Category: design

Peter Diamond

The Illustrations of Peter Diamond

Peter Diamond is a Canadian illustrator based in Vienna, Austria. born in Oxford, England, He received his BFA in Fine Arts at NSCAD University located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In addition to his freelance work, Diamond teaches drawing at Illuskills and works with the international illustration community through the European Illustrators Forum. He is represented internationally by The Loud Cloud.

Peter Diamond’s work owes much of its character to the album covers and self-published comics that were his special focus in art school and the early years after graduation, as well as the punk gig posters of his teenage years.

Pierre Soulages

Pierre Soulages, “Lithograph Number 3″, 1957, 25 x 19 Inches, Museum of Modern Art, New York

As a child, Pierre Soulages was fascinated by the Celtic carvings in the local museum and the architecture of the abbey of Sainte-Foy in nearby Conques, and these early impressions would continue to surface throughout his career. In 1938, inspired by the works of Cezanne and Picasso, he enrolled in the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, but he was disappointed by the traditional instruction and soon moved back to his childhood home of Rodez.

In 1946, Soulages returned to Paris and set up a small studio in Courbevoie. He began to paint in a wholly abstract style, producing canvases with overlapping black, barlike strokes on a glowing white or colored, ground, which he exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in 1947.

Though his rejection of bright color in favor of black set him in opposition to the major trends in French abstract painting of the time, Pierre Soulages was nevertheless a prominent exemplar of the Jeune École de Paris (Young School of Paris), an umbrella term for the gestural or post-Cubist abstraction. in contrast to the gestural approach of his American counterparts, Soulages deliberately constructed his compositions to create a formal balance.

Odessa

Artist Unknown, “Odessa”, 1930s Vintage Poster

This vintage 1930s travel poster was designed to encourage tourism to the USSR before the Second World War and the ensuing Cold War, which essentially closed off the Soviet Union to westerners.. Advertising flights and train routes through the Soviet Union, they were published by Joseph Stalin’s Intourist Company, founded in 1929.

Dracula Journal

Special Edition Leather Journal, Dracula Edition, 2014

This special edition leather journal was designed in 2014 by aLexLibris. The journal is size is 10.5 x 8 inches with a thickness around 3.3 inches. Bte book block has around 350 pages; 700 sides of cream toned paper with hand-torn and particularly gilded edges.

The leather book covers are rich embossed with a lot of skulls, carefully hand-toned and bordered with gilded frames. The top side has full decoration and a stylized skull.

Reblogged with thanks to http://www.alexlibris-bookart.com

Fabio Novembre

Fabio Novembre, The S.O.S. Chair, 2003, Fiberglass, Polyurethane

Fabio Novembre was born in Milan in 1966. An architect since 1992, he became famous through a large series of design projects for restaurants, nightclubs and shops in Italy and abroad, as well as through his unique pieces of Italian furniture designed for Cappellini, Driade and Flaminia.

Novembre proposes works that highlight curvaceous forms and elegant and innovative lines. He often emphasizes sex within his creations. He stands on the boarders of provocation and poetry, contemporary art and design with his pieces.

The S.O.S. line is a joinable system of armchairs and chaise longue realized in a cubic form with a structure in lacquered matt black fiberglass. The sitting area is covered with a bielastic stitch spread in polyurethane and PVC, in a golden color.

Snakes and Ladders

Snakes and Ladders Board Game, United Kingdom, 1895, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The board game “Snakes and Ladders” originated from “Vaikuntapaali” or “Paramapada Sopanam”, a game from India based on morality.    It was often known as in Ancient India as Moksha Patamu.

In the game, the ladders represented virtues such as generosity, faith, and humility while the snakes represented vices such as lust, anger, murder and theft. The moral of the game was that a person can attain salvation through performing good deeds whereas by doing evil one takes rebirth in lower forms of life. The number of ladders was less than the number of snakes as a reminder that treading the path of good is very difficult compared to committing sins.

The game was transported from India to England by the colonial rulers in the latter part of the 19th century, with some modifications. Renamed as “Snakes and Ladders”, the number of snakes and ladders were equalized and the game was stripped of its moral and religious aspects.

Ardmore Ceramics

Ardmore Ceramics, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Ardmore Ceramics in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa has grown into a vibrant art pottery making unique pieces of ceramic art. Since 1985, artist Fee Halsted has created modelers and painters from the local community and they have become renowned for their exuberant use of color and their distinctive modeling of African flora and fauna. Each of the unique ceramics are made by several of the artisans working together; one modeling the basic form, one creating the minute details, one painting. On the bottom of each piece are the signatures of all who participated in its creation.

The sale of these wonderful pieces of ceramic art uplifts and supports the Ardmore community and their families. New pieces are selected for exhibition at the Pescoe Gallery in northern Miami, Florida. Special commissions are also undertaken for collectors.

Carl Burton

Carl Burton, Unknown Title, (Light Pulse)

Digital artist and animator Carl Burton creates subtly animated monochromatic gifs that blend surreal elements inspired by science fiction and occasionally real life into one hypnotic and perfectly looped animation. Burton works primarily on the 3D editing software Cinema 4D as well as Photoshop and After Effects to produce his gifs.

Ming Fay

Ming Fay, “Shad Crossing”, Detail, 2014, Glass Mosaic, Delancy Street Subway Station, New York City

On the Manhattan-bound platform of the F Line at Delancy Street Station, the mosaic mural depicts a cherry orchard that was originally part of the Delancy family farm, that was at today’s Orchard Street. On the Brooklyn-bound side of the platform, shad fish, which make runs through rivers every spring, represent the travel of immigrants across the ocean.

Ming Fay is a Shanghai-born and New York City-based sculptor and professor. His work focuses on the garden as a symbol of utopia and the relationship between man and nature. He is well known for his sculptures and installations. Ming Fay currently teaches sculpture at William Paterson University in New Jersey.

Jon Atkinson, “Casa Batlló”

Jon Atkinson, “Casa Batlló”

Jon Atkinson is a wildlife and travel photographer.

Casa Batlló was designed by Gaudí for Josep Batlló, a wealthy aristocrat, as an home. Gaudí used colours and shapes found in marine life as inspiration for his creativity in this building e.g. the colours chosen for the façade are those found in natural coral.