designer dan

The art of Nancy Fout

2011-10-11T12:54:00.005+01:00

Browsing through the interwebs i came across these brilliant sculptures by Nancy Fout. Her work reminds me of Salvador Dali's 'Lobster Telephone', putting together two seemingly unrelated objects, leaving the viewer to interpret the meaning.Looks like she has recently exhibited at the Pertwee, Anderson & Gold gallery (part run by the actor Sean Pertwee). The gallery launched in February this year

Tessa Farmer 'The Coming of the Fairies' exhibition at Viktor Wynd's Little Shop of Horrors

2011-10-07T14:08:00.011+01:00

Here are some photos from the latest Tessa Farmer exhibition at Viktor Wynd's Little Shop of Horrors. I've featured Tessa's work a fair amount on this blog previously so it's great seeing how her work has evolved from show to show. Tessa has created a rich and diverse world, populated by macabre fairies that are trying to take control of the animal kingdom. It seems with each new exhibition the

Idea Generation - Hapshash Takes a Trip: The sixties work of Nigel waymouth

2011-10-02T22:08:00.011+01:00

Last Sunday we headed over to the Chance Street to attend the Pyschedelic Sundaze event hosted by the Idea Generation gallery. The current exhibition is a major retrospective of the sixties work of Nigel Waymouth, including works created with Michael English as part of the British design duo Hapshash & the Coloured Coat. During this short 18 month burst of creativity they created the now iconic

Viktor Wynd's Little shop of Horrors - Last Tuesday Society

2011-10-02T21:45:00.004+01:00

For those who haven't been to the Little shop of Horrors on Mare Street, it's a fantastic curiosity shop with an amazing collection of objects ranging from taxidermic flying cats to a collection of used condoms believed to belong to the Rolling Stones circa 2003. You can spend a good hour looking through all the strange items on show and still not see it all. At the moment i'm banned from buying

V&A Lates - Power of Making Exhibition 2011

2011-10-01T23:09:00.001+01:00

Last Friday we headed over to the V&A Late to check out the Power of Making exhibition. put together by both the V&A and the Crafts council, the exhibition presents an eclectic selection of over 100 exquisitely crafted objects. After a few tasty Bombay Saphire cocktails we hit the exhibition space and were immediately overwhelmed by the sheer spectacle of it all. The variation and imagination in

The 100 Project Launch Hosted by Poke

2011-07-28T09:52:00.005+01:00

On Tuesday i headed down to the Biscuit building to attend the launch of the 100 project. The idea is to auction off 52 pieces of artwork (one a week), with the proceeds going to help support 100 local kids and give them a chance to study art at The Prince’s Drawing School in Shoreditch. There are some great artists and illustrators involved with the project, with standout work from Tom Gauld, Mr

Creative Review 'Tweetup' at the Tate's Vorticism Exhibition 2011

2011-07-27T00:01:00.014+01:00

Last week i headed down to the Tate Britain to attend the latest Creative Review 'Tweetup' and get a preview of the upcoming Vorticism exhibition. Having recently watched a great documentary on the subject i was really looking forward to seeing the show. The one artists I was most intrigued to see was Wyndham Lewis, he was a British critic, novelist, painter, and editor of the short-lived and

House of Beasts at Attingham Park

2011-07-26T23:56:00.017+01:00

House of Beasts is a new exhibition set within the surroundings of Attingham's elegant 18th-century mansion and deer park. Build for the 1st Lord Berwick in 1785, the house had been in continuous ownership by the family for more than 160 years with five generations of spenders, savers, and saviours who have loved or neglected this great estate. Meadow Arts have done a fantastic job putting

Digital Masterclass at D&AD New blood 2011

2011-07-15T17:06:00.011+01:00

A couple of weeks back, myself and Collective London director Steve Barnes headed down to the Truman Brewery to host an event by ShellsuitZombie at this years D&AD New blood. After a short introduction into some of the work we do at the agency, we gave out a mini brief for the students to work through. The students had an hour to come up with some creative concepts for innocent

The Shape Of Things To Come: New Sculpture at the Saatchi Gallery

2011-07-15T15:33:00.006+01:00

Here are a few photos from the exhibition ' The shape of things to come' at the Saatchi Gallery. I wasn't quite sure what to expect with this one, i thought the title of the show was fairly ambiguous, but i can say i was pleasantly surprised by the work on show. One of the highlights was was the Canadian artist David Altmeid's anthropomorphic sculpture titled 'The New North' I loved all the

The Incredible Sculptures of Berlinde de Bruyckere

2011-07-11T21:25:00.003+01:00

I first came across Berlinde de Bruyckere's work at last years Frieze Art Fair in Regents Park. The fair had hundreds of art galleries from around the world representing literally thousands of artists, i remember it to be quite overwhelming, being bombarded with so many pieces of art within such close proximity. It was a piece by Bruyckere, titled 'Lingam' (2007), that was one of a few pieces of

ShellsuitZombie - Issue 2

2011-07-09T22:46:00.002+01:00

ShellsuitZombie is a project run by fellow Collective London designer @jonnyburch that "encourages interaction between graduating students and the creative industry" by hosting talks and events up and down the country. I've been to a few events, and i can see that they are a great way to meet talented graduates, as well as the flip side of giving graduates useful contacts within the design

Huang Yong Ping at the Nottingham Contemporary

2011-05-30T00:07:00.005+01:00

As we were up in Nottingham over the weekend we couldn't resist a quick visit to the Nottingham Contemporary Gallery. This was our first trip to the gallery, as it wasn't around back when we used to live up there as students. Which is a shame, as even though our time was brief it became apparent the gallery is a fantastic cultural hub for Nottingham.So below are some pictures from the Huang Yong

Jaume Plensa exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

2011-05-29T23:43:00.006+01:00

We caught up with a few friends in Nottingham over the weekend and as part of the festivities we had a trip up to the Yorkshire Sculpture park to check out the new Jaume Plensa exhibition.Looking around the there was an impressive amount of work on display, the alabaster heads, illuminated in the darkened room had a real impact. Another highlight was the room containing the engraved gongs.

Amon Tobin & Tessa Farmer - present: ISAM: Control Over Nature at the Crypt Gallery 2011

2011-05-26T09:38:00.006+01:00

Yesterday i headed down to the Crypt gallery to check out Amon Tobin and Tessa Farmers collaborative installation 'Control Over Nature' which sets Tessa's macabre dioramas against the ambient soundscapes of Amon Tobin.You have to admire an artist who puts on no less than two solo shows in one week, and thats what exactly what Tessa Farmer has done, with the two shows complementing each other

Clerkenwell Design Week 2011

2011-05-25T22:18:00.007+01:00

For the last couple of days, myself and a few work colleagues have been having a look around the various features of this years Clerkenwell Design Week. The highlight had to be the opening of the Clerkenwell House of Detention, which is conveniently just down the road. I had heard of this place before as it's reportedly the most haunted place in England, however the website states it's been

ANDY HOLDEN - Chewy Cosmos Thingly Time at Kettles Yard

2011-05-22T12:22:00.005+01:00

Over the weekend i popped down to Cambridge to have a look at Andy Holden's new exhibition at Kettles Yard. I have seen a previous exhibition of Andy's at the Tate Britain last year, however this was my first chance to have a look at a wider selection of his work. As an artist Andy works across a wide variety of disciplines, such as sculpture, painting, music, film, and performance. Each piece

Tessa Farmer - Nymphidia exhibition at Danielle Arnaud gallery

2011-05-22T12:20:00.005+01:00

Friday i attended the opening of Tessa Farmers 'Nymphidia' exhibition at the Danielle Arnaud gallery. Situated in a South London Georgian town house, it makes for a wonderfully unique exhibition space. As you walk around the rooms of the house, each installation merges into the next so that you no longer view the artworks separately, in fact the house itself becomes the installation. The fairy

Bedtime Stories at 40 Winks

2011-05-22T12:16:00.005+01:00

After a strong recommendation from a work colleague i booked up a trip to 40 winks to attend the Bedtime stories evening they host. The venue has been described by German Vogue as 'the most beautiful small hotel in the world' and you can see why. Interior designer and host to the evening David Carter has done a fantastic job creating a real sense of decadence in each of the rooms.With a strict

Mr Bingo - Hate mail postcard project

2011-05-10T11:39:00.007+01:00

Some say he's the 'Master of pens'. Some call him the 'Shoreditch Beat Busketeer'. Some say he fucks about for a living. Well whatever they say, you have to admire Mr Bingo's latest self initiated project. Bringing life back into the old art of postcard correspondence, Mr Bingo adds his own subversive twist by sending out vintage postcards containing drawings with varying degrees of offensiveness

Black Rat Press - Street Art, contemporary prints from the V&A Museum

2011-04-15T13:10:00.007+01:00

Yesterday i attended the Preview evening for the latest Black Rat Press exhibition which is currently hosting the V&A's collection of street art prints. With work from the likes of Shepard Fairey, D*Face, Jon Burgerman, and Banksy, it's a great collection with some classic pieces on show. It was also nice to see a few prints i was unfamiliar with, such as Pure Evil's print 'Frost Fair' and Blu's

Playstation - The Studio Launch, at Glug London

2011-04-14T11:51:00.018+01:00

Myself and a few Collective colleagues headed out to Glug last night, to get a sneak peak at Studio Output's latest Project for Sony Playstation. Titled 'The Studio' it's a new digital art store hosted on the Playstation Network, showcasing a range of static and dynamic themes from some of the most coveted artists and designers, which are all available for download.There are already some great

Travis Louie - The Creature Show

2011-04-13T11:53:00.002+01:00

I really love the new illustration series by the artist Travis Louie, titled 'The Creature Show' the images are daguerreotype style paintings, featuring Victorian people and their pets as well as a few H.P. Lovecraft type monsters thrown in for good measure.These new artworks are now showing at the Roq La Rue Gallery, alongside Kris Kuksi's post industrial rococo sculptures.

Bound exhibition at All Visual Arts (AVA)

2011-04-12T14:08:00.008+01:00

I heard that one of my favourite artists Kate MccGwire had a piece on showing at the All Visual Arts' new space in Kings Cross, so i popped in over the weekend. The exhibition features 2 large scale sculptures by Kate MccGwire and Alice Anderson, specially commissioned by the AVA.Below are some photos taken from the All Visual Arts site, if you want to read more about the show go here. The show

Dirt Exhibition at the Welcome Collection, 2011

2011-04-12T12:07:00.005+01:00

I had a trip down to the Welcome Collection over the weekend to see the new exhibition Dirt. After my last trip there i had high expectations, as I'm always impressed with the diversity of the artefact's on display. As you walk around the show, the emphasis and focus constantly shifts and changes, giving you a much broader view of the subject matter.Highlight of this show were James Croak's cast

Les Diaboliques at the BFI

2011-04-09T17:53:00.007+01:00

Clouzot's influential thriller Les Diaboliques has been showing at the BFI, so a few of us headed down to see it. Hitchcock has admitted that Clouzot's film directly inspired him to make Psycho, so if you're a fan of Hitchcock you'll really enjoy watching this.I've put the trailer at the bottom of the post for you to look at, it looks like it's being shown in cinemas across the country in the

The Shakey Monkey Space app by Cog Design

2011-03-29T18:18:00.007+01:00

Browsing through the app store last night i came across this little gem of an app from the guys over at Cog design. Bored by the retro futurist style, which inevitably crops up time and time again on the various design communities. Cog have created this nifty little image generator, that with a mere shake of the iphone will generate a new piece of art. I love the attention to detail Cog have gone

Adam Buxton's Bug 24 at the BFI

2011-03-29T13:37:00.004+01:00

Last Friday a few of us attended Bug 24 at the BFI. Hosted by Adam Buxton, it's a night showcasing the latest 'quirky' music videos doing the rounds, with a few comical comments from the YouTube community thrown in for good measure.As mention in a previous Bug post, it looks like they are starting to create YouTube playlists of the Bug shows, however it takes a fair amount of time after the show

Crysis 2 'Live Alien Invasion' - Projections around London and Paris

2011-03-23T10:52:00.007Z

As promised here is a follow up post on the Crysis 2 projections we did last week in London and Paris. As a quick recap, we went around London and Paris projecting the game onto various iconic landmarks, giving members of the public a chance to play the game before its release. The video went live yesterday on the official Facebook and YouTube Crysis channels, and is getting a good response so

Pick Me Up London Art Fair 2011

2011-03-18T10:47:00.005Z

A few of us headed down to Somerset House last night to attend the Pick Me Up art fair. I attended Last year's show and was impressed with the quality of work on display, Rob Ryan's open studio was a real highlight. This year, designer Anthony Burrill opens up his studio, giving visitors a chance to look through and immerse themselves in his iconic style.Highlights of the show for me were Tom

Joy of Living Exhibition at Somerset House 2011

2011-03-18T09:57:00.003Z

Before heading into this years Pick Me Up, I took a few photos of the Joy of Living exhibition housed in the great arch lobby of Somerset house. London Design Guide editor Max Fraser has challenged more than 100 established and new UK-based designers to create a piece of artwork from a single sheet of A4 graph paper to raise money for Maggie's Cancer Caring Centers. It was great to see such a

Crysis 2 - Live Alien Invasion London

2011-03-18T09:15:00.006Z

On Tuesday evening, myself and a few Collective colleagues headed out onto the streets of London for the Crysis 2 'Live Alien Invasion'. Travelling with a projection team and a film crew, we beamed the new Crysis 2 game onto various iconic locations around town. The projector was hooked up to an Xbox 360, allowing members of the public a chance to have a first play on the game and on a large

Stationary Excess performance at the ICA

2011-03-01T09:34:00.005Z

As i was out of London most of this week i missed out on most of the Shunt events at the ICA, however i did pop in on Sunday and was treated to a performance by Stationary Excess. Mixing up spoken word with music and dance, it was a pretty weird experience but interesting non the less.

Kindle Theatre - Eat Your Heart Out

2011-02-28T17:33:00.004Z

Last night myself and a few Collective colleagues attended the Kindle Theatre's 'Eat your heart out' performance at Debut in London Bridge. As a small favour we had helped out with their website for the show as we're good friends with one of the performers, so it was great to see it all come together. Partnering with Experimental Food Society members Blanch and Shock we were treated to a

Berlin street artist ROA - various works

2011-02-22T13:59:00.011Z

I thought i'd share a few photos of my travels through Brick Lane recently, I had heard Belgian street artist ROA had a new installation at the Black Rat Press. Unfortunately i haven't had a chance to visit yet, so i thought i'd hunt out a few of his other pieces which you can see below. If you want to see more of his work check out his Flick pool here, if you want to see his installation at the

Innocent 'mini movies' YouTube competition

2011-02-18T12:34:00.005Z

We were tasked with designing and innocent 'mini movies' YouTube competition page. As a follow up to the supersmoothie campaign that launched in Jan 2011, the public are invited to make the sequel to the advert. After a round of submissions shortlisted entries are open to a public vote, with the winner receiving £5000 as well as having their film aired on TV.The supersmoothie advert (directed

John Stezaker exhibition at the Whitechapel gallery, 2011

2011-02-17T14:29:00.000Z

This weekend i'll be heading over to the Whitechapel gallery to have a look through John Stezaker's current exhibition. Using found imagery such as old movie stills and vintage postcards, Stezaker's collages play with composition revitalising the old images and creating a new contemporary feel. I particularly like the pieces which obscure the facial features behind a landscape postcard.The

Teagan White - typographic illustrations

2011-02-16T21:52:00.008Z

I stumbled upon Tegan White's work over on the Behance network a while back and really loved her illustrative style. The poster 'The person you love is 72.8% water' (which is a quote from an Alan Fletcher book) has been picked up and blogged about a fair bit. However it is her book of soil that really caught my eye.I love the physicality of using the layers of the pages to take you on a journey

Ex lovers new music video 'Blowing Kisses'

2011-02-16T18:59:00.005Z

Well done Ex Lovers on their new music video 'Blowing Kisses' which launched today. This new single will be released on the 28th Feb through Young & Lost club, with a follow up tour of the UK in February. Danny (the bassist) used to be a colleague here at Collective until his departure to focus on his music career. It's been great following their progress over the years and it looks like 2011

Diana Theater - Chernobyl at Hauser and Wirth

2011-02-01T23:45:00.002Z

On my way to the White Cube gallery i popped into Hauser and Wirth to have a look at Diana Theater's installation, which explores the area around the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Filming around the 100 mile radius it's fascinating to see how the wildlife and animals have thrived in the absence of man. Definitely worth checking out.

Kate MccGwire - Sculpture in feathers

2011-02-01T22:48:00.006Z

There is such beauty in the sculpture work of Kate MccGwire that it can be difficult to take in at first. The sculptures have such rhythm and movement that they twist in on themselves creating an infinite Möbius strip of feathers. Working in many cases with pigeon feathers (which for some is seen as a filthy bird) Kate attempts to evolve peoples preconceptions about beauty. Simply by presenting

Gilbert and George - The Urethra Postcard Project

2011-01-31T22:01:00.010Z

Over the weekend i popped in to see the Gilbert and George exhibition at the White Cube gallery in Mason's Yard. The impact of seeing such a large collection of picture postcards, telephone box cards and flyers all represented in the same format was impressive. I liked the way they mixed up the commercialised tourist cards with the prostitution call cards, choosing to represent them in the

Carl Moore - Animals Pretending To Be Other Animals

2011-01-31T21:29:00.004Z

I love this new series of work, 'Animals pretending to be other animals' from the artist Carl Moore. There is something playful yet odd about seeing an animal crudely painted up in an attempt to pass itself off as something else.If you want to see more of Carl's work check out his site here.

Polly Morgan - Taxidermy Art

2011-01-30T22:30:00.004Z

I'm loving these taxidermy artworks created by the artist Polly Morgan. Rather than attempt to mimic the animals in their natural state like a traditional taxidermist, she sets up these strange and unexpected scenarios.Unfortunately i missed her recent exhibit at the Haunch of Venison, so i'll make sure i put in the effort to see her next show. If you want to see more of her work, visit her site

Tessa Farmer at the London Art Fair 2011

2011-01-30T21:31:00.003Z

I was delighted to see Tessa Farmers work being represented at the London Art Fair this year. I'm a big fan of her work and have previously posted about her on this very blog. It's great to see an evolution in her work, how she is developing her amazing miniature world of macabre fairies into a more commercial environment. If you want to see more of her work, she's exhibiting in the Saatchi

Bug 23 with Adam Buxton at the BFI

2011-01-30T21:03:00.004Z

For those who haven't heard of Bug, it is a monthly night held at he BFI showcasing the newest and best music videos currently doing the rounds. Hosted by Adam Buxton, there are also a few amusing segments interwoven between the films which mostly consist of mocking the YouTube community and their comments to the videos.I've blogged a few Bug events previously, taking the time to source the

Kate Macdowell - Porcelain Sculptures

2011-01-29T22:23:00.004Z

I came across Kate MacDowell's sculptural work at this years London Art Fair and was really taken in by what i saw. Working around the themes of our relationship with nature and the stresses we put on our environment, she manages to create a beauty in her porcelain forms that contrasts with the tragedy of the subject matter. Looking through her site she has a large selection of work, i was

London Art Fair 2011 - Part 1, Paper

2011-01-26T18:54:00.005Z

So here's the first post from this years London Art Fair, i went down last week and was blown away by the quality of the work on show. It took a good couple of hours to get through, so rather than overload the blog I thought it would be better to split it over a couple of posts. First up are some pieces of art using paper as the medium, either through simple folding or cutting. I especially liked

Last Tuesday Society

2011-01-23T23:25:00.007Z

I had a trip down to The Last Tuesday Society's Little Shop of Horrors on Mare street last weekend. Situated just up from the Regents Canal it contains the most incredible items of curiosities and oddities for sale. We're in the process of house hunting at the moment and i've already made plans for the spare room to have a curiosity cabinet of sorts. These two pieces i bought, a snapping turtle

Fourth Plinth Winners announced for 2012 & 2013

2011-01-19T08:55:00.003Z

On a previous post i blogged about my trip down to Martin-in-the-fields to see the artists works shortlisted for the Fourth Plinth commission. Last Friday the mayor of London Boris Johnson announced the winners.First up the 2012 winning entry is by Elmgreen and Dragset, titled 'Powerless Structures, Fig. 101' it depicts a child riding a rocking horse. There is an interview from the artists here.

The Whitney Brothers - Computer Generated Films

2011-01-18T22:03:00.008Z

Last week i went down to the BFI to see a selection of short films by John and James Whitney, who were pioneers in the field of computer animation. Looking through the early documentaries, the Whitney brothers were working at a time when their computer would have been the size of a large room. It's difficult to think back to a time when even a simple piece of code would take hours to render out,

Alan Moore's Dodgem Logic

2011-01-18T20:12:00.004Z

Over the past 6 months i've been reading through the back issues of Alan Moore's new(ish) magazine Dodgem Logic. I'm really enjoying reading through the bubblegum card bios on 'Historic Hipsters', tips on guerilla gardening and a great article on Beat-era San Francisco. It's a great magazine to just casually dip in and out of as it's full of cool little facts and pieces of trivia. If you want to

Martin Creed - 'Work no.700' (2007)

2011-01-17T22:03:00.009Z

One of the major kicks i get out of living in London are all the little serendipitous encounters with art and culture you can have just by wandering around the city. Martin Creed's sculpture is a good example of this, comprising of three rusted steel I-beams stacked on top of each other it sits in the gardens of St James's Church. I first knew of Martin Creed through his 2001 Turner Prize Winning

New Contemporaries 2010 at the ICA

2011-01-17T21:21:00.007Z

After an unsuccessful Sunday outing to the Whitecube gallery (it was shut) we popped down to the ICA to catch the New Contemporaries exhibition. All in all it was a good mix of talents, showcasing new upcoming artists working across film, sculpture, photography, painting, animation and performance.Highlights from the show were Sam Knowles piece titled 'Field' , the hilarious and gruesome

Mat Collishaw's Magic Lantern at the V&A

2011-01-10T21:28:00.006Z

On my travels over the week i popped into the V&A to see Mat Collishaw's Magic Lantern installation. Situated at the top of the V&A building Collishaw has constructed a giant 3-D Zoetrope which gives the illusion of moths flying around a lantern. Unfortunately a 3D Zoetrope requires strobe lighting to work effectively, so as it was day time we couldn't view it. Instead i made my way into the V&A

Anish Kapoor - Turning The World Upside Down, Hyde Park London

2011-01-10T20:47:00.007Z

Over the weekend i managed to get out and enjoy the winters sun down in Hyde Park. I've been meaning to get down there for a while since i heard Anish Kapoor had set up a few sculptures around the park. It was great to see how groups of people gathered around the works, some jumping and dancing around, some waving at themselves, others just amused by their own reflections. What's great about the

High Society Exhibition at the Wellcome Collection

2011-01-09T23:21:00.007Z

Myself and fellow Collective designer @mattakempton went down to the Wellcome Collection last week to have a look through the High Society exhibition. 'Beginning with the idea that the alteration of consciousness is a universal human impulse, the exhibition looks at the use of drugs across the world, whether for recreational, experimental, religious or medical purposes.'Looking around the

Tom Gallant - Hand Cut Paper Art

2010-12-06T21:30:00.007Z

I saw some of Tom Gallant's work at a recent exhibition on the Kingsland Road. His work initially reminded me of the hand cut work of illustrator Rob Ryan, however there is a subtle twist within Tom's work that gives it an edge.If you begin to look closely within the intricate hand cut floral patterns you can see hints of hair, lips, and various other body parts. Soon the true source of the

Baroness Carrie Von Reichardt - RCA secrets

2010-12-02T12:19:00.013Z

So i thought it's about time i posted up some photos of the RCA postcards i bought a few weeks ago. One of the artists i purchased a postcard from contacted me last week and by an amazing coincidence out of the 2,800 postcards on sale, i purchased not only her work and her partners work but also her partners brothers work! Amazing when you think that all the work was displayed anonymously, and

Dirty Kunst Exhibition at Seventeen gallery

2010-11-29T21:58:00.007Z

For those who like art that provokes a strong response from the viewer there is a fun little show currently being held at the Seventeen Gallery, located just at the bottom of the Kingsland road.Upon arrival we were presented with a series of works by Tom Gallant, who cuts out ornate patterns from various pornographic photos. The beauty in the patterned motifs do a great job in countering the

Russian Criminal Tattoo exhibition

2010-11-28T22:31:00.009Z

A few of the Russian Criminal Tattoo encyclopaedias have been passed around the Collective studios from time to time and it has always made for interesting viewing. The books are a collection of illustrations documenting real tattoos adorned by Russian criminals. For these convicts the tattoos reflected their criminal careers and personal beliefs, as well as signifying their criminal status.The

Alternative Press Fair - Nov 2010

2010-11-27T22:55:00.010Z

After a tip off from this weeks Guardian Guide i popped down to the Alternative Press Fair to see the scene of self publishing had to offer . Upon arrival it was clear that it was very busy which made browsing through the stalls of comics, zines, prints and self published art books difficult at times. However i managed to get a few small bits and pieces which i was pleased with. I really enjoyed

RCA Secrets 2010 - Advice For First Timers

2010-11-20T19:05:00.014Z

Although I have posted about the previous years RCA Secrets on this very blog, today was the first time I actually braved the mammoth queues to try and get myself a postcard. Searching through the internet the day before the sale I found there to be a real lack of information for first timers like myself. I was interested to know what time people generally started queuing and I wanted someone to

Adel Abdessemed: Silent Warriors at the Parasol Unit 2010

2010-11-16T09:41:00.005Z

Keeping things a bit local over the weekend i visited the Parasol unit off the City Road to see Adel Abdessemed's 'Silent Warriors' exhibition. Adel works across a wide variety of mediums such as sculpture, installation and video, tackling the difficulties and taboos of war, politics and society. When first entering the Parasol unit you are immediately taken with the the 17 meter fiberglass

RCA Secrets 2010

2010-11-14T21:08:00.004Z

The RCA Secret postcards are back on sale this Saturday, yesterday i popped in to browse through this years selection. For those who don't know, every year the Royal College of Art has a sale of original postcard-sized art, made by professional artists, designers and illustrators, and current postgraduate students at the college. All the postcards are exhibited anonymously and are signed on

Cut & Paste London 2010 - Digital Design Tournament

2010-11-14T18:13:00.004Z

Another day another outing, this time it was to the Village underground to see this years Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament. The event had designers across 2D, 3D, and motion graphics battle it out through live action rounds, having just 15 minutes to create their final designs.Before the main battles commenced there was a brief talk from Yannis and Christos who are the founders of motion

Internet Week - 'The Brilliant Design Lecture' held at the Biscuit Building

2010-11-11T13:43:00.011Z

Yesterday a few of the designers popped down to the Biscuit building to attend the Brilliant Design Lecture which was part of this years Internet Week.The format of the talk was nice and simple, 3 speakers each doing 3 rounds of talks, 'I Made This' , 'This Inspired Me' and 'New To Me' .I was really looking forward to this event as one of the 3 speakers was Tim Hunkin, a man who engineers the

D&AD Presidents Lecture - Pecha Kucha 'Everything is more interesting than your desk'

2010-11-04T20:22:00.010Z

Yesterday i went to the Logan Hall to attend the D&AD Presidents Lecture, where Sanky (the newly crowned President) brought in all the various people who have inspired and motivated him to each give a short presentation.Held in a Pecha Kucha format (Japanese for Chit Chat), speakers only had 20 seconds to talk about each of their slides with a maximum of 20 slides to present. This generally makes

NEWSPEAK: BRITISH ART NOW part 2 at the Saatchi Gallery

2010-11-01T13:34:00.006Z

So here are a few pictures from the Newspeak: Bristish Art Now part 2 exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery. I have to say the consistency of great work on show made this a slightly better exhibition than the first part. The main draw of the exhibition this time was getting a chance to see Tessa Farmer's work, as you may be aware from a previous post I'm a big fan so it was great to see another one

Richard Wilson - 20:50 (1987) at the Saatchi Gallery

2010-10-31T22:25:00.002Z

I popped over to the Saatchi Gallery over the weekend to see part 2 of the exhibition Newspeak: British Art Now. I've taken a load of photos of the show which i'll post about later on this week, however there was an exhibit in gallery 13 that was so amazing i thought i'd give it it's own post.Richard Wilson's 20:50 transforms gallery 13 into an epic illusion, something you have to see in the

Claire Harvey - Frieze Art Fair 2010

2010-10-29T13:27:00.008+01:00

Part 2 of the Frieze Art Fair featured artist is Claire Harvey.Claire Harvey's work consists of solitary figures engaged in day to day activities. It was amazing to see how well she had captured the mood of the subjects in her work considering how small the pieces were. The size, spacing, and subject matter of her work had an amazing ability to block out all the 'noise' of the exhibition. I

'Loud Flash: British Punk on Paper' at the Haunch of Venison October 2010

2010-10-24T14:20:00.004+01:00

Held at the Haunch of Venison located just off Regents Street curator Toby Mott exhibits his amazing collection of posters flyers and fanzines from the British punk scene. This is easily my favourite exhibition of the year so far. If i could relive my gigging life in any era it would be in the late 70's London, it was such a vibrant music scene with some of my favourite bands touring. Alas this

Marcus Coates - Journeys through the 'Lower World'

2010-10-22T09:51:00.010+01:00

So the first of the featured artists from this years Frieze Fair is Marcus Coates. Coates is acting as a modern day Shaman, trying to find answers to questions such as 'How can the city control illegal bicycle parking and 'Where does hair go when you go bald? He does this by delving into a place called the 'Lower World' which is inhabited by various birds and animals.Whilst browsing through the

Frieze Art Fair 2010 - Regents Park

2010-10-21T20:59:00.009+01:00

We headed down to Regents Park last weekend to visit this years Frieze Art Fair, the entrance to the fair was £25 (which is a bit steep) but after visiting i would say it was worth the price. I've taken photos of the work that particularly interested me and put them into a flickr pool here, i've also tried my best to annotate the pieces although there are some gaps.What i'll do in the next few

The Good Gods launch 'The F.T.E.P'

2010-10-21T10:01:00.010+01:00

The Good Gods! EP arrived in the post this morning, pretty chuffed as it's a free release to members of their mailing list. In ode to Tom's grandmother Doris it come wrapped up in a copy of the Financial Times, which all adds to the DIY charm. I've been to a fair few of their gigs, including their earlier incarnation Tom Hatred and the Angry Band. The music is great and it seems like things are

Museum of Everything - Sir Peter Blake Exhibition

2010-10-20T16:56:00.007+01:00

Had a trip down to the Museum of Everything last Saturday to have a look at the Peter Blake collection. Tucked away on a small side street in Primrose hill it has a fairly modest entrance, however looks can be deceiving as this is actually a very large exhibition space.Exhibition #3 is a collaboration with Sir Peter Blake who for the first time is sharing some of his vast collection of self

Tate Modern - Sunflower Seed Exhibition by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei

2010-10-18T20:35:00.007+01:00

Over the weekend i had a chance to pop into the Tate Modern to have a look at the latest Turbine hall installation. Artist Ai Weiwei has filled the hall with 100,000,000 porcelain sunflower seeds, each piece is unique, being both individually handmade and hand painted by a small army of artisans.It's a shame that a few days after opening visitors are no longer allowed to interact freely with the

Tessa Farmer - 'The Ambush' 2010

2010-10-17T22:36:00.007+01:00

I came across Tessa's work a few months ago serendipitously whilst searching through various taxidermy images online. I immediately fell in love with with what i saw, the juxtaposition of a fantasy world rendered as true biological specimens. After sharing my new discovery with a few work colleagues, i found out a good friend was in contact with her sister (small world). It was then i had the

E.Tautz Postcard Project - quotes and tips on living the life less ordinary

2010-09-29T12:45:00.009+01:00

To tie in with the launch of the redesigned E.tautz.com company owner Patrick Grant has revived the old art of correspondence through a postcard project. The idea is to get everyone thinking and engaging in the physical form of sending postcards, loosely based around anecdotes, quotes and tips on the E.Tautz motto, 'Living the life less Ordinary'. The best examples get posted up on their tumblr

Creative Review tweetup at the London Design Museum

2010-09-26T20:46:00.007+01:00

Last week i had the opportunity to go to the Design Museum to an event hosted by Creative Review. Called Creative Review Tweetup, it was a way of thanking all of it's loyal twitter supporters for making it become one of the most popular Twitter accounts in British publishing.Everyone attending the event was invited to bring along a piece of personal work which would get hung inside an exhibition

NEWSPEAK: BRITISH ART NOW at the Saatchi Gallery

2010-09-25T13:54:00.005+01:00

Over the weekend i had a look through part one of the Saatchi gallery's Newspeak: British Art Now exhibition. The exhibition showcases the best of a new generation of contemporary British artists, who are begining to emerging on the world art scene. Located just off the Kings road it's one of my favourite places in London to unwind on a Sunday afternoon.Below is a selection of some of my prefered

Daniel and Rhiannon Hall's Wedding

2010-09-22T17:58:00.005+01:00

Slightly off topic but i thought i'd share some pictures from the wedding last month. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Sarah for the wonderful photos which can be viewed here.Also a big thank you to Arianna from Bittersweet bakers, for making the most amazing wedding cupcakes. The flavours had a bit of an 'English country garden' theme with flavours such as Citrus Spice Green

Fourth Plinth - Six new ideas

2010-09-20T23:07:00.005+01:00

Over the weekend i popped in to The Foyer, St Martin-in-the-Fields to look at the artists who have been shortlisted to propose a new artwork for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. After being slightly distracted by the shop i had a look through and took these photos.Allora & Calzadilla's - Untitled (ATM Organ), presents a working cash machine embedded within the Fourth Plinth which, when

The Big Smoke: Films from a Lost London 1896-1945

2010-09-17T09:52:00.006+01:00

Just browsing through the archives of the BFI and came across this little gem of a video.Made over a 100 years ago, the footage shows a number of scenes shot around central London, taking in locations such as Hyde Park Corner, Parliament Square and Charing Cross Station.Its amazing to see all the differences and similarities, through the advertising on public transport to the congestion of

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1: The Videogame

2010-07-09T17:16:00.005+01:00

With the announcement of the latest Harry Potter video game from EA Bright Light began a teaser phase of a digital campaign aimed at generating excitement and anticipation for the game's release in November. On the main site an exclusive first look image was revealed in portions by a bright ball of light that floated around the screen. The ball increased in size as more fans joined the Facebook

Honda CR-Z Mode Art

2010-06-24T23:40:00.006+01:00

Some of my Colleagues here at collective have been busy of late, producing the latest campaign for Honda's new sporty hybrid coupé, the CR-Z.The first part to the campaign is an application developed for Facebook called Mode Art. The app allows users to turn their profile pictures into a unique work of art, to match the CR-Z's three driving modes: sporty, econ and normal. It was great as we got 3

Pick Me Up: Contemporary Graphic Art Fair at Somerset House

2010-05-02T00:33:00.007+01:00

Just popped down to Somerset House to check out the Pick Me Up Graphic Art Fair, it has a great selection of artists, selling affordable, limited edition prints. I would recommend dedicating a good couple of hours, as there is a fair amount to see. Print Club London were inviting graphic artists to print a poster in it's workshop live each day. Feeling pretty inspired, I'd be keen to start

BUG 18 - THE EVOLUTION OF MUSIC VIDEO

2010-03-21T20:47:00.005Z

Here are the highlights from the recent Bug 18 event I attended, held at the BFI Southbank in Waterloo. For those unaware the Bug series is hosted by Adam Buxton and highlights the latest Music videos focusing on innovation and creativity. If your curious to see the videos featured just click on the images, and you'll be taken to the appropriate Youtube videos.The first video '70 million' by the

Andy Holden - Art Now Exhibition

2010-03-18T13:18:00.006Z

I recently went to see Andy Holden's installation piece, which is currently exhibiting in the Tate Britain as part of the Art Now programme. Compromising of a large knitted boulder, 'The Pyramid Piece' acts as a means of representing, and reconciling the guilt of stealing a rock from the Great Pyramid of Cheops in Giza as a child. It's pretty impressive seeing it up close, you can see a lot of

Wedding Invitations

2010-03-14T20:18:00.004Z

Finally found the time to sit down and produce the invitations for my Wedding this summer!There wasn't a big budget for producing these, so it all had to be home printed which is a shame. To make up for this, i went down the local art shop and picked up some nice paper stock. Where possible I've let the antique tones of the paper come through the design, keeping everything else monochromatic. The

Decode: Digital Design Sensations at the V&A

2010-02-06T19:27:00.004Z

For those who don't know Decode is an exhibition currently running at the V&A Museum. In partnership with One Dot Zero it presents a selection of the latest developments in digital and interactive design. As part of a company field trip we headed off down to the V&A after work to hopefully get some inspiration. On the whole it was a good experience, although the exhibition was fairly small there

Jennifer Khoshbin - Animal Friendly Taxidermy

2010-01-31T11:06:00.005Z

These resin trophies created by Jennifer Khoshbin are beautiful pieces of art, made even better by the fact that no animals were hurt making them!The idea of wrapping ornate patterns over the sculpted form isn't necessarily a new concept. What makes her work stand out is the execution, creating wonderful compositions within the form of the sculpture.There are loads of designs available on her

Bug 17 - The Evolution of Music Video

2010-01-26T14:04:00.008Z

Bug 17 is an event at the BFI Southbank. Hosted by Adam Buxton he presents a selection of the newest, wildest, most inventive music videos, inviting some of the directors up on stage for a chat about their latest projects.Highlight for Bug 17 was an interview with Roel Wouters & Jonathan Puckey who have created a really cool crowd sourcing video. The track is for the four piece C-Mon & Kypski

Toxic Swamp

2010-01-22T18:42:00.006Z

A few years back i created a stop frame animation during my time at University. I just uploaded it to Youtube today so it'll be interesting to see how it's received.It's set in a post apocalyptic world, there is a swamp so toxic only the strangest creatures can survive. A dumping ground for all manner of contaminated waste what horrors will the animals uncover this week?Animating it took a whole

London Art Fair 2010

2010-01-17T21:00:00.007Z

I managed to get 2 complimentary tickets to the London Art Fair at the Business Design Center today. I would recommend it to everyone as there was a real variety of artists work on display. Some familiar, some not so familiar but all of great aesthetic quality. More photos can be found on my flickr stream. I was generally obsessed with the Damien Hirst Prints, at a fairly reasonable price too (

Collective Santa Twitter app

2009-12-21T11:04:00.008Z

This year Collective held a competition to concept and design the agencies annual Christmas e-card. The brief was to create a viral piece of marketing aimed at increasing traffic to the homepage, spread awareness and most importantly be amazing...One of the ideas i submitted won!The winning solution was to create a 'Naughty or Nice' Twitter-driven app, headed up by our very own Collective Santa.

Badadam - Future Music magazine

2009-11-30T16:53:00.005Z

Congratulations to Badadam aka Adam Cousins who has been featured on the CD of this months Future Music magazine. If you're into hard, edgy, electronic, techno rock you should check out his myspace page

Honda Facebook

2009-11-23T11:07:00.006Z

Honda have officially launched a Facebook fan page today which i had been working on. The brief was to create a brand experience portal, inspiring the Honda communities to share photos, videos & memories relating to Honda products. It will also be a space to showcase all of Honda's current campaigns such as the new Type R Mugen launch and the Honda 'Do It' campaign, as well as encouraging people

Loonar Goupe Pinhole Camera

2009-11-22T19:43:00.006Z

I received a cool Pinhole camera kit in the post a while back, and finally found the time to put it together this weekend. What's really cool about the kit is that it takes a standard 35mm film!Should hopefully be posting up some cool pinhole photos later, looking through flickr even if the exposures aren't perfect the results can still end up quite beautiful.

RCA Secrets 2009 on sale this Saturday

2009-11-18T17:14:00.009Z

The RCA hold an annual exhibition of original postcard sized art generated by professional artists, designers and illustrators. The really exciting element is that every year they invite a few art gods to submit a postcard into the mix. Past years have seen Damien Hurst, David Baily, Nick Park, as well as fashion designer Sir Paul Smith. This year i am mostly excited by Turner Prize winner