ThingsAmongMany

I stumbled across Byroglyphics.com this morning and was immediately taken by the illustrations. The work of UK-based artist/illustrator, Russ Mills, the drawings remind me of David Choe’s work, with a bit more mess/scratch to them (in a good way!). Interestingly, Choe isn’t on Mills’ list of influencers - which is rather substantial. He’s also got some great thoughts for budding artists on his site.

Here’s a couple of my faves from his latest set:

Russ also has some older work featured on his blog, and his latest is available for purchase at his store site.

Always on the hunt for new things that inevitably haven’t ended up on my walls yet, I recently stumbled onto the work of Andy Pratt. An NYC-based illustrator/art director, Andy has created an awesome collection of prints and cards that are perfect for either small holiday gifts (Secret Santa anyone?) or those thank-you’s that we all dread getting around to after the new year.

His NY prints originally caught my eye; he’s got a complete series of 8×10’s that cover Manhattan, Brooklyn (x2), and Queens, each in limited edition runs of just 75. After a little more exploring though, I’m also a fan of the Vegetarian Stegosaurus print. And at just $20 each, they’re hitting right at the afforadable limit for friends and co-workers.

Andy also has a full line of cards that range topics from Holidays to Thank You’s to Congratulations. The cards are available as singles or as 8-packs (at a pretty solid savings!). Swing by his site or his Supermarket store to purchase.

You might recall a couple of weeks ago our post about Charlie Kratzer’s basement - a white-walled masterpiece that he “upgraded” with a handful of Sharpie markers and a lot of spare time. The article about Kratzer also reminded me of Justine Ashbee, an amazing artist who’s work I’d seen before but not written about yet. Why the tie-in? Well, Justine’s chosen medium also happens to be…Sharpie markers.

Of course, the medium is where the similarities end. While Kratzer’s work displays a sketch-like interpretation of real-world characters, Ashbee focuses on far more abstract shapes. The impressive part? She just walks up to a wall and starts drawing. Her pieces are flowing, organic interpretations of the world around her, and her use of variations of color adds another layer of depth to her already impressive work.

Have a look at her site to explore more of her works, or keep an eye out at your local galleries. It looks like she’s already had a couple of pieces at Pierogi in Brooklyn.

Finding just the right adornment for your walls is TOUGH. Believe me, I’ve been living with blank white since I moved back in February (not to mention the two years in the previous apartment). The right piece doesn’t come along every day. Plus you have to deal with framing, hanging, and all that jazz.

While they might not help with the latter, there is a killer new place to hunt down some posters that look great and won’t break the bank (no, that wasn’t meant to sound like a Target ad, sorry). The Poster List has an impressive selection of posters that don’t look like they just came from your friendly neighborhood Urban Outfitters. And the goodness doesn’t stop there, they appear to get new designs in almost weekly.

At a whopping 2 for $20, you can afford to build a collection and rotate them out every month too if you’d like. A few of my faves are above: “Don’t Blog Me” (oops), Cut and Paste, and The City.

Why is it that one of the first things you notice is a change in a buddy’s IM icon? It’s just one of those things that jumps out at you…or it is for me. Well, fortuitously, a friend changed her IM icon yesterday and it really caught my eye. Turns out that she’s sharing the work of artist Dylan Sisson, who I wasn’t previously familiar with.

Dylan is a painter, illustrator, and animator who’s work has appeared in galleries across the west coast and film festivals around the world.

Invariably the subjects chosen by Mr. Sisson are those things that are at once compelling and repugnant, things that scribble outside of desire and disgust. Creepy cute.

Case and point is his hilariously out of proportion character featured in Baker’s Dozen:

Originally from Washington State, Sisson now works out of San Francisco creating an assortment of oddly elaborate characters and creations. Most are available as original paintings as well as posters, tees, buttons, etc. at his shop.

So one of these went around the office yesterday and had us all cracking up. The series, It Got All Fucked Up, is the work of illustrator and humorously twisted mind, Daniel Taylor. His website, itwasmeteors.com, is also the home of his comic strip, Summer on the Brandywine.

It Got All Fucked Up is a series of 25 (and growing) illustrations that Taylor has based on a the consistent theme…”it got all fucked up”. (If you have a problem with the language of the series title, you can consult Daniel’s FAQ’s. He responds to complaints there.) The visuals range from subjects of marriage to razor-blades in Halloween candy to the extinction of unicorns (one of my personal favorites). They all have a delightfully dark portrayal of something otherwise mostly mundane.

Daniel also sells prints of his work in ye old Shoppe. So if you’d like some “it got all fucked up” moments on your wall, look no further.

So a friend of mine has this amazing pad in the East Village, the likes of which is almost unheard of in NYC (we’re talking 2 floors and a basement of an actual townhouse with gardens on either side and a private yard/patio out back). He’s also got some killer artwork on the walls, mostly by an artist who I was previously unfamiliar with. A little discussion led to the name Jordan Crane, a California-based illustrator/designer.

Jordan’s work seems to fit into two categories: artistic renditions of everyday items, and comic-like scenes that offer a unique dicotomy of bright playful colors and slightly unnerving - if not downright darkly thematic - scenes. Here are a couple of my faves:

His prints, books, tees, and a weekly cartoon are all available at his website, Red Ink like Blood. I’ll definitely be picking up a print for my place sometime soon. Of course, deciding which one will be tough!