The Selby visits the Berlin apartment of fellow B&A artist Olaf Hajek. The illustrator currently divides his time between the apartment in the Mitte borough of Berlin and London and New York. The Selby photographed details in the apartment including a wall covered in chalkboard paint, statues and artifacts from Hajek’s travels, and framed artwork including a collection of twenty-three frames with sayings that include the word “Run” in them. Hajek also answered one of The Selby’s famous hand-written Q&As. He drew a map of his favorite spots in Mitte, illustrated his own version of the German flag, and offered up his favorite things about South Africa, Berlin, and New York City. Hajek comments he has long been a fan of The Selby’s blog and was thrilled to be included on it. He adds, “I love the way how he shows people in their homes and the way he portraits them.”
Hot off a NYC press the first B&A Journal ships today. The newspaper style journal presents iconic images from our artists and photographers. B&A teamed up with the Brooklyn Brothers on the project. Stephen Rutterford, Creative Director at Brooklyn Brothers comments, “As an Art Director I think it will be refreshing to receive something tactile and non digital for a change.”
Brian Doben has been capturing Nashville’s famous recording artists for over a decade. His photographs of Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift, and Reba McEntire among others have been featured in People and People Country Stars magazines on several occasions. For his latest project, Doben has shifted his focus to the city’s up-and-coming talents. “Project Nashville” captures musicians who are making the journey towards stardom and hoping for fame like their predecessors.
Stuart Hall has spent the past two years capturing glacial melting in Greenland. The project is a continuation of previous work in which he had photographed the glacial melting in Iceland. A 2010 article by Click Green on record ice cap melting in Greenland inspired Hall. Researchers from the University of St Andrews, the University of Aberystwyth and Ohio State University had monitored the breakup of a large portion of the region’s largest glacier, likely caused by climate changes. Hall wanted to record the icebergs that had broken away.
Ever since he was a child, Sergio del Puerto has been trying to make still lifes with his toys. His love of creating pleasing compositions out of everyday materials has translated into his design firm, Serial Cut. Established in 1999, Serial Cut delivers quality art direction, illustration, animation, 3D rendering, and graphic design.
Pictured above is one of Serial Cut’s newest works, a reinterpretation of the MTV logo to promote The Hard Times of RJ Berger. The MTV comedy series follows the daily life of a well-endowed teenager. Debuting in summer 2010, MTV has renewed the series for a second series to begin in 2011. Serial Cut turns the recognizable “M” into a set of hairy legs underneath a pair of underwear showcasing a generous bulge. Special guest
Am I Collective’sESPN posters for the World Cup were so popular, fans were “practically hammering down [their] doors for some of the posters as souvenirs for the World Cup.” Thanks to high demand, Am I Collective presents a commemorative poster celebrating Spain’s victory in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Download the high-res file here for free.
For the past few months Kareem Black has been documenting his nightlife escapades with a special section on his website entitled /LIFE. Whereas his commercial work is what he shoots during the day, /LIFE is Kareem Black uncut and unbridled in the evening – dirty Chinatown toilets, flowing Champagne in dingy dive bars, and girls riding inflatable fish balloons.
When New York Magazine approached Black to photograph a story on the hotel nightlife scene in New York, the extension of his /LIFE project in a new environment was only natural. Jackie Ladner of New York Magazine explains, “I could see from the free style of Kareem’s ‘Life’ section on his site that he had a positive spirit and a strength. Though this shoot was a slight challenge (July 4th weekend and the hottest day), his way with people made him perfect for an assignment that required him to step into a room, capture people unguarded having a great time as if they all knew each other, and with an amazing eye for details, found moments that were so familiar yet still alluring.”
“Everyone has stuff they care or obsess about,” states Michael Warren. He asks people to bring their most treasured objects, dead, alive, or somewhere in-between for his “Somebodies” project. The only requirement for the objects is that they are able to be carried by hand. The results run the gamut – a boy brings his favorite toys, a father brings used tissues of his late wife, and a sculptor brings a mysteriously formed rock. Each week on Warren’s “Somebodies” blog a new portrait will be posted with that person’s object of value. The chosen objects give insight into each person as the viewer learns about what makes the objects so precious.
Stewart Cohen’s book Identity examines a series of subjects and what makes them unique as individuals. The monograph is compromised of 50 portraits, to which each person Cohen poses the question, “What makes you unique as an individual?” The hand-written answers are displayed on the facing page, giving each portrait a personal touch.
Cohen doggedly pursued characters for his project for over a decade, some were the result of hours of faxing and letter-writing, others happened serendipitously. There are rock and blues legends such as John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, and Edgar Winter. Artists such as Ed Ruscha, Jenny Holzer, Fiona Rae, and Andrew Bennett hold court. Lest we forget those who advanced the sciences such as Jack S. Kilby, Jane Goodall, and Stephen Hawking. Playwrights, novelists, directors, architects, musicians, actors, and many more characters grace the pages of Cohen’s book.
There are currently iPhone apps for cooking, navigation, news, games, travel, and more – but what about photography and self promotion? An idea came to Emir Haveric as he watched countless art directors fiddle with their iPhones while they waited for him to set up lighting during shoots. “iPhones are just like a toy,” he thought, and decided to make himself more marketable by building his own iPhone app. Haveric’s iPhone app shows his portfolio, reel, and his latest news. Unlike other apps where users must keep installing updates to stay current, Haveric’s “News” section can be updated by Haveric himself, thus the Emir Haveric iPhone app only needs to be downloaded once. Best of all, the app is available for free. Simply search “Emir Haveric” in your iPhone app store or click here to start experiencing Emir Haveric’s new iphone app.
Kareem Black was in Haiti March 5th – 11th, 2010 with six other creatives from New York City on behalf of Healing Haiti and Print for Change. Their trip was made possible thanks to a generous donation from BBDO. The group calls themselves “The Sept,” or “The Seven,” and consists of photographers Wyatt Gallery and Alessandro Simonetti, writer Adam Reeves, writer and director Eugene Fuller, and illustrator and EVP of DesignWorks at BBDO, Craig Duffney.
From September 2008 to August 2009, Matthew Monteith was a fellow at the American Academy in Rome. The Academy awards one-year fellowships to four visual artists each year and recently, they created the Abigail Cohen Rome Prize in photography, specifically enabling one photographer to live at the academy while working on a project. Monteith was interested in investigating how different institutions shape the way people look at art. While in Rome, he chose to make a series of images dealing with the odd disconnect of viewing art in a hermetic environment.
With the question, “What does it mean to view art, to be educated, to be able to see the world?” in mind, Monteith followed art students, designers, scholars, tourists, and others around Rome. He visited gardens, museums, public spaces, and churches. “I was trying to describe a viewer’s paradise,” says Monteith. “This place of looking and spending time truly considering something, which is often lost in the rush of contemporary society.”
In Monteith’s photos, the viewer observes the beholder as they take in the actual object. “We study many things in abstraction. You can read forever about Bernini and how he sculpts marble, but until you actually sit there and spend a considerable amount of time with the work itself, you don’t really grasp it,” explains Monteith.
Olaf Hajek’s debut monograph Flowerhead is being released in Europe in Feburary, 2010 by Gestalten. The international release follows shortly in March, 2010. The book is full of advertising, editorial, commercial portraits, fashion illustration, and rarely seen personal work from over the past three years of Hajek’s long illustration career.
Born in Germany and raised in Holland, Olaf Hajek draws inspiration from far-away places such as folk art in Africa and South America and the detailed work and interesting perspectives of India and Persia.
2009 is coming to a close and we would like to thank all of our talent, clients, agents, and friends for a wonderful year. A blog was started (which became our homepage), new artists were signed on, and lots of cool projects were carried out. We leave you with this animated video and wish you happy holidays and a happy new year!
English folklore dates back centuries ago. Popular English folklore stories include the tale of Robin Hood and the legend of King Arthur. Although some traditions are widely believed and recognized throughout England, most folklore is specific to certain areas and each region has its own myriad of rich traditions.
Henry Bourne traveled around the UK photographing participants at various folklore festivals and events, capturing a diverse and colorful array of people. In his portraits one can see that British folklore customs are very much alive today.
