Wicked Halo

Codename: Music, Commie Animation Style

Wicked Halo — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:47:51 +0000

I kinda of struggled with what to name this post, and then I settled on that bizarre mess up there.
How to properly describe mostly (and/or entirely) animated videos resorting to a red/black/pale color palette (the first two) and russian design esthetics (the last 3) makes for a rather long title, but in my mind, they’re all connected, one way or another (even if by some remote disjointed connection only I manage to see!)

N.A.S.A. – “Money” (feat. David Byrne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge, & Z-Trip)
Directed by Syd Garon & Paul Griswold, art by Shepard Fairey

The Knife – We Share Our Mother’s Health, directed by Motomichi Nakamura

Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out, directed by Jonas Odell (who btw made another one of my fave videos for Goldfrapp)

Franz Ferdinand – This Fffire, directed by Stylewar

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Nick Gentry

Wicked Halo — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:11:34 +0000

Whoever said floppy disks were a thing of the past was dead wrong, because the past can be used for cool things.
Brit artist Nick Gentry’s work comments on the effects that the development of technology and cyberculture had on society, with a distinctive focus on obsolete media. He is known for his floppy disk and VHS tape paintings, placing an emphasis on recycling and on the reuse of outdated materials as a central theme.
Check more of his work at his website, facebook, twitter, flickr and vimeo (dude’s everywhere!).

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Margot Tenenbaum Muse Extraordinaire

Wicked Halo — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:16:39 +0000

Spoke Art, a San Francisco based art gallery, has for the past couple of years, organized exhibits based on director Wes Anderson’s movies (they’ve also hosted a couple of Quentin Tarantino vs Cohen Brothers exhibits). While Anderson’s movies are always filled with quirky, colorful and ultimately unforgettable characters, one above all others, seems to have captivated the minds of a great part of the artists invited to participate in these events.
Featured in 2001′s The Royal Tenenbaums, a tale about an estranged family of former child prodigies, Margot Tenenbaum though a fictitious character, is clearly made of that rare cloth whose unique personality and sense of style (the slick hair, the retro styling, the hairclip!) somehow manages to inspire artists across the board and bring out their best.
Played by Gwyneth Paltrow (a most of the time blah actress imho), Margot Tenenbaum is a playwright and adopted daughter, who once ran away from home for two weeks, to meet her birth family and came back with half of one of her fingers missing. Infamously secretive, she’s a closeted nicotine addict, who smokes unbeknownst to anyone else in her family, successfully keeping it a secret for more than two decades.
And without further ado, here’s a whole lot of Margot Tenenbaum as seen through the eyes of a myriad of artists:

Caia Koopman

Ana Bagayan

Sandi Calistro

Tatiana Suarez

Shannon Bonatakis

Audrey Pongracz

Jonas Lofregn

Ruben Ireland

Darryl Peirce

Jason Levesque aka Stuntkid

Cate Rangel

Ken Keirns

Chuck Sperry (Who packs a double punch by paying hommage to Alphonse Mucha’s art nouveau classic poster “Medea”. As you might remember, I’d already tackled Chuck’s work before, looking at some of his sources of inspiration)Irma Rivera

And of course, la real Margot

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Jenny Marie Smith

Wicked Halo — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:47:58 +0000

“I create because, well…I just have this urge to create. I was born with it. It’s completely unexplainable and I don’t know where it comes from. My purpose is to add permanence to the ideas and images that drift through my head and hopefully, at the same time, create something visually pleasing that others will enjoy.”

Not a lot of information available on this lady, all I know, is she’s a Gemini from Chicago, but just looking at her work will surely tell you loads. Somewhat reminiscent of Natalie Shau‘s work, her universe is filled with pouty ladies trapped in a dark and powdery world.
More available at her site.

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Balloon Mood ‘ 2011

Wicked Halo — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:52:38 +0000

It’s that time of year again…and in keeping with my very own tradition, here are loads of balloons to welcome the upcoming new year!
This has been a year of many changes for me, having moved to another country et all, which prompted a blogging hiatus, but now that I’m more or less settled, my new year resolution is to get back to blogging duties. I’m also planning some minor cosmetic surgery (on the blog of course not myself :) as I’ve grown slightly tired of this look, but that’s further ahead down the road!
May 2012 be the balloon bomb for everyone…

Pics in order of appearance by Ellen von Unwerth, Phillip Toledano, Eolo Perfido, Steven Meisel, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Peter Lindbergh, Luciana Val & Franco Musso, Marton Perlaki, Elliot Lee Hazel, Sophie Delaporte, Rodney Smith, David LaChapelle, Camilla Akrans, Ann He, Noa Avishag, Nam, Lara Jade, Kirsty Mitchell, Viviane Sassen, Unknown

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Merry Christmas

Wicked Halo — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 01:25:31 +0000

You know the drill, right?

Santa Claus…

…presents…

…ornaments…

…and the more the merrier…

…and of course all sorts of golden christmassy things:

Pics by Ellen von Unwerth, Sofia Sanchez & Mauro Mongiello, Andrew Yee (x2) and Kristian Schuller for Douglas (x3)

MP3 = The Golden Filter – White Nights

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Christmas Gifts for the Art Crowd

Wicked Halo — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:50:30 +0000

Sheeeee’s ALIVE!!! Yes, indeed, alive I am and have not been gobbled up by London’s eerie fog and rain (which luckily for me hasn’t really been as bad as I first expected).
As a matter of fact, I have recently moved into my own place, which posed an interesting question…how does one transform a rented tiny place which comes with innocuously bland furniture into your own private lair of weirdness? Thankfully being in London, actually made it quite easy, but I remember how hard it can be when you’re elsewhere not so “artistically minded”. It’s most definitely at times like this, that the internet can be your best friend.

While my personal decoration choices veered into cheaper territory (Having just moved abroad, I am on a tight budget after all), here are a few tips and pointers…it’s Christmas time after all, what better excuse to become an happy go lucky consumer after all?

Wall Stickers and Decals by Blik
Wall stickers are pretty big right now, you can even find them in IKEA, but if you want to avoid your run of the mill standard flowers and birds type of thing, trust me when I say, this is the place to go.
Decals featuring artwork by David Bray, Craww,and Sarah Joncas.

Housewares by ClickForArt
A friend of mine insists almost every Christmas in offering me mugs and teacups (don’t ask me why, I haven’t figured it out myself)…maybe I should drop her a non subtle hint (but then again, I’ve never been one for subtlety anyway) to shop here!
A lot of artists whose work I’ve mentioned here over time have their stuff sold there in all sorts of formats: prints, bags, eye masks, chairs, etc. Their pillows (and there are just soooo many!) are pretty divine…If I ever get around to saving enough, the short list of pillows I’d like to own is unfortunately rather long.
Houseware featuring artwork by Yoskay Yamamoto, Sylvia Ji, Candybird, Margueritte Sauvage, My Dead Pony

Gelaskins
Being such a design focused company, pretty much anything that Apple puts out makes for a good customizing excuse. While cases in all shapes and formats are a dime a dozen, Gelaskins probably has the best selection of artist material around.

Skins featuring artwork by Nanami Cowdroy, Camilla D’Errico, Yosuke Ueno, Tim Burton and Nicoletta Ceccoli

And on my own personal list? There’s this big wall that’s just begging to be graced with a certain Irving Penn photo I love. After looking all over the net and London for a print of it and not finding it, I managed to dig up a high res copy of it on tumblr, so I’m just gonna have it printed myself and frame it! If you know of any good (and cheap!) printing services let me know!

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Chen Hongzhu’s Bittwersweet Work

Wicked Halo — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 22:26:25 +0000

Chinese Chen Hongzhu’s work, is filled with stark “china doll” portraits of fractured innocence, her figures appear child-like and cute, but at the same time old beyond their years. Sometimes they’re cut or bruised, damaged in some way; often they’re accompanied by cryptic animal familiars that give them a kind of surreal comfort and company. As Chen describes in her own words:

“I believe that in every person’s heart live two children– one that turns to the light and another that feeds on darkness. Your entire life you must look after and appease these two children. I often paint people and animals together because I feel animals embody a kind of collective human unconscious. Our inner naive and reclusive self can be expressed well by the animals, almost as if they are mirrors showing a reflection of humanity. My pictures often obscure the boundary between man and animal, and in this way display an even clearer view of humankind.”

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Happy Halloween

Wicked Halo — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:16:10 +0000

It’s that time of year again!
I know in between country moving and hackers doing their thing, I’ve been pretty much MIA, but I couldn’t let this date slip by without a shout out!

For the witches to come out…

…do their evil thing…

…and bring out the undead…

..the blood lusters…

…and the vampires (who are very trendy these days)…

No need for tears…

…and no need to be scared though…

…there’s still lots of whimsy and magic in the air!

Buh!!!

Pics in order of appearance by Ellen von Unwerth, Matt Irwin, Michael Schwartz, Craig McDean, Matt Jones, Mariano Vivanco, Armin Morbach, Chadwick Tyler, Marton Perlaki, Karl Lagerfeld, Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott, Will Davidson, Solve Sundsbo, Miles Aldrige, unknown, Paolo Roversi, Javier Vallhonrat, Barrie Hullegie & Sabrina Bongiovanni

Soundz from the underground:
MP3 = Siouxsie & The Banshees – “Halloween”
MP3 = Metronomy – “Trick or Treatz”
MP3 = Neon Neon – “Trick for Treat”

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Something Wicked This Way Came

Wicked Halo — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 22:19:48 +0000

And not in a good way, I might add! The blog suffered an attack from some vicious, good for nothing hacker, rendering it virtually impossible for me to add anything in the backoffice or make any changes. After much reading about how to act, I carefully went about it and cleaned it up (I hope), so I can now return to my usual posting routine.

Unfortunately because of said mischievous hacker, a wonderful opportunity that had arisen for me to do a giveaway to win tickets for Blooom, a creative industries art show happening in Cologne was also pretty much lost, since I couldn’t post at all. Anyway, if you’re living in Cologne or are going to be in the neighborhood, I urge you to check it out, as it going to cover a lot of ground in the creative industry.

And on the page of mischief, I give you “One more time” by Jacob Sutton for Bloc Party magazine…

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Wicked Halo

Codename: Music, Commie Animation Style

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