Trend: Beastly Art

You’ve been hiding under a rock if you haven’t noticed the animal influence that’s infiltrated all things visual lately. From graffiti tagging to fashion campaigns to high-end art, animal influenced portraiture is everywhere. Simon Schama recently wrote a piece for The Financial Times, proclaiming that beastly themes have always been a part of the modern art world in British society, making note of the highly religious themes that often come hand in hand with each piece.

The above illustration is from Flair magazine and portrays the best of both worlds: curious creatures with beautifully collaged textures. To the right, the graffiti leopard can be found on the streets of East London. The sexualized Hello Kitty illustration is part of Surface to Air‘s Parisian retail display, while this tailoring sign sits comfortably in a Hamstead window in London. Rounding out the retail theme, this canine portrait painting is currently part of the window display for Printemps Mens in Paris.

November 3, 2010 | By: Shayna Kulik

Trend: Digitizied Collages

When making comparisons, it’s hard to tell that these two works are by artists from different sides of the world. On the tail of this morning’s Giles Hayter feature, it seems timely to talk about a trend we keep seeing in the art world: collage color-blocked patterns. The piece on the left is by Hayter and can be viewed in London’s Redchurch Gallery this week. The drawing on the right, entitled, Inconsequential Terrain, by Seong Chun, is represented by Mary Ryan Gallery in New York. This piece is just one of many amazing works on Artlog‘s roster. Another cool component at Artlog is ACP, their latest initiative to build a close community of art lovers and collectors both locally and globally. Both designs resemble organized chaos and remind us of slightly chaotic info graphics.

November 2, 2010 | By: Shayna Kulik

Fashion: Pointed & Precise

Having just returned from a 10 day scouting trip to London and Paris, there’s lots of catching up to do this week! I took hoards of photos and have hours of editing ahead of me, as even pre-holiday, both cities were brimming with creative inspiration. One thing that was consistently present was hardware (of course). Moving beyond pyramid accessorized clothing, cone-shaped gold and silver pieces were rampant. This parallel between Christian Louboutin’s most recent footwear and this pigeon-like-people-deterrent outside a London bank is priceless. Art imitating life never gets old.

November 1, 2010 | By: Shayna Kulik

Retail: All Strung Up in London

While shopping in London last week, I couldn’t help but notice all of the string installations that kept popping up throughout the big department stores. From elaborate window displays to intricate floor designs, immense and artistic webs seemed to be woven throughout the merchandise in an effort to spice things up.

Selfridges, one of London’s main department stores, always dedicates a portion of it’s windows to art and is currently displaying a truly complex and over sized replica of a twisted loom. The design is very abstract with a constructivist style. Not only is it impressive, but wholly inspirational; I love it when I see good modern art that can inspire my own work.

Over at Liberty, there’s a beautiful geometric crystal chandelier installation that spans at least 4 floors in the Women’s section. It’s gorgeous and truly an art-meets-glam piece. Definitely worth the visit to the store to see it up-close.

In the Women’s areas at Harvey Nichols, the string trend continues with a crazy and abstract chandelier near the Women’s cash wrap. When you venture down to the Men’s section, you can’t help but notice a totally cheeky display of miniature mountain climbers scaling Goliath mannequins- such a surreal and humorous display! Luckily the sales people turned a blind eye as I sneaked pictures, pretending to be a Japanese tourist. In all, some very inspirational displays, though beware, you’ll likely need to unravel your tired legs after a day of London shopping.

Coverage by: Angela Chen

March 1, 2010 | By: Shayna Kulik

Trend: Pale Motifs

pale-motifs

It appears that many designers are embracing bleach this coming season. From the elitist corners of couture to the wider ranges of mass market, styles are purposefully paler, if not washed out, this spring. Paring pastel tie dye with white denim, Members Only has tapped eighties color palettes to create abstract graffiti slacks. Moving in a more feminine direction, Erdem’s Lucina Tailored Dress is a modern remake of traditional French toile fabric. Balmain, a rising favorite among fashion circles, merges these two concepts to create a hybrid of luxury denim.

faded-signage

When discussing how faded motifs are woven throughout our everyday lives, it’s interesting to note the natural wear and tear that occurs in metropolitan environments. Be it an old wall in Paris, a faded stop sign in Ohio or the remnants of a house in Melbourne, all of these “eye sores” contain beautiful details that progressive observers tap for inspiration. Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal boldly predicts that we’ll be seeing rougher streets as city budgets dwindle in her article entitled, Goodbye Bland Affluence. So we ask, are designers subconsciously glamorizing the decline of urban city living?

May 6, 2009 | By: Shayna Kulik

Follow-up: Mandatory Headgear

eleykishimoto

Last Friday was devoted to protective headgear. It appears that there are other pattern saavy bikers out there, because a wonderful helmet link was recently dropped in my inbox by fellow blogger and friend, Lauren Epstein. The Eley Kishimoto brand is the love child of designers Mark Eley and Wakako Kishimoto. Their vector patterns have wide commercial appeal and can be found on nearly everything from Louis Vuitton shift dresses to Nike sneakers. Click here for a glimpse at their assorted projects.

March 20, 2009 | By: Shayna Kulik