Christine's Design Blog

Based on Gone with the Wind. Of epic proportions. Click to enlarge.

Kittisak Chontong
Untitled
Acrylic on canvas
0.70 x 1.20 m
2010

Saw these paintings at the Thai Artists Alliance‘s Siamese Connection show, which happened at the Dumbo Arts Center back in May. Here’s the description that accompanied the piece:

This work was inspired by Chris Gall’s artwork in the MRT subway trains that depict the different types of people within New York. At the time, I had just arrived in New York and had been here for just one week. I knew very little about what I saw and experienced here. This piece depicts a visual account of my very first experiences as an overwhelmed foreigner in a foreign land.

I love how whimsical the figures are, even as they experience the chaos of the city for the first time. The color palette makes me think that it’s a reflection on past events, with a sepia tone. What strikes me most, though, is how much stark negative space there is in paintings showing one of the most overcrowded and overloaded cities in the world. It makes me kind of nervous, like that part of memory was just wiped out, due to the sensory overload.

The show was pretty amazing, even as I think back on it a month later. I shall return with some more photos I took, but meanwhile enjoy Kittisak’s wonderful work.

Fresh off the Vimeo, the Oliver Jeffers CreativeMornings video! Makes me want to hug SwissMiss.

2010/04 Oliver Jeffers from CreativeMornings on Vimeo.

In other news, Pratt Show installation happening today. Lugging my world and books up to 34th in a few hours’ time.

Time for another break!

The day started early, but it started marvelously, because it was Swiss Miss’s CreativeMornings time again, and this time it was none other than my hero, Oliver Jeffers! This was very special for me because this is the tag I wore for the first CreativeMorning that I attended, which featured Michael Bierut. The tag read ‘If I could ask for a CreativeMorning speaker it would be:’

I suppose it wasn’t entirely fair that I wrote Oliver’s name, because I knew that Tina knew Oliver lives in Brooklyn when I wrote this. Ah well, no apologies for cheating.

Anyway, it was a lovely talk hosted at HarperCollins on the 9th floor. Oliver gave a funny presentation about his life and his work, many things that I’d known before, but also many interesting details that I was pleased to learn. I can’t wait until the video is up on the CreativeMornings site.

One piece of wisdom that I really liked was that he said in deciding to move out of Northern Ireland, he chose to take the bigger challenge by moving to New York, rather than London or anywhere ‘easier.’ He said that he tries to do this with many things, like going after the bigger publishing houses and working his way down from there, since it makes sense to try to go for where you want to end up. In other words, dream big and act big! I like. Here are some photos:

This is where he started, on Earth.

Much better photos can be found on the CreativeMornings Flickr page, one of which I stole here. I’m the one with the red coat hanging on the back of my chair. Is that what my hair really looks like from the back??

I owe Tina a huge thanks for adding me to the list after she’d already submitted it to the HarperCollins security people (they’re very strict with safety, it ain’t no joke!), so thanks Tina! Also thanks to Oliver for signing a book for a special friend and for always being so nice to me :)

Like many others, it was a great day to be in New York City.

Author video for the amazing Oliver Jeffers, as made by his friend and studiomate the fantastic Mac Premo. I love the video.

I cannot wait until The Heart and the Bottle comes out! I think I shall pre-order mine now… Finally, it’s being released the same day as in the UK, rather than 6 months later. Last February Oliver kindly showed me the line drawings for the story when I met him for the first time, and it’s pretty mind-boggling to see how long the publication process is. I think this story might be my favorite so far. It has a wonderful melancholy tone to it. And it’s about a girl.