Meet Eva van Ooijen, a Dutch photographer, collage artist and trend researcher. Her portfolio recently found it’s way into my inbox, and while streaming through her work, I was drawn to her Wired series. More people than ever are choosing to live in cities, close to one another, between stone walls. This collection reminds us of the structural reinventions that are continuously reoccurring from generation to generation. Does it look like your metropolis?
Michael Freitas Wood’s intricate patterns mounted onto wooden boxes are an interesting sight. Built with multiple overlapping grids of contrasting pigmented modeling paste, Wood explores, in his own unique way, the overwhelming amount of visual information we encounter on a daily basis from tv, the internet, digital images and motion pictures.
With hopes of breathing life into a static medium, Wood “offer[s] paintings that explore this issue by creating intensely compacted, highly charged visual designs.” For more info, click here.
Box Gallery: 1611-A Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501
It’s always interesting to see how brands interpret seemingly simple trends. Boxed grids, for example, keep surfacing throughout fashion and retail displays this summer. From store windows to dress prints to retail structures, grids are an intrinsic part of this season’s design. This Gregory Parkinson dress marries a 2D print with 3D patchwork, mirroring the front and backside of ceramic tiling. Proving this style can easily become a wearable print, Dries Van Norton adds texture and shading. Using color blocking and grout, this boutique in the Daikanyama district, just outside of Tokyo proves that the intersecting lines are just as interesting as the tiles, something Louis Vuitton’s made evident with their hand-drawn window display on Fifth Avenue this month.
If you’re living in America, Thanksgiving’s a pretty big deal. Everyone’s got a to-do list that’s got eating, traveling and a bit of cooking on it. These snapshots encompass all of the above, intersecting at color, layout and theory. This farmers market spread showcases autumn’s rustic spectrum and is sorted by food and color. Following a similar path, this Scion xB advertisement taps autumn’s palette revealing a basic grid for display. The tag line for this youth-oriented Toyota reads, Same Shape. Different Boxes, reminding us how we live our lives, sorting information as we go. Whether you’re a passenger or a driver this holiday season, you’ll undoubtedly find yourself scanning and sorting, be it food, family or football.
Nothing makes an impact quite like black and white tiling. Add graphic theory, a world renowned artist and political controversy and you’ve got a museum piece on your hands. Today features two creative icons known for such experimental designs: Wassily Kandinsky and Vivienne Tam. Of the vast array of works currently on display at the Guggenheim, the above composition, (title and date unknown), reveals delicate vignettes aligned against a grid. Widely known for his sweeping bright strokes, Kandinsky’s works on paper reveal the building blocks for his grand paintings, mathematics at their finest. Incorporating checkerboard theory into modern day fashion, Vivienne Tam’s most iconic pattern is currently on display at New York’s Fashion and Textile Historical Gallery at FIT. Tam, a Chinese American, has taken advantage of Western attitudes to ironically incorporate the infamous Chairman Mao into this woman’s suit– a true cultural revolution and a great leap forward.
By: Shayna Kulik