Photographer Valerie Chiang

These gorgeous landscapes are the work of 18 year old photographer Valerie Chiang, born in Taiwan and now living in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Valerie's Flickr portfolio demonstrates a diverse range of styles and subjects as well as great composition in her photography. She has, "a passion for fine art and fashion photography" (below), but it's the mystical landscapes and nostalgic beach scenes that grabbed my attention the most (above). There's something very bewitching about them, maybe it's the bleakness of the scenes, but they all make me want to know more.

Big thanks Valerie for sending over your link.



Images copyright Valerie Chiang.

Greasy Christmas!

We're loving photographer Alan Powdrill's very seasonal new work. Greasy Christmas is a series of images showing the wonderful way our greasy spoon cafes trim-up for Christmas - no expense spared!

My favourite has to be the fairy lights decorating the plug socket, it's like looking at a scene from the start of Casualty.

Thanks for sharing Alan. I hope you didn't eat in any of those places - although that could be a whole other series!

Images copyright Alan Powdrill.

The Creative Works of Thomas C Calder

Brisbane photographer Thomas Calder has a great collection of images on his site - a winning combination of surrealism, darkness and wit.

"My works are highly conceptual: Surreal, dreamy visual images that attempt to provoke feelings and emotions".

For me though, it's his more cinematic shots that really stand out - the strong contrast and more unusual compositions just make them seem timeless.Thomas is also a creative film-maker and actor so it's not surprising he can nail this style.

To see more of Thomas Calder's work and for more information visit Calder Photography.

Images copyright Thomas Calder.

Retro Lolly Prints by Emily Turner

When I first saw Emily Turner's retro lolly prints I was immediately struck by childhood memories of running down the street to the ice cream van!

The simplicity of the illustrations with the red and blue print gives them a wonderful nostalgic feel, I'm sure having one on the studio wall would make it feel like Summer every day.



All above prints are available for £20 from FRANK and The Print Block (who are having a Christmas sale on December 4 if you're in the area).

Drawing Fashion

Antonio, Joanne Landis Carnegie Hall Studio, New York Times Magazine, 1967

Aurore de la Morinerie, Couture I, 2010

Antonio, Karl Largerfeld, Vogue France, 1972

François Berthoud, Loves me Loves me Not, Myla UK, 2001

Mats Gustafson, Red Dress, Yohji Yamamoto,1999

Drawing Fashion - wonderful fashion illustrations collected over 30 years by Joelle Chariau, owner of Galerie Bartsch & Chariau (Munich), is currently showing for the first time at London's Design Museum.

"Drawing Fashion celebrates a unique collection of some of the most remarkable fashion illustrations from the twentieth and twenty first centuries. These original works define the fine art of illustrating fashion, from the collections of Chanel, Dior, Comme des Garçons and Poiret as well as Viktor & Rolf, Lacroix and McQueen."

The exhibition has been curated by fashion historian Colin McDowell. The showcased illustrations span 100 years and are displayed alongside period photography, music and news to show the social, cultural and style changes throughout the decades.

This is definitely on my December gallery list, but there's no rush it's running until 6 March 2011 and for those who want a little more information - tickets are now available for Stephen Jones in conversation with Colin McDowell, Wednesday 26 January 2011 at 7.30pm. Get your tickets here.

Images copyright of the artists and/or Joelle Chariau.

Christie's Travel and Vintage Poster Auction

These wonderful Olivetti posters are coming up for auction on the 5 November as part of the Christie's Travel and Vintage Poster sale. You can view the ecatalogue here - you won't be disappointed, there are loads of great travel posters, but these Olivetti ones get my bid (or they would if I'd saved a few more pennies this year).

Olivetti Divisumma (above top) by Herbert Bayer (1953) is lot number 252. It's a linen-backed, lithographic print (71 x 51cm) classed as A- condition with an estimation of £1000-£1500.

Olivetti Elettrosumma 22 (above bottom) by Giovanni Pintori is lot number 255. This lithographic print (70 x 49 cm) printed by Arti Grafiche M & G Pirovano in 1956 is not backed, but is classed as A condition and has an estimation of £600-£800.

Find more sale information here. Happy bidding!

Images copyright Christie's.
Via Quad Royal.

Preston Bus Station by Jonathan Kenyon

I was surprised to find these photographs of Preston Bus Station by Jonanthan Kenyon this morning on We Heart. I grew up in and around Preston and know this building very well. I've always loved it's bold architecture and unapologetic scale.

I was saddened earlier in the year to hear it's going to be knocked down as part of Preston's Tithebarn scheme (yet another urban regeneration programme) after it's application to become a listed building failed. It was designed in the late 60's by a Preston-based architect, Keith Ingham who worked at a local company, BDP (ironically the company now running the regeneration programme!) and when it first opened in 1969 it was hailed as the largest in the world.

There's no denying that the building could do with a bit of tlc, but Jonathan's images really capture the beauty of the building even in it's current state. Long live Preston Bus Station!

Images copyright Jonathan Kenyon.
Via Notcot.

Gastrotypographicalassemblage at Kemistry Gallery

Well not the actual wall panels we posted about here, but a half-size photographic reproduction of this a 35 x 8ft typographic masterpiece. Gastrotypographicalassemblage was created by Lou Dorfsman for the wall of the CBS cafeteria circa 1966 and included the names of every food item available in the cafeteria at that time.

"We were allowed to have all the spreads and, a 10x8 black and white negative of the entire wall taken on the day it was unveiled. From this we worked with a company called VGL and printed it up at half scale (we couldn't fit full scale in the gallery) and had it stretched by AP Fitzpatrick. For a 45 year old negative the quality we have got from the blowup without any retouching is fantastic."

Gastrotypographicalassemblage: The Designs of Lou Dorfsman is an exhibition at Kemistry Gallery, London celebrating the print and advertising work Dorfsman produced during his time at CBS (1946 - 1987) originally as an art director and later as senior vice president and creative director for marketing communications and design.

The exhibition runs until 30 October 2010 and includes more than 60 original pieces as well as a short film about the Gastrotypographicalassemblage narrated by Dorfsman himself.


Images copyright Kemistry Gallery, taken by Christian Carlsson.
Via CR Blog.

Julia Trigg at Castor + Pollux

Julia Trigg's large digital collages of gorgeous typographic ephemera are packed full of giant numbers, letters and graphic elements in bold, bright colours. Her new exhibition at Castor + Pollux showcases pieces created from her collection of 1920's - 1950's ham radio cards:

"These amateur hams could have been the first 'techno geeks', making contact with each other through radio, long before telephone was accessible.

They sent each other signals using a type of morse code called Quebec Sign Language and developed their own shorthand - a kind of early text language. They would send each other these letterpress printed 'QSL' cards via post to confirm receipt of the signals - eventually all over the world."

The exhibition previews on Friday and will be open to the public from 18 September to 17 October 2010.

Images copyright Julia Trigg.

Artist + Blacksmith, Agnes Jones

Artist and Blacksmith Agnes Jones has a wonderful illustration style that looks, at first glance loose and whimsical, but is in fact immensely detailed. It's a style I find really lends itself to architectural illustrations, so I love her series of clock towers (above).

Agnes is a trained metalworker and coupled with her creativity as an artist has created some great large scale commissions as well as some very pretty and delicate looking frames (below). She is based in Brighton and is always taking on new commissions, so get in touch here.




Images copyright Agnes Jones.