by The illustration work of Monika Melnychuk is wonderfully detailed and beautifully coloured. We interviewed her recently and asked, given her rather nomadic existence, where she is based these days. ‘Right now I live beside Alaska, in Canada — Yukon Territory. The obvious next question would be what am I doing up here? Being an illustrator, I take advantage of the total flexibility and move around often to experience very different lifestyles. So far I have lived in Toronto, LA and here … for now’. Your characters seem to be the fringe dwellers of society. do you relate to them in any way or are you strictly an observer? ‘I do, in a way, relate to the fringe dwellers of society, especially right now living in this place with such a unique, bizarre collection of people. It’s fascinating. In another way, I am just an observer, a curious admirer, drawing strangers in bars and coffee shops. Their lives and faces are far more interesting — not beautiful, not perfect, not glossy — rule breakers. I love imperfection. Everything on the fringes seems to have more substance, emotion and depth’. Anyone out there whose illustration work is making you go weak at the knees? ‘I love so many other illustrators. Hmm, Juliette Borda, recently Jillian Tamaki, and I have this book another illustrator I love, Aaron Leighton, gave to me a few years ago by Juile Doucet called Long Time Relationship. It’s amazing’.
Tagged: Canada, Canadian illustrators
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What hasn’t gone plush these days? Now you can make yourself into a Plush Person or just buy one of these Marvel Superhero Plushies and indulge that fantasy you’ve always had but never sated.
Miwa Yanagi’s Fairytale series consists of very creepy photographic interpretations of classic Western fairytales. Read more
The philosophy of a beginning is to me, a wonderful concept. I really enjoy flicking through the back catalogues of a musician and discovering their origin, then tracing their musical journey to the present. So for American-born, Paris-based sister duo CocoRosie, who released their third album The Adventure of Ghosthouse and Stillborn to much acclaim, making the trip to their beginnings is more than worth the journey: their debut album, Le Maison de Mon Reve (released back in 2004) was a gentle stroll through their pop and classical influences, which melt together seamlessly into a backdrop for their unique and enchanting voices.
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The Duchesses recently sent us a copy of their latest EP, By Morning, released in April at the Excelsior Hotel in Sydney. The atmospheric four-track cuts through the usual noise and delivers a rhythmic mix of guitars, beats and vocals. It has our Newcastle office surging (singing?) through the dark lows and the hopeful highs. Read more
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If you have a Twitter feed that focuses on cool pop cultural things and you’d like to swap Tweets with Lost At E Minor and other like-minded Twitterers, drop us a note (with Tweet Swap in the title). We have a system in place and we’d like to have you in on it! [illustration by Brad Fitzpatrick]
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