toronto-based artist carly waito came onto my radar a few years back when her exquisite mineral study paintings were circling the internet, and soon after i had the pleasure of seeing her work in person which only solidified my love. the level of detail in her brushwork is truly stunning. her most recent paintings continue the story with slight variations, using solid black as a backdrop and featuring more close up views of the minerals, which i think is a lovely development on her theme! see more of carly's work here.
i'm in love with luke pearson, a young british illustrator and comic book artist who has quickly burst onto the scene with his unique hand, quirky sense of humor, and prolific portfolio. considering he only graduated in 2010 and has already published several comics, including the adventurous hildafolk and the heartbreaking everything we miss through nobrow press (who i've mentioned before in featuring another talented artist, ben newman), there is much to look forward to from this artist. i love his sense of color, attention to detail, and his beautiful linework. consider me a fan. learn more about luke here.
i'm in love with british illustrator ben newman. he has a particularly powerful way with color, shape, texture and composition, and his work nods to midcentury influences like charley harper, jim flora, and saul bass that i am always drawn toward. that said, his work still feels fresh and modern. my favorite? the public display of affection sign based on a challenge to create a sign that you think is missing from the world. ben, this is my pda to you. see more of his work here.
i'm in love with louise despont, a brooklyn-based illustrator who creates precision-perfect drawings done on gridded parchment paper. while she originally began working on paper found in vintage ledger books from india, her work has grown in scale and scope since her early pieces, with her language of line, shape and pattern expanding in proportion to the size of her canvas. i love how the content of her more recent works reflects the shift in size, with the newer pieces nodding to large pieces such as traditional rugs, kilims, and quilts. the compositions have a somewhat religious and psychedelic quality to them, and her obsession with intricately designing within a grid is reminiscent of artist eugene andolsek, who i posted on earlier. keep the tradition alive louise. learn more about her here.
i'm in love with eugene andolsek. born in 1921, andolsek didn't start drawing until the 1950s when he needed an escape from a job that he didn't like as a stenographer for the railroad. in the evenings he would compose his drawings at his kitchen table, and with some graph paper, a compass and a straight edge, he created these incredibly intricate works of art. during his life he never considered himself an artist, but i think that these pieces prove otherwise. see more of his work at the american primitive gallery here.
i'm in love with anni albers. as somebody who studied textiles, she has always been a constant source of inspiration for me. anni was a leader in the bauhaus and one of the most prominent textile designers of the 20th century, best known for her woven wall hangings and later in life, her print design. her sense of color, proportion, pattern and texture is just as relevant today as it was almost a century ago. what can i say, she's a legend. see more of her work here.
i'm in love with oh land, aka Nanna Øland Fabricius, a danish ballerina turned singer and songwriter. in march she released her self-titled sophomore album, a strong follow-up to her debut fauna, lush poppy trip-hop layered with vintage-style crooning. not only is she breathtakingly beautiful, but she has mad style and a voice that will stop you in your tracks. it's official. i'm in. learn more about her (and her surprisingly similar youtube playlist to mine) here.
i'm in love with aj fosik. this isn't a new love, but one that persists all the same. fosik is a detroit born boy who constructs painstakingly intricate 3-d sculptures using handcrafted wood pieces and vibrantly colored paint - the result is stunningly weird in a way which i truly love. it's taxidermy meets folk art meets soul creatures. and now i think i've found mine. see more of his work at the jonathan levine gallery here.
i'm in love with natsumi hayashi. she is the woman behind yowayowa camera woman diary, a photo blog that features spectacular pictures of herself levitating with urban tokyo as her backdrop. natsumi's attention to color and dynamic poses make her look like she walked straight out of a japanese martial arts film - only sweeter. it's hard to imagine her with her feet on the ground, and i like it that way.
i'm in love with phyllis galembo. the new york photographer has both a creative and anthropological interest in the art of masquerade across various cultures, but her images of west african adornment are the ones that get me the most. the way she captures their use of vivid color, mix of pattern and textures, and play on proportion leaves me speechless. and sort of puts my jeans and t-shirts to shame. see more of her work here.
