Dream Anatomy

Even though the exhibit is long gone, the gallery for Dream Anatomy is still online. Check out the drawings, prints and sculptures designed to aid professionals and the public in their study of human anatomy. If only it were an exhibit on pumpkin anatomy (like the ones below by Ray Villafane), it would be a perfect Halloween post. Happy trick or treating!



Dream Anatomy via Lines and Colors

Gregory Gilbert-Lodge

Above are two great prints by Gregory Gilbert-Lodge. I love how the low contrast of the deep black and grey tones draw you into the image instead of how high contrast colors jump off the page towards you. The strong imagery of the colonel and canine do that job already.

GGL found via Kinki Mag #7 on Issuu, which is a great place to self-publish books and magazines. Gather up some friends and start your own magazine!

Kingdom Hybrids by Pooroni Rhee

BBRK sent us a tip to check out the portfolio of Pooroni Rhee. Inside we found Kingdom Hybrid, a great print set/mini calendar of flora-fauna mash-ups.

Tessa Farmer

Tessa Farmer creates amazing miniature sculptures out of insects and plant roots. The scenes are both natural (in the wars that occur in nature all of the time) and unnatural (in her new insect creations and the situations she constructs). They have such amazing detail - I'd love to see one in person. Tessa's artist's statement:

Tessa Farmer describes her work as "a tool to realise imaginative possibilities that might otherwise linger unseen, just beneath the surface". The tiny fairies and hell's angels she creates from plant and tree roots owe their scale to the insect wings which sprout from their backs. Although Farmer declares that they are growing smaller still! Farmer presents herself the conjurer of, rather than the maker, of these 'creatures' examining their behavior and evolution. "A bid to reignite childlike curiosity has witnessed the emergence of a species of miniature skeletal creatures resembling the human form". The new works will continue to investigate this fictional world where the behaviour of these fairies becomes increasing sinister as they mutate, mimic and torture the insects around them. Most recently she has observed their use of bird and animal bones to create flying vessels that facilitate their reign of terror. These creatures acknowledge the nastier side of childhood imagination, the antithesis of the Victorian notions of fantasy they seem to emulate.

Via Design You Trust.

Banksy's Village Petstore and Charcoal Grill

NOTCOT: Banksy's Village Petstore & Charcoal Grill from Jean Aw on Vimeo.

Jean/Notcot commissioned Seth Brau to make a video of Banksy's Village Petstore and Charcoal Grill. Check it out to get a great view of the store/installation, for those of you who can't visit yourself!

Chris Crites

Sean and I are actually on our way to the airport for a rather exciting and last minute trip to Chicago - we'll tell you all about it on Monday! And thanks to Blogger's auto-publishing capability, I've post-dated a few posts for you while we're gone. So - more on the trip later. For now - Chris Crites! Chris paints on paper bags rather than on the traditional white piece of paper and has drawn an extensive collection of mug shots (though he also has other work). The artist's statement:

Years ago I saw a book of black and white crime photographs from the past. I found it amazing. The characters and crime scenes looked like surreal glimpses into the history of human interaction. Much more intriguing for me were the mug shots. Portraits of people who had just been caught. Despair, frustration, anger – so many expressions could be read on the faces. Each one of these images has a story. Often times I have no idea what the real story is, but it's hard not to make one up. One of the reasons I paint them is to bring out another possible story, for people to look at and think about. The majority of the images I base my paintings on are from the 1890's through 1950's.

Originally I began using charcoal and white conté crayon on paper bag. The way the wrinkles, folds and texture added to the piece really appealed to me. In 1999 I painted my first 4 mug shots in acrylic on paper bag with a limited palette of 5 colors each. Paper bag has been my main substrate ever since. Brightly colored acrylics have a different effect on the brown bag than on a typical white backing.

I try to bring new life to these practically discarded portraits of criminal and human history. Using an everyday, disposable item as the surface gives new life to the bag as well. It is my hope to get people thinking about the past, their present, and how we all affect both.

Via The Strange Attractor.

Tiny Showcase Summer Print Collection

Last chance to buy the Tiny Showcase Summer Print Collection 2008...It was supposed to come down yesterday but it's still up for a few more days, so snap it up, yo (I just did)...I love love (!!!) Ryan McLennan's "Haul" and Julie Morstad's "Untitled". So gorgeous.

10% of the profits from the seasonal collection are being donated to Clean Water Action. Clean Water Action is a national organization working to assure the supply of clean, safe and affordable water.

PS. In light of our current economic state, we've updated the Idea's column with lots of great piggy bank ideas!

Lucky and Peer!

Two very exciting things happening recently...The very awesome Jean of Notcot listed us in this month's issue of Lucky Magazine as one of her favorite design blogs, alongside two of our favorites - Designboom and the Wooster Collective. Huge thanks to Jean and Lucky Magazine for the mention!



Also, Peer, a limited-edition book, collaborative art coloring book curated by Renee Garner of Wolfie and the Sneak just came out, and we have an illustration in it! Renee asked 25 artists to contribute: Kate Bingaman-Burt, Will Bryant, Lisa Congdon, Stephanie DosReis, Camilla Engman, Jessica Gonacha, Frances Hawthorne, Abbey Hendrickson, Jennifer Judd-McGee, Sandra Juto, Kelly Lynn Jones, One Good Bumblebee, Puloverchito, Selflesh, Groundwork, Jen Ray, Justin Richel, Julia Rothman, Model Citizen, Heather Smith Jones, Lisa Solomon, Sub-Studio, Something's Hiding in Here, Oh My Cavalier! and Wolfie and the Sneak. Each artist drew a self-portrait for the book, and Renee labored hard to put it all together. After you have contributed to the artwork with your beautiful coloring skills, each print is easily removed for framing. Also, when you're finished coloring in the prints, you can upload your masterpieces to the Peer flickr group.

Matt Taylor

Matt Taylor recently won the Creativity Magazine and Penguin Books contest for the cover design for The Island at the End of the World. A little trip to Matt's blog showed the illustration process (1,2) for the cover. I very much enjoy the peek into an artist's process to see how his or her vision takes shape.

Animals from Another Planet

Animals from Another Planet is a series of pigs and pig hybrids (dolphin, elephant, etc.). I just like the forms and swirls. Designed by Jaime Hayon, they build on his large body of work with organisms and creatures.

Misplaced Groceries by Aesthetic Apparatus

Misplaced Groceries is a quirky little book done by Aesthetic Apparatus cataloging exactly what the title implies. I can't stand it when people put stuff back where it doesn't belong, but I appreciate the book a lot. Check out a pdf preview of it here.

Urban Play - Sagmeister

I received an email yesterday from Scott Burnham, the curator for Droog Design's Urban Play, an international project that promotes creativity in the public domain. Stephan Sagmeister's typographic installation "obsessions make my life worse and my work better", made out of 250,000 Euro cent coins was removed overnight by the Amsterdam police. While it was anticipated that the installation would be interacted with and portions disturbed and removed over time, the full and swift removal of the installation was unexpected. The story behind the removal is even more unexpected (in Scott's words):

"It seems that the Amsterdam police were called by a resident of one of the overlooking buildings early Sunday morning to report that someone was "stealing an artwork". As the story goes, people were pocketing a few of the coins, which was also expected, but things got a bit out of hand when a resident saw this happening. So the police responded, and, in a rather bizarre instance of police efficiency, they proceeded to "secure" the artwork, by sweeping up the entire installation."

It's a shame that the piece met its end this way.

All photos via Anjens.

Universe by Jonathan Harris for Daylife

Universe, a project by Jonathan Harris is an art project for visualization and organization tool for Daylife, a news feeder. Universe is hard to explain completely so you should read the Statement. Daylife is a pretty cool news feeder and is worth checking out. They have an open API, so get cooking.

Banksy - New Orleans

Banksy went to New Orleans recently to "battle with the Gray Ghost, a notorious vigilante who's been systematically painting over any graffiti he can find with the same shade of gray paint since 1997". While there he did a bunch of great work - I love the site specificity of each drawing.

ARTSPROJEKT

ARTSPROJEKT is an online community for arts, pop culture and action sports. Conceived by Andy Howell, one of the most established skater-artists (Underworld Element, Sophisto), the site uses Zazzle to on-demand print a TON of different products. ARTSPROJEKT is just starting out so create a gallery there and promote your work.

David Aspinall

Shredding is all about...by David Aspinall was created as a means of exploring methods of creating 3-D letter-forms from 2-D materials. David manually shredded a large sheet of paper and then folded each strip to create the text "Shredding is all about the details".

Via Swissmiss.

Alessandro Capozzo

Fractal Cubes_2 by Alessandro Capozzo is built with Processing. Alessandro uses the coding language to create some beautiful installation pieces that marry the handmade with hi-tech without either being out of place.

Light Calligraphy by Julien Breton

Julien's light calligraphy is simply beautiful. The contrast of the fluidity of movement and the implied control necessary to control the light source is very inspiring. I especially like the image on the left, which shifts out of the two-dimensional and creates a radial space for the writing.

Andrea Heimer

Andrea Heimer emailed us about her most recent project, Coveted. I love the simple, clean line drawings and the small bits of color in each print. Check out a great interview with her here.

Caroline Slotte

Gorgeous, gorgeous ceramic art by Caroline Slotte made out of found objects. The artist's statement:

"In my current work I use found objects as a starting point for conceptual works in ceramics. Old objects, such as photographs, pieces of clothing or ceramics, have a way of directing our gaze to the past. They are symbols of the life stories of those who used them. From their markers I construct new stories. Memories play a pivotal role in defining who we are, as humans. In my work I wish to indicate the presence of time passed, in the human mind as well as in the objects that surround us. By giving the mute object a voice, I imbue mass produced items with a narrative capacity."

"This is ..." series by Miroslav Sasek

This is Rome, This is London, and This is New York are part of an 18-book series illustrated by Miroslav Sasek. Each book showcases the sights and experiences of a global city for children to learn and enjoy. Originally published in the 1960's, the books are now being re-released by Rizzoli.

"Piece of Me, Piece of You" by The Three Legged Legs

The Three Legged Legs took part in the Zune Arts showcase with their short film "Piece of Me, Piece of You". In true MJ fashion, zombies get down all over town.

Susan Benarcik

One other exhibit to check out - Susan Benarcik's Collected Response exhibition at the Maiden Lane Exhibition Space (125 Maiden Lane, New York, NY). The show will be up through September. The artist's statement:

My sight-responsive installations stand as three-dimensional visual metaphors evidencing both societies manipulative properties and mankind's adaptability. The elements utilized in my work are reminiscent of objects found in nature or in environments used to direct or inhibit natural growth ie; greenhouses, laboratories, libraries, gardens. By re/assembling these collections of forms, the installations metaphorically contextualize the way environments, consciously or unconsciously, affect our being. Bent, forced, loved, nurtured, discarded, etc., are forces we constantly battle or embrace. Through material choice and structural manipulation, my installations strive to evidence (our) continuous adaptability.

Andrew Zbihlyj

Andrew Zbihlyj draws some amazing images. The linework has just enough curve and just enough rigidity to give the lines tension on the page. And the collage of the photographs pop the images off the surface while the lines draw them back in.

Andrew Hem

Andrew Hem paints some nice things. Check out his store for the matchbooks above and his blog for more updates.

Hannah Stouffer

Please excuse the late start - our server died over the weekend and we are still trying to figure out how to get information off of it. Doh. Back up your work, people!

Anyway, check out these lovely illustrations by Hannah Stouffer that I spotted over at Designboom. Hannah is a San Francisco-based artist influenced by luxury, royalty, muscle cars, heavy metal, the animal kingdom, femininity, horse races and foliage. You can buy here prints here.

Patrick Dougherty

Being that the 4th of July is tomorrow, I'm already in vacation mode and Patrick Dougherty's sculptures make me think of tree houses from my youth - how cool would it be to stay in one of these? Patrick uses tree saplings and primitive building techniques to create his installations.

We'll be back on Monday! For all the Stateside peeps, happy fourth of July!

Katy Horan

The Shiny Squirrel has some great new prints by artist Katy Horan in the shop.

From the artist's website: Katy Horan’s paintings and drawings are meant to be the long lost folk art from an imaginary world. Based on a wide variety of interests and influences, her work tells stories about the characters and communities that populate this world.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang is not your typical graphic novel. There are no crazy action sequences, aliens, femme fatales, or any of the standard comic book fare. Instead the book has a genuine take on growing up asian-american with a twist of fate and history. The book weaves the stories of its three separate protagonists together in their fates and purposes. It was a great (albeit short) read and it has won a ton of awards. Teachers have even adopted it as a tool to help teach young adults about multiculturalism. I highly recommend it.

American Born Chinese at Amazon

Catherine Ryan

Catherine Ryan is an amazing young artist - I love the contrast between the charcoal and the acrylic in her work. There is an interesting dialog between the humans and the animals in her drawings - between who is dominant and who is submissive.

Via the Shiny Squirrel.

Tom Ferrero

Tom Ferrero is an old friend and jewelry designer/metalsmith. The set of New Zeland Journal Rings captures objects and narratives within the jewelry. Each piece contains the record of an item and its found location, but only through story-telling is the narrative of the individual piece and the collection revealed.

Playing The Building - David Byrne

Playing The Building by David Byrne uses the elements of the old Battery Maritime Building downtown as part of an organ-based instrument. The organ connects to motors and mallets to cause vibrations through the building's elements. The installation is open to the public, so go down there and hit some keys on your way out to Governor's Island.

View a video of the installation from BoingBoing TV:

Dan Hiller

Jean posted the amazing work of Dan Hiller on Notcot...I love the feel of his illustrations - vintage with a twist.

Battle by Ken Wong

Battle by Ken Wong draws you into the spiraling image of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. Available at Thumbtack Press, this print is worth picking up.

Heather Smith Jones

We are really pleased to welcome Heather Smith Jones as an advertiser this month - we first came across Heather in a gallery show we were part of at Artstream in New Hampshire last November. I was blown away by Heather's work - she had some amazing paintings in the show, as well as the great line drawings/watercolors that you can now find in her Etsy shop. Her work is still very affordable (so get it while you can!) - between $25 and $60 for an original drawing.

And...we finally switched out the Idea's Column! Here, for your viewing pleasure, are several well-designed USB memory sticks. If you know of one that's missing that you think we'll love, give us a holler!

Nick Dewar

Nick Dewar's illustrations exude a retro charm in their linework and blocks of color. The smoothness of the paintings gives them an almost dreamlike quality. Check out the portfolio page and prints available at Thumbtack Press.

Refined Sugar Studio

In the midst of the NSS chaos, I did get the chance to run through the ICFF for an hour. I grabbed a few business cards from the booths that immediately caught my eye, and Refined Sugar Studio was one of them. Cheeky and fun, the products are either limited edition functional pieces, or one-of-a-kind works of design art. Refined Sugar's tag line is "Sweet Designs for Living", and I think their work fits the bill. My two favorites: the Eat Me Dining Table, a reclaimed claw-and-ball foot dining table with a scrolling LED screen. Variations on the word "Meat" scroll across the table - "Eat Me", "Eat Meat", "Fat Me"...I also loved the Refined Cereal light fixture - all of your favorite childhood cereals illuminated in this one light fixture.

Blu Muto Video

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

This has been around the blogs a bit, but reader Sean sent it to us and I love the video of animated street art by Blu. There are even several matryoshka inspired sequences (yes, we will be changing the Ideas column soon!). Anyway, enjoy!

Craig Atkinson

Craig Atkinson is a UK designer/illustrator/artist whose sketch work brings out the quality of a single line. You can find a few of his drawings on Etsy or at his website.

Celia Richards

Celia Richards is an artist from the UK. The works above are from her Altered Objects series. I find it very poetic - cutting out all of the notes from a piece of sheet music and housing them all in a plastic bag. What's left of the sheet is beautiful, too, especially the way she uses it to play with light.

Via Daily Poetics.

Diem Chau

My friend Betty sent me a link to Diem Chau's work, and it's pretty incredible. I don't know how she does it, but she embroiders each graphic onto a piece of porcelain dishware. This is just a small sampling of her work - check out much, much more here.

Thanks, BBRK!

(PRODUCT) RED + GIRL SKATEBOARDS

(Product) Red recently partnered up with Girl Skateboards to produce a deck to stop AIDS in Africa. Normally (RED) partners with huge global brands that can contribute massive revenue to their cause. This is one of hopefully many smaller companies getting involved with (RED). Check out the video featuring Girl art director/art dumper Andy Jenkins and Eric Koston, who needs no introduction. Don't forget about The Berrics getting the BGP's.

via The Skateboard Mag

The Rolling Exhibition - Kevin Connolly

Kevin Connolly started a great photo project to document the expressions and reactions to his skating by them. The expressions capture such a range of emotions because Kevin was born without legs. Check out the Rolling Exhibition and a video short segment called "What Are You Looking At?" on People of the Web to learn more

Eric Tan

Eric Tan creates some incredible retro-inspired print work for all sorts of projects. Working at Disney, his recent work focused on Pixar films Wall-E and The Incredibles.

Above are two limited edition movie posters for Indian Jones and X-men. Be sure to check out Eric's blog for updates on his great work.

Subliminal: JHill Design

We are very excited to introduce a new feature to the blog: Subliminal, featuring the designers we love and their influences - big and small. Being that I was inspired by this post on Places I Have Never Been - Jennifer Hill of JHill Design's blog, I am excited to feature her in our first Subliminal post.



Jennifer Hill is a Boston-based graphic designer who started JHill Design five years ago. You most likely know her for her paper line called Places I Have Never Been which revolves around drawings of her imaginary vacations. Besides making products, JHill Design also creates logos, websites, etc.



What are you currently working on?
I'm working on a new card collection which follows the Places I Have Never Been theme, but includes holiday, thank you and hello! cards. I'm also wrapping up 12 new patterns for the 2009 calendar.

What are you currently inspired by?
I've been finishing up my new 2008 collection (to be released in May) and there were some great influences. One of the big ones was Balenciaga's Spring collection, all the crazy florals patterns and those great knee high, black and white gladiator sandals. There is a lot of nature in this series and lots of color, maybe it is because of this looooong winter.

What websites can you not live without?
what would tyler durgan do
design*sponge
i suwanee
yourgirlfriendisugly - the funniest blog EVER



What magazine subscriptions do you currently have? (Bonus Q: How many of them do you actually read?)
oh boy.
subscriptions: lucky, domino, sherman's travel, new york, vogue, elle, vanity fair, portfolio, 7x7, gourmet. I know - it's a lot.

I always read new york magazine each week. I don't read lucky and domino that much, I usually go to them when I'm looking for inspiration for something. I adore elle. So I'd say I read 5 out of 10, browse 3 and 2 stay on the shelf til they are needed.

What are your favorite inspirational spots?
Spot 1: in my hammock under a big tree. We are lucky to live on a dead end next to a park in Boston and my hammock lays under a big tree. Of course there are also triple deckers all around me so it isn't that private, but private enough.

Spot 2: my bed. I can lay and look out the window (we have very tall windows) and watch the planes from Logan fly away, I always wonder where all those people are going.





What is your favorite music to work by?
I like a lot of different music. Right now I have been switching between rilo kiely, patty griffith and jay-z. I know, weird.


What books are you currently reading?
animal, vegetable mineral by barbara kingsolver.


Any "inspiring" deadlines coming up?
I'll be showing at the stationary show in May with Sub-Studio!!! Got to finish up that collection...

Thanks so much to Jennifer for being our first in the Subliminal series!

Walter Ruffler's Paper Machines

Walter Ruffler's Paper Machines show that you can do a lot with a little drawing, paper, scissors, glue and imagination. Each piece has a story that lives in the characters and their animation. Sailing into the Wind (left) and Stormy Sea (right) are my two favorites so far.

Heather Smith Jones

We took part in an exhibit with Heather Smith Jones at Artstream in November, and Heather just emailed us about the opening of her online shop. Heather's works are both beautiful and quiet, with splashes of color and simple line drawings. All of the pieces in her shop are originals, so be sure to check them out before they disappear!

The artist's statement: "My paintings intuitively originate with fields of abstract color. I use marks, patterns, pinholes, words, and imagery to visually sew information together. Through painting I examine relationships within the detailed world of human experience. Particular thoughts, objects, experiences, and memories, become in my mind, moments of beauty when understood on a phenomenological level. Replanting elements from the natural world in an abstract way allows new correlations to become recognizable."

Tyler Stout

Here are a few film screening posters of beloved movies of my youth, illustrated by Tyler Stout. Check them out on Tyler's site to see the incredibly dense detail packed into each of the posters along with some other great looking work.

Marian Bantjes

Marian Bantjes is an amazing Canadian typographer with a beautiful body of work. One recent project that caught my eye is her contribution to Stefan Sagmeister's “Things I have learned in my life so far†series. Marian used sugar to script the phrase "If I want to explore a new direction professionally, it is helpful to try it out for myself first." Writing out the phrase five times, she photographed each version, as well as the destroyed version. Check out her website for more images of the project.

Cai Guo-Quiang: I Want to Believe

I am not normally excited to see what's coming to nyc museums, but the Cai Guo-Quiang: I Want to Believe opening in two days at The Guggenheim looks so interesting that I will make a point to see it.

More than seeing the finished works themselves, I wish I could have seen the month-long installation process of the works. The museum staff documented the process and there are photos and a short video of the process for Inoportune: Stage One . I enjoy these because it reflects the idea that the pieces are part of a whole process and not just a final product. The documentation emphasizes the incredible theatrical nature of the complex installation. If only they had opened to the public during this, it would be far more exciting than the final show.

Photographs by David Heald and Kristopher McKay, Guggenheim Museum Photography Studio

Artist Collection Glasses

We were at IGF this weekend and saw these Artist Collection Glasses, available at Molla Space, are something I haven't seen before. I like that it's a limited edition of a banal and everyday object. Each glass comes with a coaster by the artist and the case with the artist's bio. The coaster is displayed in the top lid.

Frida Mälarborn

I could have sworn that I had posted Frida Mälarborn's work before, but I can't find that I have - so here you go! Frida is a ceramic artist from Sweden. Her website is in Swedish so I can't tell you what her intent was behind the project, but what I love about it is the reinterpretation of a set of feminine objects, rendered useless and permanent in porcelain, with cross-stitched graphics pushing that femininity further.

Via Bloesem.

Kirsten Hassenfeld

Kirsten Hassenfeld is a Brooklyn-based artist who works with paper, creating super detailed, sculptural light objects. Her Dans la Lune exhibit just closed at Rice University's Rice Gallery, but I thought it was worth a mention here. Dans la Lune is a French idiom that references daydreaming, which is a great description of Kirsten's over-the-top sculptures of imagined opulence. From a distance her sculptures look like chains of gems and crystals, but as you get closer, detailed images emerge.

Bertie of WWR

Bertie is the next piece from Ashley Wood to make the jump from paper to sculpture. Robot Bertie comes from WWR aka World War Robot and will be released in a April of this year. Save a spot on your desk for this one.

Wieki Somers

I remember seeing Wieki Somers' High Tea Pot make the rounds on various blogs and thinking that the tea pot was on the gruesome side - which it is, but that's the point. Made of bone china and modeled after a fox skull with a water rat fur cozy, Wieki describes the project as "tasty and unsavoury, harm and delight aren't discerned any longer. Nothing is more decadent than to satisfy the human need for status and extravagance through the harm of animals."



The rest of Wieki's work is as thoughtful - the Bathboat looks at the form and function of a small boat and inverts it by turning it into a bath. The bathtub legs make reference to the wooden frame that boats typically rest on when docked.



Some more projects (left to right): Come Clean (soap in the image of the traditional Dutch farmer, which when used disappears to reveal the form of the modern business man who has replaced the farmer), Mattress Stone Bottle, and Blossoms (a vase which takes on the shape of its contents).

All projects were done in close collaboration with Dylan van den Berg.

Seaspray Blue

Katrin, aka Seaspray Blue is a German illustrator. I love the muted colors used, and the architectural content of the illustrations. The digital prints are archival quality and are very affordable at $15.

Via Oh, Joy!

Furni and Emil Kozak

The Alba 'EK' is a handmade timepiece designed by Furni with graphic and packaging treatment by Emil Kozak. As with all of Furni's creations, the production run is limited, so pick one up while you can.

Furni also completed a Show Us Your Skills competition that anyone could enter. Buy a DIY Kit and start building!

Sheep Market

This might be old news, but I thought it was interesting enough to warrant a mention here. The Sheep Market was an experiment in public art - over a period of 40 days participants in Amazon's Mechanical Turk (Artificial Artificial Intelligence) could draw their interpretation of a "sheep facing left". I love the number of sheep facing right! I wonder how many were intentional? Anyway, The result is a very cool digital mural of sheep drawings. I love the flash interface which shows you line for line how each person drew their sheep. Each worker was paid $0.02 per sheep.

Some stats:
Average time spent drawing each sheep: 105 seconds
Average wage: $0.69/hour
Rejected sheep: 662
Collection period: 40 days
Collection Rate: about 11 sheep/hour
Unique IP addresses: 7599

You can still buy a one-of-a-kind plate block of lickable adhesive stamps complete with a certificate of authenticity for $20.

Artstream Mapping the Way

Sean and I are back from a lovely weekend in New Hampshire. We went up to Rochester to attend the opening of the Mapping the Way exhibit at Artstream gallery (and to get out of the city for the weekend). Thank you Susan and Rainer for making us feel so welcome!

I was really impressed by the other artists work - the pieces were all so beautiful (especially in person!), so I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of my favorite pieces from the show. Clockwise from the top:

Heather Smith Jones' "A Cottonwood Seed", which is so gorgeous in person. The colors are really vivid and the bird was so detailed. This was my favorite piece in the exhibit.

Edibeth Farrington's "Years of Travel". Her pieces were very quiet and subtle. I loved the repeated type and the super white canvas.

Susan Schwake's encaustic handmade paper pieces were lovely. She made the paper herself, and each piece was so layered and textured. Occasionally pieces of text from the recycled paper would show through.

Another piece from Heather Smith Jones. The pieces in this series are super affordable ($40, so I bought one!) and are really beautiful. I love her limited use of water color, and the way the shapes relate to one another. The piece we bought had text poked with pins in it, which was a very nice, subtle touch.

Check out the artwork online here!

Mapping the Way Exhibit

Sean and I are very excited about this weekend - we are heading up to New Hampshire tomorrow to attend the opening of our show at the Artstream Gallery. We are so thrilled to be in the company of these great artists - Susan Schwake, Heather Smith Jones, Edibeth Farrington, and Stephanie Levy. You can check out more images of the show here, and also on our process blog, Submerge.

Kate Wilson

Kate Wilson is a British illustrator with some fantastic illustrations. I love the pieces that use the negative space of the page in the illustration itself, and her limited use of watercolor is gorgeous. See a large body of her work on Coroflot, and read her blog here. You can purchase her work from her etsy store.

Life by Adonis Werther

Life by Adonis Werther is a set of 4 prints that depicts the passage of time through one's life. The prints have a similar narrative and structure of Chris Ware's work. The print is available at Thumbtack Press, a great site for affordable art.

Evan Hecox - Urban Abstract

Evan Hecox is one of my favorite artists. His work for Chocolate Skateboards always impresses. This year he will release a hardcover monograph titled "Urban Abstract". His work is definitely worth checking out, and if you have some money lying around, there are a number of prints available at Arkitip.

The Octonauts by Meomi

We got a little tip in the email jar from Amy Ma of Immedium about The Octonauts series of children's books from Meomi Design. The Octonauts and The Only Lonely Monster (above) was released in October 2006 and The Octonauts and The Sea of Shade comes out in October 2007. The illustration work is excellent and the book is definitely worth picking up.

Meomi Design is Vicki Wong and Michael Murphy and they are quite the character factory over there.

Tatiana Arocha

My friend Alice sent me this link ages ago. Tatiana Arocha is a versatile artist with work ranging from print, motion graphics to illustration. My favorites are her illustrative work. I love the textured, Japanese-inspired graphics. You can find Tatiana in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where she is involved in the arts community, Servicio Ejecutivo.

Peter Callesen

My mom reminded me of the work of Peter Callesen, a Danish artist who works primarily with paper, creating amazing paperscapes by contrasting negative and positive space and 2-D and 3-D, all within a sheet of A4 paper. It was really hard to choose my favorites because they are all so great! Thanks, Mom!

Andrew Grima - Royal Jeweller

The 'Gondola' (left) and 'Cerini' (right) watches, designed by Andrew Grima, are each 30+ years old. In spite of their age, they are years ahead of today, and will continue to be so. Be sure to check out some of the other watches featured in the Ideas column on the right and the archive.

Stef Kardos - Ratatouille

We went to see Ratatouille over the weekend and thought it was great. The posters above were for the European release. Stephane Kardos created the two on the left, taking a cue from the art deco aesthetic of the 1950's (see A.M. Cassandre's poster on the right).

Happy 4th of July and be sure to take in some fireworks wherever you are. We will be taking the day and night off, so see you Thursday!

Know Hope

Gorgeous street art from Israeli artist Know Hope. A statement from the artist:

The lanterns deal with the frail, temporary aspect of putting up art in street. Take the best case scenario: nobody takes the piece after a short while and there are no extreme winds or rain, the longest life span of these pieces will be that of the candles, which is probably just a few hours. Therefore, when someone runs into one of them on the street they know that it was placed there not so long ago and they, by coincidence, got there in the small time frame that the piece was "active", hopefully giving them the feeling that it was placed there especially for them, and maybe guiding them, following them home and subtly lighting up their way.

Via Rag & Bone.

John Solimine of Spike Press

This great print is by John Solimine of Spike Press. The caption reads:

Captain Lapoda bellowed to his crew over the roar of the wind, "Our only chance is to lose them! Release the ink!"

I love it, plain and simple. Spike Press does a ton of posters for the Chicago indie scene. Their art prints and t-shirts have just the right amount of snarkiness in them.

Michelle Brand

I love it when people rethink the way an object is used, especially when that use gives the object a second life. Michelle Brand has created a 'fabric' made of the bases of plastic bottles. Each bottle is cut, sanded, and assembled into the tapestry. Beautiful!

24SEVEN

The second incarnation of 24SEVEN, published by Image and compiled by Ivan Brandon, is a compilation of the work of some 60 writers and artists. The story of the book revolves around robots living within the city, but the work within takes vastly different directions and is a testament to the breadth of talent within the comic and graphic novel community. And I am a sucker for anything drawn by Ashley Wood, whose work is featured on the cover. 24SEVEN #2 should reach stores in July of this year.

Ashley G

I'm sure you've all seen Ashley G's work before...I love the simplicity of her drawings and the beautiful colors that she uses. The little girls in her illustrations are especially appealing, maybe because they are so quiet and thoughtful.

Stoked Sessions Two - Zoo York x Giant x Stoked

Stoked Mentoring is a NYC/LA 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that I really believe in and actively promote among my friends and community. They use skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing as mentoring tools for at-risk youth here in nyc and in la. By combining a stellar mentoring program with a boardsport-based curriculum (for both mentor and mentee) to teach self-awareness and community building, Stoked is at the forefront of this non-conventional mentoring approach. I have been serving on their advisory board since last year and I am excited to see where we go this year.

On June 6th at Pink Elephant, Zoo York will hold a fundraiser and release a limited edition board and t-shirt designed by Mike Giant to benefit the Stoked Mentoring 2007 season. If you are in NYC, I urge you to contribute and help us expand our programs and outreach.

Tickets are $40/advance and $50/door. Purchase tickets for the fundraiser here.

If you are interested in volunteering or contributing in ANY way, whether you want to be a mentor, teach surfing or have other contacts that you think can help our organization, please contact info(at)stokedmentoring.org.

Deth P. Sun

I would liken Deth P. Sun to maybe someone like Maurice Sendak who wrote/drew Where the Wild Things Are. His drawings have that childhood fantasy with an undertone of darkness and gloom to them, which is probably what makes them so alluring. His show at GR2 in LA just closed, but his store is always open so go check out his work.

Artstream Un{limited}

I've been meaning to post this for a while...Thanks to Grace for the reminder! Artstream's current exhibition looks amazing - it features the work of Penelope Dullaghan, Lisa Congdon, Ashley G, Flossy-P, and Lisa Kirkpatrick. You can purchase pieces from the show (at affordable prices!) here.

Ben Schlitter

I have been a big fan of Ben Schlitter's work since he sent us an email last year about his geography postcards. Ben has an Etsy shop that is full of really great prints and paintings. The Drumlin print (above) is a digital reproduction an original vector illustration and is available for $15. You can find more of Ben's work here.

Dan McCarthy

Check out this amazing print by Dan McCarthy (I just bought one). 90% of the image was printed with glow-in-the-dark ink, so you really get two prints for the price of one. I love that it changes with the light. Beautiful.

Oksana Badrak

Oksana Badrak is an immensely talented illustrator and art director. Her work flows through and through with the ethereal and surreal quality that exists only in dreams. Take a moment to visit her site and her Feathered Friends" piece (right) at Thumbtack Press.

The Ancient Book of Myth and War

The Ancient Book of Myth and War by Scott Morse, Lou Ramano, Don Shank and Nate Wragg is a great showcase of their character illustrations. Each spread outlines one myth and one illustration. Shown is one of Scott Morse's illustrations of the inciting of war. You can keep tabs on Scott at his blog.

Andy Howell

Definitely check out Andy Howell and his super heavy site. Howell was an original member of Underworld Element way way back (remember Skypager and Fine Artists Vol. 1?) and did the graphics work for Sophisto clothing as well. He is still going strong and released his first monograph, Art,Skateboarding and Life.

Apak Studio

If you're in San Francisco over the weekend, design duo Aaron and Ayumi Piland of Apak have a show called Little Sanctuary opening at the SF Giant Robot. The opening reception is April 21 from 6:30-10:00pm. The show will include thirty colorful gauche paintings illustrating "the fantastic Utopian life and adventures of little beings living in a lush organic environments surrounded by curious and friendly little animals." The work looks great, so check it out if you are in town...

Modern Series by Tony Larson for Girl

One of the most iconic deck series of all time (for me at least), is the Modern Series by Tony Larson for Girl. Rick Howard's Eiffel Chair is my favorite, only because I dream of a house full of them in all sorts of colors. Someday perhaps. How you would ever find this complete set, I have no idea. But if I walked into someone's house and these were hanging on the wall, that person would be my hero.

Jason Thielke

I just bought a copy of this print by Jason Thielke. There is something very architectural about the way he draws - his illustrations are more like technical drawings of an urban landscape.

EDIT: This print is available online through OKOK Gallery.

Lettus Bee Vinyl Figure - Andy Jenkins

In my great love for all things Wrench Pilot by Girl Skateboards artdumper Andy Jenkins a.k.a. Mel Bend, I present to you the Lettus Bee Vinyl Figure. Limited to 500 worldwide, so scoop it up quick.

Julienne Dolphin-Wilding

Julienne Dolphin-Wilding works with recycled wood. She makes furniture, but what I find most interesting are these art puzzles, where she has taken a slice of discarded wood and cut it into a jigsaw puzzle. There is something beautiful about the natural, organic shape of the wood juxtaposed with the rigidity of the puzzle pieces.

Via Bientot Demain.

Mary Burr Studio

Check out this beautiful hand-carved and hand-pulled linocut print by Mary Burr. I love the graphic flowers, and at $15, it's a pretty good deal!

Matt Cipov

I just bought this set of Field Studies prints by Matt Cipov. At only $6, they're totally a steal! Matt's Etsy store is full of great prints and original art pieces. Definitely worth checking out. His work reminds me of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Miwa Koizumi

Miwa Koizumi made these jelly fish sculptures from water bottles she found in the trash. Poetic! The sculptures are beautiful and ethereal.

Via YBPD.

Lisa Congdon

I meant to post this a while ago...I am so intrigued by the images on the flyer...The textile work looks really interesting (are those cells? I don't know!). Lisa Congdon is the artist, and she is having a solo show at Rare Device in Brooklyn from April 18 to May 20. Lisa works primarily in collage, and the Anatomie series is dedicated to anatomical imagery. Lovely!

Matt Gaser

Lovely illustrations from Matt Gaser. His personal work borders on the fantastical...which makes sense, because professionally, Matt worked as Senior Concept Artist on the video games for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and is now working for Lucasfilm Animations as a Concept Artist and Matte painter.

War Fix - Steve Olexa and David Axe

War Fix is the true story of reporter David Axe and illustrated by Steve Olexa. The illustration is really great and Olexa pushes composition with panels and textures bleeding across the pages. I have only had a chance to flip through it a few times and it looks great, definitely worth checking out.

Yoann Lemoine

An artist worth checking out: Yoann Lemoine is a french illustrator who splits his time between England and France, and his skills between the 2D and 3D. I love the clothing catalog images...almost paper doll-ish...

Jonathan Yuen

Jonathan Yuen's portfolio website is full of beautiful imagery...I love the black and white illustrations, and the way everything is connected through a meandering ground line. The navigation is a little complicated, but worth the expended brain power, I think!

Chris Jordan

Some interesting work from artist Chris Jordan. Chris is working on a series titled "Running the Numbers, An American Self-Portrait" in which he looks at contemporary American culture through a statistical lens. The artist's statement:

Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books...This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from tens-of-thousands of smaller photographs.

The top image is titled "Supermarket Bags", and it depicts 1.14 million brown paper supermarket bags, the number consumed in the US every hour. The bottom image is titled "Shipping Containers", which depicts 75,000 shipping containers - the number of containers processed through American ports every day.

Matte Stephen

Grace posted about Matte Stephen's work a few weeks ago, and I came across his Etsy site recently. His work definitely has a retro feel, and I love the colors that uses. Matte's work can be seen at Velocity Art and Design in Seattle, Alphabets in NYC, and in an upcoming show at Office PDX in Portland.

Gail Rothschild

Gail Rothschild is a dear friend of ours who has an upcoming show at Stitch Therapy Brooklyn in NYC. Her work is painting-drawing-fabric-stitching-based and really begs to be seen up close, even though the paintings are already at a macro scale. Please check it out if you are in the area:

Gail Rothschild
A Graphic Investigation of Knitted Plane Topology
Opening Reception February 14th, 2007

The show runs from February 15, 2007 through March 27, 2007

at:
Stitch Therapy Brooklyn
176 Lincoln Place
Park Slope, NY 11215
718.398.2020
Stitch Therapy Brooklyn

Oliver Lake

Love these illustrations from Oliver Lake. The print to the left is an illustration he did for a children's book called 'Pip of Pengersick'. The print to the right is from a series inspired by the music of Tom Waits. Cool!

Artstream Gallery - Lovely Hearts Exhibition

We are very excited to be a part of the Lovely Hearts exhibition over at the Artstream Gallery, which was curated by the wonderful Susan. 50% of the retail price of each artwork sold goes directly to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. All of the works exhibited are under $100 and are available for purchase here. We hope you will check out the show and support this great cause! The opening reception is Saturday, February 10.

We also want to thank you all for your great comments this week! We love hearing from our readers!

Dan McCarthy - Dino in the Woods

Dan McCarthy is a great printmaker with amazing dinosaur prints. He just released a new poster called 'Dino in the Woods' for a show at The Middle East. I had to post about it because I love Dan's work (we're proud owners!), and I have fond memories of The Middle East. I worked in Boston over the summer of 2000 and lived down the street near Central Square, so I would see shows at the little downstairs every week.