Artist Research - Mia Pearlman

‘HAVOC was created in the middle of an ice storm in Pembroke, North Carolina. Using the drawing side of the cut paper pieces, it’s title reflects the weather outside, the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and many others, and the chaos of our current political and environmental moment.’

Part of the Pushing Paper Exhibition, January 8 - February 14, 2011, Curated by Carla Rokes at The A.D. Gallery, TheUniversity of North Carolina at Pembroke, PO Box 1510, Pembroke, NC 28372. Text copied from http://miapearlman.com/CUT_PAPER/cut_paper.html

Although I prefer more functional art pieces (hence my choice to go into design rather than fine art!) this is a beautiful piece. It reminds me of how Spiderman’s web sticks to whichever surfaces it is propelled at.

 The piece seems to have a personality of its own, beautifully cut, artfully composed and bold, seeming to claim the walls it has been posed upon.

Like her other work, HAVOC is cut out of white paper, the tones and shadows are made by the lights shone through the layers of the piece, casting shadows and reflecting the light onto other surfaces.

Mia Pearlman is an American artist concerned with cut paper installations, sculpture and collage, who also delivers talks and lectures at colleges and universities all over the USA.

Artist Research - Rob Ryan

Cushion design for Wild & Wolf 2012

‘My home will have no windows doors or floors nor bricks or mortar, my only home is in your arms and nowhere else’

From http://robryanstudio.com/archive/

This is part of a collection Rob Ryan designed for British design led gift company Wild & Wolf, which also features glass and ceramics, notebooks and various textile items including shopping bags and bunting.

I love the contrast of the black on blue, especially as in my early work I enjoyed using contrasting colours, particularly black on white, and I confess I have developed a fondness for it. I like this design as the contrast is still present but the colour adds another element to it.

I am presuming that this was first cut out of paper then either scanned in in front of the colour or scanned first then filled in later. This really shows Ryan’s talent of paper cutting, with intricate shapes and delicately cut lines.

I could easily see the cushion as a centrepiece on any sofa from a modern to a more homely feeling living room.

Geometric 3D Cut Paper Sculpture

Cartridge paper scored in irregular triangles, cut and assembled first as individual shapes, then made up into a larger, more complicated piece.

Artist Research - Phillippe Starke

‘As a child I never liked school, however, I loved dogs. Should I have met this learned dog at that time, I would have become a scholar, too.

But I missed the occasion and unfortunately the learned dog exists now only for children. Too late.’ 

Phillippe Starke, www.starck.com

Le Chien Savant is a single table and seat combination in the shape of a dog, with the tail making up the back of the chair and the head and ears have been morphed into the table top. Although it doesn't say it on the website by the look of it Le Chien Savant looks like it’s made from a dense plastic.

I do like this piece as I am a dog lover myself and think this would look great in a children’s study space. I know as  child this would have encouraged me to sit down and learn something, and I too sympathise with Starke’s quote from the website, which I have put at the top of this page. I really enjoy the concept of making something everyday and a little boring into something fun and exciting to entertain children and to encourage them to learn. I bit I dislike is that the table top looks a bit odd and inorganic, but having said that I don't think I would be able to do a better job, as if you made the tabletop any smaller to make it look better, the function of it would decrease.

Having not seen the object myself I don't think I can judge whether it is well made or not, however it looks dense and durable, which would be perfect for its intended use. The dog is aimed for children, obvious in its size and its bright colour choices, as it’s available in yellow, black, orange and pink.

Worked Metal and Wire Cube

Brass, tin plated steel and copper tempered and shaped in a variety of ways. Nailed onto a block of timber using 3/4" nails then scorched with a flame to colour the wood.

My Week in Visual Communication

I have taken a fancy to many of the artists I have been introduced to this week, I'm not going to lie, it is a novelty...maybe I've just been looking in the wrong direction. Particularly Jonny Hannah and Paul Thurlby's hand rendered type and lettering.

I also liked Saul Bass's poster designs, even more so because I'm a bit of a Hitchcock fan!

More amusing than inspiring, I especially liked Tim Yarzhombek's 'Beard Alphabet'.

I am keen to further my experience in both graphic design and in animation - I have past experience in graphics and first started animating using my first digital camera, Windows Movie Maker and Legos...how times have changed.

Sony Release Eye Popping Popeye Test Footage - from Skwigly 19th September 2014

So it turns out they're going to animate Popeye! How brilliant is that going to be? Russian animator Genndy Tartakovsky is in charge, famous for 'Dexter's Laboratory', 'Star Wars: Clone Wars' and 'The Flintstones: On the Rocks'.

Find the original article here, over at Skwigly.

Just watch that video, even the drawings make me smile, I love how they've kept the characteristics from the original cartoon, you can tell from the test footage that it's easily made the jump into modern 3D animation.

Childhood, it looks like you're in safe hands! Popeye is hopefully going to be released in 2016.