What inspired you to become a fine artist?
I enjoy the challenge of making images. I’ve always made images my whole life. It’s not really a choice, more like a “healthy habit”. When I work, I like to juxtapose marks or images and give myself the challenge of seeing how I can make them work together. Some marks are random and serendipitous, (more…)
What inspired you to become a fine artist/designer?
I started relatively young. I saw a movie called, “A Dog of Flanders”, about a young boy who paints and it somehow struck me. So I bought some paints and got started in about 4th grade. I really enjoyed the work of Marc Chagall and Paul Klee. Their paintings were magical and felt truly connected to the universe. In high school I got interested in Illustration. Brad Holland, Maxfield Parrish, Aubrey Beardsley, and Alan Cober were among my favorites. I took classes in painting and received some awards and scholarships towards college. (more…)
Teenagers and the Internet are a no-brainer combination, and websites from Facebook to Pitchfork are well aware of this. They know those fickle beasts called “trends” are more than alive and kicking, but they also know that loyalty and honesty can’t be put on the back-burner: they need to be squarely front and center. Martina Fugazzotto, a 25-year-old self-described designer based out of Brooklyn, New York USA, makes sure this happens at gURL.com, a content site and online community aimed at teenage girls, and with her own personal work, which she showcases on her website, MartinaMartina.com. It’s difficult to pin Fugazzotto’s work; some images look like they belong in a lusciously illustrated graphic novel, while others seem to embody a sense of frenzied, rambunctious kitsch. A constant thread found weaving through most of her work, however, is the intricate mix of loud and subtle takes on gender, emotions, and physical development, and the ways in which sexuality, stereotypes and frankness play into those topics. (more…)
In 1997, a new search engine calling itself AskJeeves was introduced to the internet. The website had adopted Jeeves, a character from the stories of P.G. Wodehouse, as a sort of mascot – seemingly the ideal symbol for a search engine. Like Sherlock Holmes or Dumbledore, Jeeves is one of those literary characters whose wisdom never fails.
“Here he was, with his head bulging at the back and on his face that look of quiet intelligence that comes from eating lots of fish,” Wodehouse writes in his novel Carry on, Jeeves. “I knew from experience what a wizard he was at removing the oppressed from the soup.”
However, upon closer inspection, the company’s use of Jeeves is anything but obvious. How many people nowadays read Wodehouse? How many have even heard of him? But according to Patrick Crisp, the Director of Public Relations for Ask.com, Jeeves’ genius side was never the real point.
Travis Millard is a funny guy. I read an article about him in the LA Times Magazine and was fascinated. He runs a site called Fudge Factory Comics, once worked for Spin Magazine and lives in a weird log cabin with his girlfriend, artist Mel Kadel. Travis has a book coming out sometime this year, by the name of ‘Hey Fudge.’ He is a constant creator of work for Vans, Bueno Skateboards, and Volcom. Millard’s work is dependably witty and irreverent. His pieces are multi layered and repetitive, both quiet and contemplative in form and screaming at you, beating you senselessly over the head until you get the idea, after which you start laughing hysterically.
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Si Scott is among the most notable of the freelance design creatives today. Very much in demand, his work has appeared in Massiv, Computer Arts Magazine, advertising for Casio and The Royal Academy of Arts’ 2006 Summer Exhibition. Drawing since he was very young, Si attended Leeds College of Art and Design where he developed his love for designing his own typefaces. He then went on to Buckinghamshire Chilterns University where he began to expand his methods of expressing himself through graphic design. He has held posts with a number of exclusive London-based studios, including Frost Designs and is currently a part-time lecturer at Leeds College. His work can be found at www.siscottdesign.com and www.somagallery.co.uk.
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