Josh Cochran
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|Josh Cochran’s illustrated world is full of hard-edged shapes, coarse textures and clashing colors that somehow seem to fall into place. Just. We asked him in what ways his illustration style has evolved over the years: ‘My style really came from a general frustration I had towards painting while I was in school. I started drawing early on and have always felt fairly comfortable about it. Teachers at Art Center would constantly encourage me to make my work look more like my sketchbooks, which got me thinking of ways to produce finished looking artwork, using a more linear style. I took a printmaking class fairly late in my education, which really changed everything for me. Silkscreen and flat color provided a much needed contrast to my obsessive line work’.
‘I wasn’t confused by having an infinite amount of colors, and had to make the best out of three or four colors. I started looking at older printing techniques found in turn of the century children’s books and cheap reproduction materials like propaganda leaflets and posters. My family has been a big influence as well. My Grandmother is an accomplished Chinese watercolorist and calligrapher, and my Mom’s been working in graphic design since the early nineties. I have to also put this in: my wife Jenny has a crazy critical eye, with way better taste, and is a major influence on what I put into my portfolio’.
Tagged: colourful illustrations, line drawings
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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
Rod Hunt’s colourful cityscapes
I love the vitality of Rod Hunt’s illustration work. The London-based illustrator has ‘built a reputation for retro tinged work and detailed character filled landscapes with UK and international clients in publishing, design, advertising and new media’. Most notably, he illustrated the cover of Change The World 9 To 5, the best selling environmental book by We Are What We Do. Read more
Color heaven! Perusing UK illustrator Ben O’Brien’s portfolio feels a lot like wandering the aisles of a giant candy store. I could buy one of everything in sight. Read more
Also by ILANA KOHN
Sixth Pommery Exhibition Sons & Lumieres
How much better can it get than little dollops of contemporary art interspersed throughout the breathtaking setting of Champagne Pommery’s Domaine in Reims, France. The most interesting part here is that this is an ongoing tradition at Champagne Pommery, going all the way back to the 19th century ‘when Madame Pommery commissioned sculptor Gustav Navlet to carve four bas reliefs for the estate and later had the famous cabinet maker and glass artist Emile Gallé create a solid oak Pommery barrel that holds up to 19,816 gallons (100,000 bottles). This barrel was displayed at the 1904 Worlds’ Fair in St. Louis’. The upcoming Sixth Pommery Exhibition, Sons & Lumieres, will be curated by French artist Bertrand Lavier and will include ‘everyday objects often set in difficult spaces’. Read more
Color heaven! Perusing UK illustrator Ben O’Brien’s portfolio feels a lot like wandering the aisles of a giant candy store. I could buy one of everything in sight. Read more
I love it! With the CD now being eclipsed by the MP3, I find myself feeling even more nostalgic for the simple charm of the cassette. Australian artists Andrew Smart and Jared Schmidt create ‘large scale hand-made wooden cassette tapes, routed, sanded, bogged, primed, and painted with a high quality paint finish’. Aha! The perfect way to memorialize my old mix tapes. Read more
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I am in love with the new Fornasetti collection of wallpapers from Cole and Son. If you’re into Damask patterns, oddities, and a hint of the early surrealists, this wallpaper has your name written all over it. Cole and Son has been around since the 1800s and has become one of the oldest and most respected wallpaper companies in the industry. I’m ready to cover my walls in the new Fornasetti already. Merry Christmas me!
Pickle Hut was designed by architect Dan Hoffman and The Cranbrook Architectural Office. It is a place where the children of Brookside School can play, recite stories and dream. Set up for children to enter into this mysterious U-Shape building, the Pickle Hut offers up a little hub of sanctuary in order to let their imaginations fly. If only I had such a magical edifice to call my own and run to when head nun, Sister Mary, was on one of her many Catholic tirades. Eek! [photo by Paul Hitz]
With her collection of Skinover gloves, Rotterdam-based artist and sculptor Silvia B has taken a somewhat natural approach to the task of keeping hands warm — warts and all.
The work of artist Matt Leines is a perfect mash up of folk, ethnic and outsider art. It’s smart, colorful, graphic eye candy. In fact, there’s not one piece on his site I wouldn’t sell my hypothetical soul for.
On a recent trip to San Francisco, I was lucky enough to meet with John Trippe, the main man behind the popular arts based site, Fecal Face. Read more
In Japan, when one makes squeezing gestures with both hands at chest level, one is gesturing that one wants candy — soft, round, bouncy candy. At least, that’s what this commercial would have us believe.
It’s the final, sultry day of Barcelona’s experimental sound-fest, Sonar, and weary punters are gazing listlessly at an empty, smoke-filled stage. Before long, a vocalist, beatboxer and grand pianist stride on, and what follows is a startling and, at times, deeply melancholic cabaret-electronic hybrid, prompting jaws to drop and delighting the drowsy. Meet Khan of Finland: ‘I tell stories about my everyday life; they are songs about love, pain, party and spirituality. I would call it bionic blues’.
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Scanners’ new single Salvation
I love this track by London based rock group, Scanners, which is off their latest album, Submarine. Having toured with acts such as The Horrors, The Wedding Present, The Charlatans, Electric Six, and Juliette & The Licks, Scanners could well blow up in 2010. Figuratively speaking, not literally. No, that wouldn’t be fun.
Italian-born, New York City-based photographer Paolo Ventura creates fairy-tale like pictures out of amazingly constructed, miniature dioramas that almost trick the eye into thinking he’s a tilt-shift photographer. Read more
Yum, yum, cupcakes are fun. These creations are so clever, so arty, so damn bizarre that it would almost be a shame to eat them. Almost! Read more
Trip out with Sparrow Vs Sparrow’s retro illustrations, I love their aesthetic, color use and sense of humor. Read more
Alex Passapera’s dizzying pen and ink drawings are cascades of images melting into one another, often looking like contorting, mutating creatures spewing blood-like ink splatters. Read more
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
These Fan earrings are finely etched stainless steel on sterling silver hooks (nickel and lead free). The thin metal sheets allow the earrings to be light to wear while still being elegant and striking. Designed and made by Polli in Australia. Purchase now. Read more
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