Monday Morning Inspiration: Little People

Aren’t these amazing?

This is the work of Slinkachu, a London based street-artist who for several years has been creating these little people in and around cities.  Slinkachu’s inspiration for the project is that in a city, we rarely pay much attention to the ground so he got the idea to create a hidden world of little people that are just waiting to be discovered

The figures that Slinkachu uses were originally created for train sets and usually come unpainted. Depending on the scene, he will cut up, repose and hand paint the figures so that they become a beautiful and intricate art installation.

Slinkachu sums it up best:

“The street-based side of my work plays with the notion of surprise and I aim to encourage city-dwellers to be more aware of their surroundings. The scenes I set up, more evident through the photography, and the titles I give these scenes aim to reflect the loneliness and melancholy of living in a big city, almost being lost and overwhelmed. But underneath this, there is always some humour. I want people to be able to empathise with the tiny people in my works.”

Enjoy more of the Little People here.  And buy the book, Little People in the City, here.

*via Paper Tastebuds

Oh MY: Cheeming Boey

Meet Cheeming Boey.  He draws on Styrofoam cups with a Sharpie.

Here is a section of an interview he recently did:

Q: How did you come up with the idea?

Boey: I had no paper while I was craving to sketch one day outside a coffee shop, saw a cup on top of a trash can, took it and started drawing on the surface. I had forgotten how well ink flows on the Styrofoam surface. Its got a completely different feel from paper. Initially it was just with a ball point pen, I later moved to sharpie because I had some sharpies on my desk at work.

Q:  Tell us about some of your favorite designs.  Why do they resonate with you?

Boey: I like the ones that are more personal, like a dining experience with a friend over sake and stories. I also like waves; hence a lot of my cups have a spaghetti-like, wave motif to it. One of my favorite Japanese artists who has influenced me heavily is Hokusai, and I think a lot about how he draws his waves when I draw mine.

Q: What is the longest amount of time you have spent on one cup?

Boey: 3 months. I don’t do initial drafts on the cups, so what you see is on the final product is the first pass. It takes forever to work on an elaborate piece because my next line could completely ruin the composition. Or I get nervous about drawing certain shapes. Or poses.

So sometimes I take hours to figure out the composition in my head, sometimes I don’t come back to it for months.
I have to also make sure the foam cups are absolutely lint/ hair free. They charge up easily and tiny hairs or lint can stick to it. And when the fine point on the sharpie catches one of these hairs, a thin line can suddenly become a broad stroke. Terrible.

The Photography of Scott Peterman

This month I was lucky enough to be one of the contributing art editors for Guernica Magazine.  I selected the photography of Scott Peterman whose work I came across and fell in love with back in 2002 when i first moved to NYC.  The series I selected for Guernica is of his ice fishing shacks, which he spent several years photographing in the lakes region of Maine and New Hampshire.   As Scott addresses in his statement, the “bobhouses” illustrate a narrative that is the essence of survival in the freezing temperatures of the region.  They are entirely utilitarian in their purpose using lightweight windproof materials providing warmth and shelter against the elements.  See more of the series here.

Oh MY: Leica + Hermes

Seriously, Leica?   Does it get anymore gorgeous than this?   This classic M7 35mm gets the special treatment with a silver chrome finish and thanks to Hermes, a choice of either orange or tan calfskin leather.   Orange please!  This beauty can be delivered to your doorstep in a linen-covered, silk-lined box for a mere £8,550 (about $14,250).

*via engadget

The Photography of Issei Suda

It’s no secret that I’ve had a long love affair with Japan.  Their culture, point of view, food and sense of tradition is something I have great respect for.  On my first trip to Japan three years, I discovered the photography of Daido Moriyama and Rinko Kawauchi, two Japanese photographers who are known for being very influential on 20th century photography. Today, I got an email from one of my favorite galleries in Portland, Charles A. Hartman Fine Art, introducing me to the work of Issei Suda, another Japanese photographer.  I find his work both subtle and incredibly evocative yet unlike anything I’ve seen before.  He is represented exclusively in the US by Charles A. Hartman Fine Art.  Spend some time on the gallery’s site exploring his work.

For the Love of Bento

The NYTimes has a great story about the gaining popularity of Bento Boxes.  One of the bento creators they feature is “Bentomom” who posts the photos of the bentos she makes for her kids on Flickr.  Her attention to detail is amazing and so cute.  You can see more of her clever creations here and the full NYTimes here.

The photography of Hedi Slimane

Fashion designer Hedi Slimane has long been admired for his work at Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior, which is no doubt gorgeous. However, it’s his photography that really stops me in my tracks. Spend a moment day exploring his photo diary.

NY Times Op-Art: Scents and the City

In this weekends NY Times, Jason Logan created a great interactive illustration that documented a weekend he spent navigating his way through NYC by nose.  Spend some time here exploring the different neighborhoods Jason visited.  It certainly reminds me of all of the smells I love and detest in this city.