Hasta La Ideas

Sight Unseen returns to the printed page with a limited edition publication championing the creative process

The brainchild of two former I.D. Magazine editors, Sight Unseen began as a Kickstarter project in 2009, shortly after the celebrated print outlet published its final issue. Armed with years of industry experience, Jill Singer and Monica Khemsurov tackled the online world with a distinct site focused on the creative process and what happens behind the scenes at design studios around the world.

Now, with the help of Karlsson’s Vodka Unfiltered project, Singer and Khemsurov return to the printed page with a limited edition book designed by NYC’s Studio Lin. The aptly titled “Paper View” includes 24 new features on a range of designers, including Roman and Williams, Anntian, Roanne Adams, Andy Rementer, Shin Okuda and more.

The duo smartly organized the book into four thematic sections revolving around what it’s like to be a maker. Beginning with “My Mom and Dad Are Artists”, the book continues the exploration of some of the universal truths behind creative thinking with the headings “I Studied X and Now I’m Doing Y”, “Material Obsession” and “Strange Ephemera”. Singer and Khemsurov expertly detail insights from their studio visits and combine valuable text with illustrative photos for a comprehensive overview of how each designer works.

In a one-page column called “8 Things”, a handful of designers candidly share what inspires them—Apartamento founder Nacho Alegre tells how he is humbled by the work of American photographer Alec Soth, PIN-UP Magazine editor Felix Burrichter declares his love for Lagunilla flea market in Mexico City, Mondo Cane‘s Patrick Parrish divulges Sweetwater I.P.A. as his favorite beer and Established & Sons‘ Sebastian Wrong states his obsession for open fireplaces, to name a few.

Limited to just 400 copies, “Paper View” is now available to order for $30. Those in NYC can celebrate the book launch at the design-led boutique Creatures of Comfort (also highlighted in the printed edition), where the Sight Unseen Shape Shop pop-up will open tonight, 9 April and run through 6 May 2012. The temporary store within a store is centered around all things geometric—from Bec Brittain‘s Penta-Hex bottle opener to pillow totems from Mociun and more.

Instinctual layered paintings driven by process

As soon as you enter Puerto Rican artist Angel Otero‘s Brooklyn work loft, the intense smell of paint nearly stops you at the door. Shelves housing copious tubes of oil paint and rows of Montana spray cans lining the back walls allude to the strong odor, but it’s the stacks of work drying on wooden pallets surrounding the space that are really the culprit. But the extraordinary aroma is actually the upshot to Otero’s distinct artistic technique, one which involves an extensive process of building up layers of paint on plexiglass before methodically scraping them off.

“I’ve always been intrigued by process,” says Otero. The artist, who received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, typically allows materials to inform his work. While there is substance to his paintings, he’s not driven by the challenge of depicting a personal narrative. Instead his work reflects his ambition in taking painting to another level and his ability to work successfully off of sheer impulse.

“The process kind of starts with usually me painting on plexiglass,” he says. “After I do the painting, I cover it with more oil paint, the whole thing. And then I do more layers of oil paint. Then eventually it goes to the floor and I cover it with a black color, a pigment of oil paint. The pigment of black is the most rubberish one. Pigments come from rocks, so that means they are all different types of materials which dry differently toward the different oil mediums. Black is the one that when it’s dry, stays the most malleable. So the last layer of all the paintings I do, I cover with black—a thick layer of black—and then they go to dry.

Otero initially came to this process by recycling paint as a way of saving money and resources while he was in school. He would scrape the paint off works he was dissatisfied with and add it to a growing mountain of remnant oil paint. Eventually, he started to form the clumps into flower shapes and spray paint them silver, which on the canvas created the illusion of working with tin foil. “From there it developed slowly, in some way,” he explains. “But it felt good because I was using a material that I wanted—oil paint—and at the same time I had found a great process that is pretty unique, and whatever I do, people are going to be more attracted toward ‘how did you do it’ rather than ‘what is it about’?”

While this was an important stylistic shift for Otero, it also laid the foundation for what would become his signature technique of creating oil skins on glass. After his mountain of dried paint diminished, he began putting paint in glasses to dry. He noticed, when reusing the glasses for the first time, that some of them were stained from the paint before it. “When I scraped that second layer, I noticed that it transferred the stains. I was like, ‘oh shit, I could paint on glass, cover it with paint and then scrape it, and I would have a full sheet of paint that would have the painting that I did'”, he reveals.

After several experiments Otero found specific types of oil paint that he could combine that would give him the tactile surface he desired, and one that would last for a long time. Once that process of strategically scraping layers of paint off of glass inch by inch using doctor blades was in place, he was able to begin playing with the leather-like layer of dried paint. After applying a thick layer of epoxy to a canvas, Otero and his two-person team would transfer the heavy skin to the canvas and begin folding in loose wrinkles.

Although his style is certainly contemporary, Otero is interested in experimenting with compositions that contrast the old with the new. He will recreate a work by French classicist Nicolas Poussin, painting it to detailed perfection on glass. Then he covers the painting in more oil paint that “will eventually be the background”, lets it dry, possibly repeats this step and then begins scraping the skin off the glass in a way that exposes the various layers at different points in the composition. In this way, the painting becomes almost like a print or a collage.

Otero’s approach has been attracting attention since his days at art school. Having honed his technique with confidence, he is able to keep experimenting—both with painting and his second love, sculpture—producing works that are meaningful in both appearance and form.

His latest body of work will soon be on display at Istanbul ’74, his first solo show in the Turkish metropolis. The exhibition, put on in partnership with NYC’s Lehmann Maupin Gallery, opens 23 February 2012 and runs through 17 March 2012.

Photos by BHP. See more images of Otero’s studio in the slideshow below.

Inside a swimsuit design studio in the heart of NYC’s garment district

“Save the Garment Center” urges the sign in the middle of swimsuit designer Malia Mills’ garment-district studio in New York City. Haphazardly stuck in one of the many racks of patterns that fill the workspace among rolls of fabric, sketches and other evidence of a busy design hub, the sign reads like a battle cry for the eponymous 20-year-old line. Mills, a poster child for what it means to live and work as a fashion designer in the city, built her brand over the decades through a combination of grit, ingenuity and her vision of making great-fitting suits for women.

The journey for Mills started unconventionally at Cornell University, where she studied apparel design, constructing everything from scuba suits to skirts. As a supplement to the problem-solving skills the program instilled, she learned the art of tailoring at Paris’ renowned school for haute couture, The Chambre Syndicale. Once landing in New York, a long road of alliances and luck helped get her where she is today. Landlords that let her go without paying rent for six months, the Tribeca restaurant where she waitressed that let her use their office, and a mentor in Theory founder Andrew Rosen all helped the business grow into the 10-store-strong label that it is today.

But of course the real backbone of Malia Mills is design. While education gave Mills the highly technical background needed for such a challenging garment, the founder traces her aesthetic to two pivotal childhood experiences with swimwear. Her first bikini, a lemon-yellow number received for Christmas in 1976, followed by a hot pink two-piece that stood out among the Speedos of 1980, helped define a look for women that’s as much about style as it is about function.

The sensibility has to do with the kind of thoughtfulness that goes into good design. On our recent visit, the designer jumped up to pull out a college assignment on fashion designer Claire McCardell, who Mills cites as a huge influence on her approach. McCardell’s philosophy of “honing your senses” is advice Mills still gives to every new hire.

To pull it all off, Mills credits the “massive luxury” of being in the Garment Center as a key factor that “truly facilitated the growth of the business.” Her tops-by-bra-size approach and goal of fitting almost every body type means she has to be completely hands-on throughout the entire production process. “What we’re making is such a tactile thing,” she explains. Even the smallest discrepancy in yardage can make a huge difference in fit.

See more of the designer’s early stylings, current collection, and more in the photo gallery.

by Karen Day and Ami Kealoha

Photos by Karen Day

Journey across the universe in a one-night-only show of whimsical work by an LA-based painter

Working out of her garage on a quiet street in the heart of Silverlake, Los Angeles-based artist Vanessa Prager gleefully creates her curious paintings and ink pen drawings. We caught up with the bubbly creative just a few days before her new solo show at ADBD Gallery, dubbed “Across The Universe.” Like many of her shows, it is a one-night-only affair with a special guest host and immersive installation piece, which Prager says helps create a relaxed atmosphere and draws the viewer into her illusory world.

With her works at the framers, on our visit Prager was busy putting the finishing touches on her installation, which will greet patrons as they enter the gallery space at ADBD and subtly continue throughout. Crafting little flies out of wax-like paper with her mom on a pile of real sod grass on the floor of the garage (which she will use to outline the room at her show), she told us about her more recent interest in painting animals—which is primarily “because they’re awesome!” Typically depicting people in heightened situations, Prager transfers that sense of drama to scenes in nature, where she captures the creepy feeling of encountering a group of large animals like deer or elephants.

The sun streaming in on the corner of the make-shift studio, Prager’s space is filled with warmth and a dizzying array of paints, old frames, tools, craft supplies, music sheets and inspirational works—like a lithograph portrait of her grandfather. You get the sense that there is nothing she won’t attempt to create herself, including the sink in the corner where she tediously cleans her brushes. “I knew I needed a sink out here, so I found an old one at a vintage store, hooked it up to the hose from outside and made it exactly my height.”

While her highly saturated works give way to a false sense of reality, her study of the universe feels accurate. Her portrayal of human behavior scratches at life’s emotional ups and downs, and the contrast between the bursts of color in the foreground and stark backgrounds reflects this natural turmoil.

Catch “Across The Universe” tonight, 2 June 2011, at ADBD in Los Angeles, hosted by Danny Masterson from 7-10pm, and mark your calendar for her solo show at Shepard Fairey’s Subliminal Gallery in April 2012. See more of her studio and works in the gallery below.