBR New Signing: Stephen Chan

We're excited to announce our latest signing Stephen Chan! It was a few years after Stephen graduated that he created his unique style. His work is character driven and often involves large, isometric detailed landscapes and scenery. Originally from Hong Kong, Stephen now resides in the UK but the influence of a healthy does of Manga, Anime and computer games absorbed as a child is clear to see. Stephen exhibits his work worldwide and enjoys a large following and enthusiasm globally from clients and collectors alike. To view Stephen's folio click here.

Google: Alex Varanese

Alex Varanese is a digital image maker from San Francisco. An extensive use of 3D in his work enables Alex to create lifelike depictions of architecture, product design and urban landscapes from scratch, without photography. He has a large following of enthusiasts and an equally healthy client base, many of whom are high profile companies like Google.
This latest project (click here to see animation) was to give Google's targeted, metrics-driven advertising technology a memorable introduction to the world of TV, director/writer David Bryant wanted to contrast the profound evolution that television has undergone in the last half century with the sluggish pace at which TV advertising has advanced. As such, the first half of the animated piece is a tour of the televisions themselves, from the clunky wooden boxes of the 40's and 50's to the sleek flat panels of today. Along the way brief motion graphics pieces capture the essence of each era, starting with the infamous indian head test card, then on to the colourful but ham-fisted world of animation in the 60's and 70's, moving through the laser grids and neon pink script of the 80's, and finally settling on the obnoxious excess of modern-day cable news packaging. We then zoom out to reveal a patchwork of televisions arranged as a single video wall, at which point narration and animation info-graphics take over.

JBR New Signing: Debbie Smyth

Debbie Smyth's playful, yet sophisticated folio is created by stretching a network of threads between accurately plotted pins. Her work beautifully blurs the boundaries between fine art drawings and textile art, flat and 3D work, illustration and embroidery. The execution of her line literally lifts the image off the page, in a series of "pin and thread" clusters. As well as creating a number of installations, from public spaces to window displays, Debbie's style lends itself well to printed commissions and has proven most popular across the board. You can see more of Debbie's work here: http://julesrepresents.com/ds/

JBR New Signing: Candykiller

Dundee based Candykiller began his creative career in the graphic design and advertising world. After a number of years he made the decision of becoming a full time illustrator and hasn't looked back. Influenced by childhood imagery varying from vintage comics to Pop Art, he set about putting together a portfolio of work, executing his style through both painting and digital means. With a number of toys, prints and merchandise items being sold and constantly created Candykiller has a large following of enthusiasts worldwide. You can see more of his work here:
http://julesrepresents.com/ck/

Audio-Visual: Peter Crawley

Not one to rest on his laurels for long, stitch God Peter Crawley has created this fabulous new self-initiated project entitled 'Audio-Visual.' The inspiration for his latest project was born through his fascination of the different song-waves created by particular songs. There are always specific parts of songs, a big crescendo or a drum crash or fade, for example, that are ingrained in so many people he thought it would be interesting to record these moments. Songs like 'Satisfaction' by the Rolling Stones were not necessarily that striking visually due to a generally even and full sound-wave, whereas many of Dylan's acoustic songs have huge peaks and troughs.
After a careful song selection Pete set about capturing the visual information from a series of well-known sixties songs with intriguing results.

Both prints and originals are for sale, for more info just email!

JBR New Signing: Magnani

Magnani currently resides in Lima, Peru but is just as much at home in Madrid or Italy. Having this tri-nationality affords him a diverse exposure to three different cultures. His ability to illustrate such stylish imagery, focusing on detail, typography and composition enables him to use colour sparingly, with maximum impact. With this and a passion for the aesthetic qualities of mechanical details, coupled with an admirable flair for fashion figures, his work is widely admired across the world.

JBR new signing: Alex Varanese

Alex Varanese is a digital image maker from San Francisco with a huge passion for typography. His original background was in computer science, and after an intensive stint working in Silicon Valley he set about turning his hobby of digital art and illustration into a career. The unusual foundation of engineering, dovetailed with his brief period in the wold of video games had Alex emerge with a rare skill set and a sensibility that combines the futurism and orthogonality of digital technology with the wood-grain lo-fi aesthetic of the 1970's and early 80's. An extensive use of 3D in his work enables Alex to create lifelike depictions of architecture, product design and urban landscapes from scratch without photography. His striking enthusiasm for the colour red has meant that a large majority of his work is created using warm tones and a palette selection that has become a trademark.
You can see more of Alex's work here http://julesrepresents.com/av/

Computer Arts

The highly talented Tom Lane is featured in this months 'Computer Arts Magazine' due to his 'Going Gone Gorilla' project having won a silver and a bronze in the applied graphics and ambient categories at the Fresh Digital Awards!
Tom and his partner in crime Ged Palmer were commissioned by Bristol agency '375' to create a unique life-sized Gorilla that illustrated the threat to the animal from the illegal bushmeat trade. The duo cleverly came up with the idea of dividing the animal into 'cuts' like the traditional butchers posters.
The wonderful artwork was sold in aid of Bristol Zoo's gorilla conservation projects. You can see a film of the creation in action here http://www.julesbeazley.com/artists/tom-lane/gorilla.php
Well done Tom!

The Skylight House, Sydney

A friend of mine moved to Sydney a year ago now and although I was rather disappointed at her leaving she has proven to be a great source of creative tit-bits!
The Skylight House is located in Sydney on a heritage listed street and was lovingly restored by Chenchow Little. It sits a little uncomfortably between its less attractive siblings - the expression 'A rose between two thorns' comes to mind. Not only is this little treasure beautiful on the outside its interior is, well, gorgeous!
Unsurprisingly Chenchow Little won a number of awards for this project, you can check out more about them here - http://www.chenchowlittle.com/

Anthony Gormley: Palm Springs Art Museum

I had the pleasure of experiencing a piece of Anthony Gormley sculpture up close and personal whilst in Palm Springs not so long ago. Gormley grew up in West Yorkshire and attended both Central Saint Martins and Goldsmiths Colleges. He has had and continues to have a long and rich career spanning some 40 years with many well known artworks including 'Angel of the North,' 'Event Horizon' and  'Another Place' to name a few. Awards won during this time include a Turner Prize in 1994, the South Bank Prize for Visual Art in 1999 and the Bernhard Hellinger Award for Sculpture in 2007. Most of his work is figurative and made from a range of materials. Often the moulds for these figures are created from his own body and due to this he says are "the closest experience of matter that I will ever have and the only part of the material world that I live inside."
The particular work that I saw is entitled 'Apart X' 2002. He said that "It was the first time that I had thought about translating the orthogonal geometries of the original lead works into units and about the way that pixelisation of the two-dimensional image could be translated into three dimensions."
Due to the steel blocks that were used to create the figure the effect gave an almost robotic, industrial feel. Gormley's intension was to construct the figures as if they were a building.
His sculpture was one of the highlights of my trip to the Palm Springs Art Museum, it was nice to get so close to his work and understand how it was achieved by getting a close up view of its structure.
You can read more about Anthony Gormley and where you can see his work at: http://www.antonygormley.com/

Tim Burton: LA County Museum of Art

Whilst in LA I went to see the Tim Burton show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I wouldn't describe myself as a particular admirer of his work but have (as many) seen a number of his films and enjoyed them for their unique feel. I know very little about film but find that Burton's are very identifiable, the show helped me to explore exactly why that is and what inspirations lead him to create them as he has. The exhibition was very thorough in its explanation of props, models, drawings, costumes etc which all combined to make a visually intriguing show.
Burton was brought up in Burbank, California and always felt like an outsider to his peers and those around him. From a young age he had an interest in German Expressionism, Edgar Poe, Japanese comics like 'Dr Seus,' Dahl and 'Hammer Horror.' He liked stories of the unlikely hero in films, Frankenstein being a classic example. Burton enjoyed a connection with their vulnerability and felt that they showed more soul than their fellow, more human, characters. This for me was a very poignant point, its something you can identify within his films immediately and it touches you when you realise his sentiment is due to his uneasy start in life.
The Japanese comics and culture that he immersed himself in inspired him to draw characters and ideas of a fantastical nature. This start in life, where he was exposed to a visual wealth of genres, had a direct impact on dictating the work that we associate with him today. Something that I hadn't realised is that Burton still translates his ideas through drawing to his actors and crew members, helping them to understand his vision. This meant that the show was mainly made up of his doodles, illustrations and notes showing the very start of his ideas for characters and scenes in his films.
There are a number of themes covered that run through Burton's work, the already mentioned unlikely hero, sinister clowns, the use of costume, the idea of the fairytale, contrasting couples, gothic tones and 'silent cinema' to name a few. All these ingredients help to give identity to his unique work, the Tim Burton stamp.
I really hope that the show travels to London, where Burton now mainly resides. I think it offers a real insight to his work and makes you aware of the complexities in the messages he tries to convey through his characters and story telling.

Kai and Sunny

Having previously had the pleasure of representing Kai and Sunny I am more than familiar with their exceptional work. They are an agents dream, a duo who straddle the publicity exposure friendly world of fine art, who also possess a transferable talent that makes them brilliant candidates for any commercial project. Always interested in pushing themselves that one step further and creating imagery that leaves the viewer spellbound I get a sense of excitement when I learn about a new show they've put together. The latest 'The Flower Show,' is a collection of monotone pieces highlighted in glittering silver which explore the word 'Flower.' The venue for this show is the small but perfectly formed 'Stolen Space' gallery in the creative hub of Shoreditch, London.
The work was, as expected, utterly beautiful and from the sounds of those around me received with much enthusiasm. An additional unexpected element to an already highly credible show was the short story written exclusively for the collection by the greatly esteemed author David Mitchell entitled 'The Gardener.'
With a selection of highly collectable prints, including a sought after limited edition box of 5 of the artworks, it was nice to see that they had made a conscious effort to make the buying of their work accessible to most budgets. I was pleased to walk away with a limited edition A3 print from the show.
To find out more about Kai and Sunny and this great collection of work visit:
http://www.kaiandsunny.com

Shawn Smith

I first became aware of Shawn Smith's work on Twitter and instantly wanted to find out more about him. Smith creates 3D sculptures from a variety of hand dyed woods like Bass, Balsa, Plywood etc. He begins by sketching out the form of his subject matter to understand the scale and proportions of his next work. Then, after selecting his chosen material, he first shapes then dyes the individual pieces to their desired size and colour.

His sculptures intentionally resemble the look of a pixilated digital image, the inspiration source of which is found online. Smith creates the sculptures painstakingly, piece by piece, building the little nuggets of wood to recreate the original 2D image.

Taken from Smith’s website he describes his art as:

'My work investigates the slippery intersection between the digital world and reality. Specifically, I am interested in how we experience nature through technology.  When we see images of nature on TV or on a computer screen, we feel that we are seeing nature but we are really only seeing patterns of pixilated light.'

One of my favourite artists of all time, Georges Seurat, was the founder of 'Pointillism,' a movement  which involves the application of thousands of tiny strokes of pure colour with a paintbrush to build a whole image, if you will, the original CMYK process. He first discovered this effective technique in 1886 and today, over a century later and after many technical advancements, we can draw parallels in the ethos and the almost scientific approach in process of Seurat's work and Smith’s sculpture. I find it fascinating when you can take a modern art form and suggest the trace of history back to another artist who, no doubt, gained as much enjoyment and fulfilment from painting his work as Smith obviously does when building his.

If you want to see more of Smith’s work take a look at his website:  http://shawnsmithart.com/ or you can also find out more about Seurat at http://www.georgesseurat.org/

Dan Stiles

Dan Stiles, it would appear, is a bit of a music artist God. Originally from Michigan but now living in Portland, Stiles has made it his business to collaborate with an array of muti-genre heavyweights from the music world, including Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Dizze Rascal and Hot Chip.
He has a number of influences ranging over old comic books, Pop Culture, African art and 3 of my favourites genres - Japanese, Deco and Art Nouveau. The work he creates is very iconic with a heavy graphic feel, using generally a cheerful palette and providing a strong sense of rhythm.
Having produced an exceptional amount of posters and artwork for the music industry he is keen to go on and focus on other areas of design, including textiles by bringing out a line of marine inspired fabric.
Dan has a great portfolio and selection of beautiful posters available in his online shop, you can check both out at http://www.danstiles.com/

Gabriel Dawe

A friend of mine suggested I look at thisiscolossal.com as there are some interesting finds on there. There were a number of highlights but one in particular that caught my eye was an artist called Gabriel Dawe.

Gabriel is Mexican but has lived for a number of years in both Canada and Dallas, in particular The University of  Texas. As a boy growing up in Mexico he was exposed to the vibrancy and intensity of the culture and craft, and like all males, was discouraged to take up any interest in textiles and embroidery. He started life, as many artists do, as a graphic designer until he moved to Montreal with the view to discovering a new culture and country. It was here that his experimentation with his creative talent really started and the beginning of a new stylistic direction began.

Dawe's pieces are made over a period of 4-5 weeks and from thousands and thousands of threads. Should you be fortunate enough to catch one of his shows the work is best viewed in person to fully appreciate the 'Op Art' effect that it gives. The 'Op Art' movement was of course dominant in the 60’s, 'Op' being short for 'Optical' and as a genre centered around the illusion of the abstract lines or patterns creating movement. The 60's fashion is currently a trend that is dominating the fashion world, the emergence of which was seen at this year's fashion week. Dawe's beautiful work would be greatly admired regardless of when it was seen, even if only viewed on a  technical level. But it is interesting that the two have started to flourish at the same time and I wonder if therefore we might see a quicker rise of this sure-to-be star than perhaps even he might have ever predicted.

You can find out more about Dawe and his work on his website, http://www.gabrieldawe.com/

Audrey Kawasaki

I've had a bit of an addiction recently to Japanese themed art, I've previously blogged about Victo Ngai and now am going to shout a little about the wonders of Audrey Kawasaki.

I first became aware of Audrey's work about 3 or 4 years ago, I've always appreciated the genre that Japanese greats such as Hokusai, Kuniyoshi and Hiroshige embody. The more contemporary 'names' like Ngai and Shimizu (who I repped for a while) also have an exceptional draw to me but Audrey's work had a certain magic and charm to it that I'd not seen before.

Audrey Kawaski is a Japanese-American artist whose influences are strongly taken from Manga and Art Nouveau. If you are familiar with my blog you will know from previous posts I'm a bit of a fan of Art Nouveau, which might explain why Audrey's style was so attractive to me. Generally her work depicts beautiful young girls who have the look of innocence about them, but with an erotic edge. Audrey's website goes on to describe her work as 'The figures she paints are seductive and contain an air of melancholy. They exist in their own sensually esoteric realm, yet at the same time present a sense of accessibility that draws the observer to them.'

Audrey's work tends to sell like hot cakes, you can purchase limited edition prints through her website and I was lucky enough (in the two minutes they were sold) to hit the 'buy' button in time. I was assuming, from chatter on the web, that her work does sell out tremendously quickly but wasn’t prepared for all 300 to go in 2 minutes flat! The examples of her work featured below are typical of her style, her canvas of choice being wood panels. The print I now have hanging in my flat is 'She Entwined' which is the image on the right.

You can see more of Audrey’s work at http://www.audrey-kawasaki.com

Aqua Sheko

I've been meaning to experience the new fish manicure/pedicure phenomenon for a while and didn't have any plans so took Rob to Aqua Sheko on Frith Street W1 for a Sunday with a difference.

I didn't hold out any hopes that the therapy session would actually show results, it was more that I was intrigued by the concept and wanted to see what the fuss was about.

The manicure and pedicure treatments are conducted separately. The Garra Rufa fish live in tanks which are housed at the foot of the leather seats where your pedicure session happens. Their natural habitat is unsurprisingly different to what you find in this Soho based spa. The species has thrived in hot springs near Kangal, Turkey where bathers have visited for centuries.

Once your feet have been sanitised you dip them into the water and the fish instantly start to sucker at them. It’s a completely painless process and for me was a really relaxing sensation. The 'light box' base style tank affords a wonderful aspect of the fish silhouettes swimming around, finding an appropriate part of the foot and getting to work. The manicure bar has long tanks that you sit up at to dip your hands in, it enables you to get a closer look at the fish going about their business.

The visual theatre is just as an important element to this unique treatment as the stimulation of the fish. As far as the results of exfoliating your feet are concerned I didn’t notice a difference, frankly it didn’t matter, we thoroughly enjoyed it.

To book an appointment at Aqua Sheko check out http://www.aquasheko.co.uk

Haunch of Venison/Meekyoung Shin

This was my fourth trip to Haunch of Venison (HOV) in the last year, its located around the corner from my office on Heddon Street and therefore is enticingly close! Not only does HOV give members of the public free entry but it can be replied upon to hand pick exciting exhibitors for them to feast their eyes upon.
This particular trip was to see the Korean born Meekyoung Shin exhibition which features work from her 'Translation' and 'Ghost Series' projects. The work, cleverly made from soap (much to the astonishment of my Mother who had tagged along for the ride) was in the form of a series of vases. The 'Translation' room vessels had a Chinese inspired feel to their porcelain vases displayed with their packaging crates used to transport them to their different locations. According to HOV 'By rendering these precious objects in a seemingly fragile and transient material such as soap, Shin questions the authority and originality the original vases demand.'
The 'Ghost Series' was my favourite room (see attached pics). These vases (also created in soap) were sorted into different colour-themed tables and due to their lack of original markings and choice of material gave the suggestion of their origins shape through a 'ghost' like form.
All in all a very worthwhile show to see, it was a pleasure to be introduced to the work of Meekyoung Shin and experience something new and surprising. Unfortunately the show ended this weekend but you can still read about it here: http://www.haunchofvenison.com/en/#page=london.current.meekyoung_shin