I'm featured in iJusi!

Cool! Longtime , legendary underground publication iJusi has featured one of my illys in the Tattoo issue this month. iJusi was first mag that featured and cultivated a uniquely South African take on design. I've had this one on the my list since being a student and salivating over their pages. "Featured in iJusi". Check.

Veils

City Construction Pt 2

City Construction Pt 1

Beautiful decay

Urban Autopsy Catalogue

Open publication - Free publishing - More art prints

Hello. I've been able, with a little help from my friends, to finally extend the Urban Autopsy series and am now proud to report that it is indeed available at request from yours truly. Thank you.

Here's a little detail:
Digital prints on HP Ultra Realistic Litho 270gsm archival paper
Dimensions : 600mm x 600 mm
Framed : 700mm x 700mm

GhoemaLove

Got the flu just in time to miss a deadline for Creative Capetown's Ghoematronics competition. I also happen to live in Joburg (is that an auto-disqualifier?) Brushing all dreams of fame and glory aside, here's the track anyway, sans one or two final touches:

GhoemaLove by The Episode

Sloth

Inspired by Lauren Beukes' book Zoo City, I created this thematic piece of music called Sloth, named after the lead character's accompanying magic animal. I love creating cinematic music pieces - built around particular settings or narrative. Give the book a read if you're into magic realism slash sci-noir action.

Sloth by The Episode

Shopfront

I noticed this shop front on my way back from work on night. It haunted me for a while until eventually I grabbed my camera and raced back to the shop at about 10 at night. I'm glad I did. I love the feel of it. The guts and chaos of it all.

Highveld Winter Palette

I love the highveld winter. I do. and I don't care what anybody else says. It's beautiful. And hard. Here's the palette on Adobe Kuler, if you'd like a swatch : http://kuler.adobe.com/#themeID/1427335f

Die Eiland - Part Two (Quiet Giants)

These giants stood guard along the winding road leading up to the mountain pass that holds passage to Tzaneen. They've always fascinated me ever since I saw them scattered between the thorn trees during a previous trip to the Waterberge. All the pictures were taken taken through the car window on our way back.

Die Eiland - Part One

WOW! Almost a year already. Obviously at this point my continuing efforts move from persistent to steadfast (like a large and sturdy vessel on the editorial ocean). All previous misgivings and subdued feelings of indifference notwithstanding, there are some items that have been accumulating and will grace these pages pretty soon, so there.

Moving swiftly along then - I recently acquired the used equipment of distinguished professional photographer Warren Van Rensburg (a Canon 20D, to be exact). A camera carrying such a legacy and refined tradition surely could only inspire one to produce the most sparkling images for an already starved and anticipatory audience (insert throat clearing).

First trial run was on a trip out to "Die eiland" - a sprawling community of caravanners and avid cultural enthusiasts affiliated with the ATKV. A bustling little village of temporary cluster living, waterworks and lawn sports, north of Tzaneen (and just screaming for a documentary). It was my fathers 70th birthday and family and friend were convening at Die Eiland to celebrate the man.

In part one then, some pictorial sketches of day to day activities of this community.

Look Ma! I drawed some rocks!

Mountain Sanctuary
2009-03-06 - 2009-03-10

So then - 4 days to be with myself and get some quiet in the mountains.

I had been to Mountain Sanctuary before, and had a good idea of the
environment - good clean air , lots of elbow space and the clearest coolest river pools of soft mountain water.

What I completely forgot about was the surreal rock formations dappling the landscape.



The Twins (My last, and best sketch of the trip before I had to pack it in and head back to Joburg city)


It became my daily meditation then, going out on foot into the veld, settling on one or two formations for the day (at times it became hard to choose) and spending the rest of the day in the cool therapeutic company of the river.

Just the sound of that water tumbling over rock is enough to send you out...





This is the first time I've consiously gone out to do some field scetches, and to be honest, at first it felt really pretentious, sitting in the field with your precious sketch pad, while some German tourist and his family hikes by.




But I learnt a lot about landscape drawing, textures, and general drawing discipline.I could see myself improving as the days went by. Plus - I enjoyed it - a lot! So much so that I think us boys need to gather a posse at regular intervals, and head out to a designated spot for a few days of quiet and field drawing.




Honestly one of the most rejuvenating and inspiring few days I've spent in a long time, in of the most beautiful settings this diverse country of ours has to offer.


Soundtrack :
Ghost of Tom joad - Bruce Springsteen
Best of - JJ Cale
For Emma , forever ago - Bon Iver

Plasticine landscapes

Here's something I did loooooong ago ( 2 or more years ago) , when I still had time take some of my kids old plasticine clay, squash them into little 2cm cubes, and flatten them onto a scanner for high res capture... repeatedly... for a whole day... ahh the joys of working for one's self... good times...

Died young, Stayed pretty : Screen printing videos

Found this trailer on Rigard Kapp's screen printing blog , Jiant Hand Prints. Really can't wait to get hold of it !



Also on his blog , this hilarious video showing the whole screen printing process from start to finish... love the running commentary....

HelgaPhone

I've been having some fun with this photographic iPhone app, CameraBag which enables you to apply a range of filters to any image, including a classic Helga lens feel. Who says the iPhone's camera is worthless?!

Roots

A long long time ago in a city much like Johannesburg, I noticed a strange outline of something in a sidestreet on my way to work. After ignoring the call to come closer, to bear witness for a week, I finally took the turn and found the old, exposed heart of an uprooted tree, lying by the side of the road. That initial encounter led to the documentation of several more of these specimens, lying like old cadavers at the scene of a crime, begging for an autopsy. I can now say that after a year of toiling , shooting, re-shooting, deep-etching, and re-reshooting, and fretting about details up to what has ventured into obsession, I'm finally happy with the end result. Thanks to everybody who lent me their cameras,time and invaluable advice and support throughout this endeavour. Of course, the final step is yet to be taken - filing my report; printing, binding the documents for the record...

Refuse man

Shot this guy while out and about town this weekend. I really enjoyed the early morning sessions ( never thought of myself as a morning person). The city has a great feel about it that time of day - people jogging, cycling, everything has a magical quality to it. This guy just happened to be at this particular rubbish heap in Parkhurst, and i couldn't resist such a great opportunity . Also really loving playing around with the camera...

Vorm 1 ( How I got to do my first silkscreen! )

I hooked up with Lingo Rodriques purely by chance at a David Krut exhibit. Incidentally , Steak ( from Pangram )mentioned him barely a few days before, when we were talking about silkscreening. I have my own screens and basic materials, and have tried to do one or two exposures, but to no avail, and was desperately wanting to hook up with someone a little more experienced.

Fast forward a month or so - and the re-aqcuaintance of Mr Rodriques, this time at the Bohemian, and the mention of an exhibit he was planning to put together , called Halftone One, featuring various permutations of silkscreened and other prints. All very exciting ! Nonetheless, and as always - the deadline proved backbreaking , as we worked into the wee hours at his Halftone studio, situated in Centurion.

Lingo doing his thing. At this stage all was going well, but the very first screen was soon giving us hell, and just didn't want to expose properly ! In the end we did 4 exposures before settling on one.

The crazy notion of doing two posters, each using 4 screens was proving very strenuous, and in the end I settled for one poster, using 5 screens. Crazy! In retrospect I should have done more planning , and settled for a max of 2 screens, but school fees were paid , and I'm sure next time we'll do it a bit differently.

Car guard at the 24 hr McDonalds, furiously filing some.. uhm.. car guard things

My first silkscreen print then, out of the way, and one I'm glad to say , ended up not to badly, all considering. Thanks again Lingo for the patience and help in making it possible, and Hein for helping out with cleaning the screens!

VORM 1

Oh - and the exhibit wasn't too bad either! Next...