/blog/index/ en ben@ivoteforart.com Copyright 2011 2011-06-01T05:06:16+10:00 http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/interview_with_kendrick_mar/ http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/interview_with_kendrick_mar/#When:05:06:16Z A little piece of Kendrick Mar. Hi Kendrick. Thanks for chatting to i vote for art. Since we have only a one-sentence synopsis of your work on the site, you better tell us a bit about yourself… Who is Kendrick Mar? Well, I’m a painter and I currently live in New York. Originally I’m from California, grew up in Fresno, then lived in the San Francisco bay area. For my art training, I attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where I got my BFA degree, emphasizing painting. You have previously commented that your work draws on “childhood emotions and memories”. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? In my work I mostly seek to depict certain feelings rather than concepts or ideas, those from the pre-verbal stages of childhood. They are usually cloaked in hazy memories and capturing it with images is a bit like trying to remember dreams. There is an inherent sadness in much of your work - do you find that your audience identifies with the ‘toy-like” images, or do you think people observe your work as a narrative of your own personal story? I am always interested in how my work comes across to others. I would suspect that people can see there is autobiographical content, and I do hope others can identify with the imagery and that it draws them in. Did you paint much as a kid? When did you start calling yourself “an artists”, and how did you get to that point? I didn’t become an artist until I was an adult. Growing up, I didn’t really make art any more than the average kid. I got a late start in art, during my fourth year of college as an engineering major. I took a drawing class and had an epiphany of sorts. At that point I realized I wanted to be an artist. I wanted to keep learning and developing as an artist and since then have done just that. The visual depth in some of your more recent work is really appealing. It almost looks like ‘clay-mation’. Do you work with clay models or stuffed toys to guide your painting? I paint from a diorama setup. The figures are sculpted in oven-bake colored crafts clay. I pose the figures and light them and then paint observationally from the setup.   Tell us about your “studio space”. Do you work from home? I do work in my apartment. I have a space setup with my easel, art supplies, desk and books. What artwork do you have on your walls (other than your own!)? I don’t have a lot of art on the walls, but I do have a lot of art monographs and books. Some favorites include Basquiat, Ross Bleckner, Damien Hirst, plus the Old Masters from art history. What things do you do to promote yourself and your work both online and offline? With being an artist in NY, promoting one’s work is an ongoing process. Occasionally, though there are long periods of time where step away from it and focus primarily on creating a body of work that I’m happy with. That’s sort of where I’m at right now. And just for a bit of fun, tell us a bit about your last holiday/vacation! Sure! Nothing terribly exciting, I went to Montreal to visit someone and see a Cirque du Soleil show. Thanks for that Kendrick! And thanks for the fun questions! So there you have it. A little piece of Kendrick Mar. Don’t forget to check out Kendrick’s new work that we have released on i vote for art: The Red Queen (pictured above). And to see all of the other work that Kendrick has available on i vote for art, scoot on over here! 2011-06-01T05:06:16+10:00 http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/an_interview_with_christpher_nielson/ http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/an_interview_with_christpher_nielson/#When:07:40:04Z We chat to one of our favourite Aussie artists - Chris NielsonHey Chris! First of all, congratulations on all the well deserved recognition you’ve been getting of late: a highly commended at CREATIVE Hotshop awards, and making it into the 2011 Luerzers Archive 200 Best Illustrators Worldwide! I’m surprised you have time to chat with lowly ol’ i vote for art! So, have you been uber busy as a result? I have been uber busy thanks for asking! Ulcer inducing busy. I have a bad habit of being able to say “no” to work because I love my job so much but I’m learning to politely decline when it becomes physically impossible. I can delegate certain things like marketing and book-keeping to other people but the majority of what I do i.e. making images, can only be undertaken by little ol’ me! Your work has a very retro look to it, and indeed, you describe it as “scratchy”. Without telling us all your trade secrets, how do you get that effect?   I work in acrylics and scratch em’ all up before scanning and whacking everything into photoshop on a big wacom cintiq screen to tidy up my mess.  Were you in to art as a kid? .... And were you a fan of The Jetsons? Your piece ‘Jetpac’, which we sell on our site, is very Jetson-esque! Are you still a cartoon man?! I was a hugh fan of The Jetsons, Space Ghost, The Thunderbirds etc. A steady diet of 50’s space age design. I still love vintage cartoons, especially the stuff by the Fleischer Brothers like Popeye and Betty Boop. Ben 10’s not really doing it for me…     You share what looks like a pretty amazing studio space with some other very talented illustrators. Do you draw inspiration from each other? You betcha. I share a space with Nigel Buchanan, Lew Keilar, Jim Tsinganos, and Stuart McLachlan, as well as a casting agent, book designer, interior decorator and landscape designer so there’s a buzz of creative energy around you from the minute you step into the studio. There’s no greater inspiration than seeing what amazing thing the illustrator beside you is working on. My studio keeps me a driven man. Where else do you seek inspiration? If I have time I try to visit a few illustration sites over coffee in the morning like: http://www.drawger.com/ http://blog.drawn.ca/ http://www.illustrationmundo.com/ http://escapefromillustrationisland.com/ I also take inspiration from a walk around the block, music, a visit to a thrift shop, my library, my children, everything really! I think you’ve just got to feed it all in and let it come out the other end. So to speak. Hhmm, you make it sound easy - but you must be quite a machine! What does a typical day in the life of Christopher Nielsen consist of? Getting the children dressed and brekky ready. Reply to some overseas emails. Then off to work via the train most days. I write down a lot of ideas for stories and pictures and songs on the train. Into the studio for some work. Depending on the schedule it’s usually coming up with concepts and drawings early in the morning, and then I start painting around midday. Do some paperwork and emailing with a sandwich in my hand over lunch, and then a final stretch of work until it’s back home to complete chaos of bathtime and dinner. Pass out with a glass of red wine over some god-awful tv beside my lovely wife around 9pm. Reset. What do you do to promote yourself and your work, both online and offline? I send out a monthly email to clients and post out mailers around 4 times a year. I have a website and blog that I try to keep updated regularly for visitors notified via facebook and twitter, as well as having folios at Behance, The Loop, First-Stop and Illoz [We snaffled this cute little caterpillar/butterfly below from Chris’s blog… check out his blog for some more great recent works!] I also have a few great agents on the job for me: - Here in Oz - Jacky Winter - In the US - Levy Creative - and in the UK PhosphorArt I enter work into Illustration Annual competitions like Communication Arts, American Illustration, The Society of Illustrators Luerzers and 3x3. And last but not least I’m a member of Illustrators Australia who produce a great directory of illustrators and portfolio site that bring me work. It’s almost a full time job and at times and infringes upon getting on with the actual work! Help!!! Man - you do need help. I’m exhausted just thinking about it! So given your massive online presence, this next question may seem a little redundant, but how important do you think the internet been for your career? Invaluable. Clients no longer view continental drift as a barrier when commissioning the right person for the right job. How do you think Australia is traveling in terms of producing and maintaining good illustrators? We have amazing talent. Now we just need the market to support them. Tell us about the work that you do in teaching others? I teach a 5 week illustration course at the Enmore Design Centre every year and an Illustration Masterclass for Shillington College as well as private courses for designers in publishing houses that are looking to get their hands dirty and be inspired artistically. I also do lectures for design students like the guys out at The University of Western Sydney. Teaching is cool because it gives you back exactly, (if not more) than you put in, plus you become acutely aware of your own process and practice when describing it to others. I’m proud to say that some of my students like Marcela Restrepo have gone on to awesome full time careers. Others have gone on to be fantastic designers and actually commissioned me. I’m getting all warm and fuzzy. Warm and fuzzy away, Chris. It seems you have reason to! A wife and a kid; an amazing career doing just what you love… What do the next 5-10 years have in store for you? Two kids now!! Hmmm a vasectomy? Actually Jacky Winter just asked all their illustrators to submit a list of goals which is cool. I said something like: - A great big solo exhibition - Lots of highly paid, high profile Advertising jobs, thanks! - A few Children’s books published. - And THEN I can travel between my New York loft and South Coast beach house whilst casually working selected projects… Well cheers to those ambitions. No doubt you will achieve them all. Make sure you invite i vote for art to cool parties in your New York Loft. Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us. THANK YOU! Come readers - you must check out Chris’s work available on i vote for art…. 2011-05-12T07:40:04+10:00 http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/today_i_visited_perimeter/ http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/today_i_visited_perimeter/#When:11:28:11Z A new art and design book shop in our hoodJust wanted to write a short little note to spread the word about Perimeter - a cool little bookstore in High Street, Thornbury. They sell a selection of art, photography, architecture and design publications. V cool indeed. So it turns out that Perimeter is all of two weeks old. But it already commands a real presence up in the top- (read “COOL”) end of Thornbury. The window was clear and bright, and really caught my eye. White-ish walls, blonde timber shelves and a colourful array of crisp new journals and books, all blinking at me, begging me to pop in. Which I did.   I was so excited, that I couldn’t really take it all in. You know when someone tells you to READ THIS, so you look at the page with all the words, and you sort of stare at it for a while, and then after your time’s up, you realise that you haven’t read any of it? Well, I experienced that today. Fortunately, the friendly man in the store pointed me in the right direction and I came out with a little story book by Melbourne artist Marc Martin, and Issue 3 of Nobrow.   It is definitely worth a visit. Jump on the 86 tram towards RMIT Bundoora, and jump off at the top end of Thornbury. You won’t be disappointed. After you’ve made your purchase, you can read and re-read it at Umberto. Another beauty! 2011-04-28T11:28:11+10:00 http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/artists_help_japan_jim_bradshaw/ http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/artists_help_japan_jim_bradshaw/#When:01:07:52Z One of our i vote for art-ists, Jim Bradshaw, has recently thrown himself behind the fundraising efforts in support of Japan by auctioning an original drawing on an Ema. Ema are traditional small Japanese wooden tablets left at shrines with an image on one side, and a wish or a prayer on the other. The auction has been organised by Give2Asia to help Japan relief efforts, spread awareness, support and hope. The auction is taking place on ebay. You can bid on his Ema here - it is quite special! Well done Jim and to all other artists involved in the Artists Help Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund. A brief bio of Jim and the work that he has made available on i vote for art is available here. 2011-04-15T01:07:52+10:00 http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/free_condom_project/ http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/free_condom_project/#When:11:29:45Z Free Condom Project - The art of being smartWe have always LOVED Third Drawer Down, an amazing Melbourne company which reproduces artwork by Australian and International artists on items such as tea towels and bed linen. Ben and I have two sets of pillow cases at home on high rotation; two limited edition tea towels, one of which is framed in our bathroom (of course). And my latest purchase - a gorgeous illustration by Emma Magenta on a little plate! So you see, we really do love Third Drawer Down. But now we love them even more. Last year, Third Drawer Down developed the Free Condom Project. The condoms feature cool designs by artists David Shrigley, James Gallagher, Anne De Vries and Kill Pixie. The project hopes to make condoms more accessible to people, and therefore help to reduce the incidence of sexually transmissible infections (STIs). It’s a very novel idea that merges good health with good design. A good public health campaign should make people understand the issue (if I have unprotected sex, I might contracted a sexually transmissible infection = yuk) and then do something about it (hhhm, I better wear a condom). But what makes this project so tip top is that they’ve wrapped the health message up with good design. The packaging is really appealing, and makes you think about safe sex in a totally different light! It does indeed make “condoms readily accessible in a fun and engaging way”. Which is what they wanted! And hopefully, this may prevent a few nasty infections along the way. So now, when you fancy a bit of action from the cultured cutie you met at that gallery opening the other day… you’ve got a perfect segue into a fun and, more importantly, safe night of rumpy pumpy!   The free condoms are available at various retail outlets and galleries such as Polyester Records, Mag Nation and Heide Museum of Modern Art. Good on you guys for supporting such a cool and innovative health promotion campaign. The art is great, and the message is good! It certainly beats having a few skanky Ansell’s lying around!!  For more information, check out the project’s website: http://freecondomproject.com/. VAC (Victorian AIDS Council) is a major sponsor - so if you also want to learn a little more about sexually transmissible infections, you can visit their website too. 2011-04-11T11:29:45+10:00 http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/i_vote_for_art_on_facebook....._finally/ http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/i_vote_for_art_on_facebook....._finally/#When:07:05:46Z I vote for art is up on facebook… do ya like us?We know, We know. A bit slow on the uptake, but i vote for art has finally got a facebook page. Here is our link: facebook/ivoteforart Actually, now that we have it, we’re really enjoying it. We’ve been using personal pages for a while now, but it’s actually quite handy for us as a website. It’s made keeping a track of great art and artist that little bit easier. And how handy is it that thumbnail images are picked up from the link you want to post? Beats dicking around with Photoshop on our blog! We’ve linked our facebook posts with our Twitter account, so that explains our increased activity… (in case you were wondering). The problem is, we don’t have many friends yet. Stacey’s sisters don’t count. So please head on over and check out our page. And don’t forget to Like us! You won’t be disappointed! 2011-04-11T07:05:46+10:00 http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/australia_day/ http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/australia_day/#When:23:03:50Z Just thought we’d let all you ivoteforart-ers know that it’s Australia Day down here!Ok, Ok. So we ditched the Aussie dollar and started selling in US dollars, but we haven’t totally turned our backs on this crazy continent we call home. Yes, it’s Australia Day today. A day to celebrate all that Australia was, is, and will be. Oh - how patriotic we sound! It also means that it’s a public holiday, and we are home working hard on ivoteforart.com (obviously)! So to mark this National Day, we thought we’d take stock of all our Australian artists on ivoteforart.com and wish them a happy Australia Day! Here’s our list: Christopher Nielson City Shrinker Magic Jelly Martin Harris 2011-01-25T23:03:50+10:00 http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/vote_for_nathaniel/ http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/vote_for_nathaniel/#When:07:11:08Z Nathaniel Eckstrom is a finalist in Desktop magazine’s cover competition. Make sure you vote for him!The 10 finalists from Desktop Magazine’s cover competition have been chosen, and include our very own Nathaniel Eckstrom. Here’s his submission: The top four entries will appear on the cover of the June 2010 issue of Desktop. Make sure you vote for Nathaniel at the link below. Thanks! http://www.desktopmag.com.au/features/vote-for-your-favourite-desktop-cover-finalist-now/ 2010-04-06T07:11:08+10:00 http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/hooray_for_jing_wei/ http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/hooray_for_jing_wei/#When:06:02:56Z 4 great new pieces on ivoteforart - all thanks to Jing WeiSo, we’re sitting here in the new ivoteforart office (ok, to be honest, it’s the spare room of our house). And excited, of course, because we have just added Jing Wei to the site. Jing specialises in Woodcuts, or specifically reduction cuts. Take a quick look at the thumbnail images of her pieces, and you see some cheerfully surreal images. What you don’t see though is the superb detail of the print ... It’s a shame a website can’t give you that. But below is a little here’s a little close up of one of the pieces, to give you an idea of the texture. Detail from Roperite I first saw Jing’s work on the Juxtapoz website back in December. I knew what I had to do. Contact her immediately. Ask her to sell some pieces on ivoteforart. Beg and plead if necessary. Because here is an artist that is definitely going places. A few months later, we’re really excited to have her work here. We have 4 pieces for sale for the moment. 2 for $45 and 2 for $65. Make sure you have a look at them here.   2009-04-15T06:02:56+10:00 http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/pro_antigraphic/ http://www.ivoteforart.com/browse/artwork/pro_antigraphic/#When:03:14:14Z Brighton’s Antigraphic, aka Pat Edgeley is this week’s new artist.  We love Flickr. We can spend hours looking at the collective creativity of our planet, uncovering a cornucopia of designers, artists and illustrators. And it was here where we first found Antigraphic. Antigraphic is Brighton based Patrick Edgeley. He brings 4 new pieces to our site - each a unique demosntration of Pat’s style and talent. Here they are below: Quite nice, huh? You can go ahead and peruse them further here 2009-04-06T03:14:14+10:00