Book Review - Bad Day Magazine

It's awesome when you find a publication that fits so completely with your lifestyle. Though I've mentioned Bad Day Magazine before, this issue in specific is definitely worth another mention. A few days after watching Somewhere, doing an art history essay on Vanessa Beecroft, studying about Jeff Wall, and planning on how to set up my porfolio website on indexhibit, Issue 10 of Bad Day arrives in the mail, and guess what, it talks about all four. This issue includes interviews with Sophia Coppola, Vanessa Beecroft, Jeff Wall, and Daniel Eatock (one of the creators of indexhibit) as well as Panda Bear, Thomas Persson and Brendon Flanagan. An awesome read for sure! To check out more of Bad Day Magazine click here.

[image credit - bad day magazine]

Artistic Spotlight - Nuria Rius

Nuria Rius, an artist born in Barcelona who now lives in London, started her career at the age of 14. "It all started when I was fourteen years old in my mum’s butcher shop. I started my professional career there, doing the best burgers at the Market, a job that I combined with my studies in Arts." Strange combination indeed but since then she's gone to great places. After finishing her degree, she decided to study photography for four years at the Institut d’Estudis Fotogràfics de Catalunya. In 2002 she earned a prize of Lux Junior. Since then she has had personal and collective exhibitions and continues to work as a freelance photographer with commercial work for Wranger, Levis, and H&M.

Her images are incredibly raw though she is anything but amateur. Maybe it's the dirtiness of the hallways, and her ability to show exactly what's there, that makes her work stand out. Her works expose what's behind the gloss but also contain an element of sympathy for her subjects. To check out Naria's artwork click here.

Artistic Spotlight - Johannes Santangelo

I came across Johannes Santangelo's photos on flickr and, though I couldn't find anything about him on the web, the mystery behind his shots made them even more intriguing . He's an artist who really excels at portraits and people in nature. Though he goes by the name "arti_ficial" he really is anything but. His use of 35 mm film and a minolta camera give an authenticity to his already intimate shots and his best work by far is when he captures his subjects in the moment, without pretense or pose. At the moment he runs a photo blog with artist Carolin Walch called Parallel Lives - to check it out click here. To visit Johannes' flickr click here.

Artistic Spotlight - Aëla Labbé

Aëla Labbé, a contemporary dancer and freelance photographer from Bretagne, France, takes mesmerizing folky photos. A lot of her photos seem to look to a previous time and have a deep connection with nature. In terms of portraits, her photos contain elegant movements inspired by her training in dance. As she states, "I see photography as by essence connected to dance, so the body language and its expressive power is an important element… as well as the composition in space (most of the time in the nature) and “time” (with a strong feeling of nostalgia)." Her interest in photography began three years ago, when an injury, and a long recovery, caused her to look for other ways to get back into life and rediscover its beauty. As such, she uses photography to generate and share emotions as well as to escape reality and enter her own dream world.

My favourite photos are the ones she takes of children. In particular, her "Jeanne" series on flickr is somewhat spooky. She portrays Jeanne as a spirit figure and the use of double exposure and eery scenery create a dialogue and story within these photos. To see more of her work, you can check out her flickr by clicking here. To check out her etsy shop, where you can purchase cheap prints, click here.

Event - The Invitational May 14th

[Credit - Ming Wu]

Today is the day! Don't forget to check out The Invitational at Ritual from 8 to 11pm to see new inspiring work by artists such as Jaimie Howard, Jess Petrella, Matt Skuza, Shannon Armishaw, Andrew Szeto, Ashley from Sugarbum, myself and many others. It will be a blast! Click here to see more details.

The Fashion Press - Issue 2

The Fashion Press Issue 2 is officially available for purchase. This issue features cover art by Keita Morimoto and includes work by Erika Altosaar, Jeannie Phan, Yuli Sato, Patrick Kyle, Kristine Moran, Amanda Nedham, Jenny Morris and Nancy Zhang. To preview or purchase the issue please click here. Reviews are more than welcome so tell us your thoughts!

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Event - Hotshotcasino May 5th

On May 5th the boys will be playing at Live Lounge to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and the arrival of summer time. The show starts at 9pm. Come eat guacamole and listen to groovy music! Click here to see more details. On a side note, today (May 2nd) marks the final day of Pascal Huot's 100 day challenge. Like I previously mentioned, Pascal has taken on writing/recording/releasing a song every day. It must feel pretty damn good to be done. Congratulations! Click here to check out the 100 tunes.

This photo-shoot happened on a very rainy day. We were limited to stay indoors so we decided to get creative. Thanks to Jack Daniel's, burnt popcorn and RUSH we were able to find inspiration. Check out the sweet video below for behind the scene footage of our afternoon.