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.
In addition to being a talented artist, Jim created Outstanding in the Field, a world-wide traveling dinner feast inspired by his “farmer dinners” which took place during the mid 1990s at Gabriella Café in Santa Cruz . At these dinners, Jim would invite local farmers to preside over special meals featuring their just-picked harvest. Lucky for us, these dinners have evolved into dinner parties that take place in any thing from a sea cove to a refurbished barn or a stately museum.
After a tour of the site where the dinner is being held, everyone sits together, farmers, winemakers and adventurous food lovers to experience, laugh and mostly, honor the committed people whose hard work brings the love and nourishment to the table. Sounds like a perfect evening to me…
I’ve already got my tickets to the dinner being held at Queens Farm with guest chef Bill Telepan of Telepan restaurant. Who wants to join?
You can find the 2009 Season Farm Dinner Schedule here
In the winter months, Jim Denevan heads to his favorite secret beach north of Santa Cruz, CA during low tide to draw in sand. Jim draws with a stick that the waves have washed up. His drawings are entirely freehand and can take up to 7 hours to create.
For the past several months Jim has been living ON one of his drawing in the Nevada desert. The total circumference is more than 9 miles. For the next THREE days you can visit the Jim at the drawing by heading to these GPS coordinates: n40 48.076 w119 08.124
Last December, we were visiting our friends in Seattle when I came across a book that featured a number of pieces by Marcel Dzama, a Canadian artist who is probably best known for his figurative sculptures as well as his pen and watercolor compositions. I find his work to be beautiful yet creepy. His characters and the environments he places them in are elusive, leaving me to dream up interpretations of what the stories he creates mean.
Since that weekend by the fire in Seattle, I’ve been drawn to his work so it was really exciting when I heard that PopRally, a program of events at MoMA that targets a younger, more hip audience, would be doing a special premiere of the video for Department of Eagles’ “No one Does It Like You,” which is directed by Patrick Daughters and Marcel Dzama. Dzama was also responsible for the costumes and sets. The video feels like Dzama’s illustrations and sculptures coming to life in a choreographed battle of women vs. men that plays itself out during the course of the song. Definitely worth a watch.
My dear friend Bryn over at paper tastebuds did a lovely post about Diana Yen and Lisel Arroyo, the masterminds behind The Jewels of NY, a blog that beautifully intersects their talents in cooking, photography, design and just overall gorgeousness. Included with the photographs are recipes for those who want to try and create their magic. Here you can find the recipe for the Chocolate Pots de Crème with Rosemary Whipped Cream pictured above and below is the recipe for the beautiful Flatbread. Enjoy!
Caramelized Fennel and Tomato Flatbread
Serves 2
1/4 ounce package active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1/4 cup for kneading dough
1 large egg
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 to 4 campari tomatoes, sliced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 of a fennel bulb, sliced, reserve about 1/4 cup fennel fronds
2 cloves of garlic, mashed into paste
1/4 cup fontina cheese, grated
1 teaspoon lemon juice
zest of half a lemon
fleur de sel to serve
In a small bowl stir together yeast and warm water, let stand for about 5 minutes.
Beat together egg, 1 tablespoon of oil and salt, set aside. In a medium bowl, add in 1 1/2 cups of flour and create a well in the center of the flour. Add yeast mixture into the well then add the egg mixture. Using a fork or your hands combine mixture until dough forms. Transfer dough to a floured surface and knead until stickiness is gone and feels smooth and elastic, adding flour as necessary. Add 1 tablespoon of oil into a bowl, place dough in oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.
In a large skillet over moderate heat melt butter then add in the fennel, salt and pepper to taste. Cook and stir occasionally until tender and golden, about 15-20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375°F
On a floured surface, knead the dough and roll out to a 1/4 inch thickness. Roll the dough loosely around the rolling pin and unroll it over a 19-by 10-inch rectangle cast iron skillet. Brush dough with remaining olive oil then evenly distribute garlic paste, cheese, caramelized fennel, tomatoes, lemon zest, lemon juice and fennel fronds. Bake flatbread for 35 minutes until crust is golden brown. Sprinkle with fleur de sel and serve warm.
‘Creative Faces’ is D&AD’s way of highlighting talent in different regions producing great creative work. They held their first event in Japan, while launching the D&AD exhibition at Advertising Museum Tokyo. Akira Odagiri of Ogilvy & Mather Japan served as Chairman of the panel and then they invited 2 top creatives from Japan and 2 from the UK to select a creative team/person whose work exhibits some of Japan’s most exciting talent.
I think Tsuboi’s work is modern, accessible, simple and playful.
This is Joe Ferry’s description of why he chose Tsuboi as a ‘Creative Face.’
“Virgin Atlantic once ran an advertising campaign, with the strap line – ‘some say why, others say why not’. This expression could be used to summarize Hironao Tsuboi’s work. He has the ability to look at everyday objects in a completely new way….In fact making simple designs look good is one of the most difficult things to do. Who would ever have thought that a watch could become exciting if you entirely remove the watch face – this guy clearly did.
He turns a negative into a positive. Hironao Tsuboi’s glass design creates a beautiful detail from essentially a condensation drip. I feel this glass captures his positive take on life, which is both admirable and infectious.
By creating great designs that make people smile, Hironao Tsuboi is definitely a creative face of the future.”
See more Tsuboi’s work as well as the other ‘Creative Faces’ here
It is very rare that a day goes by where I don’t feel blessed, fortunate or lucky. It is only 3:28pm on this Monday afternoon and I have already felt that feeling a handful of times; it helps that I woke up to gorgeous sunny skies. After opening the curtains, I made a delicious breakfast of fresh ricotta, thinly sliced tomatoes, fresh basil leaves and a drizzle of aged balsamic on toasted whole wheat bread.
But I’m not here to tell you that I’m in a good mood or had what I deem the perfect breakfast. What I’m here to write about is how damn lucky I am to have so many talented and amazing friends. Tonight, after an event at The Eldridge with the Dining and Libations Society, I’ll make my way out to Williamsburg to cheer on Au Revoir Simone, an amazingly talented group of musicians.
Our friend, Erika, who plays in the band, graduated with us from Skidmore College and we’ve been fortunate to stay in touch with her since then. Tonight they are surprising people and doing a small show in Williamsburg. Then they head off to Europe to release their new album, Still Night, Still Light.
Congratulations lovely ladies. This is an amazing journey to watch from the sidelines!
Tara is an experienced branding and marketing strategist with a passion for building and positioning brands through storytelling, creative thinking and innovation.
