Secret Still

Trademark™ is the work of designer Tim Lahan, who has swooped in and taken the top spot amongst all the graphic design work I’ve seen so far this month. And a bigger nod to his new web design, which is simple, really well structured, and clever. A middle finger to Mr. Lahan, because there are some design ideas that I was using for the re-design of this site that are already at work on his page. And I really need to finish that re-design, because this piece of crap has never worked for me. My problems aside, Lahan’s work makes his page design almost moot, because it’s just that good. Witty, well executed, simple, and just a little weird, this stuff is right up my alley. It is the building block of my alley. The phrase “my alley” sounds like some dirty prison slang. Seriously though, Lahan’s work is fantastic enough that I would probably ask him to be my friend. Hell, I would probably give him a nickname. Diesel. His nickname is Diesel.
Tim Lahan

The skill of Jeremy Geddes is matched only by the macabre darkness of his subjects. It makes me feel intimidated and uncomfortable, but in a way that I mostly enjoy. That’s really all I need to say about that. Your eyes will tell you the rest.

Jeremy Geddes

Bro for life Will Scobie chirped me on the virtual two-way to let me know about his friend Ashley Mackenzie and his illustrative powers. And, like always, I was not disappointed. He calls himself an amateur illustrator, but there doesn’t seem to be anything amateur about his skills. The only thing that I was disappointed about was how little work I got to see. I need more, Ashely. You can’t just tempt me with talent and then leave me hanging. Apparently he might be moving to the Bay Area, so we could be neighbors. Isn’t that nice?

Ashley Mackenzie

Juxtapoz readers will probably already be familiar with the paintings of LA artist Kris Lewis, but I figured since I was already talking about the renewed prevalence of portraiture, now would be a good time to familiarize the rest of you with Lewis’ work. I would call his work protraiture for sure, but skewing more into Romanticism than many others, and incorporating subtle simplifications and distortions of form. And in many cases his compositions are the point of focus rather than the mood of his subject (the expressions are still amazing, though). I can really see that each subject became a fully realized personality to him, they have stories beyond the poetic moment that Lewis has captured them in. That in itself is a different way to bring movement into an otherwise static artform. For those of you that might think im writing a little too formally here: Shit’s tight, peep it, cop it if you’ve got the skrilla. Even hustlas gotta feel love sometime. See, brains and cool, not mutually exclusive. Don’t judge me.

Kris Lewis

With maybe the most confusing and seizure inducing website I’ve seen in a while, I didn’t spend any time finding out about artist Are Mokkelbost. The name alone gave my brain a cramp. All I really needed to see were the images from the ION series of works. Then I realized they were collages. Then I ruined this pair of pants. Are you fucking kidding me? Those are collages? That is a height to which I never thought my least favorite art form could ever be lifted. There might as well be a new genre created for these, because the term collage doesn’t do them justice. No lie. You have got to see this.

Are Mokkelbost - ION series

More and more I’m seeing a return to the classical forms of painting over the current boom in illustration/cartoon types of work. If you want to get in on the ground floor of the neo-neo-classical wave (I’m mixing some serious metaphors) then look no further than Kristi Ropeleski. Her beautiful portraiture isn’t new on the scene, but as her genre is blowing up you can bet your ass she’s going to come out on top. Her subjects are rendered gently, but with so much expression that it’s hard not to get drawn into their lives. She also manages to add a dynamic aspect to a type of work that generally focuses on the static. Ropeleski manages to capture life on canvas, the true goal of any protraitist, and one that most never attain.

Kristi Ropeleski

LA artist Kevin Appel didn’t recently graduate from art school. He’s been in the game a long time, but I can bet that most of you haven’t heard of him. Not for lack of talent, or anything close to that, but because you’re mostly all uncultured cretins like me. Now’s your chance to redeem yourself just a little beyond holding your pinky out while you drink tea. Spend a couple of hours trying to put all the pieces of Appel’s work together. Delve into the way he combines linear, architectural form with abstraction, the way he deconstructs those same architectural forms and pieces them back together into a wholy new composition. Forms being stripped of their functions to reveal aesthetic value. It’s like looking at the lattice of a diamond’s molecular structure from the inside. Just thought I’d show you something a little higher up than my usual fare. Just eat it and shut up.

Kevin Appel

I want to share something with all of you that maybe you don’t know about me. I can be bought. Easily. I love free stuff so much that I would be the guy in the Klondike commercial who executes his family at gunpoint just for a free Klondike Bar. So when any of the artists that I write about send me a sketch, or stickers, or a postcard, or anything, they are down for life. I will support any and everything they do forever. Mark Penxa and Will Scobie are definitely in the Secret Still BFFF club. And now I can add Joe Schlaud and Melvin Galapon to the roster of people I would kill for. Both of them sent me nice little care packages in the mail. I took some pictures to show the rest of you exactly what you should’ve already been sending me in the mail. Check them out after the jump.
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The time has come once again for me to do a long, not very interesting post of the crappy photos that I managed to take over the weekend. I spent most of my time at the Paper Pushers show at 1988. I did make it over to the Vans Lo Life show at Club Six, but it was really bright in there, and the whole place just sort of creeped me the fuck out. On Sunday I went to the Jeff Canham workshop at VASF, which was small enough to be personal. I can now add sign painting to the list of things I have no aptitude for. I won’t even bother showing you the craptastic results of my signage. And Sunday, well, I’ll let Sunday speak for itself. Check after the jump for the rest of the photos in all their mediocre glory.
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Texas designer Ben Barry is messing me up with his great sense of color, style and communication. I even noticed that he’s gotten his hands dirty with a bit of backend web coding. As someone who spends a lot of time figuring out how best to implement designer’s ideas as virtual space, I really appreciate any designer who will dive right into the code regardless of his skill level. Shit almost brought a tear to my eye. But these peepers were too busy absorbing the retinal delights that make up Ben’s portfolio to worry about weeping. There is some damn fine graphic design here.

Ben Barry