
Alex Trochut
Deanne Cheuk name-checked him in a recent interview we did with her, so we thought we’d peek into the artistic world of Barcelona-based illustrator, Alex Trochut. How did your assignment to illustrate the cover of Beautiful Decay magazine come about? ‘I was asked to do an interview for Beautiful Decay and, after that, [founder] Amir H. Fallah asked me if I wanted to do the cover for that issue, which was called The Hyper Spectrum. So I said: Sure!’ Is there a thriving creative scene there in Barcelona? ‘Yes, Barcelona is a very condensed and intense spot for a creative person. The city breathes design everywhere, under tough conditions though. Clients usually give no time or money, and you have to fight hard to discover that they to allow creativity to sneak into projects. It’s a big mix too between the desire of people to create and the reality of the design culture in this country. It’s still a bit close-minded, but step-by-step it’s changing. I believe we are building a little army of high qualified designers here’. Your work is colorful and full of bold shapes and patterns. What state of mind are you generally in when creating an illustration? ‘Depending on which project, I’m always trying to be like an actor who has to play a role with a script — so it can turn from dark to happiness depending the mood of the work. But if you mean what is going through my mind all the time, I can say music helps me a lot to concentrate and focus on my work. Especially electronic music’. Which other illustrators do you admire for both the quality of their work and the creativity that they express? ‘I love the work of the American classics such as Rick Grffin, Herb Lubalin, and Milton Glasser. I’m also digging the work of Steve Harrington, Dan Funderburgh, Raza Uno, Jethro Haynes, Mario Hugo, Aaron Horkey, PMKFA, Brendan Monroe, Mars-1, Jeremy Fish, Marian Bantjes, Si Scott, SerialCut, Inocuo The Sign, and Emil Kozak’.
Tagged: Barcelona, colourful illustrations
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Barcelona’s Cuines Santa-Caterina
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The Take It Easy experience in Barcelona
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Win a set of Sony personal audio prizes
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
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Wow, here’s some work that just made my Friday all the sweeter. Finnish artist Ville Savimaa creates the most clean, beautiful, and bizarre images, filled with chunky, abstract characters and creatures, as if viewed through an old fashioned grainy, black and white lens. It feels a lot like the trippiest noir film you never saw. Even when colour occasionally comes into the mix, Savimaa manages to gracefully maintain that sculptural sensibility, leaving the viewer feeling as suspended as the characters themselves. Read more
We asked some of New York’s more creative residents where they like to hang out in the city, and got a mixed bag of responses back. We’ll be running their insider tips over the next few weeks. This is illustrator Marcos Chin on his favorite arcade bar, aptly named … wait for it … Barcade: ‘Barcade is a time-warp into the 1980s when going to the arcade was the major past time for many of my friends and I. Lined throughout the space are a series of classic 25 cent video arcade games, like Q-bert, Donkey Kong, Arkanoid and Tetris. There’s also a pool table near the back of the space, and a terrific selection of beers to choose from. And yes, you can drink-and-play. It’s located near the Lorimer stop on the L train, at 388 Union Avenue, in Williamsburg’. Read more
The new range of Alexander Wang for Uniqlo just hit stores this week in New York. This is the perfect collaboration for budget-minded fashionistas, allowing us to wear Alexander Wang at an affordable cost (in the $50-60 range). Read more
Palpably somber, the beautiful work of Californian illustrator Jorge Mascarenas really lends the viewer a tangible means through which to wallow in quiet melancholy. Read more
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Sufjan Stevens creates autistic music for introverts — soft, shy, naive, full of shadows, windows, and insecurities. Yet it all sounds slightly forced, his enigmatic songwriting as comforting as it is unsettling.
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