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/