Monday, October 12, 2009

Cool People; Introducing Elif Karakoc

...
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

Friday, October 9, 2009

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.