With thousands of years of history and art, as well as a multitude of restaurants and shops to consider, planning a trip to Europe can be a monstrous task. To help, The New York Times has again come together with Taschen to create a book based on the popular…
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As a New York institution and masterful painter, Ross Bleckner is a true artist. His time—much of it, anyway—is spent cut off, alone and hard at work in his studio in Sagaponack, NY. But he has always voraciously read the newspaper to stay in touch, keeping clippings of inspiration…
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Hello Kitty is not letting her apparent lack of a mouth (cat got your tongue?), overseas birthplace (London, 1974), or the fact that she is a cartoon character deter her bid for the U.S. presidency. Backed by the political muscle and multi-million dollar profits of Tokyo-based Sanrio, the beloved kitten has officially thrown her hat—well, bow—into the ring as a third-party candidate (“Friendship Party”). She is running on a platform of “friendship, fun, and happiness.” While her policy positions are unclear, campaign t-shirts are available.
An e-mail announcing Hello Kitty’s surprise run quoted the candidate—”You can never have too many friends!”—and encouraged supporters to weigh in on the question of a running mate. Among the Sanrio characters up for the VP slot are Tuxedosam (personable penguin, aristocratic background), My Melody (honest and good-natured bunny, weakness for almond pound cake), and Badtz-Maru (badass penguin, has pet alligator). Facebook-based voting ends on October 31, and the winner will be announced the next day at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., just in time for the Sanrio ticket to mount a last-minute challenge to Obama and Romney.
And if the presidential bid is flop, Hello Kitty will have her art to fall back on. On Sunday, L.A.’s Known Gallery is hosting a one-day exhibition to celebrate the release of Hello Kitty, Hello Art! (Abrams). The hardcover book is a collection of works that feature Hello Kitty and friends as interpreted by contemporary artists such as Gary Baseman, Ron English, CRASH, and Anthony Lister. Many of the works in the book were created for Hello Kitty’s 35th anniversary in 2009 and Sanrio’s 50th anniversary in 2010, but a few artists have been invited to create new interpretations of Sanrio characters to celebrate the book’s release—and, taking a page from the Obama playbook, give her presidential campaign an artful boost.
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Anyone landing in London Town this week for all of the Frieze festivities will want to pick up or download a copy of the latest Gogo city guide—an essential travel companion for those who like to stay in the know and off the beaten path. Originally launched as a…
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Voici « Book Mountain », le nom de cette superbe installation de livres sous la forme d’une montagne sous une pyramide de verre située dans une bilbiothèque à Spijkenisse aux Pays-Bas. Une création réalisée par les architectes de MVRDV. Le projet est découvrir en images dans la suite.
Mark Gravel presents a playful guide to radical beanmaking
Mark Gravel is a boss of beans, a leader of legumes, a pioneer of plant-based eating. His new book, “Kill the Recipe: A Cookbook & Visual Guidebook on the Basics of Radical Beanmaking & Plant-based Eating,” introduces beans to at-home chefs while championing the benefits of the food group….
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Drawings of daily chaos on Canal Street in Jason Polan’s latest solo show
Specializing in the unconventional and often overlooked, NYC’s Boo-Hooray Gallery and 6 Decades Books present “A Slow Walk,” a solo exhibit of illustrator Jason Polan. Opening today, 5 October, the show centers on a new, previously unseen letterpress renditions of 10 sketches of Canal Street done over a 10-day…
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Expert Ian Buxton catalogs the globe’s most essential drams
Building on his already immense knowledge, whiskey expert Ian Buxton continues the enviable job of tippling his way across the globe. In his follow-up spirits directory, “101 World Whiskies to Try Before You Die,” Buxton shares his favorite bottles from Tasmania to Honshu and Bangalore to Cork, offering insight…
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Scottish charity MUMs (Malawi Underprivileged Mothers) commissioned illustrator Malika Favre to illustrate a children’s book entitled When The Rains Come, a charming initiative to raise awareness of problems faced by young mothers in Malawi while also raising money to help them…
The book tells the story of three children who have to be looked after by their grandmother, whilst also embedding a story within the story: a folk tale from Malawi about different animals working together and listening to the wisdom of even the lowliest creature to solve problems.
“In order to bring the book to life, I worked very closely with the author, Tom Pow and the charity founder, Linda McDonald,” says Favre of the project.
“The real challenge,” she continues, “was to communicate the reality of the situation for Malawi children while retaining and celebrating the joy of Malawi culture. We didn’t want to create a grim assesment of life in Malawi but rather raise awarness about the current situation in a positive way.”
Favre describes the creative process as organic and collaborative: “Tom allowed the story to evolve alongside the illustrations and for the narrative and illustrations to feed one another,” she says.
“My approach was very instinctive and quite different from my usual creative process,” she continues. “This project was not about paring things down but about bringing patterns, animals and colours to life in a joyful and almost chaotic way.”
“I wanted to have loads of hidden details on each page and take owneship of the story itself by adding my own stories to it. I based my illustrations on Linda’s photographs of Malawi in order to stay as close as possible to reality.”
When The Rains Come (Birlinn, £6.99) is out now and available online here.
Find out more about MUMs at mumsrecipes.org and see more of Favre’s work at malikafavre.com.
CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month. Try a free sample issue here
CR in Print
In our October print issue we have a major feature on the rise of Riso printing, celebrate the art of signwriting, examine the credentials of ‘Goodvertising’ and look back at the birth of D&AD. Rebecca Lynch reviews the Book of Books, a survey of 500 years of book design, Jeremy Leslie explains how the daily London 2012 magazine delivered all the news and stories of the Games and Michael Evamy explores website emblemetric.com, offering “data-driven insights into logo design”. In addition to the issue this month, subscribers will receive a special 36-page supplement sponsored by Tag celebrating D&AD’s 50th with details of all those honoured with Lifetime Achievement awards plus pieces on this year’s Black Pencil and President’s Award-winners Derek Birdsall and Dan Wieden. And subscribers also receive Monograph which this month features Rian Hughes’ photographs of the unique lettering and illustration styles of British fairgrounds
Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878 to buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.
• Tuesday is the traditional day of rest for New York’s Museum of Modern Art, but not for long. Beginning May 1, 2013, the museum will open to the public seven days per week. MoMA’s move to a seven-day schedule on a year-round basis comes after some testing of the Tuesday opening waters during summer months and holiday periods. Look for the expanded schedule to bring in even more visitors. Since the 2004 reopening in its renovated and expanded building, MoMA’s annual attendance has nearly doubled—from approximately 1.5 million visitors per year to nearly 3 million.
• A forthcoming volume that’s likely to land on the MoMA store shelves is Sebastian Smee‘s look at friendship and rivalry among artists. The Boston Globe art critic and winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for criticism will focus on four pairs whose rivalries propelled them to greater achievements: Edgar Degas vs. Edouard Manet, Pablo Picasso vs. Henri Matisse (OK, you saw that one coming), Jackson Pollock vs. Willem de Kooning, and Lucian Freud vs. Francis Bacon. The title is slated for publication next year by Random House. Smee’s freshly inked book deal was announced by Publishers Lunch.
• VICE knows tattoos. The punk zine turned media juggernaut returns to the ink-slinging trenches for a new season of Tattoo Age. The hit web series scours the globe to profile the artists behind the most beautiful and interesting tattooing trends. The latest line-up consists of London-based Valerie Vargas and her eye-catching “lady head” tats, the versatile (and American-trained) Mutsuo of Osaka, Japan, and Thom deVita, who started tattooing in New York City in the 60s (when tattooing was illegal in all five boroughs), synthesizing his environment into his tattoos and creating quite possibly the most unique inking style of all time. Here’s a taste of the season two debut:
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