Olivier Blanc
Talented illustrator, Olivier Blanc, who recently made the move from France to the UK, describes his style as being ‘a sexy, detailed, organised mess’. So where did the initial motivation come from? ‘Drawing came naturally. The work of my dad was a great inspiration. It’s a big part of me and I think I could not live without it’. What process does each piece go through? ‘Each piece is started by hand with sketches. It helps me to organise my thoughts towards a concept. Once I know exactly what I want and I am satisfied with it, I translate my work onto Illustrator and Photoshop. I use these to finalise my compositions’. Any exciting projects in the pipeline? ‘At the moment, my work is being exhibited in Middlesbrough in England. One of my images has also been short listed by the Wanted project, to be exhibited in Barcelona in July’. Who or what inspires you? ‘A lot of different things. What influences me the most is music – from Air to Doc Gyneco. I need it to think and work. It puts me in the right mood, as it provides the inspiration for both the colours and the graphics’.
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Also by NATALIE LIECHTI
Current UK beat-boxing champ, Beardyman, recently kept impatient crowds entertained between sets at London’s Lovebox Weekender. We spoke to the Brighton resident about his offbeat style: ‘I’ve been doing it since I was a baby, but I never knew it was called beat-boxing. I thought it was just a habit, like biting your nails, and people were always telling me to stop. Being a good beat-boxer is a mixture between being a good DJ, a cheesy street magician and a vocal athlete’.
Sydney-based artist, James Jirat Patradoon on his career defining moment: ‘If I could trace my artistic inspiration back to one event, it would have to be the Neo Tokyo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 2001. I had never seen art like that before; I didn’t know you could be so playful with it. I vividly remember the Yoshitomo Nara sculptures made out of bandages, and Kenji Yanobe’s atom suit and Godzilla/Astro Boy sculptures that blew bubbles. It was just so fun. I think because a lot of Japanese art contains references to pop culture, it’s more accessible for audiences. They aren’t so intimidated by it because it can be quite light-hearted but still have a serious undertone to it’.
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Brooklyn-group School of Seven Bells have just released my new favourite album of 2008 — Alpinisms —a slow-building, crackling collection of songs which sneak into your subconscious and spin endlessly like an old, beat up 45. Read more
The Loveless Cafe, a little oasis on the outskirts of Nashville, is like a refuge for the disenfranchised, serving up good ol’ southern cooking to a legion of America’s finest. Read more
Forget Macy’s, Bloomingdales and all that: Army Surplus is where it’s at. Half my wardrobe is from Army Surplus. Read more
Ok, so this is actually an artwork by Will Cotton, but it fits every criteria for my dream house, aged 6. Smartie wall coatings? Check. Biscuit entryway? Check. A smiling lollipop garden, sitting over luscious dollops of magnificent cream? You betcha. Ah, please, take me there. Now. And give me a decent sized spoon for my troubles.
When I first heard about The Eight Principles of Fun, I thought it sounded frighteningly close to being a self-help service ad. Read more
The Liars were in the Netherlands recently and we came across some kids doing this dance. It’s really bizarre to watch. Read more
Killola is three boys and one girl, making rock music out of Los Angeles, California. The band’s style of garage pop (often described as ‘Blondie for the 21st Century’) has received more than 1.5 million MySpace plays from over 80,000 friends, many of whom add the band’s ‘K))’ symbol to their screen names as a show of allegiance. The band recently self-booked its own UK tour — 12 shows in 12 days — and American Tour — 27 shows in 32 days. Oh, and their latest album is available for free download. Viva la independence!
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With the recession still biting, it may be time to whip out the glue and the cardboard and make your next pair of cool kicks. Don’t know how they’d manage in the rain though? Read more
Italian-born, New York City-based photographer Paolo Ventura creates fairy-tale like pictures out of amazingly constructed, miniature dioramas that almost trick the eye into thinking he’s a tilt-shift photographer. Read more
Charlie Immer’s pastel-pallete sometimes obfuscates the gory violence in his surreal images. At other times, it heightens the gut-wrenching and visceral effect of his work. Read more
Alex Passapera’s dizzying pen and ink drawings are cascades of images melting into one another, often looking like contorting, mutating creatures spewing blood-like ink splatters. Read more
Hong Kong-based illustrator Man-Tsun draws dark and beautiful painterly images that look like they are straight off a high-end Japanese animated film. Read more
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
The Demekin is an ultra compact camera with a preference for wide angles. It is the world’s first 110mm film camera with the fisheye lens, which gives each shot a soft focus, creating a gentle curve within the frame. We have them in the Lost At E Minor store for just $55. Read more
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patrick said | 13 July, 2007
nauseatingly bad! boring boring boring!