I’ve never been interested in vinyl toys. I mean, they’re cute and everything, but I can’t rationalize paying $50 for a toy. I play with toys in the bathtub (yes, seriously), so why would I want something that’s so expensive I can’t even play with it? Books go on shelves, toys are meant to play. But I might have to reconsider my stance on collector toys thanks to Peskimo and their BambooZoo figures. Peskimo is a UK-based design firm whose character driven illustrations were just begging for toydom. I love their work, and dammit if I don’t love their toys. I’m not hyped on them being sold in the blind though. If I’m paying for it then just let me pick which one I want. Probably the toast guy. Or the weird, sad, blue monster. Or all of them. The good news: for $7.95 each I won’t have any problem playing with them in the bathtub. They are gonna kick my lego guys’ asses.

Peskimo

I have one question and one piece of advice for you, Harvey James. What the fuck is wrong with you? Advice: whatever it is, don’t fix it. A single long page full of illustrations that would make Jamie Hewlett jealous, chaotic, weird, and sometimes awesomely twisted. It’s like the greatest sketchbook I’ve ever seen. This motherfucker is my muse for the next few weeks.

Harvey James

Wagner Pinto is a damn charming name. It sounds like the name of a trying-to-do-his-awkward-best high school movie hero played by Michael Cera. In reality, Wagner Pinto is the name of a Brazilian artist who’s taken the styles of the world around him and made them his abstract own. Bright colors, mad lines, and a playful jumble like kids wrestling in the grass. What are you even doing still reading this. Go check it out. Go.

Wagner Pinto

I don’t want to spend a year talking about how fantastic and clean the work of Australian transplant design couple Mia and Jem is. You can see that for yourself if you aren’t extremely visually impaired. Hell you blind bastards could probably even feel it through your braille interface. I unwittingly stole their bathroom symbols for my own bathroom door at home many years ago. They’re identity work is my favorite. Just so goddamn good. They’re Bay Area locals now, so maybe I should see if they need an intern. I’m a little old, and not in school, but i do make good coffee and like long walks on the beach. Who doesn’t like long walks on the beach? People in wheelchairs probably. Damn, I’ve insulted the visually and physically handicapped in this post. Only ones left now are the retards. Check.</p> <p><a href=” target=”_blank” />Mia and Jem

Co-ed duo Pillowhead caught my eye this morning with their fantastic skatedecks. In case you haven’t noticed I have a soft spot for skate related art. You might even call it an addiction. The judge did after the last “incident”. But, upon further inspection, the rest of Pillowhead’s work turned out to be just as spectacular. If Murakami’s Superflat brain exploded all over my favorite comics the result would be close to their epileptic abstractions. Is pop abstraction a genre? If it wasn’t before, it is now. The problem I’m faced with is one I’ve dealt with for years: How can you skate something so beautiful? Sometimes I just have to sacrifice beauty on the alter of skateboarding. The Gods will be pleased.

Pillowhead

To round out today’s all over the map posting, I thought I would calm things down with the simple abstractions of Nadine Nakanishi. And once the abstract has sunk in you can spend some more time looking at her amazing print work under Sonnenzimmer. She manages to combine soft and bright, abstract and geometric, in a way that I’ve never seen before. Hello, art crush.

Nadine Y. Nakanishi

In an attempt to report things that don’t really require me to do any work, I’d like to let you know that LCS has a great interview with Jamaica/Miami illustrator Paul Davey. Dude’s got serious abilities going on. If I wasn’t such a lazy bastard I might tell you more. Sucks for you, bro.

LCS Interviews Paul Davey

I generally shy away from all the vector based art/illustration that’s floating around out there. I am drawn more to art that I can touch. But on this gloomy-ass Friday, faced with a weekend spent deep cleaning my old apartment, the brightly colored, character-based vector work of Jonathan Ball (Pokedstudio) was just the ticket. It turned everything around. Literally. Five minutes after I looked at Ball’s illustrations the clouds broke a little and I found out I was having lots of free pizza for lunch. Coincidence? I say no. Jonathan’s got every digital style under the sun in his arsenal, and they all look clean and deadly in his hands. Clearly the universe was peering over my shoulder and took notice of the skills. Top that off with the healthy does of inspiration I got from all that vector kung fu mastery, and voila, the day turns positive.

Jonathan Ball

Just a quick heads up that Secret Still fav Adam Haynes (previously mentioned) has a new print available through POVevolving. Unusually for art prints you can, you can get this one in two sizes: 7.5″ x 8″ or 16″ x 17″. You definitely won’t be disappointed with either size so it’s really just a matter of your available wall space and your available wallet space. The lil print is $35, but the big guy will run you $175. Yeah, that’s a lot of money, but you were just gonna pay your stupid rent with it anyway. Who gives a shit about rent? Not you…not you.

Adam Haynes “Kiddie Cars”

Oh Robert Mars, Robert Mars. Creating works that could sidle up alongside any Tarantino soundtrack and make me go back to tightrolling my cigarette pack in my sleeve. Muscle cars and angular design sing me a gentle ephemera lullaby. It’s better to look at the past and remember what they thought the future would be than it is to know what the future is like. Mars’ work helps me settle back into that hopefulness and idealism that used to be a part of the big, colorful, endless American Dream. They don’t make ‘em like they used to.

Robert Mars