Cool People; Take a look at Minjae Lee.

In between studying for my art exam (which currently stands between me and freedom) and planning a much needed beach retreat with Kesselle, I've been stepping up my internet browsing. Basking in the glory of other blogs as well as random websites.

That is how I stumbled upon the one and only; Minjae Lee.

The 19 year old South Korean artist uses more traditional medium in his artwork, such as markers, pens, crayons, acrylics, etc. What I love most about his work is the way he captures a sense of an innate darkness even in the most beautiful and innocent of us. The women he depicts seem to cover a range of covergirl poses, vacant stares, delicately parted lips, soft curves and striking angles. However Lee subverts the idealistically beautiful nature of these women with his interesting use of colour and darkness, prints and splashes. So that they seem to portray a tainted beauty, perhaps an inner struggle, but to me they are a prime example of the imperfections of perfection.

Lee's favourite designer is none other than the oh-so-fabbity-fab John Galliano.

Minjae Lee is inspired by Japanese photographer Hiroshi Nonami.

Check out his other work over here: http://renokim.com

Cool People; Introducing Elif Karakoc

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COOL PEOPLE

So this month and for many many months afterwards I am going to share with you some of my favourite photographers/singers/artists/cool people that I've found online and in other places too.

This month is a photographer by the name of miss Elif Karakoc.

Her

Elif is an 18 year old art student from Turkey.

Interests: photography, cinema, drawing.

Favourite band or musician: Dredg, Radiohead, Devics, Denali, Deftones, Mogwai, Bonobo, Led Zeppelin, Fairground Attraction.

Favourite artist: Alex Kanevsky, Lautrec, Egon Schiele, Klimt, Goya.

Favourite poet or writer: Nazım Hikmet Ran, Roald Dahl.

Favourite photographer: Eugenio Recuenco, Paolo Roversi, Gottfried Helnwein, Todd Hido, Jean François Lepage

Wings

Kiddo

Hello

Precious Winter Rose

Travelling the Universe

Protect Me

Anathema

Elif's photography goes beyond the usual kitchsy shots of feet and sunsets, she shows a maturity and a life far greater than that of your average 18 year old. Her self portraits are striking, vivid, poignant and sometimes haunting, no matter what, they leave you feeling.

To view Elif's other works simply go to

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elifkarakoc

or

http://ElifKarakoc.deviantart.com

There's Something Magical about Mr Rackham

Recently I was introduced to the works of the master of art Arthur Rackham (you just know he's good 'cos he's got 'art' in his name *chuckleslikeitwassomekindofdadjokeandIamsomekindofdad*)

I personally don't know how I haven't stumbled across him somehow in my late night internet rambles, but apparantly not. Except that upon further meditation I realised that I had seen one of his works years ago in one of my fairy books, in which he'd illustrated the Goblin Market; "You should not eat their fruits, who knows upon what soil they fed their hungry, thirsty roots..."

In any event this man is the master and I found going through a book of his art that I was somehow transported back to the days of my youth in which I would pore over every fairytale I could find and devour it whole. Having made illustrations for a veritable smorgasboard of fairytales, as well as classics such as Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and even Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream Arthur Rackham simply dominates my universe.






I somehow feel like I've seen this Alice in Wonderland piece before, it's somewhat iconic I imagine.

This one was the cover art for the book on Rackham, which I think should have been titled "Arthur Rackham; the art of AWESOME" but was somewhat more demurely named.

And so I propose a toast to Arthur Rackham and his art, which is simply: MAGICAL.