JR’s blown up photographs
|The French photographer and street artist, JR, has stepped up his game in an impressive way in recent times. He does huge xerox blow-ups of his own photographs and has done stuff in New York, Paris, and London. He did some huge work on the side of London’s Tate Modern, for instance. When I met the guy in Paris in 2003, he was doing 18×24 paste ups, and now he’s doing work that’s multiple stories high. It probably helps that he’s backed by Steve Lazarides, who was Banksy’s agent for a while. He’s got a big crew and some serious financial resources now. There are two components to effective street art: accessibility and the spectacle. Does it give me pause from the monotony of my usual day? JR may not be so much about the DIY anymore, but he’s definitely all about the spectacle.
Tagged: French artists, London galleries, street art
RELATED
There is a great collection of some of the most innovative improvised street art from the past year from various artists on this French website. Read more
Hell Ton John: a street artist from Tahiti
Hell Ton John is a brilliant young artist and graphic designer from Tahiti, in French Polynesia. His painting is largely inspired by tattoos and Polynesian imagery, combined with patterns taken from street art. The contrast between the ancestral signs and urban graphics is beautiful. Read more
Art on pencils by Ghost Patrol
I had the chance to meet Ghost Patrol this summer and he’s a great chap. I love how he combines illustrative and narrative elements to his street art, and his fondness of folklore and nature really make his work stand out.
Also by SHEPARD FAIREY
I’m a big fan of Alex Turner’s side project, The Last Shadow Puppets. It’s just really good music. When I first got their record, I didn’t know if it was a re-issue or if it was brand new. It doesn’t sound like a jokey pastiche. It sounds sincere.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Al Farrow’s gun part sculptures
Al Farrow just did a show with me at the Martin Irvine Gallery in Washington DC. He builds religious reliquaries and mosques out of gun parts: AK47s and Uzis, in particular. They’re really beautiful. It sounds gimmicky but it’s actually extraordinary. The newer stuff that he’s doing is extremely time-consuming. His work is very meticulous, and the beauty of the craft is a striking contrast to how instantly and senselessly life can be taken. Read more
The futuristic retro sounds of DJ Z-Trip
This guy is my favorite DJ. He’s the inventor of the mash-up, but his skills go way beyond that. I love to DJ, but when i do, I play a lot of classics. I don’t stick to new stuff because I’m not trying to pull out the top forty banger for the club. That’s what I like about the way Z-Trip plays. He actually inspired me to start DJ-ing in the first place. He mixes hip-hop with classic rock, eighties, and all sorts of weird stuff you wouldn’t think would go together. He’ll have people dancing to Deep Purple, for instance, who would never usually listen to a Deep Purple record. It’s a real skill to be able to entertain and educate at the same time. That’s what I try and do with my art, and that’s what I enjoy about DJ Z-Trip: that ability to slip the cool, lesser known songs in there, which works because of the inertia of the stuff people do know. He understands how to navigate that balance.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
YOU'RE SAYING (0)
No comments yet.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Made out of biodegradable materials, Help Remedies aims to provide uncomplicated medical solutions to simple health issues. ‘Help I cut myself’ has band-aids stored inside, and ‘Help I have an aching body’ contains ibuprofen pills. Its friendly and straightforward design makes countering common ailments more bearable.
Iranian design studio RYRA created this igloo-inspired design for lodges at the Barin Ski Resort about an hour outside Tehran. Read more
Produced by our talented friends over at Miami-based studio, Common Machine, this is the first installment of a new bi-monthly series of exclusive Lost At E Minor videos that they will be putting together for us. This one is on marionette maker, Pablo Cano, who uses ‘mundane objects to create magic on a string’. And he does. We hope you enjoy!
This little Greenwich Village shop is a blast from the past for me. From 1985 to 1993, I lived in West London and have always missed British candy and special foods. Low and behold, Myers of Keswick has it all. Weetabix cereal, Quality Street candy, Scotch Eggs, PG Tips tea! It’s absolutely amazing. But it’s not all just imports, they make fresh food everyday that you wouldn’t find anywhere else.
The duo of Brendan Monroe and Evah Fan are one of those creative, powerhouse couples. Though two entirely individual artists, the influence they exert upon one another is subtle yet undeniable. Both create the kind of art that that makes you giddy with pleasure, while the lack of pretension puts you completely at ease. You get the undeniable sense that these are two people who simply live and breathe creativity and love every moment of it. Two amazing artists with a wholly individual take on life and the world around them. I had the pleasure to grill them both. Read more
Man, I remember shaking my tail to Come on Eileen many moons ago — when rat-tails were a right of passage and Molly Ringwald held both the lock and the key to my tiny pitter pattering heart. Back then it was all ice-skating and fairy floss; skateboards and trading cards. It was bags of chips by the rusty school fence and sunburnt faces on crackling summer days. Read more
Alkemie Jewelry, the brainchild of husband-and-wife team Ashley Lowengrub and Dara Gerson, is a Los-Angeles based company who make socially responsible pieces of jewelry. Their entire collection is made from 100 percent recast metal in the USA. When leather is used, Alkemie obtains the leather from cattle ranches that uses all of the animal, and are dyed with eco-friendly dyes. The current collection for Alkemie is named The Maiden Voyage, inspired by the Art Noveau Movement.
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Get lost in a daydream or a craving for something sweet while gazing at these cool sculptures by Brooklyn-based WiNK WiNK PONY. Made using clay, tree bark, wood, and mossy moss.
Benjamin Edminston’s psychedelic heads seem to have some fearful wisdom behind their blissed-out eyes. Read more
Michelle Blade’s psychedelic artwork
Michelle Blade’s washed out paintings are deceptively simple, her washy acrylics creating psychedelic textures and conjuring ghostly figures from the past. Read more
A little infectious lollipop rock anyone? Feel free to embarrass yourself singing along at the stoplight. If the other drivers give you that look, roll down the windows and spread the love.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
It’s refreshing to see artists like Joe Kievitt who are contented to explore the beauty in simple forms and asymmetrical patterns. Read more
We’re pleased to announce that, as of today, there is free shipping on all items and for all orders in the Lost At E Minor store — our stash of favoured goodies that you can buy for yourself, your friends, or your frenemies (hey, hey, why not?) We’ve got heaps of cool tees, jewellery, watches and other fun items, so knock yourself out. Not literally, of course. [browse the Lost At E Minor online store]
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]
FOLLOW US
DISCOVER MORE
SO...
SEARCH: Can't find what you're looking for? Do a search..
IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TOO?
We hope you're enjoying your time on Lost At E Minor, but it's not over yet. Got something to share? Tell us about it and we'll look to publish it. If you want to have your work featured on the site, we'd love to hear from you. Pssst, we also have an online store stocking some of the goodies we feature on the site.
If you're a media agency and want to use this platform to connect with our readership, then drop us a line and tell us about it. Oh yeah, and we do digital consulting for cool brands that want to reach the sort of demographic that visits this site.
