Mario Pani’s 107th birthday
29 March 2018

Mario Pani played a large part in shaping the design of Mexico City in the twentieth century, with this Doodle - created by his son, artist Knut Pani - paying tribute to them. Pictured is his extensive residential complex, the Tlatelolco Urban Centre in Mexico City, which houses 12,000 apartments in 102 buildings and is characterised by its curved element and triangular tower.

Saloua Raouda Choucair’s 102nd birthday
24 June 2018

Lebanese sculptor Saloua Choucair explored mathematical patterns in her artworks which interlocked together in intricate forms. Her series, ‘poems’, could be dismantled, the movable pieces comparable to the verses of a Sufi poem. Acclaimed throughout her life, at age 97 she was honoured by London’s Tate Modern who put on a retrospective celebrating her long career.

Wilder Penfield’s 127th birthday
26 January 2018

Montreal’s first neurosurgeon, Wilder Penfield’s work in mapping the brain led to new techniques to treat epilepsy. In experiments using electrical probes, he discovered stimulating certain parts of the brain prompted memory cues - such as the smell of burnt toast the Doodle depicts.

Gabriel García Márquez’s 91st Birthday
6 March 2018

Google bring the mystical world of Gabriel García Márquez to life with this Doodle which draws the lush tropical world of Macondo in the Amazonian jungle, the famous setting of his book, One Hundred Years of Solitude. Márquez combined fiction with political activism in a long and distinguished career.

Pi Day
14 March 2018

If you haven’t been marking Pi Day with a slice of pie - why not? The mathematical concept of Pi was recognised in 1988 by Larry Shaw, and represents the ratio between a circle’s circumference to its diameter. This Doodle, baked by Cronut creator Dominique Ansel, pays homage to a mathematical constant which is much more interesting to us when constructed in pastry.

Marga Faulstich’s 103rd birthday
26 June 2018

Next time you grab your shades on the way out the door, spare a thought for German scientist Marga Faulstich who devoted her life to glass chemistry, making your favourite specs possible. She found a way to change a gas directly to a solid without it becoming a liquid, meaning small glass objects could be coated with a vapour, allowing for a glass with anti-reflective coating which blocks UV light.

30th anniversary of the World Wide Web
12 March 2019

‘Mesh’ was Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s working name for the world wide web application, the invention which forever changed life as we know it. Originally a flowchart, it soon became a working model complete with the HTML language, HTTP application and the first Web browser and page editor. Two billion users now use it, hopefully for purposes in addition to reading about Google Doodles.

Erich Ohser’s 115th birthday
18 March 2018

German cartoonist Erich Ohser acted out his political ideology through cartoons and caricatures which depicted his disgust with the National Socialists. Throughout the twentieth century, he balanced his more politically-dangerous pieces with a popular and light-hearted comic strip about a father and son.

Stanisław Moniuszko’s 200th birthday
5 May 2019

Warsaw-based illustrator Gosia Herba paid tribute to Polish musician Stanisław Moniuszko on what would have been his 200th birthday. The director of the Warsaw Opera House, Moniuszko oversaw the production of many of his own works including Halka, which went on to become a classic of Polish culture.

Celebrating Seiichi Miyake
18 March 2019

In 1965, Seiichi Miyake invented tactile blocks to help a friend suffering with their sight. The blocks - one kind which came with dots, the other with bars - let the user know when they were approaching danger, and which way to go. Two years later, they were introduced onto the street in Japan and soon made their way into urban environments around the world, transforming the lives of the visually impaired.

Nowruz
20 March 2019

Google marked the spring equinox and Nowruz, the Persian New Year, with a floral tribute. The festivities, lasting for 13 days, begin on the first day of Farvardin, the first month in the Iranian Hijri calendar.

Parveen Shakir’s 67th birthday
24 November 2019

Pakistani poet Parveen Shakir won Pakistan’s President’s Award for Pride of Performance in 1990 for her Urdu poetry. The first poet to use the word larki (girl) in her work, she subverted male traditions by honestly depicting the female experience.

Nicholas Winton’s 111th birthday
19 May 2020

Sir Nicholas Winton organised the escape of over 600 children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia in the months before the Second World War, a fact he never revealed to anyone. It was only when his wife discovered documents in the attic in 1988 she learnt of his efforts in finding homes, raising money, forging documents and bribing officials, saving the primarily Jewish children from almost certain death.

Celebrating Falafel
18 June 2019

We all love a falafel - why not celebrate it? As India entered high season for the majority of the world’s chickpea crop, Google clearly agreed. Whatever you do with it - Egypt grind down fava beans and fry them, Germany top theirs with sauerkraut - it cannot fail to be delicious.

Tatyana Lioznova 96th birthday
20 July 2020

In a move rare for a female Russian director, Tatyana Lioznova achieved huge success in the twentieth century with her popular programmes, including the 12-part ‘Seventeen Moments of Spring.’ which followed the adventures of Russia’s answer to James Bond, Maxim Isayev.

Julius Lothar Meyer’s 190th birthday
19 August 2020

One of two scientists to discover the periodic law of chemical elements, German chemist Meyer’s periodic tables are ubiquitous in every school in the world.

Barbara Hepworth
25 August 2020

English sculptor Dame Barbara Hepworth hammers away at Google in her Doodle which marks the day she arrived in St. Ives in 1939. The seaside town would be instrumental in a career which saw her embrace natural, abstract pieces which were sensitive to the qualities of the raw materials she transformed.

Doodle for Google US winner
23 September 2020

Ten year old Sharon Sara was the winner of 2020’s Doodle for Google competition which invited tens of thousands of students in America to illustrate the prompt: ‘I show kindness by..’ Sara, with her Doodle showing how kindness can be shown through friendship and inclusion, was the lucky recipient of a $30,000 college scholarship, with her school benefitting from a $50,000 technology package.

Dr. Harold Moody
1 September 2020

Charlot Kristensen, a Dublin-based guest artist, depicted Jamaican-born British doctor and racial equality campaigner Dr. Harold Moody for his Doodle, marking the day Moody arrived in the UK from Jamaica in 1904. Moody went on to become the founder of the UK’s first civil rights movement after facing racism which denied him work. His kindness is represented by the children in the illustration, signalling the countless deprived young Moody would treat for free.

Google’s 22nd birthday
27 September 2020

Well if you don’t let everyone know it’s your birthday, how will they know to celebrate you? Google marked 22 years of Larry Page and Sergey Brin deciding to rethink the way people interacted with information on the Web with an appropriately restrained lockdown Doodle - never mind, we’re sure the real celebrations were saved for offline.

Professor Udupi Ramachandra Rao’s 89th birthday
10 March 2021

Professor Udupi Ramachandra Rao’s spearheading of India’s satellite programme led to the 1975 launch of India’s first satellite, one of almost two dozen satellites which addressed poverty by increasing communication to rural areas. In 2013, he became the first Indian to be inducted into the Satellite Hall of Fame, an accolade which coincided with the launch of a satellite which orbits Mars today.

Kuzgun Acar’s 93rd birthday
28 February 2021

Kuzgun Acar’s artworks in wire, nails and scrap metals rethought modern sculpture in Turkey in the twentieth century. After learning his skills at ship-dismantling workshops, he went on to produce classic pieces such as ‘Turkey’ - a relief in bronze - as well as producing steel and rubber masks for German theatre play ‘The Caucasian Chalk Office’.

Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s 140th birthday
9 November 2020

Guest UK-based artist Jing Zhang paid tribute to one of the smaller creations from British architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. Scott worked on many large designs, including the Battersea Power Station and his first project, the Liverpool Cathedral, but it is the red telephone box he designed in 1924 which captures Zhang’s imagination.

Celebrating Johannes Gutenberg
14 April 2021

Lovers of the written word have German craftsman Johannes Gutenberg to thank. His fifteenth century movable type printing press, which replaced the wooden letters of traditional printers with metal type, made books affordable for the first time. Two decades later, his printing press was the largest in Europe, kickstarting a new direction for mass media.

151st anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
13 April 2021

Founded in 1870 by a group of American citizens, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was established in 1870, quickly collecting a Roman sarcophagus as its first work. Parts of its extensive eclectic collection can be seen in the Doodle, from a Byzante floor mosaic to the armour of Emperor Ferdinand I and a Tetin Sioux beaded dress.

David Warren’s 96th birthday
20 March 2021

Although his first prototype was in red, Australian research scientist Dr. David Warren’s life-saving invention is better known as the ‘black box.’ In the Fifties, he invented an almost indestructible recording device for aircrafts which caught conversations in the cockpit in real time, preventing recurring tragedies.

30th anniversary of Pac-Man
21 May 2010

‘Pac-Man seems like a natural fit for the Google homepage,’ said Marcin Wichary, senior UX designer and developer at Google, in May 2010. ‘They’re both deceptively straightforward, carefully hiding their complexity under the hood. There’s a light-hearted, human touch to both of them.’ The Doodle, which he created with in-house ‘Google Doodler’ (as they have become known)
 Ryan Germick was the first-ever playable doodle, and was on the homepage for 48 hours, because, said Wichary, ‘it’s too cool to keep for just one day’.

The Great Wave of Kanagawa
31 October 2010

It’s an odd thought: a 17th-century Japanese century woodcut going viral. The Great Wave was first circulated the old-fashioned way, via traders and tall ships in the 19th century. Since then, it has inspired Claude Debussy’s orchestral work La Mer, appeared in poetry and prose by Rainer Maria Rilke, and was animated by teamLAB at London gallery Pace. Levi’s and Patagonia used it in marketing campaigns. In 2011, it was preserved in cyberspace as a Google Doodle, and has since been turned into an emoji. Thanks, in no small part to the uncompromising powers of Google Search, it is an image that is as globe-spanning, and enduring, as the ocean itself.

Happy Valentine’s Day from Google and Robert Indiana
14 February 2011

This iconic Doodle (if you can call it that) was created by renowned artist behind ‘LOVE’, and it broke the trend of month upon month of interactive doodles, reverting back to a simpler, stationary symbol. Robert Indiana – poster artist of pop culture – is no stranger to having his work seen in unconventional settings by millions: the US Postal Service carried reproductions of his works on stamps in 1973 as part of its ‘love series’, and he created a work for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign depicting the word ‘HOPE’.

Courtesy of the Morgan Art Foundation / ARS, NY

First Day of Winter by Takashi Murakami
21 June 2011

In the San Francisco Bay Area where Google is based, its typically pretty mild all year round. Craving some seasonal differentiation, it turned to Japanese art superstar Takashi Murakami to ring in the summer and winter solstice in 2011 with a pair of doodles for the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, respectively. Google’s Ryan Germick said at the time, ‘The doodles feature some of Murakami’s quirky characters and signature bold colors. It was a great honor to collaborate with Murakami-san and his Kai Kai Kiki team, who create what must be some of our most “kawaii” doodles yet.’

Mies van der Rohe’s 126th birthday
27 March 2012

Along with Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of modernist architecture. To honour what would have been his 126th birthday, Google created this colourful interpretation of his Crown Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology (1956). The glass windows are coloured like Google chars, in a way which also nods to Le Corbusier’s use of primary colours in the windows of Unité d’Habitation in northern France.

Jan Kaplický’s 75th birthday
18 April 2012

Only originally displayed on the Google homepage in Czech Republic, this Doodle depicts neo-futurist Kaplický’s highly controversial Prague National Library (nicknamed ‘the octopus’) which he designed before his death in 2007 at the age of 71. The commission, however, was canceled in 2008. As the octopus never got to stretch its legs, its with love that Google remembers its creator in this digital epitaph. 

Keith Haring’s 54th birthday
4 May 2012

In 2012, one-time subway graffiti artist Keith Haring was presented on a different kind of much-trafficked wall. The late-80s pop artist, whose work currently fills the sky-lit lobby of Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum, is here copied by in-house Google Doodlers. Widely recognised as creating his own visual language, his famous figures are here bent out of shape, to form a wobbly Google logo. 

150th anniversary of the London Tube map
9 January 2013

Frank Pick’s London Tube Map is a unique accomplishment of graphic innovation, and has become the subject of many artistic endeavours since its creation in 1863 – like Langlands & Bell’s renowned memorial unveiled at Picadilly Circus in 2016. This Google Doodle, a simplified version of the map, rendered in Google’s typical Sans Serif typeface, was only shown in the UK, so we hope its inclusion in this round-up gives the rest of the world pause to acknowledge this beloved symbol of British design prowess. 

Luis Barragán’s 111th birthday
9 March 2013

Even in the midnight hue of the sky, this Doodle transports us to Mexico City. It depicts the brightly coloured pool and pink stable block of Mexican architect Luis Barragán’s Cuadra San Cristobál, an equestrian and estate which is privately owned by the Egerström family since its completion in 1968.

Saul Bass’ 93rd birthday
8 May 2013

Here’s where things get meta. In 2013, Doodler Matthew Cruickshank was given the tricky task of creating a logo celebrating the logo design master Saul Bass. Cruickshank took Bass’ motto – ‘symbolise and summarise’ – to task with a short animated sequence that reimagines Google’s logo in the designers’ unmistakable brand of title credits, set to an upbeat jazz tune composed by David Brubeck. During his 40-year career, Bass, who died in 1996, collaborated with many of the industry’s most influential filmmakers: Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorcese, and Otto Preminger, to name a few. He single-handedly revitalised title sequences in his work for Alfred Hitchcock’s films, devising a revolutionary type of kinetic typography that characterised the openings of classics such as North by Northwest, Vertigo and Psycho.

Kenzo Tange’s 100th birthday
4 September, 2013

Depicting the renowned Structuralist architect stringing up Google bunting across the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo (1961-64), this doodle celebrates the life and work of Kenzo Tange, and was only displayed on the Google homepage in Japan. 

Niki de Saint Phalle’s 84th birthday
29 October 2014

Niki de Saint Phalle’s ‘Nanas’ took over the Google homepage for the French sculptress’s 84th birthday in 2014. Inspired by her pregnant friend, the ‘Nana’ sculptures were de Saint Phalle’s artistic rendition of the everyday woman and became a symbol of femininity. De Saint Phalle described her first ‘Nana’ house as a ‘doll’s house for adults, just big enough to sit and dream in.’

Wassily Kandinsky’s 148th birthday
16 December, 2014

This doodle was inspired by the work of Wassily Kandinsky – the man credited with creating the first ever purely abstract works of art – and was used with special permission of the Estate of Wassily Kandinsky, which is represented by Artist Rights Society. It depicts his pioneering use of expansive coloured masses, cluttered with near-spiritual irreverence, geometry and abstract lines, perhaps best described by The Rider, (1911). In typical Kandinksy fashion, it barely says ‘Google’ at all. 

Lygia Clark’s 95th birthday
23 October, 2015

Famed Brazilian painter, sculptor and teacher, Lygia Clark co-founded the Neo-Concrete movement, which sought to change art from a passive viewing experience to an engaging interaction. Her art pieces, specifically the ‘bichos’, were designed to be modified, re-positioned and folded into new configurations by participants – the participant here being Google. The logo has been stripped of its primary colours, and rendered in greyscale shades favoured by Clark, each letter folding in on itself like origami. These ‘critters’ represent Clark’s early attempts to bridge the gap between artist and viewer, alongside Google’s attempts to bridge the gap between searcher and host.

121st anniversary of the first published timetable in Japan
5 October, 2015

One of the seemingly obscure commemorative Doodles – the 121st anniversary of the publication of the first Japanese railway timetable – is actually more all-encompassing than it looks. It represents, says Google, ‘the advent of time consciousness, and the beginning of efficient and reliable mass transit’. That told us. Google continues: ‘To celebrate this achievement, we decided to create our own, unique schedule with invented names, destinations and times in homage to the humble train timetable. We wanted to reference as many traditional design elements, symbols and typographic styles as possible. To help out, we gathered as many "timetable geeks" as we could find in our Tokyo office. Our team of experts had many brainstorming sessions and came up with more ideas than we could possibly include in the final artwork.’

Yps Magazine’s 40th anniversary
13 October, 2015

Germany’s Yps Magazine published its first comic in 1985. Filled with tales of mystery, peril, and adventure, many would agree that the most irresistible aspect of the slim publication was the toy that came with it, and each subsequent edition. They ranged from the simple (spinning tops) to the sophisticated (kits to build functioning radios), and often the slightly bizarre (a package of Brine Shrimp eggs that young readers were encouraged to hatch and grow themselves). Artist Nate Swinehart endeavoured to recapture this sense of anticipation and mystery with a Doodle that changes each time you see it.

The 42nd Anniversary of Rio–Niterói Bridge opening
4 March, 2016

Brazil’s Rio–Niterói Bridge exemplifies the ingenuity of the human spirit – as captured by guest Doodler Patrick Leger, who crafted a recreation of the bridge on the bay with the Brazilian coast visible in the background, and shadowy Google lettering stretching out across the water. The structure met with great international praise when it opened in 1974 as the second-longest bridge in the world, spanning the vast Guanabara Bay. Its greatest accomplishment is connection. Carrying over 100,000 passengers daily, it unites Nieterói and Rio de Janeiro, cities with populations of 487,000 and 6.5 million respectively.

Juno Reaches Jupiter
5 July, 2016

On 5 July 2016, a NASA satellite built like a tank settled into polar orbit around Jupiter, the mysterious gas giant two doors down from Earth. Juno’s five–year, 500–million–mile journey will culminate in a treasure trove of new pictures and measurements taken by its nine instruments. The latest Juno images were delivered back down to earth successfully on February 7, 2018. Google celebrated this incredible moment of human achievement the best way they new how: with Space Invadors references. The emoji-tastic GIF captures the moment mission control received news Juno had entered orbit.

80th anniversary of the opening of the Moscow Metro
May 15, 2015

Matt Cruickshank’s Doodle celebrates the railway that shaped a city. The ‘Google doodler’ drew inspiration from vintage russian posters. He started with the map in the metro’s current lines colours and distinctive radial-circle structure but decided to combine the old with the new and ended up using sepia-toned fashion of a vintage Russian poster. He also added a classic train with ‘80’ on the front to pay homage to the anniversary.

Celebrating Zaha Hadid
31 May, 2017

The Heydar Aliyev Center, depicted behind a cartoon-style portrait of the late, great Zaha Hadid, sets itself in contrast to the block-like structures that surround it in Baku, Azerbaijan. The architects’ signature fluid style is captured in the endlessly curving lines of the drawing, and the almost-unreadable Google typeface. At the same time, this cultural centre takes inspiration from historic Islamic designs found in calligraphy and geometric patterns to create something entirely new. The building takes an open form to invite the public into its space. The centre has played host to modern art by Andy Warhol and Tony Cragg, and world-class performances from Kitaro and Alessandro Safina.

Meret Oppenheim’s 104th birthday
6 October, 2017

Created by guest artist Tina Berning, this Doodle celebrates Meret Oppenheim on what would have been her 104th birthday. The Doodle nods to one of her most known works, ’Object’ – a famously fur-covered bracelet which is in the Gems and Ladders collection – and honors the surrealist tradition of combining unexpected elements to create something new.

Celebrating the Studio for Electronic Music
18 October, 2017

Google felt the beat as it celebrated the 66th anniversary of the Studio for Electronic Music with this neon Doodle, by Berlin-based illustrator Henning Wagenbreth. It celebrates the noisy diversity of thought and imagination that built this studio, which was to transform the possibilities of music. Known as the first modern music studio, it became a haven for innovative musicians and producers from its base at the West German Broadcasting facility in Cologne, to the rest of the world.

Hokiichi Hanawa’s 271st birthday
23 June, 2017

When Helen Keller visited the memorial house of Hanawa Hokiichi in 1937, she said of the revered scholar, ‘I believe that his name would pass down from generation to generation like a stream of water.’ This Doodle celebates the intergenerational legacy of the thinker. Like a river originating from humble beginnings in Tokyo in 1746, his influence has stretched through law, politics, economics, history, and medicine.

Virginia Woolf’s 136th birthday
25 January 2018

Subject of many ponderous, self-absorbed English Literature dissertations (mine included), and subject of a new exhibition at Tate St Ives, Virginia Woolf is an icon of Modernist literature, and has sparked two centuries of artistic renderings. This year, a Google Doodle was penned by London-based illustrator Louise Pomeroy. It salutes with grace and symbolism Woolf’s minimalist style. Not tonally disimilar to the bust found outside her Bloomsbury residence, the portrait is surrounded by falling autumn leaves (a frequent visual theme in her work). In Woolf’s words: ‘
The autumn trees gleam in the yellow moonlight, in the light of harvest moons, the light which mellows the energy of labor, and smooths the stubble, and brings the wave lapping blue to the shore.’

In 1971, American feminist art historian Linda Nochlin asked, ‘Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists’? The issue, she wrote in her essay, ‘lies not in our stars, our hormones, our menstrual cycles, or our empty internal spaces, but in our institutions and our education’. There had been great women artists, they had just been denied the opportunity of greatness. 

A new graphic art book, The Women Who Changed Art Forever, tells the story of four trailblazers of feminist art: Judy Chicago, Faith Ringgold, Ana Mendieta and the Guerrilla Girls.

Beyond style, era or approach, feminist art was defined by a set of values, those which criticised sexist and racist institutions, strove for equality, and championed a revolution in the perception of women’s creativity. 

Though it didn’t gain momentum until the mid-20th century, feminist art has its roots in the late 1900s and 1920s when women were offered the right to vote in the UK and America. As liberation began sweeping across the world, the first wave of feminist art was born. Women began asserting their position behind the canvas, instead of posing as objects of pleasure in front of it. 

But during this time – with a few key exceptions, including Frida Kahlo – the majority of woman-made artwork did not portray ‘feminist’ themes, and many female artists struggled to ‘de-gender’ their work and find a seat at the male-dominated art table.

This all changed in the 1960s and 1970s with the second wave of feminist art. Progressive ideas emerged as society came to terms with a new ideology that placed value on the role of women in art. Instead of objects of the male gaze, women’s bodies could be tools to challenge the patriarchy. 

Within the book – created by Valentina Grande and Eva Rosetti and published by Laurence King – each artist featured represents one of the four pillars of the movement. Judy Chicago – the artist behind The Dinner Party (1979), widely deemed the first epic feminist artwork – made us reassess the female body, sexuality and championed a new wave of female empowerment. 

Faith Ringgold, known for vibrant quilts confronting everyday racism, taught us that feminism should be universally accessible. Through performative works, Ana Mendieta used her body to confront violence against women, while anonymous art collective Guerrilla Girls continues to challenge male-dominated institutions through provocative, often public interventions. 

The fight for equality is a long road and one that the world continues to navigate. The Women Who Changed Art Forever narrates this unfinished story with an accessible and vibrant approach, told through the art of four pioneers that tirelessly paved, and continue to pave, the way to a more equal art world.

INFORMATION

The Women Who Changed Art Forever: Feminist Art – The Graphic Novel, by Valentina Grande and Eva Rosetti, published by Laurence King, £14.99, hardback, available from 26 August 2021, laurenceking.com

When fashion wunderkind Conner Ives was considering how to publicise his A/W 2021 collection – an offering titled ‘The American Dream’, which serves up playful and cleverly characterised female archetypes he encountered growing up in Bedford, New York, like ‘The LA Crystal Girl’, ‘The Social Swan' and ‘The High-schooler’ – he wasn’t overly inspired by contemporary visual advertisements, which are splashed across the pages of glossy magazines, across vast billboards in major cities, or as Sponsored posts on social media. 

‘I was looking at illustrated Dior advertisements of mainly shoes from the 1950s,’ Ives explains on Zoom, via the office of his London studio. ‘I felt like illustrations would be more suited to telling the stories behind my collection’, he adds. The result is a series of detailed pencil drawings, created by art director and long time friend of Ives, Emmanuel O’Brien, that spearhead the storytelling behind the designer’s autumn offering, which despite commemorating the fourth season of his eponymous, Rihanna-loved brand, is also his graduate BA Central Saint Martins collection. 

In the wake of bipartisan politics, racism-fuelled riots and the storming of the United States Capitol, the concept of the American Dream and its ability to exist today, is a prescient topic. ‘The American experience is unique, but it's so digested in pop culture. There are so many archetypes people could identity with,' Ives says. Today, his visual characters, in bubble-shaped ballgowns, sequin halternecks and foulard silk head scarves, allow us to consider the socio-political narratives and stylistic traits we've bought into, where they lie today, and what they lack.

For Ives' A/W 2021 collection's opening look, ‘The 9 to 5 working Girl', featuring a folkloric skirt suit with a New Age rising sun motif, paired with rimless glasses and hair slicked back with an elastic hair band, the designer took style cues from his mother. ‘I was thinking about a woman in the middle of her life and the breadwinner in her family,' he explains. Through a pencil sketch which took 12 hours to create, O’Brien evolved this matriarchal archetype, drawing a conventionally surburban Volvo Estate – the car Ives' mother used to drive – alongside a vase of flowers, a box of tissues and a leather chaise longue – objects commonly associated with a psychiatrist's office. 

‘She's probably in therapy,' Ives says. ‘We're highlighting these dialogues which aren't stated, but are obvious'. For O'Brien, who grew up in Spain, it was also fascinating sketching objects so associated with American liberation. ‘In the US, the car is such a symbol of freedom,' he says, drawn to objects which are mundane, but almost insidious in their banality.

Conner Ives on The American Dream

‘The Social Swan', 'The High-schooler' and ‘The Theatre Girl', clad in varsity-centric yoga trousers, fluro elastic cycling shorts and a smart silk coat and spiky stiletto heels, feature in the tongue-in-cheek illustration  ‘Colonial Black Friday', one which draws from both the 1851 oil painting Washington Crossing the Delaware, alluding to a scene from the American Revolutionary War and images of fighting that occur at the heavily discounted busiest shopping day of the year. ‘The Social Swan', an allusion to Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, a nostalgic symbol of Nineties minimalist style and supreme social status whose image today is emblazoned across magazine Style pages, inspires fashion collections and floods Instagram accounts, replaces George Washington, steering the ship of capitalism, as others battle around her. ‘We're fighting over televisions. There's no better way to depict The American Dream than that,' Ives says.

For Ives and O'Brien, it was important to work in pencil, a ubiquitous medium that we can all identify with experimenting and working with in some way, whether drawing as children or participating in art classes. ‘It's a humble medium to work in,' Ives says. ‘The illustrations hark back to a different, slower time, adding a second layer to the collection that really deal in nuance. You need to zoom out from the archetypes to understand their story.'

For O'Brien, it was intriguing considering the mythic elements that play into both his and Ives' conception of The United States, as a native and a tourist, a participant and a bystander. ‘It was interesting for us both to play off our presumptions and biases,' he says. ‘Thinking about the fantasy and the reality'. What's more symbolic of The American Dream? 

INFORMATION

connerives.com

I meet Babak Ganjei for a quick coffee and to talk about his art, which becomes wine and talk of Instagram, MasterChef, bands, influencers and locksmiths: a mash-up that accurately reflects the eclectic, pop culture-infused nature of both his work and Instagram feed.

Over the years, Ganjei’s dry humour and sharply observational artwork has built him a fan base on Instagram, where he sells his work directly to customers. After studying art at Central Saint Martins in London, Ganjei spent a decade playing in bands and creating comics, releasing the comic book Hilarious Consequences in 2010 before returning to art. ‘I haven’t changed from my degree show, I’m doing the same thing, it’s just that the internet didn’t exist then,’ he says. ‘If it did, I would have [used] it then – it’s just what I do, I have to tell everybody everything. And I did tell everyone everything then, but only a few people saw it.’

The confessional tone of his pieces strikes a chord, from I’m So Scared of Being Found Out and I’m Not Even Sure What I’ve Done and I Miss You So Much When You’re Gone But When You Are Here I Can Take It Or Leave It to his most popular, I’m In the Bush Outside and I Really Love You, on both paper and in special-edition neon. He’s not impressed at the suggestion his pieces are romantic: ‘I guess. I was raised on rom-coms; I don’t go out with anybody and I think half of that is because in the rom-coms, when people get together it goes shit. It’s almost like human sacrifice – I have to stay in this perpetual torment to make stupid work.’

Other popular pieces are his film ideas – Film Idea: Not My First Rodeo: A Cowboy Goes On His Second Rodeo and Film Idea: Billy Elliot 2: Ten Years on Billy Elliot Goes on Tour With Missy Elliot Then Discovers She Is His Real Mum – also born from social media. A retweet from American comedian Rob Delaney sent casting directors to Ganjei’s Twitter account; Ganjei composed the ideas to attract their attention. ‘The 140 character limit lent itself to pithy film ideas, which I then began to draw on paper. They’re just words but, visually, it clicked on Instagram. If I do painting on that medium I don’t get any attention, but if I write it in big letters it’s instant.’

As his work becomes increasingly successful, he is inclined to take a step back: ‘I’m not used to it, because it wasn’t meant to work and then it worked, but it’s not very hard – I don’t get that. Then it becomes challenging and I say I’m going to delete the website. I don’t know if it’s appealing to the audience to be doing well. I have this massive guilt complex where I’m meant to be constantly struggling and now I’m not.’

His Instagram feed is a mix of his work, his thoughts and these worries; as he uses it to sell his work, he feels the pressure to post regularly, aware he loses followers after a football rant or MasterChef pontifications. ‘Why did they unfollow? I don't want it to bother me and it doesn’t, but it does – I’m talking about it,’ he says. ‘And every now and then I can tell the algorithm has gone and it’s not being seen by so many people, and I realise I don’t understand it and the whole thing hinges on this arbitrary thing that isn’t in my control and that’s quite scary – if Instagram went down I don’t know if I would exist.’

The physical drawing of his work doesn’t take Ganjei long, 15 or 20 minutes. ‘Once, someone watched me make a picture and I was trying to stretch it out a bit, but it’s really hard to do it slowly.’ He then shares the work online as soon as he finishes it, before checking for spelling mistakes. ‘I’m starting to think I don’t have to post it as soon as it’s done,’ he adds. ‘It’s almost like Instagram is an online diary; you can take time and decide if it’s good or not – I don’t even give myself that chance, I just post it and hope for the best.’ 

Typically, Ganjei underplays his current projects: a pamphlet of his film ideas released with Rough Trade Records, his involvement in Somerset House’s upcoming exhibition ‘Beano: The Art of Breaking the Rules’, and his current exhibition at Browns East. ‘I’ve got these things in the background,’ he says. ‘People do copy me; it’s a matter of time until someone cooler and younger starts doing something like this – anyone can write something on a piece of paper.’

He is in talks to do a TV show, he adds, casually. ‘Although it won’t get picked up,’ he says in the same breath. ‘While it’s a potential it’s quite exciting, because it means I’m potentially doing a TV show in which I’m playing Babak, a loveable character. I don’t know where the end game is when you get this meta.’

INFORMATION

Babak Ganjei’s exhibtion will be on show at Browns East, London, until 2 October 2021, brownsfashion.com

babakganjeiworks.com

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped has been 60 years in the making. The 18 September will mark the unveiling of their final temporary work in Paris, the city where they first met in 1958.

The duo – partners in life and work – will posthumously wrap the international landmark in 25,000 sq m of silvery-blue polypropylene fabric and red rope until 3 October 2021, 63 years on from Christo’s arrival in the city as a Bulgarian political refugee. 

Christo, who died at the age of 84 in 2020, was an artist who rarely stood still. Even in his final year, he was working towards wrapping up the Arc de Triomphe in great swathes of fabric, a project that, as per the artist’s wishes, will at last reach fruition. 

During the installation of L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, Sotheby’s Paris will show ‘The Final Christo’, an exhibition of 25 works on paper narrating the story of this monumental project, from early fantasy to final, posthumous realisation. These works defy categorisation. They are a marriage of different media, juxtaposing maps, architectural plans, photographs and engineering drawings with exquisitely handled pastel and paint. These are the inner workings of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s final, extraordinary vision. 

Christo and Jeanne-Claude were best known for site-specific work enveloping monumental landmarks and environmental sites in fabric. Though equal partners, the pair originally worked solely under Christo’s name, a decision made to bolster their chances of success in a time of prejudice against female artists. In 1994, Jeanne-Claude was unveiled as the other half of the process, and all installations were attributed to Christo and Jeanne-Claude, even following Jeanne-Claude’s death in 2009. 

Divisive, political, and relentlessly ambitious, the duo’s work dominated both urban and natural environments, transforming iconic landmarks and landscapes beyond recognition, what Christo referred to as ‘gentle disturbances’. 

Proceeds from each work in Sotheby’s sale will benefit both the L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped project, and the Christo Jeanne-Claude Foundation, established to secure the artists’ legacy. The exhibition marks Sotheby’s second partnership with Christo’s estate, following the ‘white glove’ sale of his collection in February 2021. 

‘Our work of art is a scream of freedom’ was the famous rallying cry of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, their art a gesture of unfettered liberty. Throughout their career, they systematically refused sponsorship, grants, volunteer labour, and all forms of merchandising and monetising. ‘To keep that absolute freedom we cannot be obliged to anyone,’ Christo once noted.

Many of their ideas were realised in a backdrop of bank loans, passion and unwavering determination. But this meant that their preparatory work carried even more weight; their concepts were financed through the sale of final works, but also the preliminary drawings of projects. 

‘Christo’s original works demonstrate the imagination and technical brio of an artist who dreamed the impossible and made it unforgettably real. These works made possible the seminal projects that dominated Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s later career.’ says Simon Shaw, vice chairman of Sotheby’s. ‘Their sale was the sole means of funding their public projects, such as New York’s The Gates and Berlin’s Wrapped Reichstag. While the nature of these installations was always to be temporary, lasting only a matter of days, they live forever in two places: in the collective imagination and in Christo’s breath-taking original works.

INFORMATION

’The Final Christo’, 17 September to 3 October, Sotheby’s, Paris, sothebys.com

For those unable to view the work in person, Sotheby’s and Snap have teamed up to create ‘The Final Christo: Original Works for The Arc de Triomphe’ global portal Lens, which overlays Snap’s AR onto Christo’s original works. For more information, visit lens.snapchat.com

christojeanneclaude.net

Last year, Tom of Finland turned 100. The trailblazing cultural icon (born Touko Laaksonen, 1920-1991), created work that simultaneously dropped jaws, squared up to the stagnant views of 20th-century society, and sang an ode to queer liberation. 

In his heroic homoerotic drawings – starring hyper-masculine hunks, clad in uniforms or leather gear, all bulging muscles and members – he fearlessly confronted a system that denied freedom, legality, and basic rights to the gay community. 

To mark the artist’s centenary, Fotografiska in collaboration with the Tom of Finland Foundation produced ‘The Darkroom’, a deep-dive into the artist's life and work. Now on view at Fotografiska’s New York outpost, the show offers an intimate view of a little-known, and forcibly concealed, facet of Tom of Finland’s process: his reference photography. 

‘The Darkroom’ consists of never-before-exhibited portraits captured as source material for Tom of Finland’s famed drawings. Among the photographs are portraits of friends and partners – including those Tom of Finland and Robert Mapplethorpe took of each other – that were confined to his home studio and darkroom for years, with much of the correspondence between the artist and his subjects destroyed due to the illegality of homosexuality at the time. To have practiced this process in plain sight would have risked a prison sentence.

‘Being aware of what society had denied homosexuals, Tom went about creating the archetype of masculine homosexuals who participate freely together in sex – a decree from Nature herself, says Durk Dehner, president and co-founder of the Tom of Finland Foundation, created in 1984. ‘Men knew instinctively that Tom drew with them in mind. Tom’s motives were nurturing, parental. He wanted men to grow up healthy and strong – in body and mind. He wanted to break the old cycles of self-doubt.’ 

Though the Tom of Finland Foundation’s original goal was to preserve the artist’s vast catalogue of work, it has since evolved into something of far greater magnitude. It now seeks to offer a haven for all erotic art against rampant discrimination. Today, the foundation is committed to educating the public on the cultural merits of erotic art and promoting more inclusive and tolerant attitudes towards sexuality. 

And the show doesn’t end on the gallery walls. Another key feature can be found lining the hallway and bathroom of Fotografiska New York, a collaboration between Tom of Finland Foundation and Brooklyn-based wallpaper brand Flavor Paper. 

The wallpaper was originally showcased in the 2019 Wallpaper* Handmade X exhibition with Michael Reynolds + Hoffman Creative. The team have now taken their Tom of Finland TAME and XXX designs up a gear, creating an exclusive version for the Fotografiska show in spicy red, available for sale at the museum's physical and online shop. 

The darkroom represents Tom of Finland’s photographic process. It is also a potent symbol for the confinement and persecution of LGBTQ+ people that many continue to face. 

The show is a portrait of an artist who offered those who saw his work the confidence to live with pride, grab oppression by the horns, and walk, with zest, out from the darkroom.

INFORMATION
Tom of Finland: ’The Darkroom’, until 20 August, 2021, Fotografiska New York. fotografiska.com
tomoffinland.org

Korea’s Hyundai Motor Company stands a good chance of becoming the first truly modern mobility corporation of the post-automobile era. Over the past two decades, a combination of industrial muscle, superior design chops and a will to innovate have seen the brand become a global player. In addition to the eponymous car brand, Hyundai also owns a substantial chunk of Kia Motors, along with its luxury division Genesis, and newly announced IONIQ and HTWO sub-brands for electric and hydrogen vehicles respectively. Even with a pandemic raging, in 2020, the company sold 3.7 million Hyundai vehicles, and 2.6 million Kia vehicles, putting it high up the list of major players.

Hyundai is also a towering example of Korea’s family-orientated business culture. The current chairman, Euisun Chung, is the grandson of Juyung Chung, who founded the Hyundai Group in 1946. The car company was founded in 1967 and owed its early success to a team of former British Leyland employees. They oversaw the very first Korean car, the 1975 Pony, styled by no less a talent than the master Italian automotive designer Giorgetto Giugiaro.

Hyundai: a history

Although Hyundai Motor is one of many businesses to hive off from the original company over the years, it still benefits from the latter’s halo effect. The Hyundai name is attached to all forms of construction, as well as shipbuilding, shipping, electronics, finance and tourism, while also being active in philanthropy and global relations. Under Juyung Chung, Hyundai became an engine of Korea’s economic revolution and helped make the country one of Asia’s four ‘Tiger Economies’. The Hyundai name remains a source of national pride. So far it has avoided the unease and suspicion that now surrounds FAANG and other tech titans.

All that might change, for the automobile is on the cusp of a revolution, one that will see it edge closer in spirit to the device in your pocket rather than the machine parked outside your house. Up until the turn of the last decade, Hyundai Motor focused on value-orientated products with tried and tested reliability. This ensured its swift rise to ubiquity, but brand recognition still eluded it. The company ultimately found its brand mojo through its long association with German designer Peter Schreyer, formerly head of design at Audi, then Volkswagen.

In 2006, Schreyer was hired first by Kia, before being appointed president of the company’s various global design centres. Today he is the group’s head of design management. Schreyer has an uncanny ability to distil automotive identity down to a few signature elements. He was one of the drivers behind the VW Group’s sophisticated brand management, which used key designs – Audi’s TT, the revived Volkswagen Beetle, the Bentley Continental GT – to steer its various wards towards strong individual identities despite increasingly shared components.

Initially, Kia and Hyundai Motor offered Schreyer a larger canvas but a more limited palette. He set his teams painstakingly to create a new family of distinctive cars, from small to large, modest to lavish. Both brands became bolder, creating products for Asia’s fast-growing youth market and America’s heartland consumers, most notably a series of compact SUVs and crossovers. These cars– including the Kia Soul and Sportage, and the Hyundai Tucson and Santa Fe – continue to sell well around the globe, bolstering corporate confidence for a brave next step.

What's next?

Like all heavy industries, car makers work many years in advance. Hyundai Motor’s gears have been grinding in the background, for it entered 2021 with such a raft of new products and announcements that at times it was hard to keep up. Last year, Wallpaper* bestowed a coveted Design Award on the 45 Concept (see W*251), a sleek mainstream electric car that proudly bore the influence of Giugiaro’s 1974 Pony Coupé concept – the precursor to the company’s first production car. Schreyer has long admired the Italian master and the 45 paid homage without being slavishly retro. Instead, it made an emotional connection between the technology of tomorrow – the electric car – and the unencumbered optimism of the past. For the first time, a Hyundai expressed the emotional pull of design, that indefinable cocktail of form, function, innovation, even nostalgia.

The 45 has now reached production as the IONIQ 5, the first in a series of IONIQ-branded vehicles spearheading Hyundai Motor’s push for full electrification. Next year it will be joined by the IONIQ 6, a saloon previewed by the swooping Hyundai Prophecy, a little-seen concept. Both cars share a platform but have very different body styles. Variation has always been a big selling point of a flexible EV platform, but Hyundai Motor is practically alone in its willingness to explore this. SangYup Lee, the brand’s senior vice president and head of Hyundai’s Global Design Center, used the Prophecy to make the point that the company is moving away from the decades-old ‘Russian Doll’ approach to car design, still exemplified by BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Instead, every model will be an outlier. Even Hyundai Motor’s newest minivan, the Staria, shakes up this most conservative of sectors with a monolithically minimal approach to exterior design. As hire purchase gives way to subscription services, brands with design diversity are far more attractive to customers who choose their vehicle according to ever-changing needs.

Although EVs are the fastest road to a diverse product portfolio, Hyundai Motor is hedging its bets with a $6.7bn investment in hydrogen technology. The world’s first mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) was the Hyundai iX35. The company currently sells the bespoke Nexo FCEV and is pushing for trucks, buses and cargo ships to pivot to hydrogen in the next two decades. Simultaneously, Kia is being transformed, with a new design language, corporate identity and brand manifesto. The thrust of the latter is that Kia will ‘move beyond being a traditional car manufacturer to [become] a mobility brand’. This push is led by the new EV6, an elegant yet practical EV that marks a distinct break from preceding Kia models.

Hyundai Motor is also committed to far-reaching projects like urban air mobility, developing a mock-up of a personal air vehicle with Uber. Designed to connect with a network of landing hubs and shuttles that get passengers to their final destination, the company expects to be swooping over cities such as LA and Seoul by the end of this decade. With a background in engineering, Hyundai Motor is better placed than most manufacturers to predict the investment and infrastructure required for such a project. And in yet another sign that it is thinking far, far ahead, last year it acquired a majority stake in robotics firm Boston Dynamics, the world’s most adept builder of androids.

In the space of 15 years, Hyundai Motor has transformed itself into a brand with a truly credible sci-fi pedigree. While we can expect a few more years of SUV dominance (there’s no chance of an asteroid that’ll decimate those dinosaurs overnight), the company is well positioned to benefit from mobility’s transition from a product into a service. What’s more, its scale suggests it can go it alone. The combination of design, desire and an ability to effect global change means Hyundai Motor is a name to watch

INFORMATION

hyundai.com

kia.com

While architecture may not be the first thing that springs to mind when we think of James Bond, the film’s locations are not only often crucial to the plot but also look pretty cool. Now, the most iconic sets from the films have been celebrated by artist Leonie Wharton, who has been commissioned by home service tool HomeAdvisor to bring the beautiful buildings to life. The minimalist posters are nicely timed as we welcome No Time To Die’s 2021 release. Enjoy our favourites from this modernist exploration of Bond’s back catalogue.

Goldfinger

Fort Knox may be at the centre of Goldfinger’s masterplan, but 007 doesn’t plan on letting him control the world’s gold market just yet. Surely, though, they can at least agree on the beauty in the building’s symmetrical Art Deco lines.

Thunderball

What is it with James Bond and sharks? 007 just can’t resist them, illustrated here at Rock Point, the Bahamas home of Emilio Largo and where Bond decides to take a dip in a shark-infested pool.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

Seems a shame to waste such perfect skiing conditions, but Ernst Stavro Blofeld has loftier plans than a black run. Switzerland’s iconic Piz Gloria restaurant is brought ominously to life – an appropriate spot, then, from which to wage a bacteriological war.

GoldenEye

Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory becomes secret antenna cradle Janus Satellite Control Center, the evil headquarters which control the GoldenEye satellites in 1995’s classic GoldenEye.

Skyfall

Home to Bond’s arguably most enticing villain, Hashima Island in Takashimamachi, Japan, becomes the lair of Raoul Silva in Skyfall. His base where he hopes to seduce both the world and Bond himself, its simple form here is set against a fittingly apocalyptic sky.

INFORMATION

homeadvisor.com/r/james-bond-architecture

Death can be a difficult topic to discuss, and despite its inevitability we can be left feeling surprised or unprepared when confronted with it. A new book, How to Die Well, aims to change this by looking at the four stages of death, from ‘Before you Go’ and ‘Your Funeral’, to ‘Saying Goodbye’ and ‘Good Grief’.

The book, produced by life insurance company Royal London and creative agency Rankin, explores these processes through illustrations by Italian-born, Denmark-based artist, Andrea Ucini. Ucini’s understated style makes a poignant foil for the complexity of the subject matter, with his neat images drawing everyday scenes in simple linework. The muted colour palette and pure form gently subvert the mundane, with the prosaic nature of his portraits lending acceptance to death’s role in life.

In Saying Goodbye, a couple are divided by a fractured bridge. In Pets and Death, a dog rests behind his owner’s unworn coat and boots which dress an invisible profile. In Before You Go, a couple pause a bike ride to hold each other. Your Funeral depicts a solitary pianist returning to the stage for his final bow, Good Grief a woman embracing emptiness.

The illustrations are a complement to the book which, alongside practical advice from settling estates to writing a will and saying the final goodbyes, offers personal essays; including from photographer Rankin who reflects on his parents’ death. It looks into often stressful issues including palliative care, funeral poverty and assisted dying in a bid to open the conversation around death

INFORMATION

How to Die Well is available for free download at royallondon.com/how-to-die-well

andreaucini.com

It's fitting that the group term for butterflies is ‘kaleidoscope', because Weekend Max Mara's S/S 2021 collection is emblazoned with prismatic prints of fluttering wings.

For spring, the Italian brand has teamed up with renowned American illustrator and artist Donald Robertson, on a breezy womenswear collection of ‘Flutterfly' motif pieces, which are the result of instinctive inspiration. ‘Imagine my ear is a door into my brain. The Weekend Max Mara designers crawled up and into my head – they seemed to understand exactly what I wanted to create from the start,' Robertson explains.

‘Social media requires speedy content and oil painting takes way too long to dry'

Robertson is famed for his expressive, uplifting and playful illustrations, which revel in a spontaneous sense of form and colour. The artist has collaborated with a host of brands and retailers, including Bergdorf Goodman and Smashbox. Celebrating fast-paced creativity, he often uses graphic gaffer tape in his Instagram-emblazoned designs, which is used recreate the heart-shaped Comme des Garçons PLAY logo or form the bodies of stylish stick figures. ‘Social media requires speedy content and oil painting takes way too long to dry. Tape is instantaneous and super photogenic,' he explains.

The material played a central role in Robertson's designs for Weekend Max Mara which see rainbow stripes and bold butterfies formed from strips and scissored shapes of gaffer tape. It also informs the construction of silhouettes, including a summer dress with geometric straps and criss-cross waistbands. ‘I go between figurative fashion stuff and super graphic stripes. That is where the gaffer tape comes into play,' Robertson says. ‘The butterflies were an experiment to make something delicate out of hard edge tape.'

While Robertson's designs have a naturalistic nod, the artist has revelled in the indoors solitude of the last 12 months. ‘I have waited my entire life to be told to go to my room and not come out,' he enthuses. ‘I don’t want to leave my studio. I love it in here. I am a complete creative criminal! I borrow ideas from everyone, my kids, other artists, dead artists, that elephant on YouTube that paints... everything inspires me. I am just waiting for the police to kick down my studio door!'

INFORMATION

maxmara.com

A year on from when the UK entered its first lockdown, ‘Hang Together' emerges. The aptly named online print store was, like so many digital initiatives that bloomed in the age of physical distance and shuttered shops, born from a desire to remain connected and collaborative throughout the pandemic.

Created by London-based art directors Dom and Jo Murray-Bell, the digital shop works with both emerging and established artists, designers, illustrators and photographers to present an exclusive edit of reasonably priced art prints (starting at £25).

Hang Together: a collaboration

The creative duo – having worked with likes of Wallpaper*, SHOW, Selfridges, Bally and more – have used their network of contemporary image makers to provide a platform for showcasing work, while taking the legwork out of finding unique and alternative art prints and wall art for a receptive global audience. ‘We felt like it was a good time to launch a creative business which was about enhancing the spaces that we live in,' they explain.

The duo site art with ‘a bold, graphic aesthetic' as the driving force behind the launch collection. Pick an architectural still life photograph from Baker & Evans, a Bauhaus-inspired interpretation of building blocks by Mitch Payne, or a surreal landscape from Petra Eriksson. The edit is currently small and select – but Hang Together is always looking for new ideas. ‘We really value the collaborative relationship we have with our artists, rather than simply "stocking" their work,' they explain. ‘We plan on regularly adding new art to the shop.'

Jo and Dom designed the colourful visual identity and website themselves – deliberately wonky ‘Buy' and ‘Read more' buttons hanging oddly like mismanaged picture frames. They also provide a framing service (unlike many print shop start-ups) and print on high quality matte art paper made by Hahnemuhle.

INFORMATION

hangtogether.studio

The work of Emma Talbot is part art, part poetry. Much of her ideas are autobiographical, yet also confront some of society’s most pertinent structural issues, from gender inequality to environmental collapse. Her work eschews pessimism and cynicism in favour of hope, a timely sentiment as spring emerges and the world begins to recalibrate in response to one of the bleakest periods in recorded history. 

Coinciding with International Women’s Day earlier this month, Talbot became the latest Circa artist, staging work on London’s iconic Piccadilly Lights screen following projects by the likes of Patti Smith and Ai Weiwei.

For the commission, Talbot created four animated films in collaboration with Whitechapel Gallery, Collezione Maramotti and the Max Mara Art Prize for Women. Titled Four Visions for a Hopeful Future, the films follow a woman at the gateway between an old and new world. Mirroring the year, the screens light up with Talbot’s work at 20:21 each evening, disrupting the usual advertising on a rolling four-night schedule throughout March. ‘I really wanted to make some work that spoke of our times, to narrate the extraordinary zeitgeist,’ she tells Wallpaper*. ‘In lockdown, I’d been struck by the way a lot of contemporary thinkers (e.g. Valarie Kaur, Rebecca Solnit, Isabelle Stengers, Starhawk) were articulating the need to take time to reconfigure the ways we act, to build a more equal, considerate, sustainable, responsible, caring future.’ 

Talbot’s influences for the piece are wide-ranging – from Arundhati Roy’s article, The Pandemic is a Portal to the work of medieval visionary Hildegard von Bingen. Her work is anchored in the here and now, observing the bleakness of recent times, while also harnessing the transformative and cathartic power of springtime. The films, comprising hand-drawn landscapes of dreamlike natural beauty, rich with floral and bodily forms. ‘The four animations come at the subject from different perspectives – they ask various questions; what a city is, how have power structures have been constructed, how powerful can communities be, what voices get heard, how can we connect with nature,’ says Talbot, who taught herself how to translate her drawings into animation during the first lockdown.

Last year, Talbot became the recipient of the eighth Mara Art Prize for Women, a biannual award established in 2005 in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery. As the sole visual art prize for women in the UK, it aims to promote and nurture female artists who are yet to receive a major solo exhibition. Talbot’s winning proposal focused on the perceived shame attached to female ageing, a feminist response to Gustav Klimt’s painting The Three Ages of Woman (1905). Klimt’s work depicts a baby, a young woman and a nude elderly woman seemingly stooped in shame. ‘I was fascinated by the painting on a personal level, thinking about the ways ageing is considered negatively, but I also had a sense there was more to the subject,’ Talbot explains. 

In response, Talbot will turn the concept on its head, reframing the woman as someone with agency. ‘The elderly woman will be a future survivor, who learns permaculture and sustainable living, relearning ancient practices and she will go back to the past and reconfigure the roots of power. To do this, she will perform the twelve trials of Hercules. Instead of resolving the tasks by killing, capture, theft and trickery, as Hercules did, I imagine the wise elderly woman would use more considered, benevolent means, such as commensalism and mutualism.’ 

When travel restrictions permit, Talbot will embark on a six-month residency organised by Collezione Maramotti. On her trip, she plans to research Etruscan pottery depicting the Herculean myths in Rome, visit permaculture sites and the ruins of the Temple of Hercules in Sicily, and explore the history of hand-painted silk in Italian fashion houses and learn intarsia knitting in Reggio Emilia. This will result in a new body of work to be shown first at Whitechapel Gallery and then at the Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy in 2022.

INFORMATION

Four Visions for a Hopeful Future will be on view in Piccadilly Circus, London until 31 March, 2021. circa.art

emmatalbot.org.uk

maxmara.com

collezionemaramotti.org

whitechapelgallery.org

If the last year has taught us anything, it’s the power of human connection. And while we’ve been deprived of revelry, community and physical contact, there are signs that the world may soon emerge from hibernation. 

For Paris-based fashion illustrator, painter and cultural writer Jean-Philippe Delhomme, it was a human connection that inspired his new mural for Carlyle & Co, one that spanned half a century. 

Over the years, the artist made frequent pilgrimages to Bemelmans Bar (named after Austrian-born American writer and illustrator Ludwig Bemelmans, whose murals adorn its walls) in New York’s iconic Carlyle Hotel. ‘I’ve always felt a certain affinity with Bemelmans, in the way he was painting and writing, travelling, and a sense of humour and fantasy which appealed to me,’ Delhomme tells Wallpaper*. ‘I was very happy to have the occasion to follow in his tracks more than half a century later, and in another part of the world.’ 

Set to launch early this summer, Carlyle & Co is the much-anticipated private members’ club sited at Hong Kong’s Victoria Dockside art and design district. The club was the brainchild of Sonia Cheng, CEO of Rosewood Hotel Group, and draws on the timeless opulence of the New York location from which it takes its name. Carlyle & Co seeks to build on the hotel’s legacy for a contemporary crowd. 

The club will occupy 25,000 sq ft across three main levels, catering for the needs of every member, mood and occasion. It includes standalone dining and bar concepts, a music room, a library, a reading room, a wine cellar, a living room, a private barber, a tailor, among other trimmings. For the interiors, the club enlisted British interior designer Ilse Crawford. ‘We designed carefully to elevate every activity, whether it’s a drink or a dinner, a meeting with your tailor or an evening debate,’ Crawford says of her vision. ‘It is the sense that magic can happen anywhere, at any time of the day.’ 

The jewel in Carlyle & Co’s crown will be its own incarnation of Café Carlyle, which will host genre-spanning live music performances: think everything from smoky jazz to sumptuous soul and flamboyant cabaret. It’s here that Delhomme will stage two murals, New York Shuffle, and You, the Night, and the Music. ‘I thought of it first as an evocation of a fantasy, a classic New York City, which I always like and always made me dream,’ he says of New York Shuffle, his main mural for the location. ‘I thought it would be amusing for the mural to also be a tribute to Bemelmans, and I painted my own version, inspired by some of his characters: rabbits and dogs and even an elephant, dressed up to our contemporary standards, like a dog jogging with his ear pods.’ 

Delhomme never works with an assistant; he likes to retain the spontaneity and keep the painting ‘alive’ instead of ’simply reproducing the sketches’. The artist began with gouache sketches on paper. Three months later, the murals were complete, comprising two 10m x 1.9m paintings. ‘It’s very important that in a painting, each area is alive and expressive to convey its own energy,’ he says.

‘It’s very important that in a painting, each area is alive and expressive to convey its own energy’ 

New York Shuffle reads like an anthology of stories, with ‘subtle winks’ to Bemelmans. ‘Most of the figures are imagined, like the musicians, the people in the bar, or in the street, in front of The Carlyle, or a woman reading a book by the lake in Central Park,’ Delhomme explains. But some of the characters are discernable; figures of The Carlyle’s past. There’s Tommy Rowles, beloved Bemelmans Bar bartender for 53 years, American cabaret musician Bobby Short manning the piano, and Eartha Kitt singing. In a personal tribute, Delhomme has included a portrait of Ludwig Bemelmans himself, painting en plein air. The image is inspired by Bemelmans’ travels through France in the early 1960s, when he drove a car that also served as his mobile studio. 

At Carlyle & Co, the art won’t end there. It does, after all, flow through the veins of the club’s heritage. Pass through the velvet curtains of the club and you’ll come face to face with a private collection of contemporary paintings, sculptures and commissioned works, including more murals staged in the lobby and sitting room, this time by Australian-born, New York-based illustrator Christina Zimpel. The club will be furnished with midcentury and contemporary design pieces, including chairs by the likes of Angelo Mangiarotti, Mario Bellini and Poul Kjaerholm, a chandelier by Piet Hein Eek and Studioilse’s stools for Artifort and tables and consoles for Zanat.

Delhomme’s murals are mirrors on The Carlyle’s fabled legacy: the stuff of films, with all its gleaming elegance, iconic design, a compendium of claims to fame and anecdotes of merrymaking. The works epitomise a variety of life that has, in recent times, been temporarily shelved. 

How does Delhomme hope future Carlyle & Co members will respond to his work? He hopes it will start conversations, and that all those who encounter it ‘feel the energy and humour that I tried to convey while painting it, and that this will bring them a smile’.

INFORMATION

Membership applications for Carlyle & Co, due to open in early summer 2021, are now open. carlyleandco.com

jphdelhomme.com

Timex has joined forces with Tokyo-based illustrator and designer Face for the newest iteration of the classic Camper model. His reinterpretation of the clean watch dial sits alongside an Analog Life concept from Japan’s Anna magazine, celebrating the simple pleasures of being offline.

The effortless functionality of the classic Camper model, first released in the 1980s makes it the ideal blank canvas for a playful design. Face’s idiosyncratic style adds an irreverent edge to the lightweight model in resin. Measuring a modest 36mm, the watch dial celebrates the physical act of checking the time on a watch and not a phone face. The simple design cornerstones of the watch are an effective foil for the bright rainbow of hues and unexpected colour combinations that characterise Face’s buoyant designs.

Analog Life underlines this simple concept, encouraging us to put down our phone and go back to basics in every area of our life. A tongue-in-cheek editorial suggests the simple ways in which we can escape from our all-encompassing digital lives.

For Face, this simplicity was reflected in the organic process of the design: ‘It’s my style – there’s no more to it than that,’ he says. ‘I hope wearing these watches makes people happy everyday.’

INFORMATION

timex.co.uk

In recent weeks, mass protests and demonstrations have been staged across the US and worldwide following a series of recent killings in the US including Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd.

In this time, Instagram has become a space for the global community to move in solidarity, towards a single mission: to demonstrate that black lives matter. The official Instagram account of Black Lives Matter – an international movement founded in 2013 – has now garnered 2.9 million followers and counting.

Many posts across Instagram have come from artists and creatives, making new work, or recontextualising historical pieces to respond to, and give a voice to this moment. What has emerged is art’s role, through the globally communicative force of social media to repeat and reinterpret messages that words often fail to articulate. 

The content of the last week has proved that art has the power to educate, spark debate, initiate change and speak about racial injustice, as well as take action against it. Many artists and creative bodies are sharing links to charities and resources or directing funds from the sale of their work to Black Lives Matter-related initiatives and organisations. These include the Minnesota Freedom Fund the Black Visions Collective and the 15 Percent Pledge. 

Here are just some of the many voices using their visual language to express the collective rage, resistance and solidarity of this moment and beyond, reinforced through art.

Hank Willis Thomas – artist

Fahamu Pecou – artist

Mark Clennon – photographer

Jammie Holmes – artist

Mona Chalabi – data journalist

Nikkolas Smith – artist

Jarrett Key – artist 

Fuzzed Up Bear – artist

Calida Garcia Rawles – painter, in collaboration with Diedrick Brackens – textile artist

Greg Ruth – artist

Lorna Simpson – artist

Deborah Roberts – artist

Adam Pendleton – artist

Eric Rieger (Hot Tea) – artist

INFORMATION

For more information, visit blacklivesmatter.com or follow @blklivesmatter

On a palm tree-lined street in Echo Park, an increasingly hip neighbourhood near downtown Los Angeles, you’ll find a beautifully preserved craftsman house from 1910. Apart from the 12ft hedges that run across the front of the property, little would seem to distinguish the residence from its well-kept neighbours. Step inside, however, and a different world comes into view. 

Hundreds of works of erotic art spread across virtually all the 17 rooms in the house, as well as its backyard patio and terraced gardens. They range from a sculpted phallus called Disco Boy, made of tiny squares of mirrored glass, to a bird feeder fitted with delicately hand-painted scenes of bondage and discipline.

A working fountain incorporating a urinal has been constructed in the backyard, while faux frescoes on the first and second floor ceilings present a veritable orgy of men pleasuring themselves and one another. 

The house is the headquarters of the Tom of Finland Foundation, an organisation devoted to preserving the legacy of the most influential homoerotic artist of the 20th century. Across a career that spanned nearly 50 years, Tom created thousands of drawings of muscle-bound, bulgingly priapic sailors, soldiers, cops, cowboys, bikers and lifeguards. His pictures delight in the sheen of leather boots and motorcycle jackets and in the snug fit of sailor trousers and muscle shirts. 

The male figures wearing those boots and trousers engage in exuberant acts of sexual exchange, often leaning toward fetishism and light bondage. For all their explicitness, Tom’s drawings remain lodged within a fantasy world of illustration where every guy is impossibly well-endowed and endlessly open to the next erotic adventure.

The Tom of Finland house is also the private residence of Durk Dehner and SR Sharp, a couple who serve as the foundation’s president and vice president, respectively. Dehner, a close friend, model and muse for Tom of Finland, co-founded the organisation with the artist in 1984. Originally conceived as a means to promote Tom’s work and preserve his legacy, the foundation eventually expanded to support a wide range of erotic art – by both men and women – through exhibitions, life-drawing classes, erotic art fairs and an artist-in-residence programme. 

The foundation’s early years coincided with the height of the Aids epidemic in America. Artists concerned that their work would be forgotten or destroyed after their deaths bequeathed it to the foundation knowing it would be archived and lovingly preserved. The foundation now possesses a permanent collection of approximately 3,500 works, some 150 of which are displayed in the home at any one time, often in thematic exhibitions curated by Sharp and Dehner. In addition, original drawings by Tom, as well as numerous reproductions and monumental blow-ups of his work, appear throughout the house and grounds.

The artist, born Touko Laaksonen, gained his professional moniker in 1957, when his drawings first appeared in the American magazine Physique Pictorial. The magazine’s photographer/publisher, Bob Mizer, felt the artist’s foreign name would be too difficult for readers to pronounce or remember so he dubbed him ‘Tom of Finland’. 

During the 1980s, Tom split his time between Helsinki and Los Angeles, ultimately basing himself entirely at the house in Echo Park (Dehner had purchased the home with friends). Tom’s studio/ bedroom in the converted attic has been preserved  much as the artist left it, with leather pillowcases on the bed and pencils and chalk at the drafting table. Also displayed in the room are Tom’s motorcycle jacket, boots and a selection of his beloved uniforms, including those of a Finnish soldier, an American sailor, a German police officer and a Canadian Mountie. 

While unapologetically pornographic, Tom’s work has increasingly been recognised as high art. The permanent collections of both the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art include drawings by the artist and, this past June, a selection of Tom’s work was shown (and sold) at Art Basel, the most prestigious international art fair. In 2013, working closely with the foundation, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles presented a show featuring Tom’s drawings and collages alongside photographs by Mizer from Physique Pictorial. The exhibition’s introductory text described Tom of Finland as ‘the creator of some of the most iconic and readily recognisable images of post-war homomasculinity’ (almost certainly marking that word’s official debut in the museum).

Alongside its elevation by the art world, Tom’s work has increasingly entered mainstream culture. In September of this year, the Finnish postal service released stamps in honour of the artist, one of which features a drawing of a naked man’s shapely buttocks and spread legs. According to Sharp, these are ‘the first homoerotic postage stamps in the world’. The nomination of Tom for this honour was made by the foundation, which also worked on a companion show, currently on display at the Finnish Postal Museum in Tampere. Titled ‘Sealed with a Secret: Correspondence of Tom of Finland’, the show mines the artist’s trove of letters and photographs to chart his life and work.

Tom’s influence extends not only to other erotic artists but also to the development of gay culture across the second half of the 20th century. His drawings have inspired countless viewers not just to hit the gym or don a biker cap but also to imagine an alternative version of homosexuality. As Sharp puts it, ‘when Tom’s work first appeared in the 1950s, it defied the dominant image of gay men as sissies, fairies and pansies’. Tom’s drawings offered a ‘homo-masculine’ ideal that spoke not only to the desires but also to the personal aspirations of his viewing audience. Some admirers of Tom’s art even had their trousers tailored to fit more like those of the men in the drawings, then sent photographs of themselves wearing the refashioned attire to the artist. Such photographs may now be found in the correspondence archive held by the foundation.

And yet, what may finally be most inspiring about the Tom of Finland house is the way in which the artist’s relentlessly butch aesthetic mingles with quite different styles of décor and domesticity. That aforementioned mirrored phallus (made by the artist Douglas Holtquist) sits beneath an art nouveau crystal chandelier from 1913. A bust of a bearded leatherman in the kitchen turns out, on closer inspection, to be a ceramic jar (the man’s biker cap doubles as a removable lid) with a base bearing the inscription ‘tuff cookie’. And a quilt spread across a guest room bed features two male nudes – each intricately composed of geometric patches of blue, white and black fabric – enjoying a moment of shared self-gratification. 

Rather than appearing kitsch, such objects might be seen as an example of camp at its most generous. In her 1964 notes on that subject, Susan Sontag wrote that ‘people who share this sensibility are not laughing at the thing they label as “a camp”, they’re enjoying it. Camp is a tender feeling.’

And it was, finally, a feeling of tenderness that seemed most to pervade the house, a tenderness towards art, towards sexuality and towards those seeking to combine the two. A rotating cast of characters lives in the house along with Sharp and Dehner, including artists, volunteers and fellow foundation members. A free-form, communal spirit infuses domestic life there. At the moment, a 22-year-old Vietnamese body modification performance artist known professionally as Miss Daphne Von Rey is in residence there along with an Australian writer-in-residence who is helping prepare an application for the house to be designated a historical-cultural monument (HCM) by the city of Los Angeles. Dehner estimates that some 100 artists and other creative souls have lived in the house at one point or another over the last two decades.

According to Dehner, the Tom of Finland house ‘isn’t just about the pictures [on display]. It’s much more about a headspace, a state of being, a letting go of shame and judgements, and a caring for one another. In this house, anybody can be a Tom’s man.’ §

This article originally featured in the November 2014 issue of Wallpaper* (W*188) 

INFORMATION

tomoffinland.org
#toms100

As the pace of our days has shifted, so we revert to simpler pleasures, and baking, keeping fit and indulging hobbies are imbued with a new significance. At home, Dior’s artistic director Victoire de Castellane’s thoughts, too, are firmly on the domestic, and in these series of sketches she imagines how she would have passed these surreal days with Christian Dior. The Rose des Vents sketches, like the jewellery collection of the same name, take inspiration from Dior’s favourite leitmotifs.

‘I wondered what Christian Dior and I would have done during this unprecedented period of confinement and of course over the Easter weekend,’ she muses. Her felt tip pen series concocts the ways they fill the days: ‘I imagined us doing exercise, cooking and of course going on an Easter egg hunt. Christian Dior was not a great sportsman so I pictured us exercising in the salon of 30 Avenue Montaigne, him remaining in a suit and tie. And since he was known for being a gourmet, just like myself, I saw us in the kitchen, baking cake.’

Christian Dior would no doubt have approved: ‘The materials used in the kitchen are just as noble as those in couture, and in my profession I like how the realisation of the work is associated with the involvement of the hands and mind,’ he once remarked.

INFORMATION

dior.com

Inspiration can be hard to come by during down time. Now that the usual fixes for a creative dry spell – meeting with friends, visiting a gallery, taking a meditative stroll – are no longer options, the quickest creative pick me up is to check in on what other people are up to.

Hair artist Julien D’ys is one person never low on artistic output. Over the years, he has amassed hundreds of notebooks all bursting with sketches, paintings and photographs that have formed the basis of his work with Comme des Garçons, John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld and Marni, to name a few. ‘My notebook is like my brain,’ D’ys says. ‘I draw, I think, from there I built my idea and bring it in life.’

Included here are some of the sketches D’ys made in preparation for the 2020 Marni and Comme des Garçons shows. For Marni, the inspiration was ‘Alice in Wonderland mix with acid and rave, rebel kids,' with colours drawn from the work of ‘Egon Schiele and some Russian paintings.' The end result, a gang of  lanky models dripping with glitter and paint, their sinewy hair lacquered to their faces as if they just emerged from a crowded dance floor, was easily the beauty sensation of Milan Fashion Week.

The concept for Comme was far more simple but no less striking. ‘For Comme des Garçons I always get one word from Rei and this time she said BLACK and I start from there. I made some drawings and from there I created wigs showered by black ink.’

In a time when you might have more time then ever, perhaps take a note from D’ys and pick up your pen or make up brush to make your own beautiful creations.

For his cover, MacGarry devised a digital drawing which imagines what the Mozambican capital of Maputo could look like in the year 2050. The artwork builds on MacGarry's ‘100 Suns’ series, usually presented as large-scale inkjet prints on cotton paper.

The series speculates on the power of natural resources to drive growth. Fossil fuels, in particular, have propelled many African nation states to economic success, and populated their cities with soaring, architectural mega-structures in concrete, glass and metal. Mozambique, a country whose debt is equivalent to 100 per cent of its GDP, discovered a natural gas field off the Cabo Delgado coast in 2011. It is now sitting on a compelling opportunity to start writing off its debts.

Tensions are inherent to MacGarry’s portrayal of the Maputo of the future. While teeming with futuristic, alluring architecture, this city is not exactly a promised land. MacGarry is keen to highlight ‘histories of deeply problematic colonial abuses, prolonged civil war and institutional corruption’. His rendering is like a visual cryptograph in ink, as complex as the history of Mozambique itself. He’s interested in interrogating the role oil has played in the several hundred years of crimes perpetrated by Western powers. Likewise, he points to sustainability being a deeply problematised issue in contemporary Africa, as it goes against the interests of fossil fuel extractors and users, thereby threatening a key opportunity for a brighter African future.

Central to MacGarry’s series is the issue of considered growth. His rendering confronts us with the question of whether we want our developing world to keep growing as it is now, which is, in fact, not so different from how it was developing a century ago. Given what we now know of the impact of unbridled urban development, is this still the vision of the future?

Subscribe to Wallpaper* Magazine, and receive your own limited edition cover monthly

A man of many talents, MacGarry recently contributed his photographs of Kiamba Kiaxi, an attempt by Chinese investors to build a new city in Angola, to the new book, Africa State of Mind which features in our April issue. Edited by Ekow Eshun, a former artistic director of London's ICA, the book offers a comprehensive introduction to African photographers who have wielded their lens to re-envision and re-interpret their continent.

INFORMATION

MacGarry’s digital illustration is the latest addition to the Wallpaper* limited-edition cover series, which features a specially created artwork by a different artist each month. Limited-edition covers are available to subscribers only; for more information, see wallpaper.com/subscribe

Africa State of Mind (£40), available from 26 March, published by Thames & Hudson

Magic Spoon is the New York-based brand reimaging America’s favourite childhood cereals into healthy alternatives without sacrificing the flavours, colour or shape.

Focused on keeping childhood charm alive, Magic Spoon has released a limited-edition variety pack of mini boxes – coming in flavours of fruity, frosted, cocoa and blueberry.

Alongside its brightly coloured loops, Magic Spoon has used packaging featuring unique illustrations to each flavour, simultaneously updating cereal box design while keeping a pure sense of silliness that both adults and children can enjoy. The packaging design has been created by illustrators such as the bold and irreverent Levi Jacobs, alongside Magic Spoon’s in-house design team.

‘Mini boxes bring back a certain childhood nostalgia that we are looking to recreate as is with everything that we do as a brand,’ says Gabi Lewis, who co-founded Magic Spoon with Greg Sewitz. ‘Cereal should bring the same excitement as it did when you were a kid, and now we are able to do that with single-serve boxes.’ 

Since it’s launch in 2019, Magic Spoon has brought the public a truly healthy cereal – in fact, it’s the world’s first low-carb, gluten-free and high-protein breakfast cereal.

The brightly packaged cereal has gained thousands of fans for its simple catch-free product – ‘We have heard so much feedback from our customers that they eat Magic Spoon as a snack throughout the day or when on-the-go,’ said Sewitz. ‘Thanks to our nimble supply chain, we were able to quickly make it easier than ever before to enjoy Magic Spoon anywhere, anytime.’

As well as Magic Spoon’s limited edition mini packs, the brand’s original larger sized boxes will still be available in the same flavours.

INFORMATION
magicspoon.com

Last year 10.2 million visitors crossed the threshold of the Louvre. It’s the largest, most replete museum of art in the world and has no trouble drawing a crowd. But we know that. The crowd is the precise reason why perhaps 10 million more didn’t darken its doors. Of the 30-40 000 art-lovers who visit a day, however, 70-80 per cent queued to see the Mona Lisa while other galleries stood empty. Adel Ziane, the Louvre’s Director of External Relations and his team are on a mission to change perceptions, and find ways to breathe new life into the less favoured wings and disseminate knowledge of art history by engaging all the senses. ‘The idea is not to bring more people in, but to welcome them in a different way,’ says Ziane, who is also keen to emphasise that perceived access difficulties are eased somewhat through internet sales, late openings and free/reduced access at down times. ‘The Louvre is not just a museum, it was a fortress in the 12th-century, then a palace, now a museum. Some of the galleries have specific smells, for example. We can connect all our senses to the spirit of the space, not just our vision.’

This thinking led to an approach to the masters of invention in the olfactory world, Ramdane Touhami and his wife Victorie de Taillac Touhami of Officine Universelle Buly. There was a space up for grabs in the basement retail area, the Carrousel du Louvre, and word went out to the Touhamis, with the challenge to help find new ways to connect the public to the galleries. And that was just about it. Ramdane, the industry maverick who has made an art of plumbing historical archives to rejig, reinvent, and give narratives to old products and branding, bringing heritage brands to a modern audience, was left to work his art-olfactory alchemy.

The idea he and Victoire came up with was to create the ultimate take home souvenir – a perfume inspired by one of the Louvre’s great works of art. To this end, they selected eight leading perfumers from various fragrance houses (Givaudan, IFF, Robertet and Symrise) and took them on a tour of the hallowed halls when the museum was closed, inviting them to pick a work of art to illustrate through scent. The perfumers had carte blanche, which interestingly, despite there being around 35 000 artworks on show, brought two paintings by one artist to the table (Ingres), and three marble sculptures. All of the eight chosen works feature people (there’s not a single still life among them) and seven of the eight feature women. The resultant scents (see below for individual details) have been developed as Buly’s Eau Triple (an alcohol-free perfume, 150 euros), and also candles in terrazzo containers (150 euros), scented soap sheets (3 euros). In a clever melding of the fragrance concept with traditional museum shop memorabilia, scented postcards and posters are also available.

The project wasn’t without hurdles: near impenetrable rulings governing the reproduction of artworks meant that the bottles are the classic, vintage-tinged, unadorned Buly bottles and the scented postcards are Buly’s in-house illustrations of the works. ‘We ended up buying up all the old postcards we could find of the art works,’ says Ramdane, ‘and then had them illustrated, which was allowed.’ Even the sampling of the perfumes in the Louvre space presented a challenge – no spraying is allowed. Not the sort to let such an obstacle get in his way, Ramdane took the challenge to Japan, a second home to him and his family, where he had glass atomised diffusers that would circumnavigate the spray issue, specially made. They can be seen alongside the whole collection in their Carrousel shop, an inviting space that aesthetically blends Buly’s characteristic 19th century pharmacy feel with the trappings of an old museum gallery.

The concept was a winner for Ziane and his team. ‘The Louvre is a house of living artists,’ he explains, adding that the perfumers were simply joining a roster of living artists who have been invited over the years to do residencies and be inspired by the Louvre’s collections. To enjoy the fruits of this particular residency, tickets should be booked speedily. Masters of building buzz in the beauty world, the Touhami's plan to cease production of the products after a year. If you miss out….well, the masterpieces are still there, and rest assured that the Touhamis are now in conversation with NASA, so the next project on the way from Buly could be literally out of this world.

The perfumes and the paintings that inspired them...

Ingre’s Grande Odalisque, chosen by IFF’s Domitille Michalon-Bertier, is the epitome of sensuality. The Odalisque is the imagined concubine of a sultan, all serenity and silky skin, albeit anatomically fantastical too (the painter has endowed her with a few extra vertebrae, a gravity defying breast and impossibly positioned leg). Something of a gift to a perfumer looking for feminine inspiration, Michalon-Bertier represents the pale, powdery skin with almond oil and heliptrope, orris and musk while the oriental situation inspired the addition of pink pepper, incense and cardamom.

The second Ingres masterpiece, The Valpinçon Bather (above), was picked by Miuccia Prada’s favourite perfumer, Daniela Andrier (Givaudin). The painting, another groundbreaker painted when Ingres was residing at the French Academy in Rome, shows a nude that is given little context, nor anatomical accuracy. The mystery bather has inspired a fresh burst of citronella and orange blossom, enriched with patchouli and incense.

Fragonard’s The Lock (above) is interpreted by Delphine Lebeau of IFF. For Lebeau, the ambiguous painting which dates from a libertine period in the 18th-century, represents the ‘timeless topic of love and desire. It is soft and gentle, sensual and captivating.' Bright lily represents the yellow dress and apple notes are used to modernise the lily, while a chestnut accord represents the dark red curtain alongside musk.

Dorothée Piot of Robertet chose Conversation in a Park (above), by Gainsborough. Believed to represent the artist and his wife elegantly engaging in the art of conversation, the painting is a typical representation of British high society in the 18th-century. ‘I loved the tenderness of the characters. I saw a beautiful taffeta dress that evokes fresh rose petals, the beautiful face, slightly made up, suggesting a hint of musk. Behind the couple is beautiful vegetation, inspiring a fresh note.' Ottoman rose and musk mix with a vegetal accord of bergamot and fresh peppermint, moss and vanilla.

Perhaps the most fascinating painting choice is Georges de La Tour’s Saint Joseph the Carpenter (above), a painting showing St Joseph and Jesus as a young boy. Pregnant with emotion, it has been suggested that the painting shows the carpenter crafting his son’s future cross. There’s tenderness, passion, sacrifice and forboding condensed into the image. ‘I wanted that when you smell you can feel the painting,' says the perfumer Sidonie Lancesseur of Robertet. ‘I liked the contrast of light, the worried look of the carpenter, the innocent look of the child.' The perfume has a woody accord full of contrast to represent the chiaroscuro. There’s amber, vetiver and cedar, with pink pepper and incense, a heart of bergamot for freshness, and for the innocence, orange blossom and bitter almond.

Pictured above, The Venus de Milo, dating from around 100BC, is the incomplete marble figure discovered in 1820 on Milos Island, Greece. It is one of the most celebrated pieces of Greek sculpture. ‘For me the Venus de Milo is a very characterful, feminine sculpture. Something about her feels alive,' says perfumer Jean-Christophe Hérault (IFF). He interpreted this with jasmine sambac absolute, tuberose absolute and gardenia balanced with mandarin. ‘The expression is very neutral, cold and stoney. I used a woody, ambery accord to bring something cold to the perfume.'

Though also missing body parts (the head and arms) The Winged Victory of Samothrace, (above) a once painted marble figure, standing at the bow of her boat, swathed in wet robes, has an energy that drew the eye of perfumer Aliénor Massenet (Symrise). ‘The emotions are intense. For me it is extremely feminine – representing the victory of a woman.' She illustrated this with a bouquet of Mediterranean flowers – rose, jasmine and magnolia – mixed with an airy ozonic note and myrrh to bring a mineral stone aspect.

Nymph with the Scorpion (above) by Lorenzo Bartolini is a 19th-century sculpture in milky marble of a young woman just bitten by a scorpion, suggested by her hand reaching to the bite on her foot, and her slightly open mouth. Annick Ménardo has interpreted her milky skin with heloptrope and jasmine, and spiced it up with amber and musk.

INFORMATION

buly1803.com

‘Shaving's other guys' Harry's have partnered with Spanish illustrator and graphic designer José Roda to create the packaging for a special edition razor and kit.

Just in time for Pride Month this June, and continuing the brand's well-known support of the LGBTQ+ community, the illustrations are inspired by colourful community leaders, artists and activists.

Drag artist Shea Couleé (of Rupaul's Drag Race fame), singer and songwriter Leland, and conversion-therapy survivor Mathew Shurka are amongst those who participated in the project. Inspired by these figures, Roda created graphic illustrations that ‘aim to feel celebratory, free and unique, from an LGTBQ perspective', he explains.

At once, they evoke the high camp work of underground 1940s photographer Bob Mizer, Catherine Opie’s vivd portraits, and the ‘Humans of New York' series. Roda's designs offer fleeting snapshots of unique (and eye-catching) individuals, that demand the limelight.

The kit inside is a familiar Harry's offering, including the Aloe gel and classic Winston razor (which comes with a handy cover that keeps the blade on point). Reflecting the individuality of those depicted on the outside of the box, and indeed those using the kit, each razer is cast in a glossy, irridescent coating; no two of which are the same.

Importantly, this collaboration marks the start of Harry's partnership with The Trevor Project – a suicide prevention and crisis intervention organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer young people. Harry's is donating 100 per cent of profits made from this special set to help them reach 80,000 LGBTQ+ youth in crisis this year.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Harry’s website, and José Roda’s website

Make the cut: Brands threw shapes with invitations boasting incisions and cut-outs. At Akris, an invitation envelope came complete with a bold cut out exclamation point, while at Acne Studios a triple folded paper womenswear invite was edged at different angles to create an overlaid zig-zag effect. In a nod to the wood panelling in interior decoration, Givenchy’s menswear design came complete with round-cut corners, while at Erdem miniature picture mounts framed a detailed image of a hyperbolically draped garment.

Touch and go: Brands got touchy feely for spring, with a host of invitations in natural tones with tactile qualities. The envelope housing Burberry’s invite was imagined in a print resembling graing wood, while Agnona’s was cut from a rectangular square of thick speckled felt. At Yohji Yamamoto, an invitation was concealed inside a glossy pamphlet of transparent black canvas, while at Sportmax thick insulating material doubled up as an invite.

Silver lining: Silver foil bought a futuristic focus to a series of invitations. Proving that even fashion shows comes with a silver lining, Stella McCartney got green-fingered and sent guests a biodegradable silver foil envelope, which also allowed them the chance to dedicate a tree to a loved one. For her debut show as creative director of Lacoste, Louise Trotter designed a sealed foiled envelope resembling a packet of space food, stamped with the year of her first show in the brand’s signature green. Rick Owens’ menswear show was dedicated to the Kiss’ costume designer Larry Legaspi. His penchant for leather and silver flourishes was reflected in a metallic show invitation, in the brand's signature rectangular sliver of cardboard.

Two-tone zone: A host of monochrome marvels were mailed out to guests. Take Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton’s womenswear invitations, encased inside grainy white patent and speckled faux snakeskin envelopes, or the slab of thick cardboard which constituted Rick Owens’ design, imagined in ombre shades of black and white. Elsewhere, Jil Sander and Comme des Garçons Homme Plus let typography do the talking, printing bold sans-serif lettering onto thick card or delicate triple-folded paper.

Going for bold: During the womenswear shows, brands took a strong spin on the colour wheel, presenting a host of invitations in bright patterns and saturated shades. Bottega Veneta’s interpretation, which marked the debut collection of Daniel Lee, featured a trippy magenta logo printed onto glossy sky blue card, while Kiko Kostadinov’s futuristic aesthetic was reflected with a rectangular invitation with an arid landscape overlaid with bars of bright green colour. Prada’s ‘Anatomy of a Romance’ design, was a version of its black men’s invitation, with squares and rectangles of delicate fuchsia paper strung together with thread, while Issey Miyake’s poster invitation was emblazoned with a photographic hand print, imagined in grayscale and bright, pop-art tones.

Face off: Fashion week attendees delight in decoding the connection between the Gucci invitation and its accompanying show. At times, the link is elusively impossible to define, and we’ve seen invite designs resembling ticking bombs and bags of plant bulbs. For A/W 2019, creative director Alessandro Michele was mesmerised by the concept of masks, and how they can be used to conceal or distort human behaviour. Guests received a large wooden box with rope handles, intentionally antique-like as if hiding buried treasure. Inside was housed a classical mask, crafted from layers of plaster of Paris.

Postcard perfection: Karl Lagerfeld took the creative helm of Chloé not only from 1963-1983 but also from 1992-1997. Current creative director Natacha Ramsay-Levi nodded to Lagerfeld’s esteemed heritage, placing a pack of postcards on guest's seats at the brand’s A/W 2019 show, depicting poignant images of, and quotes attributed to the design behemoth during his tenure at the French house. This included a black and white Frank Horvant-lensed photograph of Lagerfeld and model Carol Labrie, in the Chloé studio in 1970, with the duo both clad in silk floral shirts, and an accompanying Lagerfeld quote from Vogue Paris in 1982: ‘I love fashion for fashion. I love to changed, to diversify, to create lots of looks, lots of styles, not to be myself...be open to all.'

Picture this: There was a scribble-like sensibility behind the a selection of menswear invitations. At OAMC, a cartoonish human form was doodled on the brand’s fold-out poster design, while at Vetements, a woodland landscape was scribbled, complete with a smiling brown bear, pine trees and a passing cloud. Blue belt tip pen pinpointed the date and location of the Sunnei show, a magic marker moment.

Selfie-reflection: On one of the white walls of Loewe’s show space at the Maison de l’UNESCO in Paris, miniature oval-shaped portraits were hung. These dated from the the 16th or 17th century and featured paintings of English, Flemish, French, Italian and Spanish provenance, including a 1650’s portrait believed to be King Charles I, attributed to David des Granges and a portrait  of Mary Queen of Scots, inscribed Maria Regina Scotorum, attributed to Bernard Lens II. Creative director Jonathan Anderson was fascinated by minute details for autumn, and the tiny paintings that inspired his microscopic lens also featured on the brand’s show pack, which offered further insight into each painting’s provenance.

Base layer: For Louis Vuittion's A/W 2019 catwalk show, artistic director Virgil Abloh erected a New York street-inspired catwalk, with rows of grocery and barber shops, illuminated lampposts, fire hydrants and swirling rubbish. Abloh also emphasised his soft spot for Italian cooking, leaving leaflets on the seats of guests, publicising an imaginary Louis Vuitton pizza restaurant. For his debut show last season, Abloh left a document envelope printed with maps of the locations his globally diverse models were born, plus an accompanying alphabetised list of the ready-to-wear elements of his collection. He repeated this for A/W 2019, with another pamphlet of information, eagerly analysed by intrigued editors.

Hang together: In Paris, womenswear brands bought a new concept to the term hanging out, with a range of invitations that doubled up as handy hanging objects. For the debut show of his brand Rokh, Rok Hwang was inspired by spooky narratives, and looked to 1980s and 1990s films by Spielberg and Gus Van Sant. His ‘Teenage Nightmare’ invitation came complete with a carabiner dangling with a tiny torch keyring (models also carried torches as accessories during the show). For her A/W 2019 show Marine Serre was inspired by the idea of dwellers living underground post apocalypse, creating clothing and accessories from found objects. Her invitation was imagined as a long chain necklace jangling with a mollusc shell and a small flashing light.

Everything but the kitchen sink: There was a utilitarian edge behind a number of womenswear invitations, which doubled up as objects with highly practical uses. Take Jil Sander’s tea towel, with bold stitched edging that nodded to the details in its A/W 2019 offering and Paula Cadematori’s glass bottle of juniper pills, both a fashion month and medical cabinet essential. Hygiene got haute at Isabel Marant, with an invitation imagined as a green bar of soap, while at Versace, the house nodded to the grunge aesthetic of its collection and the sexy safety-pin history of the brand with a packet of golden pins, ready to be fastened to clothing for DIY dazzle. Photography: Aylin Bayhan

Monetary value: Invitations denoted a fantasy for the financial. At Off-White women's show, the brand’s usual sheer acetate envelope was stuffed with a $10 dollar bill and a €200 euro note. Things were a little more transactional during Paris Fashion Week Men’s, with both the Alyx and JM Weston invitations resembling receipts. The former’s was stamped like a sales slip with the brand’s location venue and show time. JM Weston’s presentation was held at the renowned Cafe de l'Epoque and its accompanying receipt-style invitation was printed with a descriptive poem titled ‘The Waiter’.

Poetic license: Designers are well versed in the literary canon, often referred to specific life and works of writers in their collections. Brands became real book worms for A/W 2019, with Valentino leaving a volume of poems on the seats of guests, featuring romantic verses by Greta Bellamacina, Mustafa The Poet, Yrsa Daley-Ward and Robert Montgomery. Celine’s A/W 2019 womenswear invitation was presented as a hard back volume with a grainy fabric cover, with tearable fold out pages, presented as a series of graphic, colourful posters. Facetasm’s design was a real spine-tingler: its invitation was presented as the spine and front and back cover of a pocket-size book.

Winter wonderland: Two interlinking double ‘C’ Chanel logos etched in ice were printed onto the textured folding Chanel invitation, one which appeared as if sprinkled with a layer of powdery snow. The invitation was an emblem of the winter wonderland – complete with chalets, pine trees and a panoramic apline scene – created at the Grand Palais, to mark Karl Lagerfeld’s final show for the Parisian maison. In a nod to the new history of the house, a Lagerfeld-drawn illustration was tucked into show packs placed on guest’s seats, featuring a scribble of Lagerfeld and Coco Chanel, with the powerful phrase ‘The beat goes on’.

As a recurring theme in their work for Jil Sander, Luke and Lucie Meier once again took nature as a driving force of their spring 2019 collection, which comes in a colour palette of neutral hues, ranging from almond to sky blue and sage. Left in their raw appearance, the minimalistic shirts and dresses are made out of natural yet sturdy fibres, such as leather and canvas, while skin-tight knits and soft draped skirts also leave freedom for the body to move naturally. A human touch then comes to enliven the jumpers and shirts, through pencil sketches of a nude female form hand embroidered on the pieces, emphasising the refined and delicate spirit of the collection.

Acne Studios

Dance is the main inspiration behind Acne Studios’ SS19 collection. Fluid silhouettes in sheer jersey accentuate a dancer’s movements, while more voluminous pieces are worn over the light slip dresses and tank tops after a rehearsal in the studio. Creative director Jonny Johansson used graphics and prints from old ballet posters patched onto T-shirts and blouses, while pencil drawings of grand opera houses create a toile de jouy effect on leggings and long shirt dresses, enhanced with golden lamé. Drawing on the legendary Swan Lake ballet, Johansson created a print which at first glance seems to be watercolour waves on a white canvas. The pattern then takes form of a swan motif, also reflected in the swan-shaped crystals adorning the garment. 

Plan C

Debuting the first collection for her own label Plan C last September, Caroline Castiglioni – heir of the Marni dynasty – introduced an aesthetic of timeless staples mixing feminine elements, such as ruffles, sundresses and crochet, with oversized silhouettes from the men’s wardrobe, to celebrate a strong and self confident silhouette. There is also something very personal about this collection found in the naïve artworks printed on sweatshirts and clutches which came courtesy of Castiglioni’s young daughter Margherita. Representing her brother Filippo and friend Bianca, the two characters were brought to life from paper to garments making them quirky, fashionable friends to carry around.

Roksanda

Inspired by the work of artists and architects, Roksanda looked at how their art goes beyond their main discipline to influence other crafts around them. On top of the list stood Swiss architect Le Corbusier’s tapestry, murals and ceramics, which had a direct impact on the hand drawn feminine artwork used as a common thread throughout the airy dresses and colour block cotton tops. ‘Our own interpretations of his abstract illustrations are applied in several techniques from hand embroidery to patchwork dresses, and the same emotive figures appear again screen printed onto silk scarves and knits,' explains Roksanda. ‘These studies of the female form are part of my commitment to exploring the art of feminine recalibration.'

Simone Rocha

Born from an Irish mother and Chinese father, Simone Rocha drew on the second half of her heritage, and especially her experience in Hong Kong, to compose her summer collection. Flower brocades and embroideries punctuate the bubble hem gowns with puffball sleeves, giving volume to the overall romantic flair. The real focus of the garments however sprung from ancestral references such as 16th-century Chinese ladies from the Tang dynasty and vintage portraits of concubines Rocha found in a market in Hong Kong. From these images, the London-based atelier created red and gold illustrations traced onto the delicate silk dresses, while elsewhere, artworks were directly printed on the whole garments. A delightful mix of East and West. §

Unlike most artists, the Australian-born, New York-based illustrator Christina Zimpel does not work out of a studio. She prefers to paint at her kitchen table, in the 1870’s red brick townhouse in Clinton Hill that she shares with her husband, the photographer Patric Shaw. ‘It has beautiful light, with whitewashed walls and simple wood details – it’s a lovely environment to work in,’ says the artist, who cites domesticity, nature and the artist Louise Bourgeois as inspirations. ‘I just make a tea and walk around in the garden when I need a break.’

A graphic design graduate and former art director at Australian and US Vogue, Zimpel has been painting full time for two years. What started as a hobby with a series of self portraits done through a mirror in pencil quickly led to her quitting her day job to pursue her art – and it’s paid off, with a number of high profile commissions that have included the CFDA Awards and, most recently, the Michael Kors Spring/Summer 2019 show.

‘Michael saw my work for the CFDA and wanted to meet me,’ says Zimpel, of the show project that saw her create 30 drawings that represented freedom and escapism over the course of the summer. ‘The brief was Take Me Away, so I painted dreamscapes inspired by Mediterranean views, Capri, the south of France and Greece…’.

Zimpel created the large-scale set pieces in the same way as her traditional technicolour artworks – painted on one piece of paper at her table (she hates wasting paper and will work continuously on one artwork until she likes it, rather than crumpling it up and starting from scratch). ‘The artworks were photographed and we created large digital files which were then transformed onto everything from postcards to massive wall installations and tote bags.’

While her projects are now wide ranging – encompassing everything from advertising campaigns and fabric design to brand packaging – some things in Zimpel’s career have remained a constant: she paints wearing jeans and a man’s shirt every day, and much of her work still focuses on portraits, that are drawn first in pencil. ‘I like layers to give the piece structure,’ she says. ‘I overlay pencil with ink, before using acrylic paint to give opacity and richness of colour.’

Most recently, Zimpel has been working on a forthcoming project for Maison Kitsuné, for which she painted an illustration that will be splashed across everything from shirts to sweaters. ‘It’s a vivid little acid-coloured fox inspired by Matisse,’ she says, of the collection which launches in November. ‘Maison Kitsune were very early champions of mine.’

INFORMATION

For more information, visit Christina Zimpel’s website

Yoko Ono has coolly defied being pigeonholed by her critics for over 50 years, wearing many hats (figuratively and literally) along the way: a pioneer of performance art, a staunch peace activist, a dance hitmaker, just to name a few. At 85 years old, the conceptual artist, singer and songwriter shows no signs of slowing down as she is set to release a new record, Warzone.

Ono is revisiting 13 songs from her catalogue spanning 1970-2009, the messages woven into her lyrics still pertinent – perhaps more so than ever today. ‘Things are very difficult for everybody. It’s a war zone that we are living in,’ wrote Ono in a statement. ‘I like to create things in a new way. Every day things change.’

Each of the tracks on Warzone have been brought to life by artist Jonny Sanders in a series of short conceptual videos using Ono’s drawings from the Franklin Summer series, as well as a font created from her handwriting. The illustrations echo the pared-back arrangements of the artist’s new LP, which places emphasis on Ono’s voice and her messages of peace, empowerment and caution.

She concludes the ominous questions of Now Or Never (1971) with one of her most memorable lines: ‘[A] dream you dream alone is only a dream, but a dream we dream together is reality.’ The final entry of Warzone is an alternate reimagining of John Lennon’s Imagine, for which Ono received a songwriting credit in 2017 – 46 years after its debut.

Warzone will be available in full from 19 October on Chimera Music, the label helmed by Sean Ono Lennon.  Leading up to the launch date, Ono will release a new song each Tuesday on her website Imagine Peace and on streaming services. Watch the lyric video for I’m Alive – the album’s 11th track – exclusively below.

INFORMATION

Warzone is available from 19 October. For more information, visit the Imagine Peace website and the Chimera Music website

On paper, fashion illustration should be a simple thing: a piece of work that represents the look and feel of fashion in two-dimensional form. But like all things, the actuality is a little more complex. This is what the illustrator Lara Mackenzie Lee found when she embarked on her studies at London's Central Saint Martins, an experience that radically redefined for her what the medium could be.

‘My point of view then was that fashion illustration today has to do something more than just depict a garment,' she explains. ‘It needs to convey emotion, and give a bit more than the literal. It’s a lot more interesting to do something conceptual and abstract.' Her new work – impressionistic renderings of runway looks in vivid colour – is now part of this year’s Drawing on Style, the annual exhibition of fashion illustration at Gray MCA in London.

Mackenzie Lee’s distinctive style did not come about by accident. In her final year at Central Saint Martins, she worked in collaboration with a design student who was producing a collection inspired by dance. ‘Because it was through dance, you had to convey movement, and I started to think: how do you convey garments on top of all that?' The result was a series of illustrations that echo the painterly strokes and dynamism of abstract expressionism, while still giving a sense of the mood of a particular garment or look.

‘I work with tracing paper, drawing out the forms, and so it becomes a sort of collage of different mediums.' The lines, she says, come at the very end, to give the body a little definition and to hold the shape’s mass together. ‘I think the basic rule of my work is something a tutor told me a long time ago: the body isn’t made out of lines, it’s made out of mass. So illustration is about balancing those masses. And that’s the same rule for fashion design: you work with proportions.'

Originally from Montreal, Mackenzie Lee is now embarking on moving to Australia. London, in the meantime, has been fruitful for her: In the years since graduating, she has juggled her illustration with working in PR and licensing for Stella McCartney and Issey Miyake. She has illustrated men’s collections for SHOWstudio and is now represented by Gray MCA, positioning her work in its latest exhibition in a continuum alongside the likes of Antonio Lopez, Kenneth Paul Block, René Gruau and Jason Brooks.

‘It’s a huge privilege,' she says. ‘[At Gray MCA] you can see a really nice balance between new work – three contemporary artists – and then a lot of classic illustrators from the 1950s and 1960s. It’s a nice contrast between now and then.

Information
Gray MCA's 'Drawing on Style' is on view from 14 until 21 September. For more information, visit the Gray MCA website

Address

Gallery 8
8 Duke Street
St James’s, London
SW1Y 6BN 

This summer, London’s Estorick Collection is serving a tall glass of visual history. In ‘The Art of Campari’, the Canonbury Square gallery traces the bitter elixir’s pioneering approach to advertising. Drawn from Campari’s extensive archives in Milan, the show spans the original Belle Époque posters, through its revolutionary campaigns of the 1920s, culminating in the elegant designs of the 1960s.

The storied ruby-red aperitivo has a rich heritage in creativity and design. Founded in Milan in 1860 by Gaspare Campari (1828-1882), it was under his son Davide Campari (1867-1936) that the company pursued a more dynamic approach to marketing, harnessing the emerging power of the poster. Aiming to create a sophisticated brand profile, by the early 1900s Campari was working with some of the most celebrated poster designers of the day: Leonetto Cappiello, Marcello Dudovich, Adolf Hohenstein, and Marcello Nizzoli.

Initially attuned to an art nouveau sensibility, it was the visual punch of campaigns created by futurist artist Fortunato Depero that became Campari’s most celebrated commissions, from the mid-1920s onwards. Populated by his trademark puppet-like characters, Depero’s bold, witty and geometric designs modernised Campari’s look, creating an unmistakable identity that remains with it to this day. Depero’s perceptive belief that the publicity poster would be ‘the painting of the future’ continued to be reflected in Campari’s post-war commissions, and many of his original designs have been repurposed on contemporary labels, helping Campari achieve its nostalgic, tipple-of-yesterday aesthetic.

Like the Campari recipe of bitter herbs and aromatic plants (which remains unchanged since its 1860s inception) the brand’s graphic identity has been consistent in its commitment to glamour and artfulness. Each poster in the collection emits a timelessness, matched by the Milanese malt.

Chase-up your trip to ‘The Art of Campari’ with a Negroni at one of our handpicked London cocktail bars...

INFORMATION
Until 16 September. For more information, visit the Esoterik Collection website

ADDRESS

39A Canonbury Square
London, N1 2AN

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The National Health Service (NHS), one of Britain’s most cherished institutions, celebrates its 70th anniversary on the 5 July. To commemorate seven decades of universal healthcare – free at the point of delivery and irrespective of wealth – the Imperial Health Charity has tapped seven artists for a limited-edition print sale, with the proceeds benefiting some of the busiest hospitals in London.

The distinct styles of the prints echo the diversity of modern Britain and the NHS, include Peter Blake’s vivid colour blocking and bold typography, Mona Hatoum’s blue and white skeletal take on bed springs, rendered in a calming palette of blue and white, and Chris Orr’s quasi-monochromatic vision of a dynamic London, where nature and industry, exist hand in hand. Other contributing talents include Jeremy Deller, Tom Hammick, Mona Hatoum, David Mach, and Elizabeth Magill.

The Imperial Health Charity, which supports London’s Charing Cross, Hammersmith, Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea, St Mary’s, and Western Eye hospitals, seeks to unite the patients and staff through the medium of art, with a 2,000-strong collection of artworks that foster a friendly environment for patients, often in midst of daunting medical experiences. It also provides vital funding for medical equipment and research into clinical innovation. Over the past nine years it has raised an astounding £34 million.

David Mach RA, who is a member of the Imperial Health Charity’s art committee says, ‘The way we look after each other in this truly national institution is something we can be rightly proud of in the UK. We can be proud too of art and how it plays a vital role in healthcare.’

Purdy Hicks Gallery in London’s South Kensington will host a reception for the debut of these prints on 4 July, where the prints will first go on sale. The prints, produced by Worton Hall Studios will also be available on CCA Galleries’ website.

INFORMATION

The prints available to purchase online through CCA Galleries. For more information, visit the Imperial Health Charity website

The well-heeled residents of The Mark Hotel in New York have been immortalised in black and white, ready to be coloured in.

The Colourful Mark, illustrated by French artist and culture chronicler Jean-Philippe Delhomme, adds to the hotel’s many outre amenities (including a hot dog stand and flower cart), cementing its status as ‘New York’s most boldly lavish hotel’. The book, on sale in the hotel and its new, dedicated online store, is designed to appeal to one of The Mark’s key demographics: families, while intending to spark the imagination of the young at heart too.

Bringing the property’s authentic character to life, The Colorful Mark is a graphic tale, filled with witty illustrations about life at The Mark, while looking self-reflectedly at the cast of talents that have made the hotel what it is.

Following a day in the life of anthropomorphic dogs, mice and rabbits (each with decidedly aristocratic demeanours), we order baguettes for lunch, catch a quartet at The Met, and take selfies in a carriage on the way to Bergdorf’s.

As such, the illustrations not only capture life at The Mark, but life in New York City – offering us the unique opportunity to add our own colour to its streets.

INFORMATION
For more information, visit The Mark Hotel’s Le Shop website

The National Gallery of Victoria today announces the blockbuster exhibition, ‘Between Two Worlds: Escher X Nendo, which will make its world debut at the Melbourne museum this December. One of design’s most in-demand studios, Nendo will create a ‘deeply immersive exhibition experience’ inspired by the Dutch artist MC Escher (1898-1972).

The major show will include more than 160 prints and drawings by Escher, presented in an environment conceived by the Japanese design studio that will manipulate geometry, space and perception. Nendo founder Oki Sato has a flair for immersive environments, having created a life-sized, fish-eye ‘sketch’ of a living space at the Taiwan Craft Research Institute and a kaleidoscopic ‘ivy of mirrors’ for a Japanese flower-arranging school.

A master of optical illusion, Escher created some of the most iconic images of the 20th-century. His mathematically-inspired works of impossible staircases, architecture, and more. Drawn from the world’s largest collection of Escher’s work in the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, this is the first major Australian presentation of his perspective-bending work and will span the artist’s entire output, from 1916 through to his final work produced in 1969.

‘The National Gallery of Victoria’s spring/summer season for 2018/19 reflects our commitment to presenting a dynamic and full programme for our diverse audiences,’ says NGV director Tony Ellwood. ‘At the heart of this programme is the never-before-seen exhibition, ‘Between Two Worlds: Escher X Nendo, which will showcase the consummate skill and unique vision of both artist and designer.’

Presented alongside this Melbourne-exclusive exhibition will be a rich programme of events and exhibitions throughout spring and summer at NGV International and NGV Australia, including major solo exhibitions by William Wegman, Polly Borland, Julian Opie, and Hito Steyerl.

INFORMATION

‘Between Two Worlds: Escher X Nendo’ will be on view 2 December – 9 April 2019. For more information, visit the National Gallery of Victoria website

Ever wondered what exactly goes through the weird and wonderful mind of a comic illustrator? Throughout April, visitors to Apple’s Regent Street flagship in London can explore a new theme in comic book illustration, from storyboarding, to character creation, lettering and composition.

During the Comic Art Series sessions, participants will have the chance to lay a three-frame strip of their own, using an iPad Pro and Pencil. The sessions have so far been led by illustrators Sam Taylor, Dan Woodger, and Stephen Collins, while Ruby Elliot will guide the final session, taking place on Monday 30 April (free registration here).

The comic illustration workshops are part of Today at Apple, an initiative of free educational sessions offered in all 502 Apple stores across the globe, including photography, video, art and design, music, coding, and more. The hands-on sessions are led by experts and highly-trained team members, covering everything from the basics to professional-level programmes.

We caught up with illustrator Stephen Collins to find out more about his creative process and approach to digital creation...

W*: How long have you been involved in design?
SC: I’ve been an illustrator for 15 years and making comics for about 10.

W*: What does the iPad Pro allow you to do that traditional tools didn’t allow?
SC: Weirdly it’s actually a kind of return to more traditional techniques – typically in recent years most illustrators have performed at least part of their process by drawing on a Wacom tablet on a desk, while keeping their eyes fixed on a screen above the tablet. That’s always been quite an unnatural drawing experience, whereas integrated tablet computers are much more like drawing on paper, because you see the lines appear beneath the pen as you draw.    

W*: How does iPad Pro help your practice?
SC: It’s a very useful addition to my workflow - it can’t quite replace full Photoshop on a desktop yet but I use it to add finish details once I’ve tamed the layers down a bit. It’s also very handy for doing the detail work on the graphic novel I’m working on. 

W*: Any tips or tricks for creating comic book design or characters on iPad Pro?
SC: You need to just play around with it to find how you can do your own thing on one of these devices. You’ll probably want to think small at first rather than just decide to do a big graphic novel on it, but once you’ve got the hang of how it can work for you it can be a really useful tool.

W*: Any favourite apps to help creation?
SC: I mostly use Procreate to do finishing details on the artwork, but I’ve just got the Clip Studio app – more familiarly known by its old name Manga Studio – and that seems very good. It’s designed to make comics on the iPad Pro alone, without recourse to a larger computer, so it’s the closest thing you have to a full-scale desktop app.

INFORMATION

Sign up for the next Live Art session with Ruby Elliot, taking place at Apple’s Regent Street store in London on 30 April, 6.30pm-8.30pm. For more information, visit the Today at Apple website.

ADDRESS

Apple
235 Regent Street
London W1B 2EL

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Against a nationwide tapestry of hardening politics, war, and intensifying race relations, 1970s New York rebelled with artistic, and sexual, abandon. A riotous new film shines a hazy spotlight on the era’s key arbiters of style: wildly seductive fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez, his partner Juan Ramos, and later in Paris, Karl Lagerfeld.

Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco starts in 1960s Lower Manhattan – a melting pot of creative talent, inclusive of disparate creative camps that cut a broad swathe through culture. Lopez’ days were spent working feverishly to create the latest looks, while nights were spent writhing at Max’s Kansas City, Hotel Chelsea and Club Sept with his bevy of charismatic beauties (Grace Jones, Jessica Lange, Jerry Hall) until dawn.

The feature length documentary charts a moment where the demimonde — homosexuality, club life and blurred gender lines — rises in a euphoric push, out of the club and onto the catwalk. Its driven by the nostalgic beat of Donna Summer, Chic and the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, and Curtis Mayfield.

‘I became fascinated with Antonio Lopez and Juan Ramos through Interview magazine when I was a young teenager in rural Indiana,’ explains director James Crump. ‘Their magical lives and milieu aroused me no end and made me fantasise about the early 1970s in New York and Paris – a period I was too young to experience.’

In 1997, Crump met Paul Caranicas, Lopez’s and Ramos’s heir who has since given him unlimited access to many thousands of drawings, photographs and 8mm and 16mm footage. Offering never before seen footage, interviews and imagery, the film documents a transformative journey that Lopez and Ramos took in 1969 to Paris – itself in the midst of radical social and cultural change. Ostensibly visiting to sketch the latest collections by the fashion house, Chloe, they become fast friends with a lithe young Lagerfeld, forming an improbable, yet long-lasting, friendship.

It was the dawn of the age of the rock star fashion designer. Today, the Seventies are often looked back on as the halcyon days of ultimate, creative freedom, decadence, and sexual promiscuity before the black cloud of AIDS rumbled over.

Even with all we’ve learnt in the half century since Lopez’ prominence, the archival footage is just as relevant and prescient today. ‘Given the elements of race, ethnicity and sexuality that Antonio injected into fashion – a Puerto Rican-born, Bronx-raised bisexual – the film needed to be produced now at a moment when Latino, African-American and LGBTQ rights and issues are still being contested and under represented in dominant media and culture,’ says Crump. ‘Antonio envisioned what the future could look like. He is an ideal emblem of freedom and attainability worth remembering, especially now in the current post-election malaise.’

INFORMATION

Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco is at cinemas and on demand from 6 April, and playing at BFI Flare on 30 - 31 March 2018. For more information, visit the James Crump website

The worlds evoked by 1960s pulp novels were bombastic, beautiful and base. Filled with larger than life characters, sensational storylines, and love triangles of pin-up proportions, it was the Netflix of the 60s.

Behind the scenes of the novels’ production, however, manufactured glamour gave way to dusty London and Italian agencies, filled with wildly skilled illustrators. The likes of Renato Fratini, Michael Johnson and Gianluigi Coppola worked all hours, rattling off impeccable sketches, with nothing for inspiration but the rugged notes of speed-readers employed to consume manuscript after manuscript.

These illustrators built an aesthetic – which in turn built an industry – on the back of bits of old board. Though the paperbacks were published in their millions on cheap, wood-pulp paper (the industry’s namesake), many of the original illustrations were discarded, lost or seen as worthless.

Lever Gallery co-founder and director Didier Madoc-Jones knows better. He has dedicated years hunting them in attics and online stores, and now, the walls of his London gallery are lined with the oft-forgotten patrons of pulp, providing glimmers of treasure in trash fiction in the exhibition ‘Uncovered: Illustrating the Sixties and Seventies’.

‘The joy of pulp illustration was its lack of subtlety, and its over-exaggeration,’ he says. ‘It helped publications off the shelves, tempting readers into the charismatic world of the bestseller.’

Before long, publishers of ‘more respectable’ literature were mining the same rich vein. In the late 60s, pulp illustration found itself nestling in the arch of the high brow, its glamorous promise employed to shift books penned by the likes of Simone de Beauvoir, Sinclair Lewis and CP Snow. All of a sudden, the works of Renato Fratini and Michael Johnson were lining the bookshelves of a readership that had probably never heard of them.

But, just as it was easing into its new life of leather-bound luxury, pulp illustration lost out to the 1970s new kid on the block – photography, which ushered in an era of harder edged realism.

Despite being bumped from the popular consciousness, Madoc-Jones believes that the original illustrations deserve to be ‘appreciated for their artistic merit’ today. ‘When you look closely at the original works we have presented in the gallery, they’re more akin to abstractions, with great sweeping brush strokes. The level of talent these artists had was quite unbelievable.’ Indeed, the work of Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton and Peter Blake can be read in the colourful, post-war Americana of the drawings.

Nonetheless, pulp was the art of the hired gun, managed by deadline dealers. That these illustrators were able to turn around works of such dynamism in a matter of moments is perhaps their greatest cache. It’s something alien to our mindset in this digitally reliant age, where if we want to add a layer or remove a detail, we turn to Photoshop, not a new piece of chipboard.

INFORMATION

‘Uncovered: Illustrating the Sixties and Seventies’ is on view until 24 March. For more information, visit the Lever Gallery website

ADDRESS

Lever Gallery
153-157 Goswell Road
London EC1V 7HD

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Noma Bar’s illustrations do the thing visual communicators are always told not to: they tell not show. They’re brazen in their simplicity, and often, simply brazen. They manage to distill hefts of meaning with precision, concision and a heavy, heavy wink.

Bittersweet – a new book published by Thames and Hudson – tells Bar’s story to date with great detail and personality. Laid out like a visual autobiography, readers travel along the clean lines of his symbolic illustrations, in a bid to understand where his distinctive graphic style comes from. We venture under childhood beds stealing glances at naive 1960s pornography, through Bar’s college days in 1990s Jerusalem, to dusty bookshops in London in the early 2000s. We see the ultrascans of his eldest daughter. In short, we get closer than ever before to the man at the end of the pencil.

Bar began his career by sending postcards to publications like The Guardian and Time Out, which responded overwhelmingly postively, with a string of commissions. ‘I didn’t want to spend time on decoration and uneccesary detail,’ Bar writes of these early designs. ‘I made sure always to put the idea at the forefront, trying for maximum communication with minimal elements.’

It’s a working philosophy that has stayed with him for 15 years, as have certain prevailing themes – like sex. Penises abound in the ‘In Out’ chapter of Bittersweet. ‘Sex is a sensitive subject, and it seems to me that illustration is a great way to deal with that sensitivity,’ says Bar, who looks deep into the negative spaces to create something positive. Funny, moving and sometimes controversial, his work has become a visual soundtrack to the shifting sexual landscape, illustrating important articles on subjects from porn to female empowerment to sexting.

As well as illustrating journalism, Bar has created cover art for Wallpaper*, as as well books by Haruki Murakami and Don DeLillo, he has depicted presidents, and wrapped Coca-Cola cans in Marvel superheroes. He has mounted an exhibition on conflict, published a book of portraits, and a Design Award-winning guide to speaking Chinese. Each work bears his signature double-take design. Once you’ve looked twice, and worked out the puzzle presented in each picture, you feel like you’re in on a secret only you and Bar share. Like his images, the master of simplicity is actually a lot more complicated than you’d think. In his own words, ‘I always try to say more than one thing at a time.’

INFORMATION

Bittersweet, £29.95, published by Thames and Hudson. For more information, visit Noma Bar’s website

In December our thoughts turn to entertaining, and we offer up an enticing menu of design, architecture, art, fashion and, of course, food. For us, creativity really is at the heart of life-enhancing entertaining. For starters, we love the pairing of artists and cuisine; and in this issue we serve up Gillian Wearing’s lentil, potato and leek soup, as well as Liz Swig’s innovative oatmeal offerings, with extra ingredients by the Campana brothers.

We also talk to Jony Ive and get the very first sitting at Apple Park’s super-sized staff restaurant, Naoto Fukasawa-designed chairs and all. (Good food is so central to Apple’s working culture that the company operates its own fishing boat.) Apple Park spaces, cooked up by Foster + Partners and Ive’s industrial design studio, encourage the social aspect of working, with the restaurant being the hub of a network of collaborative spaces, places for chance encounters and off-the-cuff creativity.

We’ve nourishment for the eyes courtesy of Ive’s limited-edition cover, using Apple’s original colour spectrum and, naturally, generous white space. We also prepare heart-warming, spirit-calming recipes in a John Pawson-designed Welsh retreat.

We’ll always champion great photography, but this issue celebrates illustration, too, as a fresh way of looking at interiors, adding a dash of personal interpretation and history to the visual narrative. I have a long-held appreciation of illustration, from my formative days as a graphic design student and, later, commissioning works by the likes of Ian Wright, Ralph Steadman, Noma Bar and George Hardie – true mark makers. The first in our new series of occasional illustrated Space stories is a Wallpaper* debut for Dutch artist Leonie Bos (her work also appears on our newsstand cover). A play, and sure hand, with texture and colour are central to Bos’ approach and she brings a unique warmth and vigour to our pages.

The illustrator’s practice, the conjuring of imagined worlds, is a fascination for us. Once we had selected key design pieces to feature, Bos went away and created her fantastical Wallpaper* entertaining space. Her early sketch, above, is an insight into the creative process. Illustrations can be literal, abstract, decorative, conceptual. And so much more. Properly served up, they are a true celebration of print, its tactility and devourability.

Sarah Douglas, Editor

As originally featured in the December 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*225)

INFORMATION

The December 2017 issue of Wallpaper* is out now. Subscribe here

When Moncler tapped Jean-Philippe Delhomme to create a series of Alpine-inspired prints for its A/W17 collection, the French artist’s illustrations took on a typically tongue-in-cheek persuasion. ‘The brand referenced a few ski resorts, like Cortina, St Moritz and Gstaad. I came up with characters and scenarios based around the excesses of skiing,’ Delhomme explains of his snow-topped social satire.

In one tableau, diners guzzling champagne watch as a zealous holidaymaker soars mid-ski jump over their table. In another, a fur coat- and hat-clad guest arrives outside the preposterous turrets of the Gstaad Palace hotel, a miniscule sausage dog in a Santa outfit in tow.

The collection is the second in Delhomme’s ‘Postcards’ series for Moncler, which debuted for S/S17 with illustrations inspired by seaside destinations, from Venice Beach to St Tropez, splashed across tops and swimming trunks. This season, his vivid brushstrokes are digitally printed onto puffer jackets and T-shirts, while his nose diving ski jumpers also soar across the chests of knitted jumpers.

Delhomme's witty social commentaries, seen here in his studio, focus on the excesses of alpine ski resorts.

‘The brand’s history starts from the mountains,’ explains Remo Ruffini, Moncler’s chairman and CEO, of the collaboration’s theme. Founded in 1952 in Monestier-de-Clermont, near Grenoble, Moncler began as a purveyor of sleeping bags and tents, before launching its now ubiquitous down jackets two years later. It soon began equipping explorers for expeditions in sub-zero climes. ‘This DNA has been maintained and enhanced,’ says Ruffini. While the new illustrations have a less intrepid and more après ski-centric focus, they ‘perfectly match with the creative soul and sporty ethos of the brand’, he adds.

Renowned for his fashion illustrations, first published in Vogue in the 1980s, Paris-based Delhomme has also created advertising campaigns and written illustrated novels. His witty sociological gaze has fallen on arenas from art to architecture (his 2015 book on Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye offers a visual narrative of the architect’s relationship with his clients, Pierre and Eugénie Savoye) and he illustrated our Architects’ Directory and newsstand cover in 2015.

For Moncler, his perceptive eye is as unerring as ever. ‘The drawings have lots of different possibilities,’ he says. ‘They work like poster designs. Some feature a face or a character in the background that creates a visual shock. The idea is to make them look light and continuous and effortless, but also arresting.’

As originally featured in the September 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*222)

Information

For more information, visit the Moncler website

For Patrick Eley, creative director of design studio dn&co, German graphic designer Otl Aicher has long been a source of inspiration. ‘His work, particularly that of the Munich 1972 Olympics, is a design touchstone for us,’ Eley explains. ‘But his work for Isny im Allgäu is relatively little known.’

Forty years ago, the small town in southern Germany approached Aicher to create a graphic identity for its tourist board. The designer answered with a kit of 128 monochrome pictograms, in a project Eley considers to be miles ahead of its time.

And so Eley and his studio took a trip through southern Germany to blow the dust from the rare pictograms, uncovered from a ‘treasure trove of an archive’ for a new exhibition at the London Design Festival. The journey was, describes Eley, ‘the epitome of a busman’s holiday’. He was greeted by the generous hospitality of Aicher’s son Florian, and the ‘sweet beauty’ of the town itself. Both were stops along the way to a greater understanding of the man and his vision.

Isny, surrounded by bucolic scenery – grazing cows and charming farm houses in the foothills of the Alps – has a village feel. Aicher distills this pastoral world into a series of square landscapes, reminiscent of Polaroids, with a concrete-toned urban edge. Steeples, hillsides, forests and a curled up fox are all rendered starkly, with ‘an economy of line drawn with a mischievous twist’.

Despite their reductive aesthetic, they speak to Isny’s atmosphere. ‘Even driving into Isny, you realise the town feels familiar from Aicher’s work – you recognise its landmarks and landscapes,’ Eley offers. ‘The pictures act as vignettes, or a graphic novel, telling a comprehensive story of the place.’

Much of the studio’s own work concerns places and how to best represent them – something they were keen to express through this exhibition. ‘It explores how the pictograms work on their own and in combination with one another. It’s only when you see so much of the work in one place and in its original form, that you are able to appreciate the system Aicher created,’ Eley explains. ‘It’s flexible, playful and endlessly energetic.’

Viewed against the backdrop of the London Design Festival’s superfluity of far-reaching and futuristic works, Aicher’s illustrative card system seems strikingly contemporary. ‘He created a world that can be ordered and re-ordered; a system that can tell the changing stories of a place panel by panel, while remaining entirely recognisable and consistent’ – like a physical version of a Pinterest or Instagram feed.

It’s clever stuff. But Aicher’s branding programme wasn’t without controversy. About ten years after its introduction, there was an ‘outcry’ from people within the town, who felt they didn’t identify with the black and white portrayal. ‘Surrounding towns were all employing identical tourism campaigns — blue skies and the Apline ideal,’ recalls Eley. ‘The entire system was pulled in favour of something more generic.’

Little by little since the 1990s, the town has been reintroducing and reappreciating Aicher’s forward-thinking work. ‘Today, you really get a sense that it has been embraced once again,’ says Eley. ‘It backs up the universal truth that some of the best ideas are the ones that make us feel most uncomfortable at first.’

INFORMATION

‘Otl Aicher: Isny’ is on view until 24 September. For more information, visit the dn&co website

ADDRESS

Ground Floor Space
3 Tyers Gate
London SE1 3HX

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A ramshackle old bank in Clerkenwell has been transformed by architect-turned-gallery director Didier Madoc-Jones into a new exhibition space.

Two years ago, the handsome, half-abandoned shell (complete with stray cat in the basement) was crying out for conversion. Didier enlisted his brother, the RIBA award-winning architect Pascal Madoc-Jones, to pull the space apart, adding partition walls to provide picture hanging room. ‘He also made the building’s past visible by exposing the metal security structures around the old bank vaults and the old Victorian paint on the ceilings,’ Didier explains. ‘It all adds texture.’

These layers of history left on the gallery walls are a fitting tribute to what now hangs on them: postwar magazine illustrations. Lever Gallery is dedicated to preserving this oft-ignored, papered-over visual heritage. ‘Before photography dominated, colour magazine illustration had a brief heyday in the UK, lasting from the late 1950s to the mid-70s,’ Didier explains. 'That time is gone and will not come again.’

Of course, there are still prominent magazine illustrators working today, but ‘their work does not define today’s popular culture in the way that the lifestyle illustrators of that time had the opportunity to do.’ In the fifties, illustration was the most affordable, frequently used visual asset magazines worked with.

Colour printing presses were popping up across the country, and with them, new opportunities for artists, who would sketch an illustration, sending it via post for reproduction. They'd be lucky if they got the original back. ‘Ironically, because lifestyle illustration was mass-produced it wasn’t considered to be of great value,’ says Didier. ‘Much of the original work is lost, in someone's attic, or destroyed.’

Lever Gallery is constantly on the hunt for good, original work. A series by revered lifestyle illustrator Brian Sanders, currently on show with the gallery, is one such hidden gem. The collection has never before been exhibited – having been tucked away for almost half a century in Stanley Kubrick’s house. Sanders was invited by the cult director onto the set of his legendary film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1969) to document the comings and goings of cast, crew (and spacecraft). The resulting series offers a unique glimpse into the director’s notoriously closed-book creative process.

These works are displayed alongside Sanders' more traditional lifestyle illustrations (seen in publications like Woman’s Mirror, The Sunday Times Magazine and Nova) as well as recent poster illustrations that the 80-year-old Sanders created for TV show Mad Men in 2011.

Didier acknowledges that the gallery premise is niche. ‘In the US, postwar illustrators have a loyal and sophisticated following. Iconic works command significant sums, but here, no one can name a Rockwell or a Bernie Fuchs.’ But the UK audience is small but committed, and Didier is optimisitic. ‘There’s a nostalgia for print media illustration. It has something distinct to say about who we were and what we aspired to be.’

If this is a new dawn for postwar illustration, it’s a misty one. But it’s a pleasure to see these wistfully charming original drawings finally displayed for what they are – works of art.

INFORMATION
2001: A Space Odyssey will be screened open-air in the Barbican’s Sculpture Court on 25 August. ‘Brian Sanders: Selected Works’ is on view until 29 July. For more information, visit the Lever Gallery website

ADDRESS

Lever Gallery
153-157 Goswell Road
London EC1V 7HD

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Printmaker and one-time Wallpaper* cover artist Paul Catherall is no stranger to hard work. Each one of his architectural prints takes around six weeks to complete – and there are dozens of them in a bountiful new selling exhibition at London’s For Arts Sake gallery.

‘The process is pretty laborious,’ Catherall explains. ‘I draw up initial designs on tracing paper, refining the compositions for days at a time.’ When he's finally happy, Catherall paints a gouache colour sketch to see which palette might work. Then, he traces the design in pencil onto linoleum – the same kind found on kitchen floors – before transferring it with woodcut tools onto specialist Swiss-made lino, ready for printing, one colour at a time.

‘I like the mix of creativity (the design, the drawing) and also the labour-intensive aspect of making a print,’ Catherall explains. ‘It’s a pretty traditional, step-by-step process, all done by hand. It demands patience, which I’ve learned over time.’

Though Catherall continues to hone his printmaking skills today, his passion for architecture dates back to his childhood. Catherall grew up in Coventry, where time capsules of post-war architecture sprawl across the city in concrete clusters. ‘It was a slow realisation. On moving to London in the late 80s, places like the National Theatre, the Barbican and Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre felt familiar. They packed a bit of a nostalgic punch for me.’

Catherall indulges this nostalgia in his linocut A Vision, which was commissioned to illustrate a Simon Armitage poem of the same name, and incorporates elements of Coventry’s modernist Precinct. The rest of the works included in the exhibition focus on London landmarks (a city Catherall now calls home), including two new works depicting Perivale’s art deco Hoover building, set against a moody grey and blood-red sky, respectively.

Other spotlighted structures include Trellick Tower, Tate Modern and the Shard. But there’s more to come. ‘I have a long list of brutalist, modernist and art deco buildings I want to tackle,’ Catherall explains. ‘I’m working my way through them – slowly.’ Watch this carefully coloured, painstakingly printed space.

INFORMATION

‘Paul Catherall: Limited Edition Linocuts’ is on view until 21 May. For more information, visit Paul Catherall’s website and the For Arts Sake website

ADDRESS

Ealing Gallery
45 Bond Street
London W5 5AS

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Founded over 300 years ago, Fortnum & Mason is bound to have amassed a few treasures and accolades along the way – the most recent, a Wallpaper* Design Award for its first-ever cookbook (below). So to Piccadilly, where Fortnum & Mason’s grandiose space is not only home to lavish gourmet spreads, but to a trove of historical riches nestled away in an unassuming (and secretive) bunker-like space.

Here, the upscale department store’s three-century history practically spills out as you enter, although there is a sense of order to the seemingly endless piles of ephemera, packages and trinkets. A far cry from the immaculately presented goods on its shop floors, this clandestine Aladdin’s cave paints a lively picture of the bastion of (normally) meticulous merchandising.

The gatekeeper of the brand’s annals is Dr Andrea Tanner, Fortnum’s long-time archivist. While the archive isn’t open to the general public, Fortnum’s 'throwback Thursday' posts on Instagram are a good place to start, Dr Tanner suggests. The artefacts she collects chart the fascinating history of a pioneering brand, the latter descriptor being most apt – at one time, Fortnum’s had an expedition department that sent travellers to the plains of Africa and the peak of Everest.

Aside from gastronomic delights, Fortnum’s is celebrated for its memorable collaborations with illustrators, artists, letterists and set designers, which began in the 1920s. Its signature colour, 'eau de Nil' (water of the Nile), is a striking turquoise-y affair that marks only its most special products, while the store has also commissioned original typefaces. (‘Typography is one of our passions,’ Dr Tanner says.) So how does the retailer remain relevant after three centuries? ‘You have to constantly innovate,’ she continue. ‘You can’t betray your core values – or rest on your laurels.’

Appropriately the emporium has published its first-ever cookbook, jam-packed with famous recipes – the Fortnum-invented Scotch egg included. The tome pays tribute to the brand's past, and is peppered with archival illustrations by Edward Bawden and WM Hendy, and looks to its future with a smattering of appetite-whetting photography by David Loftus (shot on location at 181 Piccadilly, behind a shop hoarding on the third floor).

Here are five illustrators who have helped shape the brand’s visual identity…

Edward Bawden (1903–1989)
One of Fortnum’s best-known collaborators, Bawden was a shy, retiring artist who was in some ways the antithesis of Fortnum & Mason (as the story goes, the artist once suggested offering charcoal biscuits and water to guests at a ‘gloom party’). Nevertheless, Bawden produced some of his most memorable work for Fortnum’s; his vivid illustrations graced the pages of many catalogues, some produced in collaboration with letterist Ruth Gill. His last Christmas catalogue for the store – produced in 1959 – is considered one of his finest works. His illustrations feature heavily in Fortnum’s recently published cookbook.

Rex Whistler (1905–1944)
Born in Eltham, John ‘Rex’ Whistler showed a precocious talent for art from a young age. He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and embarked on an illustrious – if sadly short-lived – career after, dabbling in painting, illustration, ballet design and more. Whistler worked at Fortnum’s in the 1930s, crafting a particularly terrific cover for the Entertaining Made Easy food catalogue in 1936. He was killed by a mortar in Normandy during the Second World War.

Ruth Gill (born c. 1910-1920)
Gill was taught by Henry Moore at the Chelsea School of Arts. She was a director of Colman Prentis and Varley when she worked on the logo for Fortnum & Mason in the mid-1950s (below), in conjunction with Bawden.

Sir Cedric Lockwood Morris (1889–1982)
Morris was one of the finest twentieth-century British painters of flowers and garden produce. His wide engagement with the natural world was reflected equally in his remarkable paintings of birds (shown in their habitats, yet often seen almost as personalities), of animals, and of British and foreign landscapes. No less distinguished was his achievement as a portrait painter, his approach extending from the satirical to the deeply affectionate.

Oliver Messel (1904–1978)
Educated at Eton and a student of influential art teacher Henry Tonks at the Slade, Messel became known for the masks worn at student parties, which he modelled from wax and papier mâché. He soon turned to the ancient art of theatrical mask making, and he was commissioned to create pieces for revues, operas and ballets – eventually leading into his forays in set design. Messel took on small commercial commissions at this time, including a catalogue for Fortnum’s and dressing the store.

INFORMATION

The Cook Book, £30, published by Fourth Estate. For more information, visit the Fortnum & Mason website

ADDRESS

Fortnum & Mason
181 Piccadilly
London W1A 1ER

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The cover of John Derian’s first book is entirely absent of text; an enlarged illustrated eye and its finely pencilled brow fill the space with such outsized scale that the image would catch your eye without much effort. You might interpret this as an invitation into Derian’s world – the charming, curious, vintage sensibility he channels into his signature découpage plates, table top pieces and stationery. But as Derian tells Wallpaper*, eyes have been a point of fascination from when he was young and would spend time drawing them. ‘The eye is iconic,’ he says, noting that it appears in his product range as a large vessel named 'Eye Bowl' (what else?). ‘Eyes resonate with me.’

Leaf through John Derian Picture Book and you will inevitably arrive at images that resonate. Almost all of them date back to the 18th and 19th centuries, feature engraving or hand-painting techniques, and represent a potpourri of flora, fauna, miscellaneous graphics, mysticism, atypical portraiture, allegory and other unclassifiable oddities. In short, they are delightful source material for anyone interested in such 2.0 iterations as steampunk, magical realism, and neo-Victoriana. Where Derian could have grouped them according to any variety of themes, or else shaped a pictorial narrative, he insists he approached their arrangement intuitively and without much deliberation. ‘There are some threads in there – a black and white (sequence) or Adam and Eve with apples – but nothing was intended. I feel if I had to really think about it, it might have taken another year just to do the layout. I feel like it was me – and a natural process,’ he says.

Collectors, in this way, will no doubt enjoy the connection between their pieces and what is likely the first volume of many to come. For the foreword, Derian reached out to someone better known for collecting fashion than artful trays and plates: Anna Wintour. ‘When the world is full of huge emporiums that are impossible to tell apart, he has fashioned an intimate, personal space where we are seduced by his singular sense of style,’ writes the Vogue editor-in-chief and Condé Nast artistic director.

In the absence of explanatory text – leaving aside the requisite bio and an introduction that briefly explains how he fell into this crowd-pleasing craft – the book brims with untold stories. There’s a visual glossary at the back that provides as much detail of the images as possible, yet each one ultimately came from a book or journal that once belonged to someone who may have lived a life either fabulous or ordinary. Behind each image is also the untold story of how Derian came upon it. ‘It is kind of biographical that way,’ he admits. ‘They’re a part of my life and I’m fond of them, so it’s nice seeing them in the book.’

But they can also live outside the book; which is to say, Derian expects that people will cut apart the tome to suit their creative whims, whether as wallpaper or gift wrap. If this seems like committing abuse to such a substantial and personal project, he reasons that the gesture reflects his own impulses. ‘I’m a crafter at heart; I like making things and I want people to feel that it doesn’t have to be that precious.’ The point, however, is not DIY Derian; after all, he has been perfecting his découpage since 1989. For this book, he narrowed down his collection of 1000-plus images to approximately 300 and says nearly all of them have been realised as products.

Ultimately, the back cover, with its throwback illustration of the earth in space, is as revealing as the front – as if to suggest that there remains a whimsical, timeless world out there for Derian to interpret and share.

INFORMATION

John Derian Picture Book, $75, published by Artisan. For more information, visit the John Derian website

There is no other artist who dismantles – and subsequently pieces together – modern America quite like Raymond Pettibon. Best known for his comic book-style drawings overlaid with charged text, the New York-based artist revels in subverting tropes, from trains and film-noir, to surfing and baseball players.

These themes once again come to the fore in Pettibon’s sixth exhibition at Sadie Coles in London, where the gallery’s pristine space is teeming with an array of new drawings that bring us into Pettibon’s dark and deeply twisted world. The exhibition’s title, ‘Bakersfield to Barstow to Cucamonga to Hollywooyd’, suggests a fictional journey through California, however, there is always something more sinister at play here.

Born in 1957 in Tuscon, Arizona and raised in California, Pettibon graduated with an economics degree before establishing himself in the Los Angeles punk scene, creating album and merchandise artwork for the likes of Black Flag (founded by his brother, while Pettibon briefly dabbled as bassist) and Sonic Youth. His counterculture iconography remains central to his artistic practice today

Several of the works in the London exhibition explore the notion of encounters – ‘sexual liaisons, sports-field standoffs’ – underpinned with sentiments of violence, despair and dissatisfaction. In No Title (He is looking…), Pettibon’s brushstrokes explode on the large canvas with the same frenzy as the ocean he is depicting – a lone surfer looks to be engulfed.

He has said, ‘All these closed fields… hard-edged and soft-edged, and flat. What does it measure, what does it ultimately say? It cuts out from the world the complexity that exists, which I deal with in every fucking drawing I make.’ Pettibon’s work merges painting, drawing, collage, cartoons and poetry with intuitive fluidity – where one genre ends and the next begins is near impossible to pinpoint.

Pettibon’s penchant for the macabre and anarchic leaves viewers unsettled, but ultimately, rewarded. One work, an ink portrait of man with his head tilted back and eyes clenched shut, proclaims: ‘A light bulb went off in his head: the apocalypse.' However coincidental, it’s a poignant declaration that could not be timelier or more fitting for the current atmosphere in London.

INFORMATION

‘Bakersfield to Barstow to Cucamonga to Hollywooyd’ runs until 20 August. For more information, visit the Sadies Cole website

ADDRESS

62 Kingly St
London W1B 5QN

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In the fickle and constantly turning world of designer fragrances, it’s considered an incredible feat that Prada has yet to put a foot wrong. Now, to rival the exclusive scent collections touted by Chanel, Dior and Tom Ford, the innovative fashion label’s latest sensation – a 10-strong collection of conceptual scents known together as 'Prada Olfactories' – sets a new benchmark in fashion-oriented perfume.

Created by Daniela Andrier, the same force behind Prada’s other enigmatic scents including 'Infusion d’Iris' and 'Prada Candy', Prada Olfactories is a comprehensive distillation of the brand’s thought-provoking attitude and fearless approach. In each perfume’s creation, Andrier eschewed the usual methods and explanations of its composition, such as divulging top notes, the heart and the base. Instead, each scent is pieced together in a pastiche, very much like a dream. More obvious facets are undercut by elusive ones that invite the wearer to draw their own conclusions of what each scent is about.

Accompanied by surrealist collages that visualise the scent’s contents, each of the unisex fragrances is playfully named to add to its mystique. 'Cargo de Nuit', an aquatic scent that evokes a sea voyage under twilight with hints of ambrette and cedar, is light and delicate, while 'Tainted Love' is unabashed in its glossy femininity as it emulates the nostalgic, universal scent of lipstick.

Each perfume offers up a sensorial journey that’s made all the better by its restrained, elegant packaging. Enclosed in a glass flaçon and decorated with the house’s signature blue leather plaque, there’s no telling what adventure each bottle holds save for a faint hue.

To top it all off, each perfume is paired with a signature print from the Prada archive, which also appears on a silk pouch that comes with each bottle. The collection not only invites us in to experience the olfactory world of Prada, but its very visual one as well. 

INFORMATION

Prada Olfactories is available from select Prada boutiques, $300 each for 100 ml. For more information, visit Prada’s website

LA-based Australian graffiti artists Dabs and Myla are not averse to a challenge. Working under the studio name of DABSMYLA, the husband-and-wife duo, who have painted everything from city walls and awards show sets to furniture and vases, are always on the lookout for a new canvas. So when they discovered a disused storage building at the Los Angeles factory of mid-century-inspired furniture manufacturers Modernica, they felt the urge to decorate.

'We were in the process of looking for spaces for a pop up when Modernica approached us about collaborating with them on a demi table and fibreglass chair,' recall the designers. 'It was during the meeting with them we saw the stand alone building on their property and asked them what the deal was with it – they explained they were just using it for storage. We asked to go inside and check it out and straight away we picked up a great energy and could envision what we could do to the space to transform it. So it started as a meeting about a small collaboration and organically transformed into a total partnership between us and Modernica in creating something so much bigger.'

Covering the exterior and interior walls with their trademark psychedelic patterns and zany-faced characters, DABSMYLA have also furnished the 4,000 sq ft 1930s Spanish Revival workplace building with paintings, sculptures, installations and exclusive furnishings to create an immersive cartoon world, which they have titled 'Before & Further'.

'We started working on the paintings for this show around December last year and worked on them in-between other projects all this year,' explains Myla. 'We finished up on all the pieces around mid July, then spent a few weeks drawing and conceptualising on the ideas for the installation. Once we started on the physical work of painting in the space it was just over eight weeks from start to finish... but it was an intense eight weeks. We worked seven days a week for a minimum of ten to 12 hours a day. We worked like that back-to-back for the whole eight weeks taking no days off.'

On closer inspection, the illustrations and pictorial narratives reveal a number of mid-century elements, highlighting Modernica and DABSMYLA's shared passion for mid-century modernism and the contemporary artists of the post-war period. 'We spent a long time designing and planning out the installation, but once each area started to be physically painted and constructed we would start to see more to add or change. I think in the end the result was probably 70 per cent from what was planned and 30 per cent created spontaneously as we worked,' recalls Dabs.

In addition, furnishings include limited-edition versions of Modernica's 'Case Study' fibreglass shell chairs, hand painted ceramics and custom-built lighting installations based on mid-century classics, which were all designed exclusively for the collaboration and made using the Modernica factory’s facilities.

The 4,000 sq ft 1930s Spanish Revival workplace building belongs to mid-century-inspired furniture manufacturers Modernica, who offered up the space after approaching the duo about collaborating with them on a line of furniture pieces

As well as covering the exterior walls with their trademark psychedelic patterns and zany-faced characters, DABSMYLA have also furnished the interior with paintings, sculptures, installations and exclusive furnishings to create a totally immersive cartoon world

On closer inspection, the illustrations and pictorial narratives reveal a number of mid-century elements, highlighting Modernica and DABSMYLA’s shared passion for mid-century modernism and the contemporary artists of the post-war period

Furnishings include limited-edition versions of Modernica’s ’Case Study’ fibreglass shell chairs, hand painted ceramics and custom-built lighting installations based on mid-century classics

INFORMATION

’Before & Further’ is on view until 15 November

Photography: Brent Broza

ADDRESS

Modernica
2901 Saco Street
Los Angeles, CA 9005

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The iconic designer Alexander Girard was no stranger to creating textiles, logos, products, buildings and interiors. Today, his enduring legacy has extended to include a collection of stationery – digital, no less. A collaboration between online stationers Paperless Post and Girard Studio, the family-run foundation in charge of preserving and promoting Girard’s archive, Alexander Girard for Paperless Post transforms some of his most timeless illustrations and graphics into a capsule collection of greeting cards for online and print. 

The real and online worlds don’t always intersect naturally, but Paperless Post has managed to find a happy medium. Some of the company’s past projects include collaborations with Kelly Wearstler and Marimekko. This expertise, combined with Girard being an avid letter writer during his lifetime, made the decision to work together an easy one for Girard Studio.

'Making greeting cards and personalised gifts was such a large part of our grandfather’s practice,' says Aleishall Girard Maxon, the studio’s co-creative director and Girard’s granddaughter. 'Every year, he would create new designs for each special occasion. This collaboration was a natural fit in keeping the spirit of that tradition alive. The fact that it utilises the digital medium to carry out such a timeless act of correspondence was all the more exciting as our grandfather greatly appreciated both tradition and technology, and the potential for them to overlap.'

Maxon remembers Girard as a ardent linguist whose fascination for the letter form sprung out from his affinity for language. 'He was an incredible typographer and understood how to assign a specific font for a specific occasion. His many handwriting styles were expressive and could be tailored to fit each unique circumstance or occasion, whether it was clean and restrained or wildly humorous and ornate.'

The Alexander Girard for Paperless Post collection is made up of 24 motifs and designs, which notably includes the smiling sun from La Fonda del Sol, 1960; International Love Heart, 1960; January, 1963; and Good Luck Clover, 1971 – Girard's most recognisable works. The range also features several textile designs that Girard created for Herman Miller, not only as cards, but as complementary envelope liners to boot.

Eden, 1966 (left) and Hand and Dove, 1972 (right) were also designs for Herman Miller. 'Universal themes of love and peace ran throughout his greeting card designs as did those of flowers and family,' says Aleishall Girard Maxon, Girard's granddaughter and co-creative director of Girard Studio. 'As a collector of talismans from all over the world, a sense of magic and luck were often incorporated into the designs as well'

The collection also features two of Girard's most recognisable works. International Love Heart, 1960 (left) was originally designed for The Compound restaurant in Santa Fe, while La Fonda del Sol, 1960 (right) was designed for the eponymous restaurant in the Time Life Building in New York City

In Japan, drinking tea is a ritual. The 'Way of Tea' – the elaborate preparation of powdered green matcha tea – is a quiet ceremony deeply rooted within Japanese culture, which carefully demonstrates harmony, respect, purity and tranquillity through the presentation of the drink.

Londoners can experience the art of tea preparation – as well as tip-top Japanese food – at Tombo in South Kensington. This Japanese cafe and matcha bar – the first authentic example of its kind in the city – was launched five years ago by Colin and Manami Endo-Sloley, and their son Louis, who named it after the Japanese word for dragonfly, symbolising renewal and positive force. 

To complement the cafe, Tombo has launched a range of green teas and matcha sourced from the foothills of Mount Fuji and developed in partnership with the highly regarded tea estate Maruyama Seicha in Shizuoka. The nourishing sakura (Japanese cherry) tea infused with cherry-blossom kukicha, made of stems and twigs, offers a lighter alternative to regular green tea, while the ultimate matcha powder, for health and mind, is said to restore energy. Other blends include grassy-flavoured sencha and toasty hojicha with ginger – and even matcha baking powder for cooking with. 

The packaging was designed by Natsko Seki, the acclaimed London-based illustrator, who has produced works for Louis Vuitton and Hermès. She created contemporary yet playful designs, capturing the spirit and heart of her native Japan. 

Drink these teas with ichi-go ichi-e in mind – the philosophy that suggests that each gathering should be treasured, for it can never be reproduced.

ADDRESS

Tombo
29 Thurloe Place
South Kensington
London, SW7 2HQ

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Nicolas Ouchenir is a self-taught calligrapher whose talent surfaced while he was director of a contemporary art gallery in Paris. Obsessive to detail, he hand-addressed exhibition invitations in typefaces he created based on artists’ signatures. It made a big difference. ‘Receiving an invitation with your name beautifully handwritten on the envelope makes you feel desired,’ he explains.

Ouchenir began receiving commissions from Carine Roitfeld and Karl Largerfeld to design Fashion Week invitations, and private commissions to handwrite love letters for Russian and Middle Eastern clients.

An insatiable bookworm, Ouchenir was reading Michel Tournier when he received a call from his friend, Thomas Erber, curator of the Cabinet de Curiosités. ‘I’d just that moment read Tournier's phrase, “danser fou de désir en silence, les corps enlacés”, that evoked Thomas to me.’ Erber was ringing to request a portrait, which he needed immediately. Ouchenir took Tournier’s words and wove them into an intricate calligraphic portrait. It became the first of a series of 100 intimate portraits in cipher drawn from literary quotes researched and selected by the artist.

Twenty of these are on show in the Colette concept store in Paris. Twenty more portraits will be appearing as a road show in London, New York, Los Angeles and in an as yet unannounced destination in Africa.

ADDRESS

Colette
213 rue Saint-Honoré
75001 Paris

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Art realised on paper – from Whistler's delicate etchings, to Degas' sublime pastels and the distinctive drawing of Picasso – is common enough, but the Houston-based artist Natasha Bowdoin’s work takes the artistry of paper to an entirely new level. Now, her singular work – melding found text, drawings, paintings, paper cuttings, collage and wall installation – is set to go on show at the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia as a solo exhibition, 'Bloom'.

'I’ve long wanted to explore the actual experience of reading while always referencing nature,' says Bowdoin, who trained at the Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia and the Slade School of Fine Art, London, and is represented by the Lower East Side Monya Rowe Gallery, the Dallas Talley Dunn Gallery and Extraspazio in Rome.

In the case of 'Garden Plot' – an elaborate wall installation of quite striking visual complexity that Bowdoin has been working on for the past two years – she has chosen to draw particularly on the bucolic details of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s seminal 1836 essay 'Nature' and Henry David Thoreau's transcendental 1854 novel 'Walden', as well as Ernst Haeckel's printed illustrations of sea creatures and lunar maps. 

Bowdoin then elaborates on patterns conceptually derived from the text, drawing a series of abstract forms that reference petals and ivy tendrils, slender branches and marine life. Constructed of multiple layers of paper, some of her creations are then filled in with gouache and acrylic in a palette of moss green, azure blue, even vibrant orange. Other drawings are first inscribed with portions of the selected texts and then painted. Finally, works on paper are cut by hand.

Assembling 'Garden Plot' for exhibition is an exceedingly laborious task, Bowdoin first preparing an on-site wall painting, before hanging the cut paper pieces on dowels directly on top of it. And the dimensions are, well... garden sized. The version of the work shown at the Roswell Museum and Art Centre in 2013 was 28 feet across; this particular iteration will extend more than 40 feet across and take an exhausting 11 days to install.

'It's an invitation,' Bowdoin says, 'for the viewer to enter and contemplate the realm of nature.'

ADDRESS

SCAD Museum of Art
601 Turner Blvd.
Savannah, Georgia

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Louis Vuitton has released 30 limited edition portfolios featuring Ruben Toledo's most iconic travel illustrations. The pieces pay tribute to the Cuban-American artist's whimsical paintings of cityscapes from Paris to his hometown New York for the famous fashion brand's travel guides.

'I'm like a caveman just drawing the beautiful deer racing by,' says Toledo. 'Drawing to me is very instinctive. I notice an outline first and I get that down fast before all the other details.'

The numbered and signed portfolios comprise fifteen drawings showcasing Toledo's idiosyncratic elegant silhouettes printed on pure cotton paper. Alongside this is a monograph of 108 illustrations created for Louis Vuitton's city guides from 2000 to 2012, presented in a drawing box hand-painted by the artist.

'The drawings are a portrait of each city,' explains Toledo. 'It is like a person, I notice what is interesting about them and what has an energy.'

Toledo's family fled Cuba in the late 1960s and despite 'only about a month at art school,' the young artist began designing windows for Italian fashion brand Fiorucci before being discovered by Andy Warhol and Keith Haring.  His prolific career since ranges from designing mannequins and fabrics to creating illustrations for Vogue and The New York Times, and more recently, stage sets for Broadway theatrical productions.

When it comes to his favourite city, Toledo says he has a passion for New York where he lives and works in a turn of the century, four-storey Manhattan penthouse with his fashion designer wife, Isabel.  He also admits to a particular affinity with Japan, an illustration of which is included in the portfolio alongside Hong Kong, Miami and Moscow.

'I love its outdoor spaces, the gardens and secret alleyways. That's the thing about great cities, they naturally weave a porous culture and even without having connections there it becomes part of your life.'