Kiehl's Celebrates 1st Birthday in Ireland!

Kiehl's skin care range celebrated it's first birthday here in Dublin! I was lucky enough to be asked to photograph the event in Arnotts. I have to admit that i am a huge Kiehl's fan, especially of their body butters, so creamy and  pleasant. Heaven in a bottle! The day was filled with fun promotions and competitions that customers could enter, not forgetting to mention the delicious cake, cupcakes and sparkling lemonade. Not bad for a days work !

Here is how the event went :

Charlotte Caron : Animal Mask

High Grade Art From This Year’s Graduate Crop

The Irish Times, written by Adian Dunne.

Inventive, ambitious, engaged and curious, art students from various colleges have produced work as diverse as it is excellent

There are terrific things to see, and on occasion hear, at this year’s art-school graduate exhibitions. You never know what to expect.

At Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, for example, Declan Grahamushered visitors into a school counsellor’s office and into the mind of an imagined, troubled boy, David Crow. The walls were embellished with clusters of Crow’s densely worked drawings, in which he tries to make sense of inner and outer worlds that seem equally strange and disturbing to his mind. The counsellor’s notes lay on the desk. Graham’s bravura installation vividly conveyed the complexity and perplexity of mental life and the strategies used in attempts to understand and cope with it.

At Cork Institute of Technology’s Crawford College of Art and Design, Mark Buckeridge’s tremendous performance piece is a rich musical meditation on suicidal thoughts. Historically, many musicians have art-school backgrounds, and one can see Buckeridge heading that way, but at the same time he likes the license that the fine-art context allows, mingling composition, performance, audience involvement and theatrical spectacle without being pinned down as any one thing.

Crossing boundaries
Also crossing boundaries, at Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT), Janna Kemperman devised and filmed a powerful piece of physical dance theatre, Performer, about how identities are fashioned to fit social structures and conventions. Conversely, Michael Dignam’s compelling performative video installation at the National College of Art and Design features individuals exercising quirky personal, expressive skills in fairly brutalist urban, architectonic spaces.

Another NCAD sculpture graduate, Eva Richardson McCrea, ambitiously films sections of Incident at Antioch, a play by the French philosopher and theorist Alain Badiou. Badiou is a darling of cultural theorists, in the mould of Michel Foucault or Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. Not so much a drama as an extremely solemn political dialectic, his play explores the possibility of generating a new political reality through revolution.

Drawing on the theoretical framework laid out in his best-known philosophical work,Being and Event, he has very specific ideas about what is possible politically, and how, and why. Richardson McCrea’s stylised treatment, with high production values, and implying links to Ireland’s recent history, inescapably recalls Gerard Byrne’s elaborate filmed re-enactments of cultural texts, while not being overshadowed by them.

It has become almost customary to berate graduate artists for not dealing with contemporary political or cultural events, or indeed with whatever else anyone feels they should be dealing with. This year it would be hard to make any particular charge stick. US military flights feeding through Shannon, the ban on cutting blanket bogs, surveillance technologies and practices, the legacy of the Magdalene laundries, global unrest: all are tackled very well, most of them repeatedly.

Identity, from every point of view, is perennially popular with young artists, in ways that range from the playful (Melissa Breen’s Cosplay photographs at IADT) to the historical (Deirdre McGing’s account of an Anglo-Irish family, at Dublin Institute of Technology) to the deadly earnest (Robert McCormack’s consideration of the African migrants who sell newspapers at traffic intersections, at DIT; Matthew Ashe at IADT; and Anna Dudek at CIT).

Less predictably, this year there is a resurgence of interest in optical phenomena, almost a return to op art. Rather than reflecting an infatuation with new technology, this has to do with an interest in the mechanics of perception, and it plays out in lively and inventive ways: in the work of Colm Eccles at IADT and of Helen MacMahon and Mark Reynolds, both at DIT, for example.

Comparably, there’s an interest in materials, and in materials not being what they seem. Sarah Doherty’s sculptures, sede vacante, at DIT are a particularly good example: she is acutely attentive to the historical and cultural meanings of the forms and illusions she creates. Marilyn Gaffney’s collages, in two and three dimensions, at Moxie Studios, are also very impressive.

It’s encouraging to see young artists asking us to question the basics of looking and seeing rather than being carried away on the tidal wave of image production that has swept through contemporary culture.

Photography at both DIT and IADT has been reliably strong in recent years, and that remains broadly true, even if there’s a slight dip at IADT, with several underwhelming projects – though Lisa Burke, Heber Hanly, Karena Hutton, John Jordan and work already mentioned maintain the standard.

Certainly at DIT there are a number of terrific projects. As well as those referred to, Maciej Pastka’s documentation of a marginal urban community in north Poland is memorable, as are Neil Dorgan’s War Games, Kasia Kaminska’s exploration of the Gaeltacht civil-rights movement that sprang up in Connemara in the late 1960s, Patricia Klich, Treasa O’Hanlon’s Lolita and Irene Siragusa’s look at nighttime violence in Dublin.

Graduate: Hannah Moore’s NGC 2289, Heavenly Body Nebula installation

Most accomplished
It’s hardly surprising that the most accomplished exhibition overall is NCAD’s master-of-fine-arts show at Moxie Studios. If you’re going to see just one graduate show, make it this one. Highlights include Christine Lanney’s hypnotic performance videos, Gwen Wilkinson’s images of evanescence, Hannah Moore’s tent installation, printmakers Niall Naessens and Lilian Ingram, and Jane Giffney’s intricate works with human hair.

At Moxie you’ll also find a number of very good painters making up something close to a movement or school, a notional grouping that would include such more established figures as Paul Doran, Mark Swords and Fergus Feehily. They don’t all make the same kind of work, but what comes across is a sympathy in outlook and attitude. At Moxie are Eveleen Murphy, Natasha Conway and George Warren, and one could add two impressive BAs to that list, Andrew Simpson and Daniel Jackman.

Add Diarmaid O’Sullivan and Susan O’Leary at CIT as convincing painters and it might seem perverse to suggest there is a crisis in painting.

The crisis is that painting appears be used as a default option by students and staff who are not fundamentally engaged with it and don’t ask the most obvious questions about ability and intention.

"Beyond The Wild Garden"

The author of the very informative and quirky gardening blog "Beyond The Wild Garden", David Corrsacadden, commissioned me to create a watercolour header for the blog. The brief given to me was simple; make it freeflowing , classic yet keep the hand drawn feel and watercolour finish. While also creating a avatar illustration of David himself. Here is what i came up with.....


Beyond The Wild Garden Blog Header


 David Corscadden: Beyond The Wild Garden

Check out David's blog here : http://beyondthewildgarden.wordpress.com

Man-made Cloud

Artist Berndnaut Smilde creates a man-made cloud indoors.

 Merging art with science artist Berndnaut Smilde creates a man-made cloud indoors, using a fog machine while adjusting the humidity and temperature. The cloud only lasts a moment so photography is used to document it's existance.

Turner Prize 2013 Shortlist Announced

Tate Britain has announced the four artists who have been shortlisted for the Turner Prize 2013. This years the exhibition will be held at Ebrington in Derry-Londonderry as part of the UK City of Culture 2013 and is the first time the exhibition has ever been held outside England. The artists shortlisted for this years Turner prize are: Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Tino Sehgal, Laure Prouvost and David Shrigley.

 

The Turner Prize is awarded to a contemporary artist under 50, living, working or born in Britain, who is judged to have put on the best exhibition of the last 12 months.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is shortlisted for her Extracts and Verses exhibition at the Chisenhale Gallery.

David Shrigley is shortlisted for his solo exhibition Brain Activity, at London’s Hayward Gallery.

Laure Prouvost is shortlisted for her new work Wantee commissioned with Grizedale Arts for inclusion in Schwitters in Britain at Tate Britain and for her two-part installation for the Max Mara Art Prize for Women, resulting from a residency in Italy and presented in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery

 

Tino Sehgal has been shortlisted for his pioneering projects This Variation at documenta (XIII) and These Associations at Tate Modern. Sehgal’s project ‘This Situation’ has toured globally since conceived in 2007 and is currently at IMMA until 19 May.

 

The winner of the Turner Prize 2013 will receive £25,000 and will be announced on 2 December. The other shortlisted artists will each receive £5,000.

This year’s jury is chaired by Tate Britain director Penelope Curtis and includes the curator Annie Fletcher and the writer and lecturer Declan Long

The Possibilities Are Endless

Delighted to get this in the post during the week! An illustration which i drew for the wedding of Deirdre Hughes & William Flood, has been used on their thank you cards to all the guests that shared their special day! Glad you liked it guys, looking good!!!

Keri Smith : 100 Idea's

By Keri Smith
http://www.kerismith.com/popular-posts/100-ideas/


100 Ideas

1. Go for a walk. Draw or list things you find on the the sidewalk. 2. Write a letter to yourself in the future. 3. Buy something inexpensive as a symbol for your need to create, (new pen, a tea cup, journal). Use it everyday. 4. Draw your dinner. 5. Find a piece of poetry you respond to. Rewrite it and glue it into your journal. 6. Glue an envelope into your journal. For one week collect items you find on the street. 7. Expose yourself to a new artist, (go to a gallery, or in a book.) Write about what moves you about it. 8. Find a photo of a person you do not know. Write a brief bio about them. 9. Spend a day drawing only red things. 10. Draw your bike. 11. Make a list of everything you buy in the next week. 12. Make a map of everywhere you went in one day. 13. Draw a map of the creases on your hand, (knuckles, palm) 14. Trace your footsteps with chalk. 15. Record an overheard conversation. 16. Trace the path of the moon in relation to where you live. 17. Go to a paint store. Collect ‘chips’ of all your favorite colors. 18. Draw your favorite tree. 19. Take 15 minutes to eat an orange. 20. Write a haiku. 21. Hang upside down for five minutes. 22. Hang found objects from tree branches. 23. Make a puppet. 24. Create an outdoor room from things you find in nature. 25. Read a book in one day. 26. Illustrate your grocery list. 27. Read a story out loud to a friend. 28. Write a letter to someone you admire. 29. Study the face of someone you do not like. 30. Make a meal based on a color theme. (i.e. all white). 31. Creat a museum of very small things. 32. List the smells in your neighborhood. 33. List 100 uses for a tin can. 34. Fill an entire page in your journal with small circles. Color them in. 35. Give away something you love. 36. Choose an object, draw the side you can’t see. 37. List all of the places you’ve ever lived. 38. Describe your favourite room in detail. 39. Write about your relationship with your washing machine. 40. Draw all of the things in your purse/bag. 41. Make a mini book based on the theme, “my grocery list”. 42. Create a character based on someone you know. Write a list of personality traits. 43. Recall your favorite childhood game. 44. Put postcards of art pieces/painting on the inside of your kitchen cupboard doors, so you can see them everyday (but not become deaf to them.) 45. Draw the same object every day for a week. 46. Write in your journal using a different medium (brush & ink, charcoal, old typewriter, crayons, fat markers. 47. Draw the individual items of your favorite outfit. 48. Make a useful item using only paper & tape. 49. Research a celebration or ritual from another culture. 50. Do a temporary art installation using a pad of post it notes & a pen. 51. Draw a map of your favorite sitting spots in your town/city. (photocopy it and give it to someone you like.) 52. Record all of the sounds you hear in the course of one hours. 53. Using a grid, collect various textures from magazine and play them off of each other. 54. Cut out all media for one day. Write about the effects. 55. Make pencil rubbings of six different surfaces. 56. Draw your garbage. 57. Do a morning collage. 58. List your ten most important things, (not including animals or people.) 59. List ten things you would like to do every day. 60. Glue a photo of yourself as a child into your journal. 61. Trasform some garbage. 62. Write an entry in your journal in really LARGE letters. 63. Collect some ‘flat’ things in nature (leaves, flowers). Glue or tape them into your journal. 64. Physically alter a page. (i.e. cut a hole, pour tea on it, burn it, fold it, etc.) 65. Find several color combinations you respond to in public. Document them using swatches, write where you found them. 66. Write a journal entry describing something “secret”. Cut it up into several pieces and glue them back in scrambled. 67. Record descriptions or definitions of subjects or words you are interested in, found in encyclopedias or dictionaries. 68. Draw the outline of an object without looking at the page. (contour drawing). 69. What were you thinking just now? write it down. 70. Do nothing. 71. Write a list of ten things you could to do. Do the last thing on the list. 72. Create an image using dots. 73. Do 3 drawings at different speeds. 74. Put a small object in your left pocket (or in a bag), Put your left hand in the pocket. Draw it by feel. 75. Create a graph documenting or measuring something in your life. 76. Draw the sun. 77. Create instructions for a simple everyday task. 78. Make prints using food. (fruit and vegetables cut in half, fish, etc.) 79. Find a photo. Alter it by drawing over it. 80. Write a letter using an unconventional medium. 81. Draw one object for twenty minutes. 82. Combine two activities that have not been combined before. 83. Write about your day in an encyclopedic fashion. (i.e. organize by subject.) 84. Write a list of all the things you do to escape. 85. Cut a random shape out of several layers of a magazine. Make a collage out of the results. 86. Write an entry in code. 87. Make a painting using tools from the bathroom. 88. Work with a medium that is subtractive. 89. Write about or draw some of the doors in your life. 90. Make a postcard that has some kind of activity on it. 91. Divise a journal entry using “layers”. 92. Divise an entry using “layers”. 93. Write your own definition of one of the following concepts, sitting, waiting, sleeping (without using the actual word.) 94. List 10 of your habits. 95. Illustrate the concept of “simplicity”.

Jacqueline Bisset : Fashion Illustrator

It's only recently that Jacqueline Bisset's work has come to my attention and WOW has it grabbed my attention!! Her use of ink and line weight is amazing, not to forget her line ecnomny! Looking at her work is a master class in drawing.
 To see more work by Bisset visit her website: http://www.illustrationweb.com/artists/JacquelineBissett/view

Bob Gill: a life less ordinary

Posted by Gavin Lucas, 5 April 2013 on "The Creative Review" blog.


At the beginning of what proved to be another highlight of the first day of Dublin's OFFSET conference, Bob Gill explained to the assembled that he wanted to talk about "design as an idea" before announcing that "every graphic design job is boring"...

"There's nothing in my head that's original," he told the audience, "and I'll wager that there's nothing original in yours either. Why? Because our heads are full of junk that's put there by the culture. The only way to clear out the junk is to have an opinion - and if it's an interesting opinion, then the design [that it informs] will be interesting."

The point of Gill's opening gambit was to demonstrate that his process of working - which has remained unchanged in principle for the 55 years - is all about having an opinion about any given brief and then expressing the resulting idea in the clearest possible way, without having a colour, typeface or particular aesthetic in mind but to let the idea find it's own visual execution.



The first example of how this process yields results for him was his response to a brief he had to create a logo for a tour company in New York. "The thing about tour guides, and I'm sure it's the same in Dublin, is that they're always out of work actors. Probably from out of town. So I wanted to disassociate this company from all the other hack companies. So how do you communicate that the company is full of real New Yorkers?" he asked. This was his solution:





Here's Gill's solution to a brief set by the United Nations to create an identity for a series of informal lunches.





And when asked to produce the poster for the 65th Art Directors Annual, Gill thought long and hard about the event itself where Art Directors - who, he suggested, all really hated each other, would congregate to congratulate each other and dish out awards. Here's the result:



And when thinking about how to best represent Jazz, Gill produced this drawing:



Gill's presentation wasn't about showcasing a huge amount of different projects but about illustrating his deceptively simple approach to creative thinking. And it was hugely entertaining, not least because of his stand-up like confidence on stage. But his message was simple. "If you want your lives and your work to be interesting, don't just do layouts - but think about the brief and come up with an opinion that will inform your design approach. If you're designing a logo for a dry cleaners, don't sit at your computer, go to a dry cleaners!"

For more info about OFFSET2013, visit iloveoffset.com.