Friday, February 17, 2017

Leander Assmann’s illustrations are full of paired-back shapes and patterns

Itsnicethat_10int — All images by Leander Assmann

Leander Assmann’s illustrations are full of paired-back shapes and patterns

Words by Bryony Stone, Friday 17 February 2017

27-year old illustrator Leander Assmann comes from Stuttgart in Germany, where he is currently studying communication design at the celebrated Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design.
“The academy is known for creating strong graphic design and illustration work, and my way of making images is influenced by that,” Leander tells It’s Nice That. “Also screen printing is a big influence in my work, since the former professor of what is now Patrick Thomas’ class was Niklaus Troxler, who left a big foot print in creating powerful silkscreen posters, which in my case led to clean graphics and reduced and bold colour schemes.”
Similar in style to illustrators like Andy Rementer and Martina Paukova, Leander’s work brings together paired-back shapes and patterns in an unusual colour palette to create off-kilter observations, often featuring surreal and anthropomorphic elements. “I try to keep my work process and images simple and clear to intensify the message,” Leander says. “Although my work is mostly digital, analog systems are as important to me. I love to draw through out the whole day, and I am fascinated by silk screen printing and risograph printing when it comes to haptic and colours.”
“I’m influenced by art movements like Bauhaus, constructivism, op and pop art, and art in general, as well as by design and illustration from the Netherlands, like Joost Swarte. I also love the work of Henning Wagenbreth, and many other talented illustrators from all over the world.”

Friday Mixtape: Rita Ray on curating the Malick Sidibé exhibition soundtrack

Regulars / Friday Mixtape

Friday Mixtape: Rita Ray on curating the Malick Sidibé exhibition soundtrack

Words by Lucy Bourton, Friday 17 February 2017

This week’s Friday Mixtape is created by DJ, presenter and all-round incredible woman Rita Ray.
An authority on African music, Rita curated a soundscape to surround the Malick Sidibé exhibition currently on display at Somerset House in London. The exhibition presents Malick’s photography, which is celebrated for chronicling the culture of Bamako, the capital of Mali when the country gained independence in 1960.
The playlist accompanies the photographs within the exhibition and recreates the soul of the nightclubs Malick Sidibé would have visited and photographed. Her mix features a range of Malian music interspersed with British and American rock and roll.
Malick Sidibé: The Eye of Modern Mali, will be on at Somerset House until 26 February 2017.

A_moi_seul__1978_(c)_malick_sidibe%cc%81._courtesy_galerie_magnin-a__paris — Malick Sidibé: A Moi Seul (1978). Courtesy: Galerie Magnin-A

What was your process for curating music for the exhibition?

Malick Sidibé once said, “Music was the real revolution… We were entering a new era, and people wanted to dance. Music freed us”. The soundscape in the exhibition is a fragmented mix of timeless acoustic roots music and groundbreaking electric fusions from the context in which Sidibé was working.

Were there particular regions you focused upon to curate the playlist?

The seismic changes of the 1960s and 1970s drove young Africans to reclaim and reshape their rich cultural traditions and assert new post-independence identities through the prism of music, fashion and art. It was a time of great cross-fertilisation, experimentation and collaboration. The musical alchemists among them resurrected Afro Roots music and blended age-old melodies and rhythms with exotic foreign textures introduced by visiting musicians and merchant seamen. The playlist gives a snapshot of Mali’s diverse musical riches and a tiny sample of the hits coming out of Senegal, Benin, the Gambia and beyond.

Did the fact that the playlist was to be played within an exhibition setting change your choices?

We hope that the soundtrack adds meaning to the photographs on display. The people so vividly immortalised in Malick Sidibé’s photos may have heard these tunes playing in newly accessible clubs, on the radio, at parties, on the streets and in the markets of Bamako. And in Sidibé’s studio itself, where it was often described as being “like a party”.

Do you have any particular favourites?

The post-independence era spawned revered artists and created some of the enduring classics we cherish today: Ali Farka’s blues guitar, and the beguiling yet declamatory voice of Fanta Sacko who paved the way for future female singers, as did Mbilia Bel and Miriam Makeba – or Mama Africa as she was known. E.T. Mensah laid the foundation for the hiplife and Afrobeats to come, and Charlotte Dada reached out with her Africanised cover of The Beatles’ Don’t Let Me Down.

Illustrator Andrey Kasay invites us into his surreal yet amusing world

Work / Illustration

Illustrator Andrey Kasay invites us into his surreal yet amusing world

Words by Rebecca Fulleylove, Friday 17 February 2017

“Once my dog Larry said to me: ‘You must draw, or I’ll kill everybody you love!’ so I had no choice and now I’m here,” explains illustrator Andrey Kasay on the unusual beginnings of his career. Describing his style as “far east, surreal pop art”, Andrey is originally from east Russia and he enjoys drawing “funny things and situations”, while also building bikes in his spare time.
We featured Andrey’s illustrations last year and he continues to use bright, punchy colours with distinct black lines. His work feels like a slightly more garish interpretation of Guy Billout’s obscure vignettes, but with more bizarre subject matter. Andrey depicts an array of odd scenes like a basketball sun rising over mountains, seals hanging out on the subway as it fills with water and a woman flashing her coat to reveal a giant face under it. His animations are equally as weird and echo the same clean and poppy style, like the ident he created for Paramount Comedy in Russia, where we see a racoon being used as a sponge for washing up dishes.
The illustrator has created work for clients such as Red Bull, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Google, Skittles and Adidas, and he has a very matter-of-fact approach when it comes to taking on commercial work: “If you come to me for my style – you’re welcome. If not – sorry I cannot help you.”
The humour and surprising nature is what keeps Andrey’s cartoon-like illustrations fresh and engaging, and one of the highlights for him is hearing people talk about his work and how they interpret his offbeat imagination.

Catherine Hyland explores the vast, yet eerily barren tourist destinations of China and Mongolia

Work / Photography

Catherine Hyland explores the vast, yet eerily barren tourist destinations of China and Mongolia

Words by Jenny Brewer, Thursday 16 February 2017

Photographer Catherine Hyland has been travelling the mountainous landscapes of China and Mongolia to capture its vast, yet eerily empty tourist destinations. In her ongoing series Universal Experience, which she will continue to add to, she explores scenes of epic beauty that have been developed to become tourist destinations. Tackling themes of nostalgia and abandonment, she hopes to capture the intertwining of natural beauty and the artificially engineered viewpoints from which people choose to remember it by.
“The aim is to shine a light on both the strange and sublime nature of these spaces,” Catherine says. “Giant Buddhas that exist in small desolate villages in rural China, and expansive mountainscapes with barely any visitors. Whether it’s sites of historical importance or natural splendour each is approached with a heightened awareness of its significance as a place of beauty and grandeur. Landscape is seen primarily a cultural construct and only secondarily as a natural phenomenon.”
Catherine’s large-format photographs, shot on film, show the awesome landscapes together with their barren tourist-targeting additions, contrasting the natural and man-made elements. The dusty mountainous shots are particularly striking, with their gradated colours and uniformly dusty tones.