Illustrations from Natalya Balnova

Two weeks ago, I visited Comic Arts Brooklyn. It was so good it could have lasted the whole weekend (I wish it had). The work was varied across genders, ranging from the clever to the dark to the intricate. I left several prints richer and a few new pieces (pictured above on my living room chairs) are from Natalya Balnova. Natalya’s illustrations are whimsical, dark and witty. They play with color beautifully and present moments in time, humanizing the funny behaviors we often fantasize about or exhibit.

November 25, 2013 | By: Shayna Kulik

Friday Quick Links!

1. Gorgeous Indian wedding editorial via Honestly WTF
2. Neat DIY bleach tie-dying via Say Yes to Hoboken
3. Lovely ceramics by Cassie Griffin via design*sponge
4. Love these geometric vases by 1012 via present & correct
5. Pretty patterned shoes by Emily Green via Miss Moss
6. Installation made of 8080 colored pencils via design-milk
7. Mixed media art by Bernhard Handick via Trendland
8. Beautiful animals and insects made from repurposed objects via Colossal
9. Diggable DIY hanging bottle vase via Poppytalk
10. Nice DIY colorblock iPad stand via The Artful Desperado
11. Thread art by Nike Schroeder via The Jealous Curator
12. Interview with Reko Rennie via The Design Files

Contributed by Emily Gup

November 22, 2013 | By: Shayna Kulik

Two Brains and a Work of Art

We have our left brain and we have our right brain and then we have this. Who here’s heard of Mwat Mwat? It’s a lovely and simple illustration/coloring book for kids that encourages two trains of thought. Designed and sold in Paris, I stumbled upon it through the Nelly Rodi newsletter and am a huge fan. For those of you with kids, what do you think, are you into it?

November 21, 2013 | By: Shayna Kulik

Set Design & Creative Retail Displays

Here’s a short round up of a few retail displays in and around New York, enjoy!

Aritzia: I find myself snapping Aritzia’s windows just as much as Anthopologie’s. From a creative perspective, they’re just as interesting, though carefully minimalist. Here the retail team devised 3D cardboard hexagons covered in a lux marbling technique.

Anthropologie: These in-store ornaments resemble mythical suns and the spirograph application of the rubber bands add a fascinating touch. These could easily be a DIY project to do at home.

Hugo Boss: This unisex window represents the gift-giving season in a subtle, stately way: a swing of gift boxes constructed together gets the point across after a sidewalk double-take.

Best Pizza: This Williamsburg Pizza shop has crowd sourced their wall art, using customer drawings to make a fabulous and familiar texture. It’s delightful to get lost in the illustrations while getting a late night slice.

November 20, 2013 | By: Shayna Kulik

Tuesday's Gallery Picks

This week’s artists examine chaos and natural rhythm while testing boundaries.

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1. Intricate patterns that reference traditional textiles and mosaics sustain a mood of magic, mystery and pleasure in Evie Falci’s work at Jeff Bailey Gallery
2. Sangram Majumdar’s new body of work continues his investigation into the boundary between the facts of reality and the discursive and associative nature of experience itself at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects
3. Tomory Dodge’s paintings seem to have a veil of black or white paint masking the surface of the canvas then deliberate scrapes reveal vibrant strips of color beneath Acme
4. Gerard Marx’s Lessons in Looking Down explores representations of the structures that the bare eye cannot see at Goodman Gallery
5. Alyse’s seven new works share a healthy disregard for their edges. While the paintings seem to float in arbitrary spaces defined by the chance edge of the stretched paper, their imbalance is a carefully planned construct, making order from the chaos of a controlled explosion at Rick Wester Fine Art
6. Jack Milroy is moved to examine the eternal verities and polarities, the extremes of human experience at Art First

November 19, 2013 | By: Shayna Kulik

Japanese Giving & British Illustration

A few years ago, I visited Kyoto and completely lost myself in a Furoshiki store. I learned that the art of gift giving goes far beyond the actual object, and that the care and intricacy of the wrapping holds nearly the same weight as the present. Today’s post features the beautiful illustration work of british designer, Hannah Waldron of The Hilda Express. This cotton satin wrapping cloth doubles as a scarf and is a collaboration of East meets West, as the art was devised in London and printed in Tokyo. It features a menagerie of fine lines, loops and geometric shapes and at $48, seems like quite a bargin. If you’re interested in seeing more, check out The Link Collective’s other Etsy items, you won’t be disappointed.