Wednesday 28 April 2010

20x200//younga park

Younga Park, Winter Flags (East Village, New York) 
(image from 20x200)


20x200 is an initiative started by New York gallerist Jen Beckman. Basically, it aims to make art more accessible to more people. It does this by offering, on a twice a week basis, limited edition prints from a selection of artists. The price of the print depends on its size and edition number, with the $20 pricepoint of works printed in editions of 200 giving the venture its name. Personally, I am all for businesses which are trying to make art something that everyone can own. If art makes you hapy, why can't it be a part of your everyday life? Needless to say, I think 20x200 is a great initiative. But that's only one side of it. The other great thing is the artists I am learning about as the releases of the weekly editions arrive in my inbox. One of my favourites is New York photographer Younga Park.

Younga's photographs are, for the most part, simple subjects, but they highlight that there is whimsy and inspiration to be found in unexpected places. She is also represented at Jen Beckman's main gallery, and  whilst her artist's statement sounds awfully intellectual - "My work is an attempt to find idiosyncratic moments in daily interactions with the living, built, and natural environments"  - I would probably state it moer simply: there is joy and fascination to be found if you look up, down and around instead of just focusing on what's ahead. This is most notable in the first and last photographs. It's something that I've become increasingly aware of over the past few years as I take more and more photos: leaving the house with a camera in your hand, you are infinitely more observant than heading out empty handed. Colours, shapes, framings, ideosyncracies all become apparent to the eager eye, and I think it is this celebration of fine details  that I enjoy in Younga Park's work.

 birdhouse

 birthday party

 salmon hole
 usa, manhattan

 brooklyn morning

Above images from Jen Beckman Gallery website.

Saturday 24 April 2010

Tuesday 20 April 2010

typography Tuesday

I'm sure most people have come across this - it's the carpark at Eureka Tower, designed by graphic deisgner Axel Peemoeller (who was contracted by Melbourne design practice emery studio for the project).

Visual illusion/distortion certainly isn't a new idea, but inserting something fun into a place as dreary as a carpark? Kind of cool, plus you won't find yourself going in circles trying to find the way out/up/down! Its won many international awards, too - naturally.


Images via Axel Peemoeller Design (check it out, great little site).

Wednesday 14 April 2010

Still here...

... just floundering around with no internet, and spending all my time hanging out with these guys:


Futurist Photodynamism by Anton and Arturo Bragaglia. What were they trying to do? And why? Well, for starters you can read the manifesto here. Time for me to head home.

typeface canines

Most of you will know this -- Meels is currently mooooving houses/unpacking and thus without internet. I am sure she will be back soon with interesting things to share.

Image via Cakehead Loves Evil.

Sunday 11 April 2010

tweed cycling

Forget zombie shuffles, or singing/dancing flash mobs ... because here my friends, is tweed cycling.

I am now in KL, still unpacking and settling in ... but be assured that a camera is by my side at all times.

Brilliant photographs from oleg skrinda.

Thursday 8 April 2010

packing...

...now I'm doing it too. If only all cardboard box experiences were this blissful:



1 Embankment by Rachel Whiteread at the Tate Modern* 
(image from John Elkington's web journal)
2-3 Cardboard Cloud installation by design firm Fantastic Norway Architects 
(found via designboom)

*maybe not so blissful for the people who had to install it all

Monday 5 April 2010

Matt Huynh

A few months ago (or was it last month ...) Amelia and I had a good look at the recent Risographica show at Lamington Drive on George St. As a poor, unemployed student, and as tempting as the prints were on the opening night, I couldn't justify/afford purchasing one. I found myself thinking about a few of the prints over the next week or so and as Oscar Wilde puts it, "the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it." So I did -- Matt Huynh's Matador

There is something so beautiful about the calligraphy of the bull and pencil strokes of the matador. Such confident lines on the paper. (Oh, and a certain Amelia also found it absolutely necessary to own this amazing print!)

Matt Huynh is creates comics and is also a very talented illustrator. I think what I enjoy most about his body of work is that he doesn't adhere to a particular style. Instead his drawings reflect its purpose, story and would only work in the context it was created for. 


His drawings (subject, media, context ...) are as diverse as his clients - who range from Wollongong City Council to Incu Clothing to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. From his drawings you can feel the true passion and love for what he does, which is always so lovely to see. Aaaand, from all the international awards and scholarships, it is clear that Mr. Huynh is not only talented but also a hardworker.


I just looove the technical drawings (above) for Fisher and Paykel. They transform the mundane appliances into something rather engaging, and pleasing to the eyes. So I leave you with a cool video by Matt:


Matt Huynh, Creative Sydney Time Lapse from stikman on Vimeo.

Images from Jacky Winter and Matt Huynh.

Saturday 3 April 2010

a response...

(from MOMA, no less)


Flowchart by Alfred H. Barr Jr. image found here

Thursday 1 April 2010


Kumi Yamashita

One of my daily design blogreads is yellowtrace - do have a look, it is fabulous and inspirational. The name of the blog itself makes me feel all fuzzy inside, yellow trace becomes your best friend during design - a platform to develop and improve ideas and designs. It is so smooth and works brilliantly with so many media ... my favourites include my Uni pin finelines, Artlines and Copics. My point is ......


Phwoar!!! It is rare nowadays (although the creative types are just everywhere!!) to find something absolutely jaw-droppingly amazing -- but look what I came across today while on yellowtrace. These are the work of Japanese artist Kumi Yamashita. Simple concept with ultra intelligent and manipulative use of lighting.




The one above is a permanent display at the Akiru Municipal Medical Centre in Tokyo. Yes, yes, yes please.


All images from Kumi Yamashita's site.

smiling is a chain reaction

Not only has Zi packed her entire life into boxes and moved it into storage, but she is also suffering from a broken computer. So posts will be probably only coming from my direction until she's arrived in Malaysia. 

Seeing life is doing its best to be busy and stressful, I figure we are all overdue for a big ol' smile at the moment. Here to help me out is American band OK Go, who are are probably more famous for their one-take treadmill video (what? You haven't seen it?? Here) than the rest of their music...and now they've gone and done it again, with the video for This Too Shall Pass. The video features a rather epic Rube Goldberg machine. A who what machine? Named after the American cartoonist whose illustrations first made them famous, Rube Goldbergs are complex and over-engineered machines which perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways (thanks, Wikipedia!). Still confused? Maybe these will jog your memory:


And last but not least, the video itself:



PS: having watched it, does my post title make a little more sense? I'm thinking causality -> happiness -> silliness -> Rube Goldberg. Makes perfect sense, right....?

PPS: I think it's also kind of hilarious that the google ads which pop up at the bottom of the This Too Shall Pass video are for treadmills. Poor old OK Go. It was an awesome video, but they will forever more be "Those Guys With the Treadmill."

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