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      Shantell Martin Designs Two Decks of Playing Cards with Her Signature Black-and-White Doodles

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      Art
      Design
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      #cards
      #games

      May 4, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images via Theory11
      The Whitney Museum and luxury playing-card company Theory11 are teaming up on a series of artist-designed decks, and their first edition deals in British artist Shantell Martin (previously). Titled “LINE,” the same combination of Martin’s signature patchwork doodles and affirmational messages inscribe the dual deck, which is available in both a black and a white version. The line drawings are mostly monochromatic with the exception of bursts of color on the joker and face cards, which feature mirrored characters encircled by words like “wisdom” and “joy.”
      Each deck is printed on FSC-certified paper with vegetable inks and starch laminates, and the cards are canvas textured and blind embossed. Both the black and white versions launched yesterday and are available from Theory11 and the Whitney Shop. You also might enjoy UNO’s sold-out collaboration with Nina Chanel Abney and this revolutionary deck from Studio LO. (via Artnet)

      #cards
      #games

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      Miniature Scenes, Cross-Stitch Flowers, and Works from Art History Nestle into Eva Krbdk’s Tiny Tattoos

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      Art
      Illustration

      #animals
      #art history
      #cross-stitch
      #landscapes
      #nature
      #tattoos

      May 3, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Havva Karabudak, shared with permission
      Havva Karabudak, who works as Eva Krbdk, thrives on inking minuscule details. Focusing on innumerable lines and dot work, the Turkish tattoo artist (previously) illustrates textured florals in cross-stitch, realistic portraits of animals, and micro-paintings in the likes of van Gogh, Magritte, and Fornasetti. Many of the vivid renderings are small enough to fit into a perfectly round circle or a skinny stretch of a client’s upper arm.
      Karabudak’s background coalesces in her tattoos, including her formal education at the Fine Arts Academy of Ankara in Turkey and her love of textiles. “It’s pretty customary for young women to learn (embroidery) from their grandmothers in Turkey,” a statement about her work says. “As a result, tiny cross-stitch patterns were among the first tattooing styles that Eva embraced.”
      Karabudak just opened her studio Atelier Eva in Brooklyn, and although she’s currently booked, you can watch for openings on Instagram.

      #animals
      #art history
      #cross-stitch
      #landscapes
      #nature
      #tattoos

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      Graphite Portraits Distort and Intertwine Subjects to Visualize Metaphors of the Body

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      Art
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      #anatomy
      #drawing
      #graphite
      #portraits
      #surreal

      April 12, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Miles Johnston, shared with permission
      Malmö, Sweden-based artist Miles Johnston portrays subjects whose figures are in states of flux, whether through fragmented bodies, multiplied faces, or limbs contorted into impossible positions. Often depicting Johnston (previously) or his partner, the graphite portraits distort typical anatomy in a way that balances the familiar with the unknown and visualizes the thoughts and emotions otherwise hidden inside the mind.
      Whether set against a trippy backdrop or quiet beach, each piece portrays the experience of the body “through a kind of internal metaphorical language,” the artist says. He explains further:
      We don’t directly experience the actual biochemical facts of what is happening in our bodies, hormones secreting, weird little proteins and neurons doing whatever it is they do. Instead, we have a whole language of expressions like stomach tied up in knots, feeling empty, torn in two, burning with anger, etc… I’m aiming for this sort of naive direct representation of what things feel like instead of a literal representation of how they look from the outside.
      Keep an eye on Johnston’s site and Instagram for news on upcoming print releases and his latest works.

      #anatomy
      #drawing
      #graphite
      #portraits
      #surreal

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      The First USPS Stamp Designed by an Alaska Native Artist Features a Trickster Raven as It Steals the Sun

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      Art
      Design
      Illustration

      #birds
      #mail
      #stamps

      February 19, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Raven Story.” Image courtesy of USPS
      When it’s released later this summer, a new stamp from the U.S. Postal Service will illuminate a piece of Indigenous culture that’s long been associated with an escape from darkness. Titled “Raven Story,” the history-making postage features an iconic animal rendered by Rico Lanáat’ Worl, who is the first Tlingit and Athabascan artist to be featured by U.S.P.S. Awash with twinkling stars, the stamp portrays a black bird grasping the sun in its beak as it breaks from its human family. The motif is based on the story of “Raven And The Box Of Daylight,” traditional Tlingit lore about the trickster animal bringing the stars, moon, and sun to the universe after a series of heists.
      In a statement, Worl shares that the raven is a prominent figure in Tlinglit culture, and the stamp depicts the pinnacle of this often-recounted tale. He writes:
      Raven is trying to grab as many stars as he can, some stuck in his feathers and in his hands or in his beak. Some falling around him. It’s a frazzled moment of adrenaline. Partially still in human form, as depicted as his hand still being human, as he carries the stars away. I think it depicts a moment we all have experienced, the cusp of failure and accomplishment.
      Worl lives in Juneau, where he works with Sealaska Heritage Institute and co-runs Trickster Company, a design shop focused on Northwest Coast art, with his sister, Crystal. To coincide with the USPS launch, he plans to create pins, prints, and other goods featuring the design, which you can follow on Instagram. (via Hyperallergic)

      #birds
      #mail
      #stamps

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      Around the Block: David Zinn’s Quirky Chalk Cartoons Spring to Life in a New Short Film

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      Animation
      Art
      Illustration

      #chalk
      #drawing
      #public art
      #short film
      #street art
      #video

      January 15, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      
      If you’ve walked the streets of Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the last few decades, you’ve probably spotted the wide-eyed monsters and mischievous dragons of David Zinn (previously). Since 1987, the artist has been drawing chalk-and-charcoal creatures in site-specific works that wash away with the rain. Drain pipes become robotic dogs, a pillar morphs into a giant pencil, and a green monster pops out of a brick walkway.
      A new short film directed by Jonnie Lewis dives into Zinn’s practice by animating his signature cartoon cast that greets the artist as he walks around the city. Watch “Around the Block” on Lewis’s Vimeo, and check out more of Zinn’s eccentric creatures on Instagram.  (via Laughing Squid)

      #chalk
      #drawing
      #public art
      #short film
      #street art
      #video

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      More Than 90 Artists Create Original Works on Vintage Envelopes for ‘Couriers of Hope’

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      Art
      Illustration

      #animals
      #drawing
      #envelopes
      #found objects
      #mail art
      #watercolor

      January 14, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      By Andrew Hem
      What brings you hope? That’s the central question behind a new group exhibition presented by Port City Creative Guild. Couriers of Hope boasts more than 120 original pieces from more than 90 artists—the list includes Rosanne Kang Jovanovski, Andrew Hem (previously), Sean Chao (previously), and Yoskay Yamamoto—all rendered on vintage envelopes. Prompted by the mail art movement of the 1960s, the exhibition features an eclectic array of watercolor, pencil, and mixed-media illustrations that transform the miniature canvases into the artists’ vision for the future, whether through relaxed otters, peaches, or vivid portraits. Many of the works prominently display original postmarks and stamps and serve as a reminder that communication doesn’t have to be digital.
      Students from Long Beach Unified School District have the opportunity to acquire one of the envelopes by trading their own response to the artists’ same prompt, with the guild providing art supplies for participants to ensure that everyone has access to the initiative. The show was curated collectively by a Long Beach Museum of Art, Creative Arts Coalition to Transform Urban Space, Flatline, Inspired LBC, The Icehouse x Ink and Drink Long Beach, Arts Council Long Beach, Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum, Compound LBC, and the Creative Class Collective.
      Couriers of Hope will be on display in the windows of the Psychic Temple of the Holy Kiss in downtown Long Beach and on the guild’s site for virtual viewing from January 19 to February 28, 2021.

      By Sean Chao
      By Megan Boterenbrood
      By Adam Harrison
      By Bodeck Luna
      By Christine Yoon
      By Hilary Norcliffe
      By Judy Kepes
      Left: By Jonathan Martinez. Right: By Kelly Yamagishi
      By Narsiso Martinez
      By Rosanne Kang Jovanovski
      By Sean Chao

      #animals
      #drawing
      #envelopes
      #found objects
      #mail art
      #watercolor

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      Gemstones, Delicate Filigree, and Mechanical Gears Encase Steeven Salvat’s Insect Specimens

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      Art
      Illustration

      #beetles
      #butterflies
      #drawing
      #gears
      #insects
      #watercolor

      November 18, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Steeven Salvat, shared with permission
      Steeven Salvat (previously) evokes the glass-covered entomological studies of rare butterflies, beetles, and moths with an additional layer of protection. The French artist armors the singular insects with precious gemstones, silver and gold filigree, and rotational gears. Even elements of luxury watches, like Breguet’s Reine de Naple and an intricate dial from Vacheron Constantin, cloak the critters’ outer shells.
      In a note to Colossal, Salvat writes that the growing collection of drawings is an “allegory for the preciosity of biological systems. A way to drive attention to our smallest neighbors on this planet—we need to preserve them because they are worth much more than all the gold and jewels I dressed them with.” Each intricate drawing is rendered with China black ink and watercolor and takes at least 50 hours to complete.
      Pick up a limited-edition giclée print of an encrusted creature in Salvat’s shop, and follow his latest projects merging nature, history, and science on Behance and Instagram.

      #beetles
      #butterflies
      #drawing
      #gears
      #insects
      #watercolor

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      Monochromatic Illustrations Personify the Power of the Sun and Moon through Fictional Deities

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      Art
      Illustration

      #drawing
      #portraits

      October 18, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Sara Golish, shared with permission
      In her ethereal portraits, Toronto-based artist Sara Golish (previously) renders lavishly adorned goddesses and gods that exude a sense of power and wisdom. The charcoal, conté, and ink drawings are part of two ongoing collections, titled Sundust and Moondust, that imagine a series of fictional deities. Each figure belongs to one of the celestial bodies, a correlation that the artist visualizes through the paper’s color, with a warmer beige for the sun and a cool gray for the moon. “I chose to keep them monochromatic so they could be imagined in any skin tone to each individual viewer’s liking—an ease to envision themselves,” the artist says.
      In recent months, Golish has been working on commissions and new bodies of work across mediums, which you can follow on Instagram. To add one of the mythical portraits to your collection, see what’s available in her shop.

      #drawing
      #portraits

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