Weird Science

Five to watch

These are five Australian illustrators and designers that Lost At E Minor tips for big things over the next year or so: illustrator Lang Leav, who uses pastels and pixels to weave the enchanting world of Akina; Del Kathryn Barton, whose ‘patent wide-eyed innocent children’ occupy ‘imaginary fantasy worlds of abstract patterns, foliage, native birds and rabbits’; Kelly Boulton, of Other Design, who has has worked across a variety of creative mediums, from guest art directing street press magazine, Stu, to designing t-shirts for Jeremyville; Joshua Gurrie, who takes inspiration from the racier elements of contemporary popular culture’ and whose work ‘seeks to counter the over-saturation of pop media, web junk and glossy sneakers’; and Momoko Hatano, who is inspired by ‘philosophy, environmental and political issues, and artists such as Wim Delvoye and William Morris’. [illustrations by Del Kathryn Barton, left, and Lang Leav, right]

Chris Buzelli

American artist, Chris Buzelli, grew up in Chicago before studying at The Rhode Island School of Design. He moved to New York City in 1995. His oil paintings have been featured in The New York Times, Playboy, and The Boston Globe, amongst many other magazines and newspapers, and his work has been ‘recognised by American Illustration, Society of Illustrators, Society of Publication Designs, Communication Arts, Print and Step by Step’. [see also Del Kathryn Barton]

Romance was born

Says Miss Chris from the independent Australian fashion website Camarilla: ‘Right now, the Melbourne fashion world is out celebrating the latest residency – Romance was Born – at vibrant local boutique Alice Euphemia‘. Read more

Lover

Australian fashion brand Lover, founded by Susien Chong and Nic Briand in 2001, arouses a particular type of devotion. Like the fashionable muses that inspire Lover’s strong and feminine collections – Patty Hearst for the ‘Black Rose Army’ (Spring/Summer 06/07); Rolling Stones groupies and biker babes for ‘Altamont’ (Winter 07) – fans of Lover know all about yearning, obsession … and waiting lists. Get in the swim and place your pre-orders for Lover’s newly launched Spring/Summer line, ‘One Plus One’, which includes the label’s first foray into swimming cossies.

Hot Box

Hot Box, by Barcelona-based Ana Mir and Emili Padros — for Emiliana Design Studio — is a design object with a different type of consumer in mind. If most highfalutin design firms pitch their sleek wares at Prada-clad architects and inner-city aspirants, the envisaged audience for the Emiliana Hot Box is another breed entirely: the chilly sex worker. A translucent structure that emerges from the ground, the Hot Box was created with the notion of providing warmth and light for those who spend a long time waiting on the street — namely prostitutes. Read more

Urs Fischer at Cockatoo Island

Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour has a fascinating – if checkered – history. A former convict prison, a shipyard and a reformatory for wayward girls, the island also has a fascinating present as the site of a new installation by Swiss artist Urs Fischer. Fischer visited Sydney under the auspices of Kaldor Art Projects, whose previous projects have included Christo & Jeanne-Claude’s Wrapped Coast – One Million Square Feet (1969) and Jeff Koons’s floral Puppy (1995). Visit Cockatoo Island between now and June 3 to view Fischer’s artfully clunky and wonderfully gritty works – a skeleton climbs into/escapes from a packing case; impossibly contorted forearms are suspended from the ceiling and in the installation’s central piece, a huge knobbly structure, recalling both tree branches and disembodied limbs, spans the island’s central forecourt. A ghoulish spectacle.