Winter may be over (especially in weatherless Los Angeles), but feast your eyes on this anyway. This is an excerpt from Canadian Illustrator John Martz’s short, “It’s Snowing Outside, We Should Go For a Walk”, which was recently featured on Drawn!.
The graphic simplicity of it makes for a beautiful visual stroll indeed. Drawings with precipitation can often create great atmosphere–check out that hint of a house behind the blizzard.
And Canadians, Drawn! also reports that Martz has been nominated for a Dought Wright Award for the category, “Best Emerging Talent,” so cheers to him!
Lionsgate, Mattel, and AMC have joined forces to bring you Mad Men Barbie Dolls.
For those of you without TV’s, Mad Men is an award-winning drama set in the 1960’s about an advertising agency on Madison Avenue, and the slick, stylish, delectably lecherous men and women who work there. The attention to detail to the fashion, props, and sets in this show is truly remarkable, and now Mattel has made equally detailed, Barbified versions of Don Draper, Roger Sterling, Joan Holloway, and Betty Draper. They are available for a mere $75 at BarbieCollector.com, amctv.com and other retailers in July.
The dolls bear little resemblance to the characters (where did Joan’s curves go?), but in the retro spirit of Mad Men, it looks like the mold of the dolls closely resemble the original 60’s Barbie.
Notably absent from the dolls’ accompanying accessories are the smokes and booze. Mattel markets primarily to kids, after all.
Perfect for our chill Saturday, long time Poketo collaborator and dear friend Nathalie Roland sent over a copy of her latest zine, “Pretty Zombie”. The zine is full of Nathalie’s illustrations and a tale that reveals that even the dead have feelings of love, loss, and hope.
The very back of the zine has rad screenprinted fabrics…. hmmm, I’ll be part of the zombie tribe and use mine as a jacket patch.
Nathalie had a zombie party for the launch of the zine. Let me just say, Nathalie has the warmest, sweetest flat in San Francisco… this was a zombie love party, not a ghoulish, cold one. Friends came over, formed an impromptu band called, Dead Love, and rocked out and had a frightening good time. Pun intended. Check out musicians Goh Nakamura, Scrabbel, and my little brother, Troy, jam! If you click on Troy’s blog, you can get a free music mix download he does via singsweetsound.
For all you museum-going New Yorkers, the always glorious Metropolitan Museum of Art has an exhibit called “Playing with Pictures: the Art of Victorian Photocollage.” Previously, the invention of collage had vaguely been attributed to the likes of Braque and Picasso, but this exhibit suggests that collage had been practiced some 60 years earlier, in large part by aristocratic Victorian women.
These aren’t just the works of casual hobbyists, however. These women artists have cut, gouached, watercolored, and glued some seriously compelling works of art.
These photocollages appear to be a precursor to some of the pop surrealist trends seen in contemporary illustration today.
The NY Times has posted a review of the show, where non-New-Yorkers can view a slideshow of the exhibit.
PowerShovel, Ltd. and the super cool, New Museum in New York will be teaming up NEXT FRIDAY for an exhibition dedicated to the Digital Harinezumi camera! The name of the exhibition, “Imperfect As They Are” is far from the impressive pedigree of video artists they have lined up to showcase their unique take on their Harinezumi world. Unfortunately, this event is invite only, and for one night, but we are sure some these artists will be posting their videos online after the event, and maybe inspire a new generation of video artists around the world!
Some of the artists being exhibited at this event include:
Agnes B, So Yong Kim, Bruce La Bruce, Harmony Korine, Isabel Coixet, Patrice Leconte, Claire Denis, Albert Maysles, Christopher Doyle, Jonas Mekas, Mount Eerie, Erroll Morris, Charlotte Gainsbourg (!!), Chan-Wook Park (!!), Kim Gordon, Kelly Reichardt, Miranda July (!!) and more…
Here are some of the ethereal videos Vimeo users have captured with their Harinezumi’s:
Well…two things made our day. Since our recent feature in the Business section of the Los Angeles Times, we’ve received an overwhelming outpour of support and love from family, old friends, and new ones alike! We can’t thank you enough for all of your loyal support and your contribution in helping make what Poketo is today. We’ve read every single email, tweet, and Facebook comment since then and were touched by each one.
We receive a lot of emails from artists around the world–which have exponentially increased in number since the article’s release. Most of them range from recent art school grads to young up and coming artists, but there was one email we received yesterday from a Poketo fan who wrote to us about her 75 year-old father. A retired physician, he is a renowned wood-carving artist who’s exhibited internationally and in the States. Recently, he bought a computer, started a blog, AND has taken up Photoshop classes! Alongside his really beautiful woodcarvings, he also has some really rad Photoshop pieces (i.e. like the one dedicated to his grandchildren), and our favorite, the ‘Tiger and Rainbow’ graphic:
Swarm
Morality
Tiger
What an inspirational man. At 75 years old, we could only have half the creative fervor he does and still die happy.
The Underfull Tablecloth is a prototype from Norwegian designer Kristine Bjaadal, who has crafted a way to turn hapless accidents into beautiful patterns.
Below, subtle butterflies emerge in vibrant color under spilled wine. A stain is no longer a blemish, but a blessing.
(via) Mocoloco conducts an interview with Kristine, in which she discusses her process, more ingenious pieces, and future plans for the “Under” line.
New gallery/community space in Highland Park, This Los Angeles, is hosting our friends Kelly Lynn Jones of Little Paper Planes and Sumi Ink Club. They’ll be doing collaborative drawings this Saturday afternoon. Will be a good time and a chance to see magic happen.
Come and meet Kelly there! Here is an interview we did with Kelly a while back when she did a rad Poketo wallet with us.
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