Crystal Morey is an American based artists whose delicate work in sculpture and drawing aims to explore human emotion and our relationship with nature. Intelligently portraying raw emotion and honesty in her work through images of  open palmed hands and faces, Crystal is proving to be one of the most important figures of the ever expanding Oakland art scene.

We recently caught up with Crystal in order to find out what themes are behind her new body of work and what techniques are used when shes capturing emotion in her sculptures.

A lot of your work deals with human emotion and in a recent interview you stated that your work has become more and more introspective over the years. What mental processes do you go through in order to come up with the emotions you want to portray in a piece?

My work has actually been very introspective and personal in the past and has taken a different route lately. I have been working on a body of work that is dealing with emotion in relation to environment. I have been building sculptures with figures in full backgrounds and themes of natural cycles and man-made changes in nature.

I don’t know if I have a mental process I go through in order to portray emotion. I try not to think about how the figures in my work feel, I try to feel the emotions I want them to exude and show them in the body, face and hands.

When you have an emotion you want to portray in a piece, how do you then avoid letting your current mood and feeling effect the end result as you work on the piece over time?

I try to work really fast! If I have a new idea for a piece I try to start and finish sculpting within a week. I find that I lose ideas or an idea can be diluted even if I make detailed sketches. I like to work with vigor and potency and they both escape me if I wait to long.

In your landscape pieces you said that you have taken inspiration from, amongst other things, nature and memory. Is there any place in particular that has inspired your work recently? is this reflected in the piece?

I use imagery from nature to make statements about the environment and to give my figures a context. I spent my childhood living in the forest surrounded by tall trees, mountains, rocks, and streams. Nature is a reflective, quiet place for me, a space where my mind can wander and be contemplative. Nature is also a precious place, it is finite and ephemeral, I like to work with this idea as an over-arching theme.

You seem to get a lot of support from other artists, including John Casey who has photographed a number of your works. If you could collaborate with anyone either living or dead who would it be?

The Oakland art scene is really strong right now and filled with lots of new galleries and artists. There is a momentum and everyone is really involved. I have a lot of support from other artists in the area. We are all working towards the same goals and it is really motivating to work as a group or a movement.

I would love to collaborate with so many different artists for so many different reasons. I have found that in the past, when collaborating with other artists, that I learn so much about working with people and my own ideas. But if I had to come up with a short list of dream collaborators, I would have to include Kevin Taylor, Tiffany Bozic, Egon Schiele, Akio Takamori, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and Jay Shafer from Tumbleweed Tiny Homes.

What’s the name of the exhibition you have coming up?

I am in several group shows that are coming up, although I am most excited about a solo exhibition at Rowan Morrison Gallery in Oakland this December.  The name of the show is ‘March Into The Sea’ and deals with ideas about the death of nature.

December 2010 – www.rowanmorrison.com

I have a drawing at POVevolving opening August 7th www.povevolving.com

What’s the idea or theme behind your new body of work that you have prepared for the exhibition?

My intention is to explore the human experience of emotion, and its relationship with the environment. I want to study the tenuous, symbiotic balance between human necessities and the health of our natural habitat of forests, oceans, mountains, and deserts. Everyday we strengthen the disconnect between what we use in our lives, and the destructive effects it has on where we live, the air we breathe and the water we drink. We have made a departure from nature and the balance that should exist has been broken. In my work I want to reveal the ephemeral quality of human life and show our dependence on an increasingly delicate ecosystem.

Which of your new pieces are you most proud of in terms of how honestly it has reflected the emotion you have wanted to portray?

“The Long Wait” is a piece I am pretty happy with right now. The idea behind the work shows that in order for new life there must be death. This piece shows a cycle of disintegration and growth at the same time.

When working on that piece what were your working conditions? What environment do you have to be in, in order to capture the raw emotion in your sculptures?

I need quiet time in order to think and read about current events. I listen to National Public Radio for inspiration. I have ongoing ideas and stories that build and need regular working time in the studio to stay constant.

To see more of Crystal’s work and to keep up to date with her exhibition schedule please vist her website: http://www.crystalmorey.com/

Another superb animation from the Italian street artist Blu.

A friend showed me this recently, and i was amazed i had never heard of it before. Salvador Dali and Walt Disney collaborate on a beautiful short. Good Stuff!

As another academic year comes to a close, universities up and down the country present to us their finest servings of fresh faced graphic designers and illustrators. This years show at Sheffield Hallam University has introduced me to the work of recently graduated illustrator Tom Casson.

Displaying his work in the form of prints and hand made zine’s, in his up and coming self publication “A Vision Of The Future” Tom has taken examples of modern culture and twisted them to paint his own (hilarious) view of western civilization in the year 2020. Tom writes “A Facebook profile is deemed worthy enough that Birth Certificates and Passports are fazed out”. We certainly hope that isn’t the case.

Showing a great sence of fun in his work we decided to invite Tom to answer a few questions for Pejhy before he enters the working world, heres what he had to say:

(Directed) handmade by Irina Dakeva @ Wizz, and is composed of approx 2000 watercoloured images painted one after another.

I was first introduced to the work of London based illustrator Gina Baber a few weeks back by master remixer and producer Gold Panda after his gig in Sheffield when inquiring who had designed his amazing t-shirt print.

Crafting her beautiful illustrations for some of  the most prestigious names in electronic music ( including Gold Panda, Erol Alkan and Primary1), Gina has begun the move from the album cover and flyer design to build up a strong portfolio of delicate drawings and t-shirt prints. I recently caught up with her to reflect on her current works and find out what we can be expecting in the future:

First I’d like to thank you for taking the time for answer our questions, would you like to introduce yourself to our readers, any formal art training or qualifications? how did you start out as an illustrator?

Hey, my name’s Gina Baber. I studied BA Illustration at The Arts Institute at Bournemouth. I moved to London 4 years ago and started working as the poster designer for Trash & then Durrr. I make artwork for bands, musicians, clubnights & various other projects and spend the rest of my time working at Rough Trade, buying records, playing tennis and watching cookery shows and hip hop videos.

We’ve seen a fair bit of commercial work from you in the music industry. What are the benefits of working as an illustrator for other creative industries? Do you have a lot of freedom over what you produce or do you still have to work to a very strict brief?

I love working with musicians because music is my other main passion and I find it exciting to produce images that reflect the feeling of the  music. With most of the people I have worked with I have been lucky enough to have the freedom to produce images that have been inspired by  the style or feeling of the musicians work.

So what music inspires you when you work?

I am inspired by punk, post-punk, new wave disco and 50′s/60′s  rock’n'roll and the style and imagery that goes with it. I also love hip hop & RnB and listen to that a lot of the time. I really like the  type and graphics used on 90s hip hop records and music videos.  It really depends on what I’m working on or the time of day but I do  seem to work at night quite a lot of the time and disco seems to fit  that nicely.

Top 3 tracks at the moment:

1. Pete Rock & CL Smooth – They Reminisce Over You

2. Washed Out – Belong

3. Harlem – Gay Human Bones

There’s a consistent set of soft colours used in your illustrations and  I’ve noticed you like to include images of “hands” in many of your pieces. How  long did it take you to find your style, and what has inspired it along the way?

I think I have always used a lot of colour in my work. I am inspired by the paintings of Hockney, Matisse, Warhol, Keith Haring & Richard Hamilton amongst others, punk sleeves & posters, North American Indian, South American, Egyptian & Aboriginal textiles and painting. Clouds & sunset.

How would you normally start a new piece of work? What process do you go through?

It depends, but I usually do lots of drawings and bits of collage and  somehow piece them all together. I often use my own photography as  initial inspiration as well. I am currently doing a lot of screen  printing and making marbled & collaged backgrounds that I then print onto and embellish.

Where do you go for artistic inspiration? Who are your favourite artists/illustrators working today? Any favourite galleries?

Some of my favourite artists/illustrators working today include Bjorn  Copeland of Black Dice, Shawn Reed of Wet Hair & Raccoo-oo-oon who  runs an amazing label called Night People records and does all the  artwork. I also love Susumi Mukai (Zongamin). He is incredibly talented.

From your website I’ve only been able to find one print for sale, entitled “O//wl_s”. Is there anywhere else we could purchase your work from? will you be releasing anymore prints at your next exhibition?

I am currently working on a set of limited prints, zines & t shirts  which I will be selling through my website and at the exhibitions I am  currently planning with my friend Patrick.

What can we be expecting from you in the second half of 2010?

I will be doing solo and joint exhibitions with a couple of friends, and hope to start a very small clothing range (mainly printed shorts),  learn to play the drums, do more artwork for bands and start a record  label and an RnB/hip hop night with a difference.

You can find more of Gina’s illustrations on her website.

First let’s get this out of the way; Exit Through The Gift Shop is not a movie about Banksy (and no you don’t get to see his face), it’s a tale of media hype Vs talent, how guerrilla marketing can make you a million pounds in one night and most importantly of all, “Exit” is the perfect example of just how self aware and mature the street art movement has become.

Featuring a stellar cast of artistic talent including; Sweet Toof, Shepard Fairy, Swoon and Invader to name a few, the film follows the story of French film maker turned chancer street artist; Mr Brain Wash, from his early years of film making and peeking at his mega hyped solo show in LA.

The film is charming, funny and intelligent. It is not a promotion tool for the street art movement and i was highly impressed with it’s honesty by showing the ugly side of modern day graffiti. Whether you’ve been into street art for years or just want to see a good movie, I couldn’t recommend this more. 10 out of 10, 5 stars, go see it now!

Daniel Brereton (AKA Dan has Potential) is a London based artist turned video director known for his raw style, use of bright colours, Aztec themes and geometric shapes.

Most of you will recognise Daniel’s work as a music video director, producing modern classics such as Radio Ladio by Metronomy , True Romance by Golden Slivers, Bathroom Gurgle by Late Of The Pier and Dream Off by Best Fwends amongst others.

Dan was recently kind enough to take some time out of his work schedule for a brief telephone chat, here’s what he had to say:

Where do you go in search of art?

I’m always on flickr looking up crass images, recently I’ve enjoyed the work of M Bomba and Mattew Lock from ww.puffandmagic.com his work is amazingly intricate.

You mentioned on your Flickr page that you draw inspiration from Outsider artists such as Joseph E. Yoakum. What styles really get you going?

I love Outsider art or folk art, basically anything that is figurative. I think the best art is from the imagination when you can’t see clearly in a piece that forms have been studied.

I think that a lot of my best work comes from being spontaneous; I’ll produce my best drawings with little preparation as it doesn’t help to think about ground rules.

In your self portrait you’ve made your self look very in-human, almost robotic. Has this come from your love of triangles?

With my self portrait I was experimenting with lines and shapes, building up a picture. I love looking at drawings and deconstructing them.

When directing and producing music video’s how much creative control will you have in comparison to what the record label and artists want?

I have to approach work very differently when it’s for a client, which is probably why I don’t do a lot of commercial work.

When producing music videos my level of creative input will varies on the artist and record label I’m working for. Late Of The Pier, for example had a lot of input where as someone like Metronomy had less so.

The music videos you direct can have a very strong personality, for example the video you directed for Best Fwends features your original Onionhead character and many other themes we see regularly reoccurring in your artwork. Has there ever been problems with creative differences, e.g your ideas not meeting the bands image?

It’s a strange thing, the music industry, as image is a very important thing. I understand how some of my ideas my not match the bands ideas.

The Cribs were a difficult band to produce for at first, they have such a strong image that the record label clearly wanted to preserve. When working on that project my approach was very different, I had to adapt my ideas to what would work with them.

Are there any videos are you working on at the moment?

January is a pretty dead time for the music industry so nothing going on at the moment, however I’ll soon be working on a new music video for Your Twenties, who are Gabriel Stebbing’s (From Metronomy) new band.

Do you listen to music while working, say if your thinking up ideas for a specific music video will you listen to the track in question over and over again?

When working i like listening  bands like Metronomy… ect. At the moment I’m really into Neil Young and Cat Stevens

You’ve been off the exhibition circuit for quite some time; do you have any shows lined up in the near future?

Aside from my video work, I draw every single day so I’m always working. The next show I’m involved in is called “The Art of Conversation”. The idea of the show is basically like a visual game of Chinese Whispers which each artist creating a piece in response to the one before.

The show will feature a tone of artists and will stretch from London to Berlin.

Dan’s brand spanking new handmade zine  is available now from the Chapter One gallery, a steal at only £4.00. Limited edition of 20.

Director Stéphanie Di Gusto has produced this beautiful video for the launch of Vanessa Bruno’s Spring 2010 collection. It features model/actress Lou Doillon in a dreamy reality where three differing emotive scenes are accompanied by their own delightful piece of music. Stephanie’s photography is also worth checking out.

Thanks to everyone who came to Pejhy’s live drawing event with Ian Stevenson at Bungalows and Bears last month.

If you missed it then don’t worry, Ian’s creations will be on permanent display behind the bar and the graffiti he drew in the Gents is’nt going anywhere either.

Due to the success of our first drawing event we’ve been given the go ahead to bring you a series of Pejhy nights throughout 2010.

Our next FREE event will be in February and as always they’ll be live drawing, free cake, sweeties, Art materials for you to get messy with, DJ’s playing some great music and some very special guests… We’ll keep you posted!

Here’s what happened in December:

KID ACNE taking some snaps

Ian Stevenson's live drawing

Your Creations

Your Submissions

If your at all intrested in getting involved in our next event (e.g. live drawing, DJing, marketing… ect) then all you need to do is pop into bungalows and ask for Ste or drop Pejhy an email on our contact link.

PEJHY thanks: Jennifer Peters for her fantastic photography, all the DJ’s who travelled from Norwich, London and Nottingham to be there, Ste for all his organisation and effort, Kid Acne, Lucy and the archipelago works for all their support, everyone who came out after and got messy and Ian for his great great work.

Being influenced by the everyday strangeness of the world around him, Ian’s signature combination of odd words and distorted characters make his style one of the most recognisable in the world of illustration.

I’m not really sure what it is about Ian Stevenson’s work that makes you so emotionally attached to his characters, or if any love you gave to them would even be appreciated. Some of the creations that dwell in his universe would appreciate a cuddle I’m sure, others would  be just as likely to cut you up in to little pieces and bury you in their garden.  No matter you get from Ian’s work one thing is clear, once you let your self be immersed in his world, there’s no going back!

A lot of readers may recognise Ian’s work from his commercial projects, having worked for a number of A-list clients including Microsoft, Perrier, E4, MTV and Paul Smith to name a few. If you’ve been reading our posts for any amount of time then you’ll know what huge Ian Stevenson fans we are here at Pejhy, so it is with great pleasure we give you our exclusive interview with the man behind the pen:

What’s your favourite website at the moment?
Here is an amazing website that reveals the people who copy and plagiarize. Brilliant, just brilliant! get your digital pitchforks at the ready for some good old fashioned justice… www.youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com

Any superpower, what would it be?
My super power would be Sarcasm, I’d join a gang of superheroes and they would call me ‘Sarcasma’. I would be the first person to appear at the crime scene and I’d use my sarcasm skills to annoy and wrong foot the enemy, possibly I would mock the villains outfit or mimic their voice. When they are suitably annoyed the other members of the team would arrive to defeat them properly.

If you could banish any three things from the universe what would they be?
I’ve thought about this one a lot and although I would like to change many many things I have started to think that if I did have the power to remove things I don’t like, then life might be too good and I would have nothing to moan about. I’ve managed to think of a few that would make my world a better place. The first would be working for free unless it’s for charity. There could be a law to protect artists and maybe it could be called Stevenson’s law or something and would mean that all jobs had to paid for properly. I’d also have to get rid of some of the trumpet based free jazz music as it seems to make me feel uneasy. Finally I would remove some of the talentless and useless celebrities, they deserve nothing more than to be constantly ignored.

What’s the best computer game ever made?
Commuting is like game, I weave in and out of the pre-programmed human like objects in my walking space ship.

If you dug a hole through the earth from one end to the other, lets say from the North Pole right down too the South Pole, and then you jumped down that hole, what would happen?
I imagine it would be fun for a few seconds, then you’d probably black out and eventually die either by being unable to breath or by your body being shredded to bits as it bounces off the sides like a rag doll.

When will we see your “Rubbish” book?
Soon… hopefully soon, oh I do hope it is soon. I have all the photos collated and now it just needs to be made into a book.

To see more of Ians work you can vist his brand spanking new website at www.ianstevenson.co.uk

For those of you new to his work I highly recomend you check out his new group show athe the Archipelago Works in Sheffield, and be sure to pick up a copy of his “Best Wishes, Get Well Soon” book, it’s basicaly his “best of ” collection and a steal at £10.

French is a London based illustrator, known for his dark and often macabre drawings. Sourcing inspiration from his two greatest loves, Skateboarding and Death Metal, French’s work has taken him across the globe showcasing his talents in London, the USA, Denmark, France, Israel and Australia.

His Latest show “Blood Oath” at the Archipelago Works in Sheffield has so far received an overwhelming positive response, proving to the critics that he’s a talent to look out for in the future.

I recently met up with the man at his latest (and fantastic) show to talk about Skulls, Heavy Metal and London Pricks!

Tell us about you current show “Blood Oath” at the Archipelago Works?
The theme for this show is skulls, we’ve produced 12 different screen prints all of which are skull related and will be available exclusively through the gallery.

How have you managed to make each piece in this show feel unique despite the very specific theme?
I’m total fascinated by skulls. Their are so many different variations you can do on  one subject that will stop an exhibition from being repetitive. So even though the theme is specific I’m only limited by my imagination.

How would you describe yourself as an artist?
People like to fit me into the whole “Street Art/Skate Art” thing because i design skate decks but I’m an illustrator, that’s how i make a living. I don’t really know anything about street art or graffiti and am not particularly interested in whats going on today, i do however like all the old Santa-Cruz graff from like 20 years ago.

How would you normally start a new piece, would you approach a logo different to how you would a sketch or drawing?
I treat every piece i do as a sketch or a drawing, no matter who or what the piece is for. If, for example, i was asked to produce a logo, i would treat the letters as an illustration so the end result will look like a picture rather then a logo or a load of letters.

Did you study illustration at collage of university?
I have a degree in fine art, not illustration. That’s something I’ve taught myself, drawing and learning how to use computers to produce pieces.

Do you listen to music while you work, if so who are your favorites?
Oh so many, i grew up listening to Death Metal, in fact I’ve just got back from a metal festival in Helsinki. My favorite bands of all time would be Revenge, Bolt thrower, Blasphemy and Ozzy to name a few.

Who are you favorite artists?
I’m really into Derrick D’Beck and Murdock Stafford, his work is all skulls and stuff. As for more “classical art” i really like the work of Goya. I recently bought a book by an artist called “Bruegel” which is full of pictures of Hell and people being eaten by demons.

Would you say you were more influenced by the classic stuff?
Yeah, defiantly. I’m heavily influenced by dark religious art. I like pieces to have a lot going on in them.

Is their any kind of art you really dislike?
I can’t stand bland art, shit that looks like it could be selling in Ikea you know. It’s so non-offensive it’s offensive!

You’ve done a fair bit of commissioned work for Modular Records and other advertising agencies, how is the work process for a client different from private work?
The first time you work for someone it can be difficult, but once you’ve built-up a relationship both parties will know what works and what doesn’t work.

Would you let someone change your work if they were dissatisfied?
It would really depend on how big the change is, for example i recently designed a T-Shirt for the band WolfMother which had a crow sitting on a skull. the record label suggested that i changed the crow to a hawk to make the piece seem more 70′s looking. Small changes like that I’m fine with but you should be careful because whoever pays for a commission can have a huge influence on how a piece turns out.

Have you ever worked in 3D?
No, I’ve never made sculptures or anything like that. I’ve got a friend whose a fashion designer, he owns a little shop on Carnaby Street in London. I’m gonna be designing some belt buckles with him. My first design is a gas mask with horns coming out of it.

Are you living in London at the moment?
Yeah, with my girlfriend.

What do you both think about the illustration and art scene down their?
(French) I’ve done stuff with Stolen Space Gallery and have friends who exhibit in the capitol frequently, i always go to their shows but i feel separate from the London thing, East London especially is full of “Jazzy Cunts”

(Frenches Girlfriend) To be honest sometimes people can take themselves to seriously but their is a great art scene in  i can’t lie. East London can be very pretentious, French will go to his friends show but can’t stand the whole “trend” thing, he doesn’t suck up to anyone. If what the London galleries wanted matched what French wanted then he would do more shows there.

The prints featured in this interview are exclusively available through The Archipelago Works, there are twelve prints in total, six single colour and six multi-colour, all in an edition of six (666)!

To see more work by French (including his skate videos) you can follow his blog here.

Conrad Shawcross has been one of my favorite artists ever since I first came across him whilst studying at university. Although he is fairly famous for his light machines, I remember looking at a piece of work called ‘The Nervous System’ which was being shown at the Saatchi Gallery and i was massively bowled over. It was a large contraption weaving coloured rope into a double helix (the shape of DNA), and it produced something like 20,000 metres of this a week. It was just super.

The Nervous System

I was amazed at an artist fusing together these wonderful mechanical contraptions with science, something i wanted to achieve, but didnt quite have the knowledge to do!!

I then went to go and see his work ‘The Steady States’ at the Victoria Miro gallery, and it was even more fantastic than just seeing the images and reading the fluff about it. So since then i have been waiting eagerly for his next piece of work and finally its here!! But unfortunately i found out abit too late to see it (you needed to book tickets) and it finished yesterday! RUBBISH!!!!

Chord

But still Shawcross has excelled himself whilst creating ‘Chord’. ‘Chord’ has been comissioned by Measure and is situated in Holborn. Its actually been built in Kingsway tram subway on Southampton Row, an underground tunnel which has been disused and closed to the public since 1952. He has completely utilised this space by building two machines that run up and down the tracks of the old tube station. As they go up and down the tracks, they are weaving a mass of chord, hence the name. Because of the location of the work, only 20 people are allowed to go view it at any one time, and they  go for an hour tour along the tracks. It almost like going to see a wild beast in its natural habitat.

Chord

Hopefully some art god like Saatchi will buy the machines so I can get the chance to see them. If you want a bit more of Shawcross you can head to the Victoria Miro website who represent him.

Have a good evening.

Sink or Swim

Julian Callos is a Los Angeles based artist who creates beautiful dreamy water coloured illustrations full of flexible limbed humans and water washed backgrounds. His unique style has led him to exhibit widely across the globe from San Francisco to London, building an  impressive and consistantly brilliant portfolio of sculptures and paintings.

Julian is one of those artists who never produces a bland piece of work, I absolutely love everything he’s done so far and cannot wait for his next show over here in the UK. Julian recently took time out from his extremly busy scedual to answer our questions, heres what the talented young artist had to say:

You regularly blog ideas and early sketches of your work; how close do your finished pieces match what you aimed to achieve in you mind?

It really depends on the project…sometimes my final piece, after various stages of sketches and revisions, is completely different from what I had originally conceived in my mind. Other times I’ll come up with an idea that I’m happy with from the very beginning and just stick with it through the entire process. I just try to make sure that my final sketch is something that I would enjoy turning into a finished painting, regardless of whether or not that sketch was exactly what I had in mind in the beginning.

How long has it taken you to develop your style to where it is today?

Well I’ve been drawing ever since I was about three years old, and my style has evolved throughout the years along with changes in what inspires me, what interests me, etc. I guess what you see now has mostly been developed in the past couple years in college. I’ve really tried to take all the inspirations I’ve had in the past and the present — cartoons, comics, pop culture — and mash them up into my own thing. I’m still learning new things all the time, though; my tastes are changing, different things are starting to inspire me…I think these changes will certainly influence my work, as change has always done.

What is your typical work process and what conditions do you work under? Do you like to draw and paint to music for example?

I love to work while music is playing. Sometimes I’ll work with the TV on in the background, or with a movie playing. Other times I’ll work in complete silence. It really just depends on my mood.

Looking on inprint.com i noticed that you will sell any one print in a varity of sizes and prices. How important do you think it is to make your art accessible and affordable to everyone?

I think accessibility and affordability, especially in this economy, is very important. And it seems like art prints are a good market these days…It’s nice to own something by an artist, but not everyone can afford an original, so it’s pretty cool when you can buy a print.

What has had the biggest influence on your work recently?

Recently I’ve been looking to a lot of indie comics for inspiration. Pen/brush and ink stuff. You can create such beautiful lines with a brush; combine that with bold colors and lots of contrast and you’ve got a stunning piece of art to look at.

One thing i’ve noticed from reading comments on blogs and various sites is how impressed the audiance is with your ability to create soft movement in your pieces. Do you have any plans of creating an amimation?

Actually when I was younger I wanted to be an animator because I love cartoons, but I never really pursued developing that particular set of skills. I’d love to see my characters in motion, though!

Do you have any exhibitions planned for the near future, either as a group show or on your own?

I’m in a few shows in different galleries coming up before the end of the year. Off the top of my head there’s a group show with Black Maria Gallery in Los Angeles called “Skip the Mall,” as well as “Paper Pushers” at Gallery 1988 San Francisco. If you follow my blog (http://juliancallos.blogspot.com/) I’ll keep you updated on any and all shows I’ll be participating in. And I’m hoping to have my own website up soon, so look out for that as well.

What Develops

You can check out more of Julians work at: http://www.society6.com/studio/juliancallos/

It doesn’t matter whether you’ve seen this before or not, its easily repeatable and will bring some joy to any day. An aural and visual treat in one!

Felix’s Machines are music making sculptures. They exist to facilitate music by translating rhythmic audio structures into a three-dimensional visual show. Felix aims to exploit the complexity found behind the workings of most digital music and present it as a more accessible equivalent. These Machines do not intend to match human potential. Instead they exist to test the advantages of mechanical instruments alone.

Gemma Shiel is the creator, designer and owner of the Lazy Oaf; one of East London’s most beloved fashion labels, famous for its use of bright colours, cute characters and distinct style. Gemma has been producing her quirky designed clothes for years now, starting out in 2001 with a market stall in east London, today the Oaf is an internationally recognised brand with products selling in Japan, Italy and Paris as well as the UK.

With the Tate weekend over, a new collection ready for launch and an Oaf publication on the way the last few months have been pretty hectic for Gemma and the team. I recently caught up with the London fashion queen to find out about the new mag, her inspriration and how it all started.

Tell us about your background, how did the Lazy Oaf start?
Lazy Oaf has been going for as long as I’ve been illustrating so about 8 years now. I first became interested in illustration while studying textile design at Nottingham Trent University, which i absolutely hated. After finishing i moved to London and started selling my own hand screen printed t-shirts on a market stall, it all grew from there really.

What is Lazy Oaf at Loud Tate?
Well this is the first one i have been involved in and the reception so far has been fantastic. We sold out of tickets to the t-shirt workshop in the first 20 minutes. We’ve had such a wide variety of people come down today, men and women aged from 12 to 35.

On Thursday your launching the Lazy Oaf zine, how did the idea of a magazine start?
I’ve always wanted to produce a zine so i could do more illustration work and get away from the t-shirt design thing for a bit. The Oaf zine we’re producing will be out twice a year and each one will have a different theme. We’re getting guest illustrations to contribute in each one as well.

Like who?
Well i can’t really say everyone just yet, but we have been working with John Slade and Jemma Coral. The Zine gives us the opportunity to get the illustration side of the Oaf out there.

Who have been your biggest influences?
Haha, don’t tell him i said this but Ian Stevenson, he’s a friend of mine but i love his work. I also really like Mike Perry and Lesly Hall, shes amazing.

What music has been keeping you going recently?
We’re always listing to BBC Radio 6 in the office. As for bands at the moment I’m loving The Phenomenal Hand Clap Band and Young Fathers.

Whats your favorite animal?
I love Dogs, in particular French Bulldogs, oh and Chimps!

Whats next for the Lazy Oaf?
We’re having a launch party for our new zine on Thursday the 1st of October at the Old Shoreditch Station on Kings Land Road. They’ll be drinks, music, products from our new collection and more importantly we’ll have our first ever solo exhibition. It all kicks off at 7pm so be sure to get their early.

To find out more about the Lazy Oaf you can vist their website at www.lazyoaf.com

“7 Styles” is the first exhibition brought to you by the Archipelago Works, a newly opened gallery space in Sheffield part owned by the city’s  resident art terrorist Kid Acne.

As you may have guessed the show features brand new works from 7 of the most colourful and graphic street artists working today including Kid Acne, Sweet Toof, Cept, Dscreet, Pinky, Infinite Livez and Russell Maurice.

The gallery space at Archipelago Works is relatively modest, having only two small rooms to display the work of 7 loud artists the exhibition could have been a total disaster, luckily the organisers have been very cautious as to the lay-out of the show; carefully selecting prints and originals that worked well together. Never did the show feel cluttered or like to much information was thrown at you at any one time.

Each piece had adequate room to breath on the wall, with limited edition prints displayed in the first room and original pieces in their second including some adventurous wood carvings from Kid Acne. The simplicity of the latter suggests that these were prototypes of Acne’s for a medium which he may explore in the future rather than gallery standard pieces.

The quality of work at “7 styles” was, for the most part, well rounded. No contributor stood out in a particularly dominating way; every artist brought something to the table, maintaining a consistent level of quality throughout. However I was expecting a little more from Pinky. Having the opportunity to display work alongside well known talent you would have thought he’d pull out something special, unfortunately he didn’t deliver.

With that said there were some really strong pieces on display, in particular I was thoroughly impressed with Russell Maurice whose prints and paintings on display had a very similar style to that of Mudwig Dan.  At this show the artist had placed little sculptures and trinkets over the fireplace in both rooms engaging the viewer and inviting them to move in for a closer look.

The show also introduced me to the work of Dscreet, an artist who presents his work in an old skool style using chunky characters in a bold and colourful manner. In particular his piece “subway art” left a positive impression and I’ll certainly be keeping a look out for any of his work in the future.

Just like “Ways Of  Seeing” this show would have definitely benefited from some sort of collaboration piece from the artists involved. I also thought that the building lacked atmosphere, you would have found it hard to view the exhibition for more than an hour. It wouldn’t have killed them to put a couple of speakers in each room and played some light music on a low volume if only to make the building seem less cold and deserted. But with that said the setting seemed to work for this show, the pieces on display were great for the most part and as a first show “7 Styles” has set a very high bar for the Archipelago Works gallery and we look forward to their next show on Halloween.

Exhibition Rating: 7 out of 10

A brilliant new feature has recently been put up on the Pure Evil website allowing you to take a virtual “tour” of the artists latest exhibition at his gallery in Shoreditch. Although not everything from the exhibition has been shown (Due to the artist continually creating and displaying new pieces), the feature does give you an amazing 360 degree trip around the pure evil gallery when the exhibition when it first opened.

If you check the link bellow you’ll see just how fantastic this Exhibition is; i loved how the artist had work hidden in every corner of his beautiful gallery (which is very reminiscent of the old Lazarides space on Greek Street),  inviting his guests to explore the building.

If this looks like a show that interests you then go check it out right away as it will be finishing shortly, if you can’t make it then be sure to check out “Gallery 5″ on his site as this takes you into a music studio where you can re-listen to all the music from the exhibition (which is now available to download on i-tunes).

Take the tour here: www.pureevilclothing.com

Hope you have as much fun playing around with the feature as i did.

Ben O’Brien (AKA Ben The Illustrator) is a UK based illustrator, designer, animator and music video director. Working along side his wife Fi, the pair are currently running their brand “Wish you were here” from Ben’s website: http://www.bentheillustrator.com

Ben’s stunning use of bold colour and clean graphic style makes him one of the most in demand artists working today. His uniqe style has been seen across the globe having worked for major companies including Honda, Sony, Domino Records, Smart cars and Vice Magazine.

Ben recently took time out of his busy schedule to talk to Pejhy about music, otters, and babies. Read on>

What was your first paid illustration job and how did you get it?

I was already working in animation, and I’d done quite a few ‘free’ illustration jobs, just odd bits for indie magazines and flyers for bands and DJs, but then the animation studio I was working at signed with an agent, they were an illustration agency but had started to represent animators and animation studios too.  Anyway, I managed toshow them some illustration work and I got lucky when they decided to represent me for illustration work too, I was really winging it back then, so little experience, so little idea.  My first paid job was illustrating a corporate brochure for the BBC and the digital radio industry (this was the early days of digital radio in a way).  It wasn’t the coolest job ever, it was very corporate, very restricted and all very organised, and it really dropped me in at the deep end as far as illustrating for clients, but I learnt a lot, in the long run it was good to start off with such a refined brief working to super tight schedules with very formal clients.  I’m now represented by a much more enjoyable agency, and I feel blessed to have them bringing in the commissioned paid work, generally with much more creative clients and exciting projects.

Do you listen to music when you work? If so what’s been keeping you going recently?

All the time, I struggle to work well in silence!  We only just recently started using Spotify in our studio (I work with my wife, Fi, luckily we totally share music taste!).  Our current favourites are Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Speech DeBelle, Pegz, Liam Finn and a whole lot of old hiphop, as always.

How long has it taken you to develop your style to where it is today and what has inspired it?

I’ve always liked playing with bold colours and taking real things, nature, cities etc, and quirking them up a bit, but I’ve only really concentrated on seriously developing my work over the last 8 years or so.  I left college in ’99 graduating from an animation degree, then I worked in animation for a few years, but it was always the pure drawn work that I liked (and I was a really second-rate animator!) so when I started getting a few illustration jobs I felt the need to move away from animation and focus on my illustration work and define my style. I’ve taken my inspiration mostly from being out and about, crazy creative cities like Tokyo, NYC and Melbourne where you can just see colour used in such cool ways, art, architecture, music, clothing and also the more natural world, mountains, forests, fields, beaches, anywhere that makes you feel good.  That’s the key, I’m trying to take the feeling that I get from being in a good place, and put it into a picture, share it with people.

How does commissioned work differ from private work? How is the work process different?

Freedom.  Private work, whether it’s a doodle for the heck of it, or a design for an art print, I have creative freedom.  Fi and I plan some things with our prints, so I might have to use a certain colour palette or create a certain mood, depending on what’s going to sell well and be enjoyed by the public (Fi manages our homewares brand ‘Wish You Were Here’, selling art prints and home design products)  So essentially I have full creative freedom on that, I can just muck about a bit, doodle, sit and draw things in my own time, then when I’ve got the image right on paper and in my head I can take it into Illustrator and artwork it, it’s pure enjoyment.  Client work can sometimes be a completely different thing, you’re focused by their brief and the media it’s for, sometimes we have to approach it with much more of a ‘design business’ head on.  Occasionally I can just illustrate a cool picture and that’s enough, but if it’s for advertising especially, you’re part of a bigger team, along with their art directors, copywriters, all sorts of people, and you can be restricted by the client’s branding, their company ethos etc etc.  But I love both, they’re both good processes.  The personal work helps me to develop my style, to try anything I want, for mine and Fi’s enjoyment, the commissioned work gives us a chance to be a part of the design industry, illustrating work which serves a purpose, part of a larger team.

What’s the story behind your character “Speakerdog”?

He started purely as a doodle, I’d been doing a lot of character-based commercial work in a certain style, and I’d started to tire a little of it (this was around 6 years ago, when I was still finding my way), then I just doodled a couple of characters in a completely different style, one of them was Speakerdog.  I started playing with him, painting on canvasses and developing him as a character with a purpose and a personality. In time people started picking up on him and I started using him as a way into different projects, exhibitions, products like tees and posters.  I’d always illustrated him in dreamily perfect landscapes, so he appeared to me to be a bit of a mascot for good environmentalism and good times.  A few years ago I was getting into paper toys, mostly Shin Tanaka’s work, and I thought I’d try my hand at it too, so I developed a Speakerdog paper toy, since then it’s all rolled on pretty smoothly!  Fi now manages the Speakerdog Paper Toys, we’ve got hundreds of custom designs by hundreds of artists, it’s a blast, we do it all for free so people just download the paper toy templates and break out the glue stick, plus we’ve got his own shop for posters and custom hand-drawn paper toys and all sorts of good stuff. I totally recommend focusing on personal projects like that; it can open so many doors in the professional world.

Check it all out on: www.speakerdog.com.

Speakerdog certainly seems to enjoy travelling, if you could go anywhere in the world right now where would it be?

Paris.  It’s not quite a far off land or anything, but it’s such a neat city, we love it, plus I think there’s a Takeshi Murakami exhibition on right now!  If I could, I’d grab our little dog, Doze, get Fi in the car and head straight to Paris for some good food, some design shopping, check out some new graf and hit that Takeshi Murakami show!

Animals and nature are both reoccurring themes in your work, if you could have any pet, no matter how impractical, what would it be?

Haha, pygmy goats and loads of them, they’re so neat with their cool climbing skills.  Actually, more impractical but just as cool… sea otters.

Who are your favourite artists or illustrators working today?

Oh heck, so many!  S.Britt is ace (http://www.sbritt.com), really inspiring and Toru Fukuda (http://torufukuda.jp), always makes me smile, that’s probably my top two, but then there’s Simon Wild (great colours http://www.simonwild.com), C86/Matt Lyon (nice and fresh http://www.c8six.com), Stephen Chan (really sticks to his guns with a strong personal style http://www.stephen-chan.co.uk), Chris Malbon (part of McFaul design studio but does amazing stuff like this too www.sosaturdays.co.uk), anything bold, super fresh and popping with strong colours.

Do you have any exhibitions planned in the near future?

No solo exhibitions, we’ve got a baby due in January so we’ve had to cut back on a lot of plans!  We’re doing a group show in London in December, can’t announce details yet but we know it’s going to be ace!

To see view more of Ben’s work or to check up on that secret exhibition check out his sites:  http://www.speakerdog.com and  http://www.wywh.co.uk

The Lazarides gallery has had a pretty strong history of  excellent exhibitions from some of the most in demand artists working today. Rathbone place is the swanky new space from the ever expanding Lazarides “brand” and having missed their first show from Vhils last month (which looked amazing) i was pretty keen to check out their latest offering “Low Fidelity” from the french mosaic street artist Invader.

On entering the premises you’ll be given a show flyer which states on it “For A Better View Use Your Cellphone“. You’ll notice that the pieces displayed just look like a collection of random coloured squares, with the images nearly impossible to make out with the naked eye, but when you look at the pieces through your tiny mobile phone screen all the “pixels” of the pieces are squashed together and thus creating the finished piece. At this show Invader has cleverly recreated some of the most iconic album covers in history using the different coloured squares on hundreds of Rubix cubes (albums included 1969 by the Velvet Underground, The best of the Doors, Bad by Michel Jackson, Boys Don’t Cry by the Cure, Country life by Roxy Music and Diamond Dogs by David Bowie).

Now just think about the artists work process for a second, that means that each side on each Rubix cube (and there are hundreds) in any one piece had to have the specific colours in the specific order for the image to work. Each piece must have taken absolutely ages to complete but the finished effect is both stunning and utter genius.

If your lucky enough to own an i-phone their were specially designed pieces for you too. On the far side of the gallery were three small pieces that looked like blank cross word puzzles. On the walls next to these crosswords was a code that when put into your i-phone lets you unscramble the pieces. Here comes the clever bit, when you download the code  and view the crosswords through your newly updated i-phone screen and you’ll find that the crossword has been filled in with “secret messages”. I have no idea how this works but it’s just incredible.

The show features 27 new pieces in total, as well as the pixel masterpieces there is also a selection of hand drawn work and sculptures on display. the Hand Draw editions shown (created by shading in the squares on graph paper, of course) will be available for purchase from the Lazarides shop on Greek Street shortly after the exhibition finishes.  Simple pieces but again, very clever.

The sculptures on display came in the form of giant Rubix cubes and huge coloured blocks. Impressive on their first view but unremarkable compared to the rest of the work on display, and that says a lot about just how great this show was.

Low Fidelity by Invader is undoubtedly the best exhibition of the year so far and from an artist who up until now i haven’t really cared for. Due to his ability to portray his ideas using a number of different mediums shown here this will surly be the exhibition of his career, proving to the critics that he is one of the most imaginative and skilled street artists working today.

Exhibition rating: 10 out of 10

After setting a very high bar last month with “In A New Place” the Kemistry Gallery are back with their latest exhibition from the ”groundbreaking” journal Typographic.

For those of you who don’t know Typographica was a journal that showcased the very best in worldwide visual arts, it  was first publish in 1945 and ran til 1967, so to be fair it’s an old publication which many will be unfamiliar with. Unfortunately it’s this history behind the journal that brings us to the dominating factor as to why this exhibition was so poor.  You see, when galleries or museums exhibit really old artwork what they tend to do is place little placards on the wall next to the pieces explaining a little history and information about the work and artist behind it (most of the large main stream galleries have these).

Because Typographica is a “historical” journal, what we have here (and bear with me) are a selection of articles from the publication that have been blown up and placed on the wall, and next to these articles are little placards explaining about the article. So you have a few paragraphs of writing explaining about a few paragraphs of writing. I can see why this is necessary as most people will need to have it explained to them just how great this publication was back in the day but the way it has been done here just doesn’t hold your attention so it completely fails to do its job.

In all honesty I did try my best to get into the mood and take an interest, I even read a piece about arrows for about 10 minuets but it was just way too dull. If you wanted this information you could get it off the Internet, you don’t need to go to Shoreditch and read thousands and thousands of words from the walls of a small gallery.

In a nutshell the show felt more like a museum exhibit then a art gallery exhibit, a terrible execution of what could have been a great exhibition, concentrating on the history and not content. Avoid

Exhibition rating: 2 out of 10

Just a quick message to all our arty readers; make sure you get yourself down to the Tate Britian On Saturday 26th of September as Lazy Oaf will be running a workshop from 12-5pm. They are inviting all artists and illustrators to bring along their designs to be transferred onto t-shirts and tote bags. In addition to this their will also be live music, live drawing, arty debates, a swap shop, performance art and poety throughout the day.

Make sure you get their early as there is limited room at these workshops and the Oaf is running the day on a first come, first served basis. Oh, and don’t worry if your like me and can’t draw, as you’ll be able to choose from a range of ”Oaf” designs as well. Sounds pretty cool eh?

Check out this site for more info - www.tate.org.uk/youngtate/britain/loudtate2009

The whole day completley FREE so i expect to see you all there!

Here’s what happened in 2008:

The Concrete Hermit has had a pretty good track record of introducing London to some of the finest illustrators and Artist the world has to offer and “Off the Wall” by Richard Hogg is no exception. I had pretty high expectations for “Off The Wall” as all the work displayed was going to be brand new to me. So imagine my delight when turning the corner on Club Row to enter the gallery and being instantly greeted by this guy:

The gentleman above pretty much sets the tone for what “Off The Wall” is all about; a very enjoyable exhibition full of  colourful characters that don’t take themselves too seriously. This exhibition was the first time i had seen the work of graphic artist Richard Hogg, one of the highlights from the show was his minimal use of colour in the pictures, i don’t think that any piece had more then four or five colours in, and because of this your eyes are drawn to certian ”coloured” characters in crowed pictures, i found that this made the pieces more inviting to study.

The show also saw the return of the artists utilisation of wall space by projecting their work directly onto the walls of the Hermit. Giving the artists this freedom to mess around with the environment inside the gallery makes the Hermits shows feel unique  in that the temporary images shown there will only last for the run of the show before being painted over again.

It should be noted that the cute characters marching through forests and sweet stories of bricks flying from the wall might be a little too much for some. Personaly, i found the work had a lot of charm and their were even some darker subjects thrown in for good measure, such as a naked woman getting high or a man being squashed by a machine.

If you enjoy the work of Dave the Chimp or Lazy Oaf then i encourage you to check out Richard Hogg as you’ll get a lot out of it, for those of you who take your “art” a little more seriously then this is probably not for you. I’ll be keeping a close eye on Richard in the future and look forward to his book “Car Boot Sale” due fro release later this year.

Exhibition Rating:   8 out of 10

(check out Richards band “Satan’s Cock” at www.myspace.com/satanscock)