street art

it's loud, it's irreverent, it's controversial, and it's sometimes brilliant: it's street art.
the term "street art" refers to any artwork in a public place, and can range from graffitti and installation pieces to flash mobbing (which is pretty much the coolest thing in the whole world).

breaking the law generally doesn't sit well with me (this is a good thing, i think :), but i think that some street art is absolutely brilliant. many street artists nowadays are moving away from the meaningless and mindless business of "tagging", and creating thought-provoking, meaningful works of art which actually make a social or political statement. some of them are ridiculously clever, and some of them are ridiculously rude - it's amazing!

one of the most famous (in infamous) street artists in the world is British artist, Bansky. his identity is shrouded in mystery, which is understandable considering his line of work is not 100% legal. Banksy's art works are often witty and tongue-in-cheek, poking fun at the government or making serious social commentaries. i love his sense of humour, and his disregard for social norms. he's like a rebellious older sibling who you disapprove of slightly, but secretly admire.

LOVE this!

har har...

and here's some street art i found outside the KZNSA Gallery in Bulwer Road recently:

cool, huh?

street art brings out the rebel in us a little bit. but sometimes it's a good thing: it makes us stop and think about what we just accept as normal. it makes us question what is right and what is merely accepted. it makes us remember our ideals and dreams... so street art is a good thing.

hendrik stroebel

Hendrik Stroebel is awe-inspiring. he's a South African artist who specialises in ceramics and embroidery (when was the last time you heard of a fine artist specialising in  embroidery??). i lovelove ceramics, and so i went to his exhibition a couple of months ago... and it blew my mind. completely and utterly.

the embroidery was just so detailed, so skilled; he uses a needle and thread like a painter would use paint: it's simply amazing. my mum spent hours staring at these little cotton "paintings", murmuring in awe and pitying his fingers and eyes :) so the embroidery was lovely. but then we saw the ceramics, and my heart did a million little flips in my chest: they were beautiful. my words don't even do them justice (and neither do these pictures! sigh.)

there is something about delicate, pretty ceramics that makes me soso happy - and these were some of the prettiest ceramic works i've ever seen.



there was a whole wall of these turquoise-themed ceramic stars (some are missing because they were sold). i was in ceramic heaven!



so beautiful!

artists like hendrik stroebel make me want to make art. it's just so beautiful - even the simplest little ceramic star - and it brings so much joy.



how lovely is this frame?



like painting with cotton, right?

tokyo-go-go

Tokyo-Go-Go is Greg Darroll. he is one of the coolest young illustrators/ graphic designers around, and he's from Durban :)

i just love his detailed, quirky drawings: they have so much character and spunk. his designs are creative and bold; he does not shy away from bright, vivid colours and strong lines. his characters are unique, slightly offbeat and distinctive... they almost have personalities of their own.

i just love these characters!

he also designs decks!

this is my FAVOURITE thing ever. these are money boxes! the mouths are the slots for your money... have you ever seen anything cooler in your life?

this is just amazing.

Greg is an example of a young person who is stepping out and using his creative gift, and making it happen. i love that.

if you want to check out more of his work, you can visit his blog here

it's just picturesmovingreallyfast!

Stop-frame animation is one of my favourite things in the whole world. (I know I say that about a lot of stuff, but I really do have many favourite things. The world is full of amazing and beautiful ideas, and they’re all my favourite)

I think it’s amazing how much thought and creativity goes into making even the simplest little animation. I think it’s amazing how just putting lots of pictures together and making them move really fast adds so much life to an otherwise lifeless art form. I think it’s amazing how animation can add character, personality, individuality to completely inanimate objects – I love it.

Having made a few animations in school, I know a little bit of how much effort goes into the planning, photographing, and editing of an animation, and I have bucketloads of respect for people who have mastered the art (especially those who make entire full-length animated films! The mind boggles…) It takes a special kind of patience and perseverance to keep clicking away on that camera for hours, knowing that in the end it will all pay off in the form of a two-minute-long video clip.

Some of my favourite movies ever were made using stop-frame animation. I think they’re just so much more beautiful, and have so much more character than normal films. Movies like Coraline (which scared the heck out of me!), Wallace and Gromit, and Fantastic Mr. Fox make me soso happy. Just seeing the detail – the tiny stitching on every item of clothing; the ridiculously expressive faces – makes me marvel. They aren’t just movies – they’re works of art.

and here's a stop-frame animation video i am soso proud of, even though i had no part to play in the making of it, because it was made by some of my friends for the launching of our Youth group's new name, the Red Riot. i think it's amazing. but that's just me.

musicANDmuffins

(posted by Hannah)

while randomly looking up something or other on YouTube (a sad habit which has become mine since becoming a varsity student) i happened to stumble across an animated video of Kate Nash's song Nicest Thing, made by someone awesome called musicANDmuffins. i was enchanted… because there is something so sweet and moving about the characters in the animation! so i made haste in looking up all the other animations which this muffinsy-music person had made, and now i will share my favourites with you.

here is the original one i found. can i just mention that Kate Nash is amazing? and that this song is beautiful? i think it appeals to the romantic in many a girl :)

 

this is the awesome muffin person's animation for Coldplay's song Yellow. on top of everything else that is ever-so-sweet about this animation, i love the version of Yellow which has been used! …just thought i'd throw that in there :)

the next gem is an animation of Laura Marling's song Alas I Cannot Swim. i'm ashamed to say i hadn't heard of Laura before i came across these lovely little videos, but i am very much liking her now! extra-specially this song.

 

 

last but definitely not least is my favourite of all my favourites… which, you must know, is a difficult thing for me to say. this is an animation of KT Tunstall's Throw Me A Rope, which is another song i hadn't heard before discovering these darling animations. i find KT's songs - particularly her quieter, more acoustic songs - so haunting and moving, and Throw Me A Rope is no different. i think we can all relate to the feeling of missing someone but knowing that it's important to find our way through that missing-ness. it is bittersweet and beautiful and hopeful. i love the song, and i love the muffinsy person's portrayal of the song's lyrics, and i hope you do, too :)

 

 



everything looks better in black and white

here are some more beautiful photos from the awesome Jesse Greaves:

it is my firm belief that everyone looks a million times better in black and white :)

my favourite advert

(posted by Grant)

I love creativity.
I love innovation, and fresh thinking, and new ideas.
I love it when people “DO”.
So, it makes sense that I like this advert:

Recreate

Recreate is an amazing, original range of furniture designed by Katie Thompson. she takes old, seemingly useless objects and transforms them into beautiful furniture, lighting pieces, and accessories. my favouritefavourite are the suitcase seats - i think they're incredible! i love it when designers have innovative and out-of-the-box ideas... it makes my heart happy.  



a scale clock - how cool?



another scale clock

Dettol bottle lampstand

You can check out more of Katie's range here.

pascale chandler

this lady makes beautiful art. there is no other word for it. her works are gestural, free, emotional, delicate, and very very pretty. Pascale Chandler is a South African artist who uses oil paints to create these beautiful, fragile horses. i just love the colours and long lines and loose brush strokes - they make everything seem like a surreal, misty dream.

invisible artist

how insane is this?? these are works by Chinese artist, Liu Bolin, who's become famous for painting himself "invisible" and photographing himself around his country. Liu uses his works  as a form of protest against the oppressive Chinese government, which he says does not allow freedom of expression. they speak about not fitting into society, and about being forced to conform.

it can take up to 10 hours to paint Liu completely, and the most amazing thing is that he uses no digital manipulation on the photographs at all! here are some of his works:

pretty cool, hey?

beautiful, dewy pictures

these are some photographs taken by Helen Dean on a misty morning in Springs (that's near Jo'burg). i like them a lot.



dandelion





yes, that's a real web!




more webs...



the amazing-ness that is whimsy

if you've been to a cool art gallery or flea market recently, you will probably know all about whimsy. it's an imaginary, illustrated world created by artist Amelia Smith, which is full of fantasy, adventure, and innocence. Amelia makes and sells limited edition prints, stationery, and t-shirts, among other things, all containing a bit of the magic and charm of whimsy. here are some of my favourite prints:

i love whimsy because it reminds me of childhood and imaginary friends and raucous games of hide-and-seek. it's simple and delicate and beautiful.

the whimsy website is also quite a work of art! you can see it for yourself here