In this month’s visual stimulation, we are more than happy to feature world renowned artist, Dalek. He personally sent us these pieces to be featured in this month’s installment of Visual Stimulation.
James Marshall, aka Dalek, is one of the most celebrated artist today. As the son of a military family, Dalek lived all around the world including a brief stint in Japan. He turned to skateboarding, graffiti, and punk music for inclusion. While attending the art institute in Chicago, Dalek created a character that would soon become his first signature piece. Dalek’s “Space Monkey” was seen everywhere.
From 2001 to 2002, Dalek served as assistant to the influential Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. The six-month assistantship proved to be a major turning point in Dalek’s career: “I didn’t have a real set direction for how I wanted to paint. I had seen a show of [Murakami’s] that August at the Boston Museum, and when I saw those painting close up, I realized that was the end product I wanted to see my ideas come out in. I realized I needed that sort of apprenticeship.”
In 2007, Dalek produced a show and the world saw a drastic departure from the “Space Monkey” character. Gone was the iconic character he had been known for, and new was the grand hand painted pieces featuring an abundance of color and shapes. The concept behind the new series was the meditation of the push and pull of life forces.
Visit Dalekart.com for more information on James Marshall, aka Dalek.
Check out an interview from Walrus TV below.
Posted by: g.win on March 8, 2010 @ 1:26 AM
Posted in: Visual Stimulation
Just when you thought 808s and Heartbreaks was a thing of the past, Kanye drops this new video for Coldest Winter. Some of the imagery reminds me of the Legend of Sleep Hollow with a Never Ending Story or Lord of the Rings twist. The directors use of motion combined with minimalism is beautiful, this is a much watch.
Posted by: Jonthecorner on February 25, 2010 @ 10:30 PM
Posted in: Visual Stimulation
Photographer Ryan McGinley in the photo world. His works have been featured in the New York Times, V Magazine, The Advocate, SF Guardian and more. He was the man behind the lens in Levis’s ‘Go Forth’ campaign last year. The denim giant recently re-enlisted McGinley to produce their new campaign for hip retailer Opening Ceremony. Even though Levis’s campaign is for the new spring line, Ginley chose the autumn season as the back drop. The end result is a visually stunning campaign. I can’t wait for fall!
A short documentary about a new vinyl pressing plant in Cleveland Ohio, called “Gotta Groove Records”. They specialize in 7" and 12" Vinyl creation/manufacturing using PVC molding. Check them out here:
Spike Jonze makes his return to the advertising world with the Absolut Vodka funded short film entitled “I’m Here”. The trailer made it’s world premiere at Sundance this past week. The trailer promises that it is a “robot love story”. The full film will debut later this year.
In need of some visual stimulation while getting your learn on? Wired.com is doing a big wrap up of the most popular science related stories of 2009. There are some amazing shots that you need to geek out to.
The merciless crunch upon the magazine industry still heard via an echo of unemployment this past decade seems to foster two very distinct points of view among readers: Going digital is either a sign of failure or the new frontier. Though there’s nothing like glossy pages and heavy cardstock covers under your fingers, mags are turning out to share a similar destiny as vinyl — there will always be a craving for them in certain circles, but the mainsteam trend points at those three little w’s.
This brings us to Self-Titled magazine, a New York-based online publication with six digital issues under its belt featuring the likes of Jay Reatard (RIP), School Of Seven Bells, Florence & The Machine and more. It comes out dukes-up on its social media profiles, claiming to be “reinventing what it means to be a music magazine in an age of blogs and half-baked writing.”
That kind of statement’s got some bite to it, but in a way that makes you want to know more.
On it’s Facebook page: “Self-Titled is a music magazine that has nothing to do with music. At least not in the traditional sense of self-important ‘criticism’ and profiles that read like regurgitated press releases. Yes, we print reviews and full-on artist features, but we also pride ourselves on answering the questions others don’t ask.”
Now, this is all kind of interesting because they also run a blog, but damn if this didn’t make us want to crack open an issue (virtually, of course), the latest of which you can read here here.
Japanese-born, Brooklyn-based artist, Kenji Hirata’s artwork in form and color is strongly inspired by nature, billboards, and hand painted signage of Southeast Asia, and futurism. His use of shapes and colors create a language that has been presented across a number of different mediums of all sizes. His pieces project a language that is always in motion and with this special language Hirata is created, we are all given a glimpse into his universe.
Hirata is also a core member of artist New York & Japan collective, Barnstormers alongside Doze Green, David Ellis, and Chulo. His work (along with collective members David Ellis and Maya Hayuk) had caught the eye of Absolut Vodka, which then asked Hirata to help with the launch of their Raspberry Campaign. Check out the video here.
Hirata has been featured by Cool Hunting, Juxtapoz, and has seen pieces on exhibit at everywhere from Southeastern Center for contemporary Art (North Carolina) and Zeit Art Gallery (Hamburg, Germany) to Reed Space (Brooklyn, NY) to New York’s Levi’s store. Hirata just finished a solo exhibit at the Joshua Liner Gallery in New York.
To fully appreciate Hirata’s magnificent world, you need to see it in person. For more information on Kenji Hirata and for upcoming exhibits, visit kenjihirata.com.
Posted by: g.win on January 4, 2010 @ 10:08 AM
Posted in: Visual Stimulation
