Came across these street paintings by a Spanish artist named Escif. I have never seen anything like them. Imagine seeing such unusual but super cool work on our streets. I think a lot of his pieces hold political messages, some I understand, some I don’t. I just know that I like his style a lot.
Check out more of his work here.
Ok these drawings are weird BUT I like them, they make me laugh, especially the kissing cousins below. They are by an artist called Saiman Chow.
– Saiman Chow is a New York based multi-disciplinary artist, director and designer. Born in Hong Kong, Chow immigrated to the US in his teens and studied illustration at Art Center College of Design. In his personal work he mines his position between Eastern and Western culture; combining Chinese mythology, rituals and symbolism to create surreal yet playful visual narratives.
I’m not sure if you guys are familiar with Francios Van Reenen’s work, his sculptures and imagination are beyond amazing. This Cape Town based artist makes these unique characters in all sorts of sizes, some over 1 meter tall. I saw some at Design Indaba once, they were incredible. I’m trying to decide which one I want, some of them are quite pricy and I’m presuming it’s because there are limited numbers of them, the one I want which I don’t have a picture of here because I can’t find a decent sized one, is of a similar looking girl as below walking about 20 Dachshund on leads. I saw it in real life at Tinsel in Parkhurst and believe me when I tell you it’s beyond awesome. The second I walked into the shop I headed straight for it. Click here to see a small photo of it…
Anyway I’m definitely ordering a piece, I will post about it when it arrives. I can’t wait!
Went to the Kalashnikovv Gallery (70 Juta in Braamfontien) again the other day to check out their new exhibition called “THE PAINTERS SHOW’ – group show featuring some of the most talented painters of various styles and schools .
There are a few pieces in there that I would definitely consider cat burglering if I was good at that type of thing. The first piece below is by an artist called Vusi Beauchamp, I don’t know much about him, but I do know that I like this painting. It was unfortunately sold, apparently a lawyer bought it on the opening night. Lucky for him I wasn’t there because I probably would of been lanked bummed and tempted to punch him in both knees when he wan’t looking.
As you may or may not know I’m opening up a coffee roasting business with a few friends of mine in the beginning-mid of April. We are very close to being done with everything except what our packing is going to look like. We have a name and a logo and an interiors plan and team that is busy executing it now, but the biggest pain the butt has been what the bags that the beans come in is going to look like. It’s driving me nuts. You know how sometimes things just happen and an idea flows and it works instantly, well this one has been a bit if a bumpy ride and we’re not about to get off it.
So for some inspiration I went looking on what we like to call the world wide web slash box with many many pretty pictures to look at. On my adventures I stumbled across this corporate ID which belongs to a restaurant in Vilnius called Stebuklai. I think is super cool and fresh and a bit strange, which is why I think I like it.
– Lithuania really isn’t a country we see a great deal of design work from; those guys just never seem to get in touch with us. But when they do the quality of work is pretty damn impressive, as with the latest offering from award-winning design studio New. Recently they were tasked with the job of creating a complete visual identity for new haute-cuisine dining destination Stebuklai, in Vilnius. Specialising in modern Baltic food, the venue required an identity that set it on a par with the very best of Europe’s culinary cities.
The design studio wanted the identity to represent the playful and exciting nature of the modern Baltic cuisine that the restaurant will serve so settled on the name Stabuklai, which means “wonders”.
Came across these beautiful and sensitive paintings by Kai Samuels-Davis. He is a New York born artist currently living and working in Jenner, CA. His portraits are so intriguing, it’s like each person in them has heard something super sad that they can’t share it with anyone but themselves which makes them so interesting to look at.
– When my wife Clare and I moved to Bodega Bay I was able to rent an old barn around the corner from our apartment on Windy Lane. It was a great studio space with tall beamed ceilings and wood/concrete floors. It got cold during the winter but it was worth it. That was the first proper studio I ever had.
We moved to Jenner about a year and a half later but the name stuck. My studio now is the bottom floor of the house we are renting, the ceilings aren’t as tall but it has insulation, a wood plank floor and a view of the Russian River and Pacific ocean, so no complaints! I’ve been in this space for about a year now and my paintings have grown more than ever, it’s been a wonderful place to work.
