We’ve just discovered the work of LA based photographer and filmmaker Thomas Slack and we’ve fallen in love with it. In Route One, Thomas takes us on a road trip along Big Sur inspired by Charles Bukowski’s poem “Don’t Forget”. Great work Thomas!
Route One from thomas slack on Vimeo.
Mr. Spoqui is a ‘family zine’ edited by Tiago, Blanca, Milena and Amanda Baeza, four siblings living in Lisbon, Portugal. Mr Spoqui is published every two months and each issue explores a special and sometimes unusual subject.
Amanda answers to our one question interview this week! Thanks Amanda!
Mr. Spoqui is the perfect example of a creative family project, did your parents somehow inspire you to get all the siblings together and start it?
We’re part of a family of artists (our mom is a dancer and our dad a painter), so since we were little they’ve taught us to respect culture and explore our abilities in a healthy way. Our parents provided us this base in a natural way, allowing us to discover our attitudes and interests at our own pace. It’s something deeper than an inspiration, it was our way of growing together.
The creative act is a method of interaction, communication and affection within our family. Even if it’s something that’s hard to rationalise, this is no unusual phenomenon. Creativity is a powerful tool to stimulate and strengthen our experience as human beings, and while writing this answer I’m reminded of the work of Tom and James Hancock. It’s not about turning into artists to put on display in museums, but to recognise that art has an important role in our development as persons, and the work of these two Australian brothers is a good example of what I want to express.
Follow Mr. Spoqui on Twitter and find out more about the zine on their site.
Maxime Guyon is a Swiss photography student at ECAL. Here’s a short introduction to one to Maxime’s new series called ‘Landscaping Studies’, which we really like.
This is a personal study and interpretation of the landscaping in Swiss mountain environment. Maxime was visually inspired by Rhône Glacier in the Alps. In this series he references to Nicolas Faure, who forced Maxime to study every single aspect of the subject. Maxime brought his research and inspiration back to the studio and created a series of still photographs which we feature here!
Oisín Share is an Irish graphic designer based in Manchester, UK. Though Oisín specialises in print-based projects, he also creates corporate identities and other communication imagery for art exhibitions, and photography for leading international publications.
Oisín is the first to contribute to our new One Question Interview.
What is the most exciting thing about working in the creative industries? What do you enjoy about being a freelance graphic designer? What are the challenges?
I think I still have the mentality of someone who’s just flown the nest, in that seeing my work out in the real world is still a tremendous thrill. The more creative work I do in the industry, the more I get to see it out there around me, which is something I might never get used to.
At present, a lot of the design work I do is for small independent businesses in my local community and it’s exciting and encouraging to see something that was previously a thought in my head or a pixel montage onscreen, to suddenly being in the hands of people around me.
Working as a freelance creative is something I never thought I would do, and each day I am so thankful I get to do it – it really is close to ‘living the dream’. I always feared there were already enough designers out there going it alone, and perhaps not enough clients out there to merit our efforts, but I have (thankfully) been proven wrong. It is an industry like any other, and the same rules apply to it that would to a coffee bar or bakery: supply and demand, quality and skill, and passion. It’s incredible to be making a living doing what I have a passion for, it’s something I know is rare in the diverse world of careers. I really do my best to make what I do for people as great as it can be, no matter who the audience. It comes with countless challenges though – the leading one of course being financial. Every project comes alongside a tiring chase for payment, or even uncomfortable janglings of terms and agreements during the quotations and invoices. And of course, the famous ‘clients from hell’. When I realised that most of my work would be directed by clients and infrequently self initiated, it really drove me to ensure I had other parts of my life to exhibit creativity or follow other interests of mine. I’ve been lucky to finally get a website of mine off the ground after years of mulling it over – the European Post – which keeps every day colourful and diverse. I am oddly obsessed with European identity, news and politics and decided to create a site that combines these things. So many designers out there illustrate and create little elements that together add to a wonderful collection of updates and visuals, documenting this continent around us.
It’s certainly a challenge to ensure that I don’t treat freelancing as a job and nothing more, but at that, it’s a challenge that I’m indeed lucky to have. There are few things as energising as an enjoyable challenge, don’t you think?
Haleh Jamali is a multidisciplinary artist working with a wide range of media and techniques that have included painting, video, photography, installation and performance.
Jamali was the curator of the Edinburgh Iranian Festival’s visual arts strand in 2013. The exhibition you can see in the film was created around the theme of ‘borders,’ and presented work from international artists alongside contemporary work from Iran, and Iranian expats.
“We were interested to see how people across cultures and nations would respond to the theme. Some are about geographical borders, some are about more abstract things – the borders between the real and unreal”, Jamali said in a recent interview with the Skinny.
Thanks to our friend, Cailean Watt, for sending this video to us!