design lust

Jeff Mermelstein

2011-12-21T13:01:00.000-08:00

A photographer with a direct and distinct vision, Jeff Mermelstein can grab your attention and hold you in that one instant of happenstance which everyone else missed. Once described as “an absurdist with a sense of humour” it is easy to connect to “funny humanity” but harder to refine on the dramatic composition and impossible light which seems to recall divine intervention rather than street-style spontaneity. Mermelstein is a bit of a legend in the field with his images appearing in magazines like Life and The New Yorker, and looking at them now, it’s like he’s the narrator in the very best New York novel. (Text from It's Nice That)

Matthias Heiderich

2011-05-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

Matthias Heiderich captures the brighter side of Berlin with his cheery, minimal photography. Heiderich focuses on things like vintage roller coasters, murals, and playgrounds making Berlin look more like a doppelgänger of Santa Monica. The compositions are flat and pretty barren, and taken together, they evoke a drugged-out listlessness. Heiderich is self-taught and uses a wide range of camera types including a medium format twin lens camera, Polaroids, and Holgas.

Jazmín Berakha

2011-05-25T06:48:00.000-07:00

Jazmín Berakha, a Buenos Aires-based artist, composes delicate embroideries in a simplified style often reserved for drawing. A punch of color and pattern here and there strike the perfect balance with the pencil-thin body outlines. Her subjects are not overwhelmed by pattern, bundling up in one or two distinct articles at a time. Berakha will be exhibiting at Heskin Contemporary in New York City until July 2nd, 2011.

Josh Cochran

2011-04-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

Josh Cochran is an illustrator who has lived in Taiwan, Los Angeles, and currently resides in New York where he teaches at Parsons School of Design. In school, he had aspirations of becoming a background painter for DreamWorks, but saw that hand-painted murals were being replaced by digitally printed backdrops. He preferred personal, imaginative work and turned to illustration. His mix of realism with cartoon inspired elements and quirky humor have brought him work from a diverse group of clients for editorial, advertising, books, broadcast, and internet media including Ace Hotel, The Atlantic, Volkswagen, New Yorker, Esquire, GQ, Billabong, Sony, and McSweeney's.

Lee Mawdsley

2011-04-11T10:26:00.000-07:00

Lee Mawdsley is a London based photographer whose commercial portfolio is packed with quietly engrossing architectural images. He strikes a different chord with his personal work which features kaleidoscopic flower arrangements. Titled "Garlands," the set creates an essence of hedonistic beauty directly taken from the natural environment.

Genevieve Simms

2011-04-05T10:09:00.000-07:00

Genevieve Simms was born and raised in Newfoundland. She went west to study art in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and then to NY for a one year program at SVA. She is currently working and living in Edmonton, Alberta. Simms doesn't just illustrate people; They are characters captured in snapshots of their lives. Her latest work is full of saturated colors with bright pops that draw the forefront out of an otherwise flat perspective.

Mercedes Helnwein

2011-03-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

Mercedes Helnwein was born in Vienna, Austria, daughter to painter and art provocateur Gottfried Helnwein. She grew up dedicating her time equally to visual arts and literature. At thirteen-years-old, she published a two-page comic for a German woman's-lib magazine. She spent her teenage years drawing and writing in Ireland where she relocated with her family. Later, she moved to Los Angeles where she officially began her career by contributing to a group show hosted by Jason Lee. Despite her success as a visual artist, Helwein continued to write and published her novel in 2008, "The Potential Hazards of Hester Day." Helwein currently lives and works in Los Angeles and Ireland, practicing in a wide range of mediums including oil pastels, paint, graphite, film, and continues writing.

Edward Burtynsky

2011-03-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

Edward Burtynsky is a photographer whose work is influenced by nature transformed through industry. Recycling yards, mine tailings, quarries and refineries are places outside of our normal experience, yet we have interaction with their output on a daily basis. He sets out to make it difficult for the viewer to ignore our human dependence on nature to provide material for our consumption. The photographs are at once attractive and repulsive, seducing and fear inducing.

Emily Robertson

2011-03-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

Emily Robertson is an illustrator living and working in London. She is the co-founder of the artist collective PLATS, through which she has exhibited work in London, Glasgow and Germany. Her work has graced the walls of Marks&Spencers, the pages of Apartamento Magazine, and products of Poketo. It's easily assumed that she is well acquainted with good food considering her work for Marks&Spencer, possibly her most well known client. However, her sketchbook drawings and narrative portraits reveal a deeper world outside of her commissioned work and make her an artist worthy of watching.

Till Hafenbrak

2011-02-17T12:48:00.000-08:00

Till Hafenbrak knows how to make the most of a limited palette. The Berlin based designer/illustrator uses unexpected and strongly contrasting colors to create vibrating landscapes of the natural world, often depicting animals and their interactions with humans. He also has a few commissioned works you can view on Flickr.

Margaret Kilgallen

2011-01-20T13:47:00.000-08:00

Margaret Kilgallen was a San Francisco Bay Area artist. She was considered a central figure in the Bay Area Mission School art movement as a painter and a graffiti artist under the tags "Meta" and "Matokie Slaughter." Kilgallen's paintings and murals reflected a variety of influences, including the dying art of hand-painted signs, elements of American folk art, mural painting, and a variety of formal painting strategies. At an early age, she was impressed by examples of works by Southwest and Mexican artists, and she employed these artists' use of warm colors in her own painting. Her works in gouache and acrylic on found paper (often discarded book endpapers) reflect an interest in typographic styles and symbology that can be traced to her work as a book conservator at the San Francisco Public Library in the 90's. She was the wife of artist and collaborator Barry McGee, a graffiti artist known under the moniker "Twist," among others. Kilgallen died in 2001, at age 33, from complications of breast cancer.

Victo Ngai

2010-08-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

Victo Ngai's cultural background is hard to nail down: she speaks Chinese, English, and Japanese. She attended Christian schools, but is not Christian. She holds a British passport, but is not truly British. She is a Hong Kong citizen but holds no Chinese ID card. Her parents live in Hong Kong; her grandparents are Chinese American on the west coast. She goes to the Rhode Island School of Design.

Victo is an illustrator and finds her identity there. She takes strong influence from Japanese woodblock prints and Asian arts in general. She believes that style is overrated. "Style merely means one's habit of drawing based on one's own experiences. Therefore, everyone has a unique style because everyone has a unique life."

Victo works both traditionally and digitally. The lines are done with nib pens or rapidograph pens. The textures are done on different pieces of paper with various mediums, like graphite, acrylic, and oil pastels. Then everything is digitally composed and colored in Adobe Photoshop.

Jakub Julian Ziolkowski

2010-07-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

Jakub Julian Ziolkowski's solo show, "Timothy Galoty & the Dead Brains" runs through July 30 at Hauser & Wirth in NYC. At 30 years old, the Polish-born painter is one of the most critically admired young artists on the international art scene. The exhibition is named after a fictional rock band that serves as a kind of alter ego in Ziolkowski’s paintings. They portray a world of surreal landscapes and disturbing anthropomorphic imagery that vacillates between the familiar and the hallucinatory, the light and the dark. His work has been profoundly shaped by the folk traditions and lore of Poland, as well as its more recent, turbulent history. (Text taken from Vogue)

Carine Brancowitz

2010-07-03T05:14:00.000-07:00

Carine Brancowitz is a French illustrator who began working as a junior art director in fashion and trend. Her simple lines have shown up in numerous magazines, websites, and blogs. Most recently, she's worked in apparel, doing a tour tee for Phoenix. She uses a limited palette, and brings in intricate patterns to create rich compositions. Her subject matter takes inspiration from fashion but has the sense of a deeper mood or story underneath.

Federico Jordán

2010-04-20T18:54:00.000-07:00

Federico Jordán is an award winning editorial and advertising illustrator working out of New York. His work has been published in numerous commissions including American Airlines, CHASE Manhattan Bank, Business Week, Harvard Business Review, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, among others. His work mixes traditional Mexican art and elements of modern South America and USA Street-Pop/graffiti. The result is playful yet grounded in style.

Jorinde Voigt

2010-02-22T07:31:00.000-08:00

Jorinde Voigt is an artist born in Frankfurt, Germany and working in Berlin. Her works fall into in an undefinable area between drawing and writing. They seem more like diagrams or lists. But the beauty and rhythm of each piece takes you in like an ocean current. Voigt is best known for her graceful spiraling arcs and parallel looped lines, stretched and interwoven, bursting across the page as if caught up in a strange temporal chain reaction. They are part timeline, part electronic wiring diagram, part exotic system of musical notation which chronicles subjective experience. Her work seems to be both familiar and totally new, controlled yet wild and unhinged. "My work is like music," she says. "You can enjoy it without being able to read the score."

Nick Van Woert

2010-02-08T07:55:00.000-08:00

Nick Van Woert is a sculptor living in Brooklyn. He builds on existing forms to create a new and unusual remix. Van Woert works with metal, glues, resins, and foil tape among other things. His studio resembles a good humored science lab mixed with an impractical, architectural model shop. Van Woert recently graduated from Parsons MFA program, previously having completed a degree in architecture.

Charles Clary

2010-02-04T08:20:00.000-08:00

Charles Clary layers colored paper to build up variegated textures and sinewy shapes into large scale installations. His constructions appear ever-expanding, overwhelming exhibition spaces like replicating viruses or reverberating sound waves. The pieces may look like they’re highly orchestrated precision-cut sculptures, but Clary favors a more organic creative philosophy: “It’s all intuitive. It’s just one layer playing off another, playing off another,” he says. “But I do try to make the viewer wonder whether they’re handmade or if industrial equipment is used, so I have to be very clean with my cuts.”

Brian Dettmer

2010-01-15T08:47:00.000-08:00

Brian Dettmer is a contemporary artist known for his alteration of preexisting media — such as old books, maps, record albums, and cassette tapes — to create new, transformed works of visual fine art. Dettmer was influenced heavily by working in a sign shop where his work transformed to explore the relationship between text, images, language, and codes, including paintings based on braille, Morse Code, and American Sign Language. He began to make work by pasting newspapers and book pages to canvas and tearing off pieces. In 2000, Dettmer started to experiment by gluing and cutting into books. He selectively removes portions to reveal what's inside, though never inserts or moves the contents.

James Jean

2010-01-04T07:29:00.000-08:00

James Jean is a Taiwanese-American award winning artist and illustrator living in Los Angeles. He was born in Taiwan but was raised in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey. He was educated at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Upon graduating in 2001, he quickly became an acclaimed cover artist for DC Comics. His clients include Time Magazine, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Spin, ESPN, Atlantic Records, Target, Playboy, Knopf, Prada among others. He has also illustrated covers for the comic book series Fables and The Umbrella Academy.

kokkugia

2009-12-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

Kokkugia is an international design practice based in London and New York that operates through design, research, experimentation and teaching. Kokkugia works across scales on design projects in a range of fields including architecture, urban design and industrial design. Their ongoing design research involves the creation of generative design methodologies developed from the complex self-organising behavior of social, biological and material systems. Drawing from this expertise and research, kokkugia provides consulting services in algorithmic design and computational geometry - working on projects with clients such as Cecil Balmond at Arup [AGU] and with a leading european manufacturer on the development of a concept car.

Gizem Vural

2009-11-29T08:01:00.000-08:00

Gizem Vural was born in Istanbul in 1988 and is currently attending Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Turkey studying Graphic Design. Her illustrations are minimal, imaginative, and carry a nostalgic naivety that pulls you into her own little world. In her own words, "Minimalism is cute."

Her visual diary is a fun way to follow her work. She was also recently featured in an issue of Blue Canvas magazine.

Alexandra Grinevsky

2009-11-26T22:03:00.000-08:00

Alexandra Grinevsky was a stage actress when she married Russian-born artist, filmmaker and illustrator, Alexander Alexeieff. She took up etching when Alexeieff was hospitalized with a collapsed lung. Alexeieff was sought out by Claire Parker after she had seen his illustrations in a Paris bookstore. She came to stay with them and he had an affair with her. Of course this resulted in his divorce from Grinevsky. The interesting thing is their aquatint etching styles are almost identical begging the question of who influenced who.

The illustrations posted here are for Valery Larbaud's "Deux Artistes Lyriques" from the collection of Richard Sica. Richard Sica shared these images from his collection with A Journey Round My Skull.

Rosemarie Fiore

2009-11-18T07:06:00.001-08:00

Rosemarie Fiore creates art out of a volatile medium: fireworks. Enveloped by sulfurous clouds, she resembles a latter-day magus casting spells, donning heavy gloves and a gas mask. The idea came to her on the 4th of July, 2001 when she accidently dropped a smoke bomb on the cement floor and it created a perfect line of dots. Her latest works, "Firework Drawings," is a collaboration between herself and the explosives, an unpredictable and violent working relationship.

Ian Davis

2009-11-16T08:48:00.000-08:00

Ian Davis creates large scale paintings reminiscent of New Yorker magazine covers. His subject is maleness, whose omnipresence, ineffectiveness and herd instinct he conjures up in small identical figures that he deploys with the marshaled repetitions of a Minimalist. The figures can be businessmen, hundreds of whom sit passively in convention halls or stand on banquet tables with their hands raised, as if enacting some inane ritual. Or they can be British redcoats who march across fields of graduated grays, or strip trees of their branches for no apparent reason. Somewhere in the twentieth century men are gathering . . . waiting and watching.

Patrick Leger

2009-11-10T07:49:00.000-08:00

North Carolina artist Patrick Leger creates action oriented pop art illustrations under the influence of printmaking and comics. Most of his linework is done with either ink and brush or a felt-tip brush pen. All of the vintage-like coloring is actually done digitally. Color is often placed off-center, overlapping another value to create the not-so-perfect feel of an older art. His current work is editorial. The artist says he's never illustrated a comic, though one may be in the works.

Alyson Shotz

2009-10-04T18:09:00.000-07:00

New York City artist Alyson Shotz replicates nature as many of us experience it—interfaced with technology and filtered through culture; tamed, trimmed, and patented. Working in a variety of media, from large-scale installations to digital photography and painting, Shotz is intrigued by the notion of nature as “purely a human construction.” Some of her artworks are artificial versions of living things like trees, plants, and flowers. In one of her installations, bamboo reeds are made of wrapped cotton swabs, pools and droplets of water are suggested by mirrors, insects and flowers merge in suspended swarms of glossy petal and wing shapes, and house plants are equipped with their own rubber feeding tubes and wheels for easy transport.

Anna Fidler

2009-08-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

Anna Fidler is an artist based in Los Angeles and creates paintings, film, and music. Her paintings are psychedelic landscapes with swooping, rainbow-like arcs to undulating tentacles that depict the vibrant geography of some distant universe buried deep in her mind. Her paintings give the sensation of peering into a glittering rock cavern or rolling along a colorful lunar landscape. She has exhibited her work in Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Chicago, Seattle, and Tokyo.

Emily Barletta

2009-08-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

Emily Barletta's artwork explores ideas of emotional and physical memory and survival. For most of her life, she has been in physical pain due to a spinal deformity. Making art started out as a way to express this and filter the pain’s affects out, but it has evolved into much more than just that. Each object is a physical container that counts and records the passage of time in her life while it was being made. The thoughts, emotions, and experiences she had during this time are funneled through her preoccupation with inventing imaginary forms of flesh, blood, muscles, cells, organs, molds, diseases, plants, and topography.

Laura Laine

2009-08-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

Laura Laine is a 24-year-old illustrator based in Helsinki. Her work reminds me of art nouveau artists Gustav Klimt and Aubrey Beardsley. Recent clients include Zara, The New York Times T magazine, Tommy Hilfiger, Elle Girl, the Guardian, I.T Post magazine, Iben Hoej, Wunder and Daniel Palillo.

ABCD3D by Marion Bataille

2009-08-13T07:40:00.000-07:00

Marion Bataille’s simple in concept, yet cleverly designed book, ABCD3D, is an engaging, exciting and modern piece of 3D art. Pushing the notion of the simple pop-up book, it impresses from the moment you are grabbed by its lenticular cover. Marion Bataille lives and works in France. She is widely published there and this was her first book to be published in the UK.

Kim Chun Hwan

2009-08-03T18:17:00.000-07:00

Kim Chun Hwan uses a collage technique to layer advertising prints and letters from his personal mailbox into multi-dimensional wall art. Each paper is pasted one by one, creating movement out of a sea of junk mail. He then cuts the surface, showing inside and outside, both surface and depth on the same picture plane, blurring the boundary between them and creating waves of severed folds. Advertising prints and magazines are the objects which represent the aspect of daily life vividly more than anything else. He sees his collages as neither mere exemplifications of ideas nor projections of feelings, but a way of perceiving reality at different times in everyday life and finding the identity of oneself in society.

Jim Coverley

2009-07-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

Jim Coverley makes extraordinary works out of pillowcases and nails, which, like the work of a careful surgeon, are transformed with stitches, cuts and folds into sculptures which have both an emotional and symbolic resonance. The body is central to Coverley's art as he abstracts manages to extract the essence of pain or emotional states of being, and recreate them in troubling, three-dimensional forms. His work initially looks extremely delicate and decorative but on closer inspection it becomes increasingly disturbing, deliberately putting the viewer in an uncomfortable position. In previous works he has rendered a child's pillowcase the site of trauma and nightmares by modifying it with strange, disconcerting forms. Coverley hangs the sculptures directly onto the walls using nails, pinning the works as if the artist were performing some kind of 'rudimentary surgery'. These works play on the dualities between pleasure and pain, attraction and repulsion.

Simon Schubert

2009-07-21T00:25:00.000-07:00

German artist, Simon Schubert, creates ethereal works of art from single sheets of paper to create near-photographic depictions of space. These incredibly detailed "sketches" are the product of an intricate folding process. Schubert's work depict architectonical settings, common situations and objects, whereas the material he uses are either simple or sophisticated - white paper folded or mixed media arrangements.

Lisa Solomon

2009-07-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

Lisa Solomon is a california artist who comes from a long line of crafters. She creates imaginative drawings from a bevy of mixed media, including thread, wire, charcoal, watercolor, ink, satin, felt, and the wall, as well as paper and canvas. Her work is inspired by childhood themes, found objects and the differences in masculine and feminine attributes. It's simple and sweet at first glance, but underneath layers of thread and transparent swatches of fabric, the domestic imagery can feel unsettlingly intimate.

Eleanor Bowley

2009-07-09T11:11:00.000-07:00

Eleanor Bowley is an illustrator who uses stitching and trimmings on recycled fabrics to create her soft, yet graphic images. Her work is grabbing the attention of the fashion world, as she's been commissioned to accent a line of Urban Renewal clothing with her personal details.

Mark Mothersbaugh

2009-07-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

Mark Mothersbaugh, well-known as a founding member of the innovative band DEVO, has been creating artwork in many forms for more than 3 decades. His love of visual art began in childhood, just after it was discovered that he was extremely nearsighted and legally blind. His first correctional glasses offered the young Mothersbaugh a new view of the world, fueling a lifelong infatuation with imagery and illustrations. Mark's recent visual artwork has been largely inspired by his 30-year habit of creating handmade postcards to send to friends from various stops on DEVO tours. These images have served as the basis for the artist's critically acclaimed solo shows and gallery tours.

Rugs are also available for purchase here.

Andrew Holder

2009-06-29T00:18:00.000-07:00

Andrew Holder is an illustrator based out of Pasadena, CA. He creates depth amidst flat geometric shapes while playing with color and patterns to provide textural interest. He started at Roxy and has worked with National Geographic, Good Magazine, Monocle, Arkitip, and shows with Giant Robot and various California galleries.

Geoff Mcfetridge

2009-06-26T17:42:00.000-07:00

Geoff McFetridge is a Canadian artist based in Los Angeles, California. He exhibits his work in Los Angeles, Berlin, Paris, London, the Netherlands and Japan. Instinctively ignoring creative boundaries McFetridge is an all round visual auteur. From poetry to animation, from graphics to 3D work, from textile and wallpaper to paintings, McFetridge has complete control over these widely divergent disciplines. His work graces magazines, posters, t-shirts, textiles, motion graphics, and advertising.

Understatement is central to the impact of his work, inviting participation. It gets through the filters by offering the viewer an opportunity to play with a puzzle for a moment, a puzzle that doesn't have one simple answer. His work is full of hands and teeth, objects and animals, hands and heads.

ROLLOUT Custom Wallpaper

2009-06-23T07:18:00.000-07:00

ROLLOUT, established in 2005, is a creative studio that designs and digitally prints custom wallpapers by the square foot. They recruit community-based artists and designers. Illustration, photography, graphic design, and industrial design provide the inspiration; the walls provide the medium. ROLLOUT was born out of the need for graphic expression in the interior design industry. Instead of adhering to slick minimalist style, their designs embrace texture, color, and the idea that more is more.

Beach and Pool 2008/09 Design Competition

2009-06-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

The Design Institution has just published their Beach&Pool 2008/09 design competition results. Inbal Austern's 3rd place Solo project is pictured above, "a lightweight, adjustable shading device that easily folds into a soft compact case". Davide Scomparin's 1st place portable RiVIT beach mat includes solar panels for recharging small electronic devices. Trevor Wong's 2nd place Square Hut, a mobile shelter for temporary living on the beach.

Jack Siegel

2009-06-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

Jack Siegel has contributed to Nylon magazine and photographed the Urban Outfitters look book and is known for his talented and candid photographs of his absurdly good-looking and often famous friends. Siegel's cult blog The Skull Set documents his daily life, showcasing his fresh and laidback photographic style which effortlessly engages both the subject and the viewer.

Eleanor Hardwick

2009-05-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

Eleanor Hardwick was born in Oxford, England in 1993. She became interested in photography at the age of twelve when she began to take photos of collectable Japanese fashion dolls. The hobby then progressed into a passion for portraiture and fashion. Having been dubbed the 'Teen Queen of Flickr' by the likes of Dazed & Confused, The Independent, The Guardian and numerous style blogs, 16-year-old Eleanor Hardwick divides her time between studying for her GCSEs and creating surreal dreamscape-style images.

Favouring post-production techniques, Hardwick shoots on a Canon EOS 400 and distorts images to look like fairy tales with a disturbed edge. Hardwick has photographed Bat for Lashes and up-and-coming musical talent Dan Black.

Yellena James

2009-05-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

Yellena James was born in Sarajevo and went to art school there during the civil war. She relocated to the US when she was 18 to study graphic design and illustration. She is now based out of Portland, OR. She has shown her work mostly on the west coast and maintains an Etsy shop where you can buy prints of her work.

James flora and fauna style is inspired by microscopic worlds and the discovering of strange new life forms, plants, and fungi. She loves the complexity of works by Julie Mehretu, Matthew Ritchie, Jacob Magraw, and Jeff Soto. Says James, "I try to create new shapes based on what I imagine to exist within the unseen world around us, and attempt to suggest movements in my designs that we're not accustom to seeing in our everyday lives, to sort-of pass that spark of inspiration on to others as they complete the movements within their own minds."

Nate Williams

2009-05-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

Nate Williams, aka Alexander Blue, an artist, illustrator and designer has worked extensively in various facets of the illustration industry with a wide variety of clients. His illustration work has been geared to both adults and children and has appeared in magazines, advertising, publishing, music, fashion, textiles, home decor, merchandise, posters, social expression and newspapers. His clients include Converse, MSN, Urban Outfitters, Nick JR., New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Dell, Cartoon Network, and The Truth Anti-Tobacco campaign.

Sam Potts

2009-04-23T07:28:00.000-07:00

Sam Potts is equal parts designer, teacher, Twitterer, and possible superhero. He bats left, throws right, and has had fiction rejected by The New Yorker and Harpers. Creative Review in the UK recently featured Potts’s design of the storefront, signage, publications, and packaging of the infamous Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. He has also done work for the IFC channel, They Might Be Giants, NYU, many publishers of books, the New York Times, and Beck (sort of). Sam Potts Inc. has been an independent graphic design practice since 2002.

In his own words: “I love that there can be an art to nearly everything. I love that Frank Lloyd Wright was shameless. I love that geometry is ancient. I love that the littlest things can make biggest differences, like cufflinks and a pinch of salt and sometimes, five minutes. I love the lowercase 'g' of Electra and the '3' of Walbaum. I love that some things are inexplicable, in fact more things than you’d expect. I love that no expertise is needed to appreciate a well-made thing. I love that you can pretty much always assume there is a better way. I love that anything can seem new. I love that a computer is referred to as a machine. I love that music doesn’t have to mean anything to be beautiful. I love that there are theories about handwriting, the composition of matter, and horse racing. I love the light bulb joke about how many boring people. I love the economy of punctuation. I love the Radiator Building, the Queensboro Bridge, and the Sau Voi Corp. on Lafayette St. I love that anything is interesting if you look at it closely enough. I love the smell of hamburgers that comes in through the window every day, every day.”
(Credit: AIGA NY)

Veronica Ballart

2009-04-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

Veronica Ballart's illustrations combine fashion with the intimate world of the individual, and with it, create a dialogue between public and secret life. Travel, music, nature, fashion and everyday life are Ballart's inspiration. With very sensitive figurative drawings and soft, blurred and watery colouring, Veronica Ballart has created a feminine and romantic style. The use of delicate objects such as feathers, origami or make-up, combined with her beautiful fragile characters, creates a melancholic beauty with an emotive storytelling aesthetic. Her work has appeared in fashion magazines such as Plaza, Damernas Värld and Fashion Tale.

Supermundane

2009-03-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

Supermundane is the pseudonym of Rob Lowe, a multi-disciplined creative who works as a graphic designer, artist, illustrator, typographer, and art director in London, England. He uses tortuous techniques to create work that is stunning in its simplicity. He's best known for his pencil works, a series of doodled shapes incorporating small alien characters and handwritten titles.

Georg Oddner

2009-03-28T08:21:00.000-07:00

Georg Mirskij Oddner was one of Swedens greatest photographers from the 20th century. His career spans more than five decades. The variety of his work is endless and the subject matter boundless. Georg once said, "Everything is subject matter—the key is to express the subject so that you acquire a relationship to it."

His pictures exude careful thought and humanism, respect and human closeness. All this shines through his pictures and makes him so unique as a photographer.

Aaron Baggio

2009-03-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

Aaron Baggio's work is caught somewhere between abstraction and realism. One traditional pen and ink technique involves successive dots to build up darker tones. Baggio creates grainy textures and unexpected patterns in his pen and ink portraits using watercolors, acrylics, intricate line work, and digital assistance.

JR

2009-03-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

French photographer JR has spent the year taking portraits of victimized women in Africa, Asia, and South America, then making massive, poster-size prints, which he plasters illegally in places you'd least expect—on buildings, bridges, buses, and beyond. The idea, says JR, who doesn't give his full name in case he's prosecuted, is to celebrate the strength and courage of women who live in places where they are often targets in wartime—and discriminated against in times of peace.

Shinichi Maruyama

2009-02-25T18:24:00.000-08:00

Following in the footsteps of stop motion scientist Harold Edgerton, Japanese photographer Shinichi Maruyama uses high tech strobe lights to make exposures in one 7500th of a second. Maruyama uses these new tools to make expressive images of colliding waves of black ink and water, caught in mid air against white backgrounds. His pictures capture the gestural qualities of the drips, splashes, washes and sprays, in the split second before they merge into a muddy puddle. The resulting abstract swirls are clearly reminiscent of Japanese calligraphy and ink drawing, but with an undertone of energetic chaos.

'Mushrooms Ate My Furniture' by Shinwei Rhoda Yen

2009-02-22T18:03:00.000-08:00

'Mushrooms Ate My Furniture' by designer Shinwei Rhoda Yen is a piece of garden furniture made with natural wood and embedded with mushrooms' spawn. After a time of exposure to the weather, mushrooms will grow live on the furniture. As the nutritional material from the wood is eaten by the mushrooms, the furniture will start to break down, eventually decomposing.

Yehrin Tong

2009-02-20T13:41:00.000-08:00

Yehrin Tong is an illustrator currently working in central London. Her work appears in everything from editorial to album covers to clothing (Maharishi's SS08 line). Rarely using more than one color, her illustrations are bold, rich in geometric repeat textures, and hyper realistic. Her typographic work evokes a lot of movement. Tong works mainly in Illustrator and Photoshop using a Wacom tablet to achieve a freehand quality. Her hard drive has become her sketchbook.

Fashion is a huge influence on her work. For example, beading and needlework in clothes is a meticulous element that Tong shows clear appreciation for. Tong says, "I try to produce illustrations that people would want to possess, in the same way you'd want to own a beautiful piece of jewellery. I think, 'how would this type look if I wore it?' Or 'how would that dress detail work on my typeface?' For figurative work, I look to dance for ideas; I find dancers in flight particularly transfixing. It translates to typographical work too, giving it a more emotive edge. In terms of subject matter, drama, strength, beauty and sexuality - I want them all coming across in my pictures."

On the subject of what she enjoys working on the most, Tong says, "It would have to be any one of the fabric patterns - I really enjoy designing them. It's a very nerdy thing to enjoy but I love the puzzle-solving element to some of the more complex ones. I'm a big fan of puzzles in general and maths equations etc. I'm not saying I've solved Fermat's Last Theorem or anything but the idea of problem-solving, motifs, perfection and order within chaos are all things I hope people can spot in my work. There's nothing more satisfying than when a pattern slots together perfectly and appears balanced and cohesive."

Chris Ware

2009-01-06T21:28:00.000-08:00

Chris Ware is an American comic book artist and cartoonist, best-known for a series of comics called the Acme Novelty Library, and a graphic novel, Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he resides in Oak Park, Illinois as of 2007. Combining innovative comic book art, hand lettering, and graphic design, Ware’s uniquely appealing work is characterized by ceaseless experimentation with narrative and graphic forms.

Ware introduced the character Jimmy Corrigan in a full-page strip he began writing for the Chicago tabloid New City. Combining six years’ worth of the strips, Ware created the best-selling novel named after Jimmy that spans an Irish-American family’s life in Chicago from the Civil War to the present. For its experiments in graphic form—including pull-out, three-dimensional inserts—and its non-chronological narrative, the novel earned numerous honors, among them the Guardian First Book Award, presented for the first time to a comic book.

At first glance his detailed geometrical layouts look like they were computer-generated using Adobe Illustrator but Ware works is almost exclusively by hand using t-squares, pencils, and rulers. He only uses a computer to apply color.

John Gall Book Covers

2008-12-10T17:06:00.000-08:00

In today's publishing world, individuality is as quaint a term as dust jacket. Not so for art director John Gall, who brings an original and idiosyncratic design sense to his work for the Knopf Group. Gall’s stylish sensibility, simple but elegant use of typography and quietly rebellious spirit infuse these literary works with an added dimension. Subtle and compelling, his covers play with the perceptions of the viewer in unexpected ways, and to satisfying effect. Scanning the table of trade paperbacks at the local bookseller, one would have no difficulty spotting Gall’s distinctive and visually articulate work.

Aside from having a beautiful cover, A General Theory of Love is an amazing book.

Music Posters by zZz

2008-11-29T19:32:00.000-08:00

‘Running with the Beast’ is the title track of the new album by zZz. Roel Wouters made this music video, which resulted in the artwork and a series of posters for the song. Two cocks were colored with Ecoline, then they printed their fight on a sheet of paper. They claim that no animals were injured and no blood was shed.

Old School Hip Hop Flyers

2008-11-25T11:37:00.000-08:00

Buddy Esquire, artist, and Phase 2, an aerosol artist, put together these old school hip hop flyers. All pieces are handmade using things like rub on letters, wax machines, Exacto knives, and graph paper, methods that are used less and less today.

Carbon | Hong Kong

2008-11-20T17:24:00.000-08:00

Carbon is a creative concept studio specializing in motion graphics, animation, film and video production. Jacky Lo Ching Hang and Fu Pok Yan have created really interesting and often trippy illustrations for publications such as IdN magazine and Shift. Visit their website for more.

Peter Callesen

2008-11-17T13:26:00.000-08:00

Peter Callesen transforms simple single sheets of white paper into meticulous sculptures. They form a playful or grotesque narrative, often without the use of color.

Snowballs, 2005
Acid free A4 80 gsm paper and glue

Eismeer (detail), 2006
Acid free A4 80 gsm paper and glue

Down the River, 2005
Acid free A4 80 gsm paper and glue

18,2 cm Tall Tower of Babel, 2005
Acid free A4 80 gsm paper and glue

Tara Donovan

2008-11-15T09:30:00.000-08:00

For over a decade, American sculptor Tara Donovan has transformed huge volumes of everyday items into stunning works of phenomenal impact. Layered, piled, or clustered with an almost viral repetition, these products assume forms that both evoke natural systems and seem to defy the laws of nature.

Nebulous, appearing like a mist over the floor, is made of nothing more than strips of Scotch® tape. Bluffs, nearly five-foot-high forms that suggest mountain peaks or stalagmites, are actually teetering stacks of plastic buttons.

"Untitled (Styrofoam Cups)", 2003

"Untitled (Styrofoam Cups)", (detail) 2003

"Untitled (Paper Plates)," 2003

"Untitled (Paper Plates)," (detail) 2003

Google for more images

Her work is on display at the Boston ICA until January 4.

Laurent Guérin: Photography

2008-10-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

Laurent Guérin is a photographer whose work I saw while I was in Montreal. He began as a fashion photographer and moved on to capturing the beauty in everyday events in India and Japan.

Cauchemar (2008)

Sans titre (2008)

Sans titre (2006)

Chevrolet (2007)

Shinjuku (2006)

Counter Void (2006)

Amy Atlas

2008-10-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

Amy Atlas is an event planner based in New York City. Their themed tables are so visually stimulating, they're almost too good to eat....... almost.

Lucas Allen

2008-10-19T14:05:00.000-07:00

Lucas Allen shoots photography of interiors, still life, portraiture, and fashion.

I really like his interior shots and they make me pine for a pretty little house all my own to decorate.

Cardboard Safari

2008-09-30T16:56:00.000-07:00

My friend Kevin pointed me to Cardboard Safari today. They make environmentally friendly taxidermy (made out of cardboard, in case you missed that). Brilliant photos in the product gallery...

Charles & Marie

2008-07-22T12:15:00.000-07:00

Charles & Marie curated shopping has become my new favorite for online shopping for things I don't need. The rest of the site is lovely as well and great for precision time killing.

From their description:
"Welcome to our Quintessentials. This is our curated selection of the best products in every single category and happily not necessarily the most expensive. Here you'll find the best garlic press, the best iPod accessory and we will make sure you know about timeless, classic product design to pass on to the next generation as well as the best organic dark chocolate to satisfy those immediate cravings."

Notable products:

S-XL Cake Mould

Salad Sunrise by Droog Design

Sunjar (solar powered lighting)

Phonofone II (sustainable iPod speaker)

Bottle Cap Tripod

American Apparel Thermochromatic Jersey Tee

2008-07-02T07:25:00.000-07:00

I remember in 6th grade when this kid Billy had a thermo shirt with toucans all over it. The 90's were neat.

See the video of a girl microwaving the shirt to white, then wearing it into the freezer.

Naoto Fukasawa Packaging

2008-04-25T23:50:00.000-07:00

Lightroom Business Cards

2008-04-25T23:33:00.000-07:00

I'm critical of the type composition, but the idea is brilliant.

Droog exhibition, Milan

2008-04-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

Droog

Stephanie Metz

2008-03-31T11:00:00.000-07:00

Stephanie Metz sculpts wool using a felting needle to create some pretty crazy things. My favorite of hers are these teddy bear fetuses:

From her site:
"To make wool into felt I begin with cleaned, brushed wool that has been prepared to be spun into yarn. Instead, I interlock the fibers densely together by stabbing the mass repeatedly with a felting needle (approximately four inches long, very sharp, and studded with barbs). In order to shape a piece I stab the wool all over or in particular directions, compressing the surface and making the felt increasingly dense. The process is extremely time- and labor-intensive, as every centimeter of the piece is stabbed to fasten down parts, add mass, and tighten the surface.
I choose my subject matter in response to the wool itself, in a way. Working with wool has led me to explore concepts of hard and soft, starting within the confines of traditional sculpture subjects."

Happy Easter!

2008-03-26T08:13:00.000-07:00

A little late, but I saw these amazing eggs and I had to share.

"Slovenian artist, Franc Grom creates egg art using an electric boring tool. The results are stunning and as laborious as the finest of craftsmen from centuries past. The eggs that Grom creates have approximately 2,500 to 3,500 holes (he has been known to drill up to17,000 in one piece). The results are simply amazing. Who would have thought that something so delicate could be made even more fragile and precious."

Matt Stuart Shoots People

2008-03-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

Matt Stuart's talent is being at the right place at the right time. His photographs tell interesting, humorous stories while retaining sharp artistic composition. Practicing his art for seven years now, Matt shoots between 15 and 20 rolls of film per week. His favorite places to shoot include Oxford Circus, Martin Place in Sydney, Fifth and 42nd in New York, and outside his apartment in Moorgate (central London).

"I never communicate with subjects while photographing them. I like to be invisible. It is more of a challenge. I consider myself to be a confident guy and have no problems with what I do, so I don't sneak about too much. I just do it. I think if you worry or sneak around you give off those vibes and you’re more likely to get spotted. If you are happy with what you do and don't feel shy about it, most people won't even realize you are there." -Matt Stuart

Woody Allen's favorite typeface

2008-02-04T07:51:00.000-08:00

The typeface Woody Allen uses in the titles of nearly all his movies is white Windsor-EF Elongated on black.

"I’m currently taking a typeface design course with Ed Benguiat, and just last night he described a time when he would have breakfast at the same New Jersey diner every morning. Among the other that would dine there was Woody Allen. On one occasion [between 1975 and 1977], referring to Benguiat as a 'printer,' Allen asked him what a good typeface was. Benguiat had an affinity for WINDSOR and suggested it to him that morning. He’s used it in every film since." -posted by Randy J. Hunt

Check out the rest of the story here.

John Maeda and Reebok

2007-11-29T13:33:00.000-08:00

John Maeda is professor at MIT, computer scientist, graphic designer and author. His work explores the intersection of design and technology. He has a book out called The Laws of Simplicity which I hear is a good read, but have yet to crack. His essays are quite good and his blog is pretty interesting.

He just finished up a project with Reebok, which was released already without my notice. Needless to say, I didn't get a pair of these, but I did get to hold them in my hands for a minute. I like them a lot. Though, I pine for a streamlined women's version.

(Click for Reebok Custom site which allows 360 degrees of visual lust)

From Maeda's blog:
"Tomorrow at 9AM my new limited edition shoes from Reebok will be released online. It was a really fun project working with a talented group of folks in RBK marketing and design with a true passion for the future of mass-customization. The design is themed on the 3rd law time and is codenamed “Timetanium” as a reference to the spectacular titanium tiles of Gehry’s Guggenheim Bilbao and flowing sinews of time represented with my algorithmically enhanced hand-drawn curves. Since I scribble the computer code on paper before I actually type it into be processed, the RBK designers suggested that I include that program code somehow so it is enscribed in the interior of the two shoes as a kind of texture (literally a text-ure). In the past the closest thing I designed was a skateboard; shoes are a new medium for me and I’m glad to have had a chance to spend some time on this project."

Cavern Tees

2007-11-19T08:07:00.000-08:00

This summer, I became obsessed with the idea that folk inspired graphics were coming up and I was happy to find a duo dubbed Cavern working it out.

"When we first conjured Cavern," says Rivas, "our focus was to make solid, hand-drawn T-shirts."

"Everybody is making the same shit," Tullie says of his competitors, "taking clip art, mixing it up, and slapping it on a T-shirt. There was more to be done."

With references to utopianism and mystic symbols, Rivas and Tullie have set themselves apart with the use of metallic appliques, intelligent cuts, arresting abstract designs, and a complete rejection of camp. The two recently finished a deal with Devandra Banhart, a music favorite of mine, to do merchandise for his next world tour.

More photos here.

Ashley Gilbertson

2007-11-08T07:19:00.000-08:00

Ashley Gilbertson is a 29 year old Australian born photographer whose work focuses on social issues and conflict. He now lives in New York City freelancing for The New York Times, Newsweek, and Time magazine. He's toured Afghanistan, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and Iraq photographing some of the most philosophical visuals I've seen of conflict, life and death.

Hiding from the impact of a 500 pound bomb, 1/8 Bravo marines take cover inside a house.

A woman's corpse awaits collection from a retirement home in Vienna. Her graceful pose reminded me of a dancer.

Target to use Hologram Models

2007-11-06T13:02:00.000-08:00

Target, in the race to outdo Walmart (not all that hard), has decided to use hologram models in their upcoming fashion show. Target's Go International collections have fueled careers of some lesser known to the mainstream but talented designers such as Proenza Schouler (personal favorite), Patrick Robinson and Alice Temperley.

Kate Moss hologram at McQueen runway show:

Diesel "Liquid Space" holographic fashion show:

Laura Cooperman

2007-10-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Laura Cooperman's cut paper work is technical, beautiful and elegant. Born in Cleveland into a family of architects, Cooperman spent her childhood creating elaborate structures, floor plans, and meticulous arrangements out of household items. Later, she attended school for painting and found herself engrossed in paper cutting (for the obsessive compulsive in her). Her work has been on display in many smaller galleries. I think we'll be seeing much more of her work as she is planning to travel to China to study the traditional art of Chinese paper cutting and to document and interpret the effects of urban renewal in Beijing through her cut paper overlays.

(The first one is a dishwasher. I adore it..)

DQ Books

2007-10-15T08:06:00.000-07:00

DQ Books is an interactive, online art collaboration project featuring drawings from various international artists on a single, shared theme and technique in an impromptu narration. I often work better under fixed guidelines, so this project appeals to me. Even with all the rules in place, the results can be pretty unexpected. There's also a little soundscape to accompany each book on the site. My personal favorite is "Where's the Party?"

Dish Bunny by Chris Koens

2007-09-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

Dish Bunny by Chris Koens takes the traditional plastic coated metal dish rack, and gives it a fun twist. Available for $25 from DutchbyDesign.com.

Grid Shades

2007-09-17T14:25:00.000-07:00

For all you plastic canvas sewing enthusiasts, here's a project that will make you the envy of every hipster and probably Kanye West: grid shades. The dance scene never looked so handmade. If you're too lazy to make them, jack them at Etsy for $7.50.

Ikea's not so basic

2007-08-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

Ikea's sold this bookcase a gajillion times around the world. Even I have this bookcase in a standard Ikea wood finish. This bold patterned version transforms this standard into a more fashion revered design piece. The best part: it's still as cheap as the previous model.

Akino Kondoh animation

2007-08-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, you'll remember me talking about the exhibit at the MFA titled "Contemporary Outlook: Japan." I couldn't remember this artist's name at first, but I wanted to share with you the work of Akino Kondoho, who lives in Tokyo and shows with and is represented by the Mizuma Gallery. Part of her most recent work, "Ladybirds' Requiem," is on display at the MFA. There's something visceral about her work. I wasn't able to find much information aside from her work, so I'll let it speak for itself. I wish I could show you "Ladybirds' Requiem," but alas, it is not on Youtube yet.

"Densya Kamo Shirenai," animation, 2002

"I hear the beat of the night, vol.2," pencil and acrylic on gesso, mounted on board, 2005

"Braids," pencil and acrylic on gesso, mounted on board, 2005

Oly Interiors

2007-08-23T08:57:00.000-07:00

Oly is a Berkley, California based interior design company who offers antique inspired design, blending traditional with contemporary to create pieces that are clean, sleak, comforting and nostalgic at once. Each piece is handcrafted and has natural variations. Oly consists of Kate McIntyre and Brad Huntzinger.

I'm a huge fan of their Meri hanging fixture. It reminds me of fossilized coral.

Meri Drum Chandelier, pierced resin chandelier

Henry Shelf, antiqued silver brackets with natural sono shelves
and black mahogany cabinet with antiqued brass sliding doors

Jackson Armoire, hardwood armoire with detailed facade

Melanie Bilenker Jewelry

2007-08-22T11:57:00.000-07:00

To say Melanie Bilenker's work takes dedication is an understatement. It also takes her literal DNA. The Victorians kept lockets of hair and miniature portraits painted with ground hair and pigment to secure the memory of lost love. Taking this inspiration, Bilenker has embedded her own hair into epoxy resin, recreating photographic images. The result is a floating, quiet, ordinary moment.

It makes me think of this trend happening in Tokyo with curio jewelry, these vintage oddities, mostly small dolls' hands and bronzed objects you'd find in an antique store.

Contemporary Outlook: Japan

2007-08-20T06:41:00.000-07:00

The Boston MFA has begun a program called "Contemporary Outlook" where they will have small focused exhibitions examining trends and ways of looking at art that has emerged in recent years. An exhibit they're showing now is on Japan including artists Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami, Daido Moriyama, Mariko Mori, and Chinatsu Ban. The show is miniscule and worth dedicating no more than 45 minutes to, but the work is compelling. I'd recommend seeing it if there's something else within the museum you'd also like to see, as general admission can run you $17/person.

The work I found most compelling was done by Yayoi Kusama, a woman who experienced hallucinations since childhood of dots covering her visual field. She began covering surfaces with these polka dots, and they became the trademark of her work. She calls these dots "infinity nets." For years, she was in contact with Georgia O'Keefe, Joseph Cornell and Donald Judd. Her work is difficult to categorize, as she's been placed in categories of feminism, minimalism, surrealism, pop, and abstract expressionism, though she describes herself as an obsessive artist.

Arguably more influential is Takashi Murakami, who had a solo show at the MFA in 2001. He shows an obvious attraction to contemporary pop culture, especially anime (animation) and manga (cartoon). Like Andy Warhol, he takes low culture and repackages it as fine art. Unlike Warhol, he also makes his repacked low culture available to all other markets (reminiscent of Claes Oldenburg) in the form of paintings, sculptures, videos, T-shirts, key chains, mouse pads, plush dolls, cell phone caddies, and Louis Vuitton bags.

For more on the exhibit, check out the website or view this podcast.

Yayoi Kusama, "White Dots," 2000

Kunie Sugiura, "Takashi Murakami", 2003

Takashi Murakami, "Melting DOB E", 2006

Elsewares

2007-08-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

Online shopping has less of that thrill of discovering something truly unique. With elsewares.com, it's a little easier to find better design for the home, wear and carry. They have jewelry, bags, t-shirts, decor, paper products, and tons of recycled pieces.

Acrylic Diamond Rings, AlissiaMT

"Bestow" Wall-Mounted Vase & Candleholder, Harry Allen

Dart Coat Hooks, Suck UK

Um Tote, Josh Jakus

Jason Miller

2007-08-16T07:44:00.000-07:00

The first that I heard of Jason Miller's was his 2006 pieces that came equipped with a previous owner's disregard without ever being previously owned: dusty tables, broken mirrors, duct taped chairs, damaged drinking glasses. These are all accomplished not by damaging, but by deliberately incorporating materials that would mimic this disrepair. The pieces of duct tape on the Duct Tape Chair are actually strips of leather added to the upholstery. The broken mirror that appears Scotch taped is actually done entirely in laminated glass. The dust on the tables is actually layered into the finish.

Though those Brooklyn chic pieces hold appeal for me, I'm pleased to see that 2007 brings new inspiration from the crevices of true life. One in particular caught my attention: ceramic wall tiles inspired by the landscape of shipping containers in Newark. His pieces that are just slightly off give me much more satisfaction. I'm hoping to see more subtlety. I feel like he has that potential to make objects that make you feel a little weird instead of just really dirty.

"Shipping Container Tiles," glazed ceramic, 2007

"Superordinate Antler Lamps," table lamp, 2003

Aaron McConomy

2007-08-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

Aaron McConomy is a native Canadian brought up on conceptualism and pissed ever since. He'd been considering giving up art for chess when he found YPF. His first show is August 18, 2007 at the Garage Gallery in L.A., one night only. The show is unofficially officially called "A Common Crayon," which is actually an anagram of Aaron's name.

"A Common Crayon"
August 18, 2007, 8p.m.-midnight
Garage Gallery
4341 Kingswell Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90027

Ocular aphrodisia

2007-08-14T10:50:00.000-07:00

It's okay to have an intense visual appetite.

If you have that itch, you can scratch it here.

Shhh, just let it happen.