Lost AT E Minor

Phillip Fivel Nessen

I declare New York-based illustrator Phillip Fivel Nessen one of the most chameleon-like illustrators I have ever come across. In many cases, for someone working as an illustrator, this sort of quality tends to be seen as a negative. Nessen commands each style so effortlessly, though, and with such originality, that we can hardly complain? Despite the wide range of styles, I find I can easily pin it down as having come from him each and every time. I love everything in his portfolio, from the illustrated type (which seems to be his latest obsession), to his colourful print like illustrations, to his moody, scratchy older work, to his trippy Milton Glaser-like works, to his amazing alter ego, Abe Twist. And I wait in anticipation for his next whim.

Young Blood at New York’s Opera Gallery

Well, it seems I’ve been in a vacuum of art since the spring. And now, its just a week or so out from the upcoming Young Blood exhibit, which features my paintings and opens at the Opera Gallery in New York. I find myself feeling both excited and nervous at the thought that this show is just around the corner. These past few months have seemed like one of the great feats of my lifetime. I have been working for five months on these two upcoming shows, immersed deeply in the studio, being on a complete mission to create what will be my debut show in Manhattan alongside a handful of other rising international artists. I would wake at once at 4:30 in the morning, to a strict regimen of coffee by five, and paint through the sunny summer days into late in the evening to complete these works. Read more

Max Bode

Though most know Max Bode as an art director over at the ubiquitous New Yorker, he is in fact quite an illustrator. Creating bright, clean illustrations, in a style at times reminiscent of old video games and cartoons, Bode work is a real treat, especially when stumbling across one of his illustrations in the New Yorker.

TV On The Radio poster and vinyl

Happy, happy, joy, joy! We have a TV On The Radio poster designed by Tunde, as well as Dear Science on vinyl, to give away to a randomly selected Lost At E Minor subscriber who leaves a comment under this post telling us why they simply must have it.

Ryan Sullivan scarf

Ok, so it’s 3.30 on Thursday afternoon and I’m sitting in a Brooklyn cafe, tapping away as fast as two fingers possibly can. As I look around, discreetly to my left and then more openly to my right, I cannot see a single person in this warm and friendly place wearing a more stylish and comfortable scarf than the one that I have wrapped around my neck. Yes, as my grandfather would say, it’s a very ‘handsome’ scarf — a soft, playful, ‘handsome’ scarf. And you know what? There’s not a single damn person in this room who can compete with it. Ha! That feels good. That feels very, very good. Mind you, it is 76 degrees outside, and I’m starting to sweat, so perhaps I’m just a little … ummm … over-dressed.

Fujiya & Miyagi discuss their album, Lightbulbs

The new Fujiya & Miyagi album, the aptly titled Lightbulbs, is a typically crackling collection of songs, ‘a pulsing antidote to the ordinary’. Formed in 2000, the electronic duo of David Best (guitars and vocals) and Steve Lewis (synths, beats, programming), have since added bass player Matt Hainsby to the mix (in 2004), and now have an album in their catalogue which is ‘littered with fragmented images, anecdotes from the sublime to the ridiculous, blurry stories that you feel you shouldn’t have overheard’. The guys have given us the inside word on each track from the album, starting with the opener, Knickerbocker: ‘A vibration of words that sound good, touching on lost innocence, child star Lena Zavaroni, the very first tragedy of X Factor-style excess, and the joy of multi-storeyed ice cream sundaes at Woolacombe Bay. Knickerbocker mixes my sister’s and my memories of watching Lena Zavaroni on TV, whilst eating ice cream as children’. Read more