One Day

I read One Day on holiday this year, it was such a lovely book, I really enjoyed reading it. There had been a lot of hype about the book and film recently so thought I'd get involved. The film lived up to my expectations, and was pretty accurate to the book. It was beautifully filmed and Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess do a great job of being Em and Dex (even if Anne's accent is a bit dodgy to begin with). The story follows these two characters over 20 years showing how their lives are connected. We see what they are up to each year on the same day since they met at graduation. The story reminds me a little of 500 days of summer, where it is not a typical love story. Em and Dex are not a couple throughout and the storyline is very frustrating and emotional. I enjoyed the film but would recommend reading the book first.

Watch the trailer here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU4qLmIXbOE

Extreme Sticky Note Experiments

My friend Lydia showed me this amazing video today. The video uses over 280,000 post it notes creating chaos in the office. Its so colourful and exciting and I want to play with post its now instead of doing my work!

They even give you DIY instructions on their website, definitely going to try this out at some point.
 http://www.eepybird.com/featured-video/the-extreme-sticky-note-experiments/

Moviebarcodes

I came across this really interesting project on tumblr where films had been condensed in to a single image.This relates to my ‘one hour pinhole project’ where I was trying to do the same thing by overlapping the images. Here the frames have been condensed creating a colourful barcode.

Its really interesting to see the colour palette of different films. Below are examples of films I have seen recently, including 127 Hours, Toy story and Black Swan. Its funny to see the difference in the colour palette from Toy Story, a bright animation to the dark and thrilling Black Swan.

http://moviebarcode.tumblr.com/

Edible Poster

This piece of experimental type from Anna Garforth is amazing and very creative. She has designed a poster using biscuits spelling out the words "Bite off more than you can chew". It looks so good, and the letters are so precise. I don't think I could ever bake anything so neat! Maybe could give it a go for our next Graphic Design fundraiser? Look at Anna's website for other more interesting projects www.crosshatchling.co.uk.

From me to You

Absolutely love these 'cinemagraphs' by photographer Jamie Beck and motion graphics artist Kevin Burg. Their technique combines still photography and video to "unfreeze" a photo in time. I think the subtle movements are really stunning. They said “We wanted to tell more of a story than a single still frame photograph but didn’t want the high maintenance aspect of a video.” Look at the series of GIF cinemagraphs on their tumblr site From me to You.

Pulled: A Catalogue of Screen Printing

I came across this wonderful book in the shop at the Saatchi Gallery. Its the most recent book from Mike Perry, who also brought out Hand Job: A catalogue of type, and Over & Over: A catalogue of Hand-Drawn patterns two really great books. I can't wait for my loan to come in, so I can feed my book addiction! http://www.mikeperrystudio.com/

Un-Possible Retour

Another one of my favorite pieces from the Saatchi Gallery was a project called Un-Possible Retour by Clarrisse D'Arcimoles. The project is a series of photos that are restaged from old family photos. This must take a lot of planning and hours of shooting to get the exact replica and facial expressions, where as the original photos were a spontaneous moment in time. Clarrisse said that "A memory is never static, it changes as we grow, time becomes a creative space for evolution."

Clarrise's work reminded me of Irena Werning's Back to the Future series. I have come across Irena's work on several blogs recently, and I just love it. The project explores the relationship between our present and past selves. The attention to detail is incredible and the final pieces are also very funny. Below are a few examples of her work, look here to see the whole 'Back to the Future' series.

Another project which has the same obsession with nostalgia and revisiting the past is the Family Tree series by Bobby Neel Adams. His project shows the relationship between mother and daughter/ Father and son by superimposing photographs of their faces on top of each other. The project represents the strength of DNA.

Citroën Celebration

Citroën are launching a new advertising campaign called celebration with french studio Pleix. I just love all the colours in this. It is very over the top and exaggerated. Driving through the room full of balloons looks like lots of fun! The campaign aims to celebrate the brands success over the European market.

Celebrations

This new advertising campaign for Celebrations made me laugh. Designed by french agency CLM BBDO, the campaign shows a series of photographs of people enjoying others misfortunes. Very creative and very funny. 

Photographed by Clive Stewart.
http://www.clivestewart.com/

Paper Cuts

Really beautiful series of 'Paper Cuts' by french artist Anastasia Elias. The scenes have been cut into toilet rolls using different layers. The lighting used in the photographs really show the depth of the cut outs. I am very interested in paper art and I love Anastasia's attention to detail in this series. 

You can see more of her work online here www.anastassia-elias.com. 

Hair hats

Came across this really unique work by Japanese artist Nagi Noda. The hats are made to look like animals but look like the models actual hair. Its so creative I love it! Much better than the Great British Hairdresser, where a woman actually attached a stuffed pigeon on top of the hair. (Very annoying program but I can't seem to stop watching it!) 

My favorite here is the elephant, and the hair colour is stunning. You can see more work on Nagi Noda's website. http://www.naginoda.com/

Star Alliance

Came across this lovely new piece of paper art animation by Andersen M studio on itsnicethat. I loved their 'Going West' animation for the New Zealand Book Council and this piece is just as stunning. Check out their website for more beautiful paper art work and animations. http://www.andersenm.com/

Black Swan

Ever since I saw the making of this little white lies issue on youtube I wanted to get hold of a copy. I thought they had all sold out but my friend Ellie found one in the arnolfini shop in Bristol last week which I was very happy about! There are lots of other film reviews in the magazine including 127 Hours and Never Let Me Go, two films I have really enjoyed recently. 

You can probably still get hold of a copy on ebay or read the digital version here
http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/the-magazine/issue-33

Brian Dettmer

Absolutely love this work by Brian Dettmer. The spine and pages of the books have been manipulated into these interesting sculptures revealing words and images. 

"My work is a collaboration with existing material and its past creators and the completed pieces expose new relationships of the book's internal elements exactly where they have been since their original conception." 

You can see more examples of Brian Dettmer's work on his website here
http://briandettmer.com/

Mein Inspiration

Came across this lovely blog recently, which is entirely devoted to paper art. There are so many beautiful intricate pieces of work. I really want to do incorporate some sort of paper art into my work. http://mein-inspiration.blogspot.com/

Motion Graphics Lecture

Last week I went to the arnolfini in Bristol to listen to a Motion Graphics Lecture. The event highlighted the importance of moving image to designers and the role it will play in the industry in the future. There were four speakers, from Moving Brands, OnedotZero, Red Bee Media, and Rudd Studio, each speaking about their latest work for 15minutes, with a question and answers session at the end. 

I was really interested by Shane Walter's talk about onedotzero which is a London-based moving image and digital arts organization. I didn't get a chance to go to the decode exhibition last summer so it was really good to hear what Shane had to say about their events. Their work is really innovative and shows a range of interactive digital art, and moving image. http://www.onedotzero.com/

Never Let Me Go

I have been wanting to watch this film for ages, but couldn't find many showings, and the ones in Bristol were in the directors hall (which were £13 a ticket!) but finally I found a showing on tuesday evening so went to the cinema with my mum and sister in London. The film lived up to my expectations and I loved it! It is very dark and tragic and left me thinking about the film for ages. I am so surprised it was missed out of the bafta nominations. The cinematography is beautiful, the colour palette is very washed out and adds to the 1980's backdrop. Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfieild and Keira Knightly all act beautifully as three young friends that have been cloned for their body parts, in this alternative-reality. The film is more about love than it is a sci fi, and reminds us that life is short. Watch the trailer her http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kymQcM4ej3w and definitely go to see the film in the cinema!

Susan Hiller

I went to visit the Susan Hiller exhibition at the Tate Britain in London last weekend with Ellie and Alice. It was a really good exhibition and her work ranges through different media. She works with materials that "balance the familiar and unexplained, inviting the viewer to participate in the creation of meaning." My favorite part of the exhibition was this piece, called witness. A dark room is filled with hanging speakers, each individually playing a voice telling a story. As you walk through the speakers you hear many different voices and languages, it made me feel a little crazy! The voices each describe an encounter with UFOs. I wasn't able to take any photos in the exhibition but Alice and Ellie managed to get a few before getting told off! You can see their blogs by clicking -here- and -here-.

Book Art

I really want to get this book! Need to stop spending all my money on new books but the paper art is just so good! This book looks into contemporary art works, designs and installations created from books. Some are just stunning! This first piece by Olafur Ellason shows the structure of a house laser cut into the pages of a book. 

Look at the Gestalten website for the newest releases in art books. 
http://shop.gestalten.com/books/spring-2011/book-art.html