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Alexia Sinclair – ‘Rococo’

Alexia Sinclair's 'Rococo' depicts a dreamlike world bathed by influences of the 18th century

Alexia Sinclair: We love the outstanding creations of photographer and artist Alexia Sinclair, including her latest series ‘Rococo’, which depicts a dreamlike world bathed by the influences of the 18th century and the court of Marie Antoinette. Alexia Sinclair notes that “Rococo is a series of theatrical artworks inspired by the lives, fashions, gardens and motifs of 18th century high society. Following the design aesthetic of this period, the series is sensual, playful and flamboyant. During this period, powerful women of the French court became fashion icons and their tastes swept across Europe. Their excessive, luxurious and exotic creations have inspired many aspects of the costuming within this series; from Madame de Pompadour’s porcelain flowers, to Madame du Barry diamond necklace, Marie Antoinette’s muslin chemise and the Duchess of Devonshire’s towering plumes. The floral backdrops within the series pay homage to the dreamlike landscapes of the Rococo period. Known as the pleasure playgrounds, their hidden gardens, mazes and wild flower meadows formed the backdrop of decadent garden parties and mischievous encounters.” Alexia Sinclair is an award winning Australian Artist and Photographer whose distinct style is easily recognisable and highly original. Using a visual narrative, Alexia Sinclair’s art is both dark and seductive, baroque and symbolic yet her multilayered photographs present contemporary notions of fashion and beauty through innovative digital media, whilst restoring antique notions of classicism, elegance and luxury. Sinclair is an artist who skilfully balances the worlds of Fine Art and Commercial Art. Whilst her evocative Fine Art imagery adorns the walls of museums and is held in important art collections, she often translates these skills and signature style into highly polished campaigns in the commercial arena for clients such as Harpers Bazaar and Canon Australia. Completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons I) and Master of Fine Arts, Alexia Sinclair is the recipient of a travelling arts scholarship, and two postgraduate scholarships. She has worked in New York as a digital artist and exhibited in numerous exhibitions including at the Australian Centre for Photography and the Art Gallery of NSW with her latest series ‘Rococo’ most recently on display at the Black Eye Gallery in Darlinghurst, Sydney Australia. Below is a selection of Alexia Sinclair’s amazing work but for a more detailed look, we suggest a visit to her website.

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Catstacam – Yes, it’s a thing!

'Catstacam' lets you discover & follow the secret life of your cat on Instagram

Catstacam: From our ‘WTF, is this really happening?’ file, comes the newest thing in feline chic – ‘Catstacam’. ‘Catstacam’ is a new kind of wearable camera for cats, which can automatically upload photographs from the secret life of your cat to a dedicated Instagram account. This interesting gadget designed by Whiskas in Australia will take pictures and happily post them on Instagram as soon as it is within range of your wi-fi network. Whiskas explained the ‘Catstacam’ on their Facebook page “Have you ever wondered what your cat was trying to tell you with some of their actions? WHISKAS® CATSTACAM™ is our brand new program designed to help cat lovers better understand cats by giving a glimpse into their world. The custom WHISKAS CATSTACAM devices let selected cats take photos and post them directly to their own Instagram accounts. At the moment we only have a limited number of devices available (that’s why they’re not available for purchase) so to share our cat insights we have chosen key cat lovers that will help us spread the word – and show-off their furry friends’ intriguing behaviour. To follow them, and see what adventures they get up to, simply search ‪#‎Catstacam‬ on Instagram. But we don’t just want to show you what cats get up to, we want to provide a deeper understanding of common cat behaviour. So if you see anything you’re curious about, or the behaviour shown is similar to your cat’s, just ask a question and hashtag ‪#‎AskWhiskas‬ and our cat behavioural expert will respond, telling you what it means. WHISKAS CATSTACAM is the social way to help you better understand cats.” Hmmm look, while we’re not really cat people, more power to those who really want to know what their cat does when left to their own devices and we applaud Whiskas for coming up with such a unique marketing idea. Clearly, it’s catching on or we wouldn’t be talking about it. Enjoy feline lovers…meow!

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Ellen Jewett’s New Phantasmagorical Sculptures

Ellen Jewett's surreal animals meet the magical worlds of natural history, dreams & mythology

Ellen Jewett: We love this new series of phantasmagorical sculptures by Canadian artist Ellen Jewett, who creates beautiful yet surreal animal sculptures that seem to inhabit the magical worlds of natural history and legend as well as dreams and mythology. Ellen Jewett was born in Markham, Ontario and took to shaping three dimensional forms naturally at a young age. In 2007, Ellen completed her post secondary honours degree in Anthropology and Fine Art at McMaster University and while finishing her undergraduate studies, worked in medical illustration, exotic animal care and was teaching a children’s class on stop motion animation. By the time she presented her thesis, Ellen’s academic and artistic interests in the biological were intrinsically interwoven. Ellen Jewett set out on her own path as a career artist while still in high school, spending long summer weekends travelling to exhibitions. Ever the curious soul, Ellen has continued to study art and science respectively while working as an artist, most recently, through Haliburton School of the Arts and University of Guelph. She has also accumulated certifications in other areas of personal intrigue, including applied animal behaviour modification and crisis counseling. According to Ellen, it all informs her art; enriching the content of the unconscious narrative flow. “Plants and animals have always been the surface on which humans have etched the foundations of culture, sustenance, and identity. For myself, natural forms are a continual source of fascination and deep aesthetic pleasure. At first glance, my work explores the more modern prosaic concept of nature: a source of serene nostalgia balanced with the more visceral experience of ‘wildness’ as remarkably alien and indifferent. Upon closer inspection of each ‘creature’, the viewer may discover a frieze on which themes as familiar as domestication and as abrasive as domination fall into sharp relief. These qualities are not only present in the final work but are fleshed out in the process of building.” Today Ellen Jewett’s work is achieving a vibrant internet presence and is featured in public and private collections worldwide.  She is enthusiastically expanding her studio practice, forever experimenting and meeting the demand of her time and art. For more detailed information on Ellen Jewett’s amazing work, we recommend a visit to her website.

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Bubbles Erotica’s ‘Super Unnatural’ – Video of the Day

Bubbles Erotica's 3D-animated music video features trippy morphing humans

Bubbles Erotica: Very cool human figures, rendered as polygonal 3D graphics, morph and fly through a surreal futuristic world in this tripped out original music video for ‘Super Unnatural’ by Bubbles Erotica. This amazing video was created by very talented artist and animator Ali Manesh from 3E Visuals who specialise in animation and projection mapping creating the concept, design, animation, compositing, and smoke simulation that you will see. Hailing from Chicago, USA, Bubbles Erotica are a driven, passionate and charismatic 4-piece hard rock band who have set out to develop an eclectic blend of rock and roll, unleashing a few weapons within their arsenal: fuzz distortion, war-beat drum patterns, granitic riffs and powerful vocals. Bubbles Erotica strikes with a sonic assault that offers a great compromise between energy and melody with band members made up of Brad Springer (drums), Michael Hasso (guitar), Colin Stone (bass), Philip Edward (vocals). They note their influences include Queens Of The Stone Age, Muse, Queen, Rush, Foo Fighters, Alice In Chains, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Misfits, Tool, Johnny Cash, and System of a Down and ‘Super Unnatural’ is off their debut EP ‘Elephants Never Forget’ which was released in June 2014. Check it out – this video is a must-watch visual feast!

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Celebrities Before They Were Famous

A compilation video of celebrities before fame in commercials from the 1960s & 70s

Celebrities: Check out this great compilation video of celebrities, before they were famous, in commercials from the 1960s and 1970s. DJ Bobby FX has created an great compilation video of celebrities in commercials from the 1960s and 1970s before they were famous. He was able to dig up ads starring Robert De Niro, Farrah Fawcett, Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta, and more. Have a look – who doesn’t love seeing footage of celebrities before they hit the big time.

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Butcher Billy’s Post-Punk Marvel Superheroes

Butcher Billy mixes his favourite pop & trash punk universes to create amazing mashups

Butcher Billy: ‘Superpowered Post-Punk’ is a new series of illustrations created by Butcher Billy, who continues to mix his two favourite universes to offer us beautiful mashups between the pop world of Marvel superheroes and the trash world of Punk and Rock. A creative director at a busy digital agency in Brazil by day, Butcher Billy was just a kid when he first realised with just a pack of crayons in his tiny hands – no walls were safe. It’s that sort of rule-breaking, devil may care, chaotic attitude that inspires Butcher Billy’s art. He takes what is considered pop culture from a variety of sources – music, comic books, movies, games, etcetera – and mashes them all together to come up with something that draws on nostalgia while, at the same time, provides the audience with a fresh take on a familiar scene. In this side of the world, making a pop culture reference can be tedious and common place. Everyone does it these days, but somehow only a few people, Butcher Billy in particular, get away with it. In Butcher’s case, it could be because of his use of dynamic colors: bright, bold, hard to miss or it could be because of his unique take on childhood favourites. Butcher Billy is a one-man assembly line when it comes to his pieces and can churn out new creations at a cracking pace, drawing stuff without sacrificing quality. It’s that passion for his craft that, like one of his superhero mashup creations, seems to make him virtually unstoppable. For a complete look at Butcher Billy’s entire portfolio of amazing work, we strongly urge you to visit his Behance site and if you are interested in purchasing any of his pieces, visit his website.

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The Wrecking Crew – Official Trailer

'The Wrecking Crew' tells of the unsung muso's behind many smash hits of the 1960’s

The Wrecking Crew: The Beach Boys, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Sonny & Cher, Nat King Cole and many, many more. Behind their success was a group of studio musicians called The Wrecking Crew. What the Funk Brothers did for Motown,  The Wrecking Crew did, only bigger, for the West Coast Sound. Six years in a row in the 1960s and early 1970s, the Grammy for “Record of the Year” went to Wrecking Crew recordings. And now, ‘The Wrecking Crew’ tells the story in pictures and that oh, so glorious sound. ‘The Wrecking Crew’ is a documentary film produced and directed by Denny Tedesco, son of legendary late Wrecking Crew guitarist Tommy Tedesco, and tells the story of the unsung musicians that provided the backbeat, the bottom and the swinging melody that drove many of the number one hits of the 1960’s. The Wrecking Crew was a nickname coined by drummer Hal Blaine for the group of studio and session musicians that played anonymously on many of these recordings. The crew backed dozens of popular singers, and were one of the most successful groups of studio musicians in music history. The Wrecking Crew’s members were musically versatile but typically had formal backgrounds in jazz or classical music. The talents of this group of “first call” players were used on almost every style of recording including television theme songs, film scores, advertising jingles and almost every genre of American popular music, from The Monkees to Bing Crosby. Notable artists employing the Wrecking Crew’s talents included Nancy Sinatra, Bobby Vee, The Partridge Family, The Mamas & the Papas, The 5th Dimension, The Association, The Carpenters, Glen Campbell, Cher, John Denver, The Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, The Grass Roots and Nat King Cole. The record producers most often associated with the Wrecking Crew are Phil Spector, who used the Crew to create his trademark “Wall of Sound”; and Beach Boys member and songwriter Brian Wilson, who used the Crew’s talents on many of his mid-1960s productions including the songs “Good Vibrations” and “California Girls”. LOVE – Can’t wait to see this doco in full! Check out the trailer below:

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James Curran’s Cute Animated GIFs

James Curran's amazing work will blow your mind!

James Curran: We have become obsessed with these adorable and fun animated GIFs created by animator, Illustrator and designer James Curran, from Slim Jim Studios. James Curran is widely known as the man who created the amazing fan-made opening credits for TINTIN. Curran, a London-based designer and animator, created the TINTIN credits on a lark and somehow they found their way back to Steven Spielberg (the Director of TINTIN). Curran created the video in just about a month with music from the original TV series and as a huge fan of the series, he incorporated elements from all 24 books, even though they weren’t a big part of the movie. Steven Spielberg saw the opening credits on the web, loved them, contacted James Curran, invited him to the UK premiere and hired him to work on his next film. So it seems you just never know who’s going to see your work on the web. But Curran didn’t do the work to get noticed. He did it because he’s an artist and he loves TINTIN. So a lesson for us all is just do what you love and that passion will come through in your work. We have posted some of our favourite GIFs below but for a complete look at James Curran’s portfolio of work, we strongly encourage you to visit his website. Enjoy!

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Alex de Mora – ‘Leisurewear’

Alex de Mora imagines what our generation will look like when we are older

Alex de Mora: So you think that “old people” dress like old people? But have you ever thought about what our generation will look like when we get older? ‘Leisurewear’ is a series of fashion photographs created for Vice Magazine by photographer Alex de Mora, who likes to imagine the elderly of a not too distant future. Alex de Mora notes ‘I was inspired by the character I saw when taking personal photos of my Grandmother, and I thought why not transform this into an fashion editorial, so I pitched the idea to Vice Magazine. I had been wanting to shoot a “leisurewear” series for a while, and wanted to give a hip hop angle to the idea. I thought of Snoop Dogg going shopping in his velour tracksuit. The shoot itself took place in my studio in London and we decided to colour match the background, clothes and set for each shot, to give it a surreal, stylised tone. My amazing team of Kylie Griffiths (stylist), Penny Mills (set design), Sami Knight (hair) and Lydia Warhurst (make up) helped me to make this idea the reality.’ Alex de Mora is a highly regarded photographer based in London, UK who specialises in fashion, commercial and portrait photography. Over the years, De Mora has created some amazing images and his editorial clients have included VICE, i-D, Oyster, Dazed & Confused, and Crack while his commercial work has been for brands such as Nike, Red Bull, Atlantic Records, Liberty, ATP Records, Converse, and Johnnie Walker. This fantastic shoot took place in Alex de Mora’s London studio, and features streetwear icons ranging from Champion and adidas Originals to Le Coq Sportif and Moschino, all worn by old-aged pensioners. To see more of Alex de Mora’s amazing work, be sure to visit his website.

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