Jessica Fortner
Jessica Fortner is an illustrator from Toronto, Canada, who makes photo illustrations from sculptures and sets that she creates. Of her surreal and slightly unsettling work, she says: ‘I craft characters mostly out of Sculpey and build environments out of whatever I can get my hands on’.
Tagged: Canada, Canadian artists, sculpture, Toronto
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I visited Toronto for the first time a couple of weekends back to check out the Luminato Festival and explore the city itself, which is being promoted as a more socially progressive and cultural alternative to other Canadian hotspots such as Montreal and Vancouver. And for good reason. Toronto is a fascinating place on many levels: from the architecture in the city center, which seamlessly combines the ornate majesty of pre-1940 buildings with the glistening facades of more contemporary designs; to the long, straight roads which defines movement though the city and contains an assortment of hidden gems; to the overall cleanliness of the streets and the overwhelming sense that a bustling creative community is doing all it can to foster the careers of others around them. It was an eye-opening experience. I left the city with a feeling that Toronto is very much on the rise, casting aside its wintry persona and thriving on the back of what is clearly a dynamic and exciting creative scene. Photos by Alison Zavos Read more
Toronto-based illustrator Jessica Fortner creates really elaborate 3D scenes that she photographs to make final images that resemble stills from a claymation movie. Read more
Be warned. Canadian songstress Anjulie’s voice usually stays low-to-the-ground, but sometimes, without warning, it will rise up nasally, and girlishly, giving you attitude. It’s an unlikely sound that seduces you in a chemical way, like a pheromone. It’s adamant about making sure you dance, so that even if you’re standing in line at the grocery store, you’ll still be rotating your hips in the shape of a pentagon. Anjulie’s video for her song Boom takes place where all videos should: in a jungle, after-hours. Read more
Also by ZOLTON
The vision of South Korean design consultancy Heerim Architects, the 35 story Hotel Full Moon is being built in Baku, Azerbaijan, on the west coast of the Caspian Sea.
Benjamin Johnson and Vince Agostino
I like the retro colours and subtle detail that permeates the work of Australian illustration and design duo, Benjamin Johnson and Vince Agostino.
Crazy chairs from the Campana brothers
Who said chairs had to be boring? Or practical? This range of chairs from designer brothers, Fernando and Humberto Campana, nicely blurs the line between form and functionality, art and science. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (3)
Zolton said | 3 April, 2008
Hey Jessica, I’ve added a link to your name on the post. Thanks for pointing that out. Z
Jessica Fortner said | 3 April, 2008
Thanks Zolton! Love the new site.
HAVE YOUR SAY
We checked in recently with illustrator Josh Cochran and asked him how he kept the creative process fresh and stimulating, despite producing so much new work: ‘I try hard to keep pushing new ideas in my work. Of course, there are often times when I feel tired and stale and produce work that isn’t that isn’t challenging. Generally, though, I try to keep building on things I’ve accomplished in my work. To me, that’s what keeps my work consistent as well gives me room to grow. After a while a certain direction will feel boring to me and I’ll start pushing out to try something different’. Read more
No Age are doing something different to the mass of noise-laden, guitar-drum duos canvasing the lo-fi airwaves at the moment. I’m just not sure quite what. Their album, Nouns, is receiving top-rate reviews after sell-out crowds after screaming, obsessive fans. The music is simply massive: a vast landscape of heat haze, somehow both tranquil and manic, punctuated by singer Dean Sprouts backdrop of barely intelligible vocals and Randall’s distorted, archaic sounding drums.
The work of Ho Chi Mnh-based, French illustrator, Nadège David, is stunning: intricate patterns woven deep amongst gently rolling, and pleasantly muted, colours. Read more
UK music journalist Everett True comes from the Nick Kent school of writing: live the life and hope to come out the other end with one hell of a story. And he has. In this case, the story of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. In this exclusive piece, he talks about his association with Seattle’s finest and his friendship with the perennially troublesome Courtney Love. Read more
My favourite cartoon is Home Movies by Brendon Small. Read more
Yes it may be cliched to acknowledge it, but having lived for some time now down the barrel of the loaded gun that is New York, it really is difficult to be cynical — as the folk laureate Rufus Wainwright is — about this city. Read more
Quiksilver, the surfing apparel company, has just released what is being considered the world’s first eco-friendly watch. Made of sustainable ebony wood and running on automatic movement instead of batteries, this limited-edition watch is green down to the shipping of the raw materials. Every raw material used in making this watch is recyclable (the aluminum, the steel, and the mineral crystal are all 100% recyclable), and it also includes solvent free links and is shipped by sea rather than by air. The Ray has a five-year warranty, meaning that it has a longer life than normal watches.
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I’m a sucker for just about anything to do with printmaking. UK illustrator Jonny Hannah makes a very strong case. Busy, colorful, spontaneous and brimming with inspiration, THIS is the stuff amazing is made of. Read more
Guido Daniele’s amazing hand painted animals
Italian artist Guido Daniele creates the most surreally brilliant portraits of wild animals using little more than body paint and a hyper-realistic imagination. Read more
Chris Ware is my favorite comic book artist. If there’s a new Chris Ware book out, I buy it, no questions asked. He writes the most somber, sad stories about the simplest of people, but they’re written and illustrated with such beauty and elegance. All of the text and graphic design is done by hand. It’s absolutely mind blowing. Read more
Saira McLaren’s interpretation of the spiritual world
Saira McLaren is a Canadian born, Brooklyn-based artist whose blurred paintings of the natural and spiritual world are disturbing for what they reference as well as what they deny. McLaren has shown at Heskin Contemporary, New York, NY, Acuna-Hansen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, and Mississippi State University. Read more
While I am as impressed as anyone with an artist’s ability to render accurate and lifelike human figures, I’m more often compelled aesthetically by looser and more stylized images such as Camilla Engman’s. The wide-set eyes, bulbous bodies, and skewed proportions of the people and animals in Engman’s paintings lend them a certain expressiveness and melancholy. Read more
Legendary pop culture artist and Agit Pop founder Ron English will be a guest compiler of an upcoming issue of our email newsletter, writing about his favorite cultural discoveries. To read Ron’s edition of Lost At E Minor, simply sign up to our weekly newsletter. It’s free, you win!
In Wish Upon a Star, this giclee print on archival paper, Yuta Onoda gives us his take on the Mario Bros for the fourth installment of the I Am 8-bit exhibition. This print comes in a limited edition run of just 30. Read more
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Jessica Fortner said | 2 April, 2008
You can View more work at my site http://www.jessicafortner.com
Enjoy!