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!
We know it’s only Tuesday, but there is something to look forward to this weekend!
I’ve been browsing through the new Lomography store in West Hollywood, and was impressed by the sheer size of the space. Two floors of ultimate lomo experience. Not only do they have every product imaginable, but they also hold really creative workshops that are intimate enough for you to make new friends and highly engaged with the city of Los Angeles.
One event to look forward to is their Diana Mini workshop this Saturday from 1-3 pm. Already own a Diana mini camera? Free entry. Or, get a loaner with a free roll of film and shoot your Saturday afternoon away in the streets of Los Angeles.
They will also be throwing a Light Painting Workshop on March 23rd where they will be teaching you how to create stunning, highly saturated images of light streaks from one of their loaner lomo cameras.
Then I would suggest a restaurant for lunch that is down the street from the store called Hugo’s. I saw it on the Food Network’s, “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” and it was a special breakfast episode. This place is packed, but the wait wasn’t too bad (around ten minutes?)
I had the “Pasta Mama” dish for brunch which consisted of fresh pasta scrambled with eggs, garlic, parsley, Parmesan cheese and Hugo’s special seasoning. It’s a simple dish that originated as a last minute hearty breakfast of delicious leftovers. And lots and lots of garlic! Here’s a pic of the “Pasta Papa” dish which is basically the Pasta Mama + Bacon, chicken italian sausage, and scallions.
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.
Raghava KK, a world renown cartoonist/ contemporary artist, gave a talk at the recent TED Conference in February. Most known for this larger than life paintings that were done by his hands and his feet, Raghava gives an intimate glimpse into his 5 poignant and substantial marks in his artistic career that went hand-in-hand with his life’s experiences.
Death of Strangers
Flame (Painted with hands and feet!)
Yen
If You…
It’s an endearing talk, different from other TED speakers, because of his nervous giggles and boyish charm. He conquered so much by the age of 18, and continued that momentum well into adulthood and his artwork is representative of that.
If you are in the mood to listen to a great story and possibly be inspired, this is a video you definitely need to watch.
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.
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