twenty2wo magazine issue_02 Welcome to the second issue of twenty2wo magazine. This one came together a little slower than the first but I am happy to get it finished and something larger started. Everyday I get excited and inspired by an ever growing list of amazing artists and designers that I want to share with others. A thanks goes to Erin Loechner, editor of Design for Mankind, for connecting me with three of the creators featured on the following pages. The image on the cover is after American painter Kenneth Noland, perhaps the greatest colorist since Matisse. Noland’s work in colorful abstracts vibrate with a wave of quiet energy. The works have a meditative quality to them that reveals itself immediately but is deep enough to focus on extensively. Once again this issue is filled with inspired individuals who create beautiful visual art for the commercial, academic and personal worlds. Please enjoy and be inspired. Adam Beneke editor twenty2wo http://mag.twenty2wo.com/
Š2008 by twenty2wo magazine all artworks presented in this issue are used with permission and our subject to full ownership and copyright of their respective artists.
Francis Vallejo deserves a hand for his hard work as he enters his final year at Ringling College of Art. With his artwork at a crossroads his portfolio covers a range of styles and media. “I’m admittedly scared of not exploring all the visual possibilities
before I become boxed into one technique. So my work runs the gamut of styles and visual languages.” Beginning school for computer animation led him to leave the major after not having enough hands on drawing. “I’ve actually all but given up digital work to focus on the more personally pleasing tactile feel of traditional media.” Excited by the opportunities available in contemporary illustration Vallejo’s work has been leaning towards editorial assignments and picture books. With a comic due out at the end of the year and four gallery shows on the horizon Francis Vallejo is one motivated young artist. http://francisvallejo.com/
Daniel Everett Photography http://www.daniel-everett.com/
Daniel is currently a MFA candidate in photography at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work with architectural subjects is solemn at times depicting empty places. The images here are from an ongoing series called Disconnect.
Rachael Amen
Number Eight & tigerluxe Rachael Amen spends her days in Pennsylvania with her husband and five moody cats. In addition to creating whimsical illustrated portraits as Number Eight she also curates vintage goods in her online shop tigerluxe. She was kind enough to tell us about her work and how her interest in art came about. I was raised by a painter and a photographer, so creativity has always been an everyday part of my life. I also had a grandmother who was always making me try new things in terms of medium and craft. I kind of grew up and remain feeling like I need to create something every day. I’m not much of a fine artist. I think that since both of my parents are artists and graduated with masters in arts programs they kind of steered me into a career that “pays.” I chose teaching, it was not me. So I’m a partly schooled artist. The focus of my schooling was photography which I minored in. Now I’ve decided that I don’t care if it “pays” or not...it’s just what I love to do and is a tremendous source of joy for me. I do paint and really enjoy it...but mostly I love to draw. I’ve been drawing since I could hold a crayon I suppose. I also really like how illustration can either be a blatant play on a theme or a very subtle hint of a story. I really enjoy portraits of imaginary people. Mostly women since the men I draw end up looking very thick in the eyebrow. I also enjoy creatures. I think I tend to be a bit morbid with a strange sense of humor and tend to laugh at things other people don’t. -Rachael http://numbereight.etsy.com http://flickr.com/photos/tigerluxe/
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Samantha Card I’m originally from Salt Lake City but am currently living in Oregon, going to school in Portland. I will finish up my Masters in Art Therapy Counseling this year at Marylhurst University. I will be working with incarcerated teen girls this year, providing both individual and group art therapy services. I’m excited to be able to bring the healing power of creative expression to others. Hopefully art may become a positive influence for meaningful growth and selfawareness for these girls in the same way it’s done for me. www.canyouhearme.etsy.com
Embodiment Series In these paintings, I wanted to convey what it is that truly makes women beautiful. In a world that values women solely for their curves, I’ve tried to express the real power inherit in such curves not in the way our society prizes them, but because, deep within the lines of a woman’s body are hidden personal struggle, triumph, and real life experiences.
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Guy Archard Empty landscapes in photography have always enamored me. The stillness speaks volumes in each image. Guy Archard is a photographer with the ability to capture those moments. His work searches for the ephemera of place and records it beautifully. The following are a few words from Guy Archard on his work.
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This body of work is concerned with the everyday banality of places and objects. My aim is to make viewers reconsider the aesthetic value of things that are modest in their visual appeal, yet in one moment can become objects of reverie and fascination.
All of the images are based upon reality, and I employ no digital manipulation, yet they appear to sit somewhere in between the real and the fantastical. There is often an assumption of validity when considering the photographic image, and I feel this is the core debate my work engages with.
It is this sudden shift in perspective that I am interested in pursuing. By capturing the transient properties of places, I hope to demonstrate their provisional changes from the unexceptional to the extraordinary in a fleeting moment.
The pictures are made in such a way that scale, perspective, and points of reference to the “real” are difficult to grasp. As a result, they appear as if they could well be photographs of dioramas or film sets. This unsettles the viewer as there appears to be a discrepancy between illusion and reality - the objectivity of the camera is brought into question, and the viewer looks at the everyday with a new found curiosity.
The photographs appear as uncanny resemblances of the real world, each with its own ethereal, almost celestial, atmosphere. Through this process I am striving to question one’s assumptions of the apparently banal by showing the ordinary as both beautiful and mysterious.
http://www.guyarchard.com/
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Illustration work from Kylan Larson Kylan Larson’s intricately detailed ink drawings and their often times architectural subject matter led me to become an instant fan. Having grown up surrounded by architects, both parents and his grandparents, its no wonder his work tends to examine the built environment. Having moved to Irvine, CA from Chicago right before high school Kylan was left with a huge loss of cultural influences. Drawing to him was a chance to create the surrounding that he really wanted to be in. Recently his work has begun to take him in different directions, that he says are varied and still difficult to put into words. The way I see it he shouldn’t have to search too hard for the words as his images continue to speak for him. http://www.kylanlarson.com/
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Alli Coate
There is a certain delicateness in Alli Coate’s work that reveals her many talents. She says it best that she is trying to show a fresh view of the world. Here are a few words from Alli. http://allicoate.com/ I have only recently started to see the common threads that run through the things I make and the ways I think. My last four years of RISD have been full of making, every day working through a new assignment, using all my energy to produce ideas and finished works. I’ve felt that I’ve hardly had time to step back and look at where I’ve been and where I’m going. Lately, though, things are coming clear. I’ve realized that what I’m really interested in is helping people to re-see. It’s in our nature to become accustomed to things. The wonderful aspects of life that deserve so much attention and should give us so much joy become stale or simply overlooked. With what I’ve learned about visual communication and making, I’ve been trying to show a fresh way of seeing the world. Through my art, I’d like to communicate an excitement about the things in life that are wonderful or funny or strange but have been overlooked. I’d like to make the simple things precious. It’s a very simple idea, but I believe it’s worthwhile.
Kim Høltermand Kim Høltermand is a photographer from Denmark working mainly with architecture photography. Desolate and empty places are some of Kim’s favorite locations and often Kim travels to these remote locations when all people have left. Using a strict linear grid and the two pre-dominant palette: greenish/cyan and grayish/pink helps Kim create moody, lonely and hauntingly beautiful imagery. http://www.holtermand.dk/
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Adam Smith
I am an illustrator/artist living in London and studying for an MA at Central St. Martins. Influenced by history and literature, as well as a melancholic imagination but not disposition. I work in a variety of media from model making and diorama’s to pen and ink. I try to create images that illustrate a subject but are also suggestive and open to the viewers own imagination. http://www.adamilex.com/
The Mask Of Anarchy: A Set of 7 prints inspired by the second stanza of the poem ‘The Mask Of Anarchy’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley: I Met Murder on the Way He had the Face of Castlereagh Very smoothe he looked, yet grim; Seven Bloodhounds followed him. Screen prints, taken from original pen and ink drawings.
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ISOLATION
A series of 5 individual landscapes forming a larger panoramic image. Inspired by the book Riddley Walker by Russell Holban, and the landscape surrounding the Dungeness Nuclear power station in Kent, England. The images deal with the idea of apocalypse, desolation and the insignificance of human structures within this context.
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Chechnya: A series of 8 images taken from 100 ink paintings dealing with the ongoing war in Chechnya. These show both a personal and factual reaction. Ink on paper.
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The ULTRAVELVET COLLECTION : Meredith Rose and Eric Aston
have created a large body of work dubbed The Ultravelvet Collection. The work is an explosion of saturated color and double exposures delivered on medium format film. Printed on glass in large sizes the images glow within the space. “Pieces from The Ultravelvet Collection dissolve walls and create a place of purity, power, and imagination. By cleansing and awakening the flow of energy in a room, spaces and the people within are smitten with style and dazzled with distinction. In addition the photos embark on meditative art. They are created to make people stop and appreciate the beauty in life.� I recently got to talk to Meredith about the work and the exciting results that shooting with a Holga can give you. She also sent over some bios of her and Eric. http://www.ultravelvetcollection.com
Eric AstonBorn and raised in Cincinnati Ohio, from an early age young Eric held an undeniable interest in the art of storytelling. Using his father’s handheld camcorder, Eric would religiously write and shoot mini-films featuring quirky characters and plots that held the rest of the family amused and amazed. Upon receiving his bachelors in advertising from Miami University in Oxford Ohio, Eric eventually rehashed his infatuation with film and entertainment, namely screenwriting and directing, by making the move to sunny Los Angeles in 2004. It was a course taken in graphic design that enhanced Eric’s perspective on storytelling, presenting the idea that a story could be portrayed through a still photo along with color correction and image enhancement. Like wildfire, his new passion for design flooded the creative gates as he designed day and night, creating mock movie posters, album covers, and advertisements. His skill eventually led him to a full time position with one of the largest wide format digital printers in downtown LA. Eric left the position in 2008 on a hunch that something very fresh, new, and independently powerful was about to emerge from his imagination. With an ultimate desire to make a strong impression on the art world, the Ultravelvet Collection was born.
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Meredith Roseborn and raised in Connecticut discovered her fondness for photography at an early age. She followed and frolicked with her father on family excursions taking photos with a manual Cannon camera. Appreciating the beauty of a still moment in time, Meredith continued to constantly carry a camera in hand. Off to Boston and then New York, Meredith spent her spare elective courses in the dark room while studying business at New York University. After college, her first career moves into the corporate world were working with luxury fashion retailers and independent film producers. In 2006, with a craving for change and curiosity to be in close company of the film industry Meredith moved to Los Angeles. With a few years of experience in online entertainment sales with the likes of LA Times and NY Magazine, ultimately the desire of art and independence wouldn’t let up. In 2008, Meredith let go of the corporate conglomerates and took on the Ultravelvet Collection as a full time project.
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Thomas Kalak’s great new book is a collection of beautiful photos and a unique look at a place in our world. Full of photos of odd objects in Thailand the book is made by Rupa Publishing. Kalak was even kind enough to send me a copy. Thank you Thomas. http://www.thomaskalak.com/ http://www.rupapublishing.com/
Bamboo scaffolding, knotted aerial lines, hand painted signs or converted plastic bags: The objects photographed in Thailand by Thomas Kalak, the photographer from Munich, are sometimes unusual, both funny and peculiar, and often mind-boggling. Far from the world of cliches, Kalak finds motifs that complement and enhance the famous image of the country and simultaneously document the unshakable cheer of the Thai people as true masters of improvisation. From the back cover...
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thank you!
twenty2wo magazine is always open for art work submissions or other contributions. Contact us by email at info@twenty2wo.com with any submissions, questions, or just say hello.