Marc Craste

Creative agency RKCR/Y&R briefed Marc Craste to direct this short animated film for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Jake Walters

There's something so beautifully fluid about Jake Walters photography, in particular his fashion collection which can be viewed on his website.
It is pure aesthetic genius.

Andersen M Studio

Absolutely astonishing.

Françoise Nielly

Françoise Nielly’s gigantic and immensely colourful portraits are mesmerizing. She paints on canvases with dimensions as large as 78 x 25 inches (195 x 62 cm) from black and white photos/images which only adds to the emphasis of her ability to decipher light, shadow, hue and tone by applying vibrant bold strokes with a palette knife to her blank canvases.

The following excerpt is taken from her personal website which I really hope you visit as there's a huge array of artwork available for viewing as well as a video demonstrating her methods as an artist.

"Françoise Nielly's painting is expressive, exhibiting a brute force, a fascinating vital energy. Oil and knife combined sculpt her images from a material that is, at the same time, biting and incisive, charnel and sensual. Whether she paints the human body or portraits, the artist takes a risk : her painting is sexual, her colors free, exuberant, surprising, even explosive, the cut of her knife incisive, her color palette dazzling."

eins: eins

When I think 'office job' I imagine brown painted cubicles arranged in drone lines, minimal space, suspended ceilings, much like the setup in Ricky Gervais' 'The Office'.

Hamburg's Syzygy have shown that with a fair budget, new jazzy desks, excellent architectural and interior skills, the overall ambience of office space can be transformed in to a far more enjoyable environment.

This isn't the box standard office job however, this is creative space and to reflect the creative nature of the work and staff, the space in which Syzygy work to design adverts and interactive campaigns for clients such as Chanel, Mercedes-Benz, Mazda and Fujitsu.

The office of Syzygy Hamburg was created by Christoph Roselius and Julian Hillenkamp, the two founders of eins:eins architecten in Hamburg who also have offices in London and Frankfurt.

The sleek, white cubicles may appear rigid and inflexible but in actual fact the various configurations and flexibility of the space is endless. The desks always join together and form a whole unit which strengthens the essence of teamwork and close cooperation.

White allows for light to bounce around the space which in turn will affect the working conditions for the work force by positive means and the space is extremely economical, utilizing the space in to this positive working environment.

Andrew van der Merwe

Andrew van der Merwe, calligrapher and letterer from Cape Town, creates the most precise forms of sand lettering - they really are beautiful.

"Scratching in the sand with a stick, however, has proved less than satisfactory because it

makes more of a mess than a mark. This has led me, over the past seven years, to develop various instruments which mark the sand in less messy ways, and ultimately to a kind of scoop which leaves neat V-cut letters of the sort one gets in stone carving."

Andrew van der Merwe

Staple Design NY

This is Jeff Staple at Staple Design New York talking a little bit about the company, himself, inspiration and the Kia Soul Collective.

With regards to the car design, the concept is commendable where it relates back to Predator with the notion of camouflage, however the end design is disappointing - It's actually the most conspicuous car I've ever seen!

Jeff Ng' (aka JeffStaple) career progression is note worthy. College, to internship, to big break - it's the pattern every young designer wishes to emulate.

Staying very firmly grounded to the values in which the Staple brand was created–sticking to the basic necessities needed in life, Staple Design has also created design work for Burton Snowboards, Converse, The Gap, HBO, Housing Works, Levi’s, LVMH, New Balance, New Museum of Contemporary Art, Nike, NYC&Co., Puma, Timberland, Uniqlo and more.
Eleven years since Jeff received his first T-shirt order, with an international following and a high respect from his peers, Jeffstaple himself, has become a brand.

Kazuki Takamatsu

I've always had a fascination in Japanese art, their culture and philosophy and wish to one day visit the country itself once the pennies have accumulated.

The interest culminated from devoting a vast quantity of my youth to the Final Fantasy games, the computer graphics I can only describe as being lush - the multitude of vibrant colours are quite frankly beautiful and the textures silky smooth.

(Final Fantasy X:

See the image on the left).

As an art student my focal point henceforth shifted from pencils to a want to emulate such art on a computer.

The heart of this account is not however Japan, nor Final Fantasy or my own history but an artist I recently came across who encapsulates everything I love and then some.

Kazuki Takamatsu creates works which your natural reaction will say 'are digitally painted'..if you do, you'd be completely wrong. He uses gouache, hand painted, monochromed based

usually depicting a young female character, buildings, plants etc giving a real sense of surrealism and astonishing depth.

He's taken the path that contemporary artists have discovered and reverses it somewhat. To me it's as if he's in a world where computers existed before traditional art and he's moved forward to replicate a digital creation via traditional methods.

Whilst visually unique, on closer analysis the theme of his works are melancholic and depict a sense of despair as you can see in the image above titled:

"Without Even Knowing What It Is I Should Be After".

Quite ghostly, the hands reaching out, the mass of dismembered bodies gathered for warmth or protection..it's open to interpretation.

That head just floating at the bottom of the image with the hand resting on it is unsettling.

Kazuki manages to pack in an enormous amount of atmosphere.

Some of his works are actually quite violent with the use of weaponry and figures pleading for their lives. Sections of limbs missing, possibly a method to avert the eye to key components of the art, a solid figure would have a completely different effect but this use of the negative space allows the viewer to take in more detail.

Certainly visit the website. It's all in Japanese but his gallery is worth a look...or two.

http://kazukitakamatsu.web.fc2.com

Bombo!

Bombo!
(Santucci)
resides in Barga, outside of Lucca, Italy, writing as well as illustrating short coming books. Absolutely adore his style!

Client list:
Atypica
Rolling Stone
Internazionale
Vodafone
Giunti
Sinnos
Newton&Compton
Tunuè

Wakefield Art Walk

Art walks in some form or other are becoming terribly popular in West Yorkshire. The last few weeks alone have seen Huddersfield Open Studio Trail, Saltaire Arts Trail, Ways of Looking and Headingley Triangle to name but a few, and of course Leeds’ very own Light Night on October 10th. September saw the last of Wakefield’s three pilot art walks, the organizers now assessing how they have gone and are to proceed. The biggest change since the first walk back in July has been at the ArtHouse. When we first visited, they had been open only two weeks, and were just beginning to sign people up to the studio spaces. Now all long term studios have been rented, and there is a long waiting list. All that remains is to get more people signing up to their short term leases, which can be between a few days and three months. For a venue that has been so long in the planning, it is wonderful to see it fully up and running, and exciting to see what new ideas it will bring to Wakefield.

On then to Interval Café, where artist Paula Tod was showing Scottish landscape-inspired paintings. While on these walks it is important to keeps your wits about you amidst so much complimentary wine, Interval wins in my book for most unusual refreshments with their free haggis.

The Wakefield Art Gallery is the most traditional of the Art Walk’s venues, and the only one to provide a live string quartet in addition to the art itself. The gallery houses an excellent collection of Moores and Hepworths, and were offering visitors an opportunity to explore the forms with coloured torches. It did make for an interesting way to approach the sculptures, though the pieces in the gallery room were somewhat crowded. The effect was better realized in the sculpture garden at the back, where a tent had been erected around a Hepworth piece, to minimise outdoor light spoiling the effect. Being a city art gallery, there is a tendency towards the National Trust effect: unnecessary cluttering up of free space with additional information, and primary coloured activities for children. That said, this was the one venue where I did see families getting involved together, which was great, but it seemed a shame that there was no other noticeable effort to encourage them elsewhere on the walk, it being a great way for parents to introduce their children to art in the city in an uncomplicated and fun way.

The Coach House Gallery is an excellent example of a well planned gallery/studio space. Though the gallery is small, a lot had been fitted in without making it feel overstuffed or claustrophobic. Downstairs was given over to the first full exhibition of Charlie Morris, whose paintings suggest influences of Hopper. Upstairs was a lovely, dance inspired triptych by Kate Marr, who may be somebody to watch out for.

Westgate Open Studios are, we knew from experience, an evening in themselves, so we saved them until last to give ourselves time to explore them at a nice lazy pace. By this point in the night, many of the artists were beginning to head longingly for the pub, but we were still able to catch up with a few. My favourite studio this time around was John Harrison’s (lack of) space, stuffed to the gills with constructivist sculptures and assemblages. Westgate Studios provide large spaces for artists, both private and shared. While working your way up the narrow winding staircase to the top floors can be hard going after a long walk round the city, the art works adorning the stairwell make it worth it.

Westgate Studios will be next open on November 27th, then every eight weeks from 5 – 9pm.

While the Wakefield Art Walk takes a break to evaluate and plan for the future, I am glad that it seems set to continue a regular feature of the city’s art scene. It can be a lot of walking for one evening, and there are problems; some venues such as the Wall Gallery are rather far out which may put some people off, and temporary exhibitions may find it difficult to get publicised if they are not on the map (such as the photography show at Art of Oak this time around). It is, however, a great way to really get to know what goes on in Wakefield, and meet the people behind everything. Look out for the next one, wear some sturdy shoes, and be prepared to meet some strange and wonderful people.

Blue Crystal

A growing trend in Dubai architecture seems to be the creation of not only the utmost in luxury, but of the impossible, improbable, and downright crazy!
The German design duo Frank and Sven Sauer claim that Blue Crystal will harness the world’s natural energy sources, keeping it self-sufficient. It will supposedly be powered by solar cells embedded in the icy facade and employ an ‘energy recycling system.’