D*Face in LA, PR and NYC

This weekend, UK-based artist D*Face posted pictures of a recently completed mural in Puerto Rico (pictured above). Much like Shepard Fairey, D*Face’s work first began popping up as “tags” and small-scale pieces on the streets. Today, his work can be seen as large-scale murals on billboards/building walls and in galleries all over the world. While Fairey is known to have a bad rap, D*Face seems to have evaded the controversy and lawsuits that plague Fairey. I began following D*Face once I saw his work plastered on walls in NYC’s Meatpacking district. I love his Lichtenstein-inspired illustration style and the characters that pop up in his work. One fun fact, he designed the album artwork for Christina Aguilera’s 201o release, Bionic. Very graphic and very colorful, just what I like!

D*Face in LA, Going Nowhere Fast show at the Corey Helford Gallery, 2011 (above and below).

 

The artist and his finished work!

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Windows of New York

162 Stanton

Windows of New York is a project by NYC-based graphic designer José Guizar. Each week Jose draws different windows he sees during his travels around NYC. You’re probably thinking, windows? Why would anyone be inspired by windows? As someone also living in NYC, I can attest to the large variety in architecture that appears throughout the city. This is such a simple idea and José illustrates his area of exploration so well. This project really speaks to his skill as an illustrator! So take a trip through NYC with José and his Windows of New York. See the entire project here.

290 Lafayette

461 W. 47th

617 9th

199 E. 4th

962 Lexington

See them all here – Windows of NY.

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Fashion Illustration

 

Today while browsing Behance portfolios, I found a cool campaign from P&G’s Dreft + fashion illustrator Anna Halarewicz. I love the tagline paired with fashion illustration and use of watercolor. What a simple-yet-effective idea right? While looking for other examples of her work, it’s clear to see watercolor is Anna’s medium of choice and she pairs it masterfully with her illustrative style. There’s just something about fashion illustration that always catches my eye!

I found a few more examples of Anna Halarewicz’s illustration which I’ll share below.

And finally, the artist herself!

I haven’t been able to find an official website for her, but if you look on pinterest or tumblr, lot’s of her stuff pops up.

Enjoy!

 

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Christopher Gray – hello from Sweden!

Christopher Gray, Stop Looking at Me All the Time

Yesterday I stumbled across the work of London-raised illustrator, designer and “Renaissance Man” Christopher Gray. I found his geometric paintings on Pinterest and quickly set out to find more information about him. When I found his website, there’s remarkably little information about him. So I had to dig a bit deeper and do more research. Grain Edit did a spotlight on Christopher in 2011, where they say, “His personal poster work (above) features amalgamated geometric shapes in sophisticated compositions and color schemes. Christopher is setting the bar high on this project, and writes on his blog that he’s aiming to get 100 posters in the middle of [the] year all of which will be for sale.” To see more of this project, check out the website here. Christopher also worked for studioAKA where they write, Chris has worked for the likes of Nike, Umbro, Tiger, PlayStation and the Hilton. A large selection of his professional work can be found on his blog, We Shall See. Christopher now calls Sweden home and says of Sweden, “It suites me perfectly. I‘m so lucky to be here for the summer. I‘ve never been in a position where if I get bored of work I can stroll down to the harbour and swim out to the pontoon and soak up some sun for an hour before heading home. Absolute bliss.” Sounds like a great way to work right? During my travels to the Scandinavia two summers ago, Sweden was hands down my favorite. A beautiful place, full of energy and a great design capital. It’s great to see designers that are so prolific in their professional and side projects. There’s really no limits for what designers can do these days and it’s really inspiring seeing others working in this way.

There’s also a great interview on Christopher on Ucon’s website you can read here.

To see more of Christopher’s work, check out is website, blog and read UCon’s interview here.

Get into it!

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The paintings of Julio Alan Lepez

I stumbled across the work of Julio Alan Lepez on tumblr this past July and it was love at first sight. The painting above appeared on my dashboard and I quickly reblogged it (for obvious reasons), but the original post lacked information about the artist. I love the combination of realistic portraiture with writing and the scratched out parts. I wasn’t sure if it was mixed media or just paint, but I’d never seen paintings like this before. Months later I got a message on tumblr alerting me to the artist, from …. the artist himself! I was trilled to find his site and see more of his work and learn more about him. I reached out asking if I could feature him on my humble blog, and thankfully he agreed. Today I’m featuring five of my favorites, but these only represent a small snapshot of his work. Check out an extensive collection of his work on his site (here), and follow his blog (here).

In writing about his show Inventory in 2011, Chelsey Henderson writes,

“Julio Alan Lepez has been painting portraits since back when he was at Art College. It is well known by now that Lepez’ subjects are always his friends. He works from photographs he takes of them, asking them to pose according to the idea he wants to portray, and even though it is evident that he has many very willing friends, after a few years of following his work one starts to recognize them, to almost feel like part of the group, like walking up to one of them and saying “hey, how have you been, its been ages!”

Solution nr. 1

31 x 31 cms. | collage, oil on mdf | 2011

The titles Lepez gives to his works are very important. “If I don’t have a title, I don’t have a painting”, says Lepez. Often, the title comes before the painting. Other titles, such as “Retratos imposibles” (Impossible Portraits) or “Retratos psicologicos” (Psychological Portraits) are constantly re-used with different characters. “To me the title is a way of capturing the spectator’s attention, a way of intriguing him and drawing him closer to the work. The image captivates, but the title sets him thinking all the more. I go crazy if picture and title are not perfect together”, explains the artist.”

Impossible Portrait 10

90 x 60 cms | oil and collage on canvas | 2005

Impossible Portrait 17

70 x 100 cms | oil, collage and charcoal on canvas | 2006

Laboratory (polyptych)

180 x 180 cms. | | 2011

I cheated with the last one, a group shot for my final favorite! But don’t these paintings look amazing together? I hope you enjoy Lepez’s work as much as I do and if you’d like to see more, check out his site (here).

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Mason London: Illustration & Hip-Hop

 

Today I stumbled across the hilarious work of Mason London, a London-based designer and illustrator. There’s not a ton of information about London online, but one blog writes,

Mason London is an illustrator from London, UK. He picked up his first felt tip at age 6, drew a 400 page comic about a man that turned into a car and he’s never looked back. These days he spends most of his time making drawings that are heavily influenced by 80s Hip Hop and New Jack Swing culture and wishing he could grow a hi-top fade.’ -link.

I love the sense of play and fun you find in his work. Some may call it lowbrow, but I love smart and talented designers that don’t take themselves too seriously. It’s quite refreshing. So get into the work of Mason London, check out his website (here), see what he’s up to on Dribble (here), and buy prints at his shop (here).

King Henry the VIII.

Abraham Lincoln.

Picasso.

Mickey

Marilyn Monroe

Love this shirt!

High on life.

Great type.

RIP Nate Dogg

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The Illustration of Michael Sanderson

I came across the work of Illustrator Michael Sanderson last week on Pinterest and immediately fell in love with his unique style of fashion illustration. Sanderson is a Portland-based creative illustrator and designer. He writes,

A concentration on fashion & retail and a firm understanding of current photography standards sets the tone of Michael Sanderson’s primary aesthetic–An amalgamation of a photographer’s eye and an artist’s hand. Research also plays a pivotal role in the work, keeping up with cultural & contemporary design trends while considering the lasting potential of creative choices, lend in the creation of edgy yet timeless concepts.

Another blog writes that when Sanderson was accepted to the Art Institute of Chicago, the Colorado native dropped out of high school to pursue a fashion design degree. Later, after landing his first major client, Sanderson left the Art Institute to start his own independent design career. It’s interesting to see the path artists/designers take to become established. There really is no set path to take, you just need talent and passion. Design school isn’t necessarily the golden ticket it’s promised to be, there are other routes to success!

Enjoy a collection of Sanderson’s work, check out his website (here), and follow him on tumblr (here). I’m truly in love with the Portland/outdoorsy aesthetic of his tumblr so lots of great collected inspiration there.

Gentlemen prefer Kiehl’s – Michael Sanderson for Keihl’s.

Really love this series.

Sanderson has a whole series of illustrated products that I’m so in love with.
I think they’re self-initiated projects, maybe products he loves?

Flannel Shirt.

Starbucks.

TAZO Tea.

Chap Stick.

I like that Sanderson does so much men’s fashion illustration.
The characters in his illustrations all look so hip, woodsy and cool. Great style.

As I’m writing this from the Outer Banks of NC this week, I hope everyone gets a chance to go outside and explore look for inspiration.

A quick screen shot of Sanderson’s tumblr. Get into it (here).

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Lotta Kuhlorn: Book Designer

Earlier in June, I blogged about Lotta Kühlhorn, the Swedish pattern, textile, product and graphic designer. I was first attracted to Lotta for her beautiful pattern and textile designs that cover tea towels, cutting boards and trays in many Scandinavian stores, but she’s done an impressive amount of book cover design, the holy grail of graphic design. I wanted to take a moment to look at this work more closely. So sit back and enjoy more of the work of Lotta Kühlhorn, and if you’d like to see her pattern/textile designs, check my earlier post here.

I also really like this style of her illustrations.

Hope you enjoyed seeing more work from Lotta Kuhlorn.
Check out her website here.

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Introducing Lotta Kühlhorn, illustrator + pattern designer

Photo: Anna-Lena Ahlström

Today I’m sharing the work of Scandinavian pattern/textile designer and illustrator Lotta Kühlhorn. I stumbled across Lotta’s work while browsing the Huset Shop website (a great place for Scandinavian design inspiration) and immediately recognized her work from my travels to Sweden and Denmark last summer. Lotta is a great example of a designer using bold graphic colors and prints to create simple yet beautiful pattern designs. I particularly enjoy her fruit and vegetable patterns. According to her bio on Huset Shop,

Lotta Kühlhorn is a Swedish-born illustrator and designer. She started her professional career while attending Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design. Lotta is known for her bold patterns and vibrant colors. In the 1990s, she was one of the first Swedish designers to begin experimenting with the graphic elements of “junk culture,” using pop art, films and mass produced items as the basis for her inspirations. Lotta’s simple “happy-making” products are inspired by her childhood and feature a bit of retro seventies style. -Huset Shop. 

I really love that she turned ‘junk culture’ or things considered lowbrow into beautiful patterns and works of art. What I really enjoy about Scandinavian Design in general is designers in this genre use simple elements, patterns and shapes found around them and create pieces of art from it. It’s not that deep and conceptual … and THANK GOD! Scandinavian design is stripped down to its simplest elements and is therefore democratic and more accessible to a larger population. That’s what I’d like to do with my work. Just look at IKEA and H&M, two Swedish designed brands with simple, honest approaches to design and world-wide appeal. I don’t think as designers we should be creating barriers to understanding and communication. But I digress ..

I also like that Lotta designs book covers, which as a graphic designer myself, I really connect to.  So check out her work below, on Huset Shop and on her website here. Enjoy!

I love her simple illustrative style. Great for patterns and surface design.

Pear Mugs.

Pear Tray – cute right?

Hotplate.

Apples.

As an illustrator, her work varies in complexity of pattern.

Great kitchen illustration. Love.

Lotta uses this same approach to book cover design. I want a set of all her books!

I’m going to blog more about her book cover designs later this week, so stay tuned! Hope you enjoyed the work of Lotta Kuhlorn so far!

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Introducing the designs of Maria Dahlgren

Today I wanted to introduce you the work of the amazing Scandinavian designer Maria Dahlgren! I first came across Maria’s work during a trip to IKEA when I picked up one of their KORT Art packs featuring 5 small prints of her work. I loved the playful colors, patterns and typography. I looooove the way Maria approaches type, playing with positive/negative space and color to create her the city prints, for which she is known. Now that I’ve been to several of these cities (Copenhagen, Helsinki and Stockholm) it’s fun to recognize some of the landmarks she depicts in her work.

The career of Swedish Designer, Maria Holmer Dahlgren, began at the internationally-renowned Swedish stationary company, Ordning & Reda. Maria co-founded Ordning & Reda and designed for them for 18 years. Other achievements include being commissioned to design the interior graphics for Stockholm’s stylish boutique hotel “Rival,” owned by ABBA’s Benny Andersson.

Maria now has her own thriving design company, Metagram. She designs a variety of contemporary trays and other pieces aimed at the high-end tourist market, and currently sells them in places such as Stockholm’s “Moderna Museet” gallery.

Of her work, Maria says…

“…There’s beautiful art all around us, if we just open our eyes to it.”

-Huset Shop.com

IKEA Kort – pictured above. At $5 this is a STEAL for her work

Stockholm Tea Towel

Helsinki Tray (above).
Trays are HUGE in Scandinavian interior design stores, not sure why they’re so popular, but every print comes on a tray … and they’re expensive too. Most are made from Scandinavian birch trees which are everywhere in Sweden and have the most beautiful white and black bark.

Breakfast Tray

From Futura Trays – love this series!

Stockholm Tray

Happy Thoughts Tray

Tate Tray designed exclusively for the Tate Modern. See the entire collection here.

TuttiFrutti Tray – one of my favorites!

Look at this alphabet!

Helsinki Capital Cities Print -went to a bunch of these places while in Finland – you can see the birch tree bark where is says Design Museo – makes a great pattern right.

 

Hope you enjoyed the work of Maria Dahlgen as much as I do!

 

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