Whilst they are not neccessarily my favorite albums, I think the imagery, concept and thought that went into each cover below is pretty inspiring. (They’re not in order of preference)

In truth, I was limited to what Sleevage had available, so I picked my favorites from their rather small inventory. I could have searched the net for like 5 days straight, resized every album cover I liked and uploaded them all here – but um…..that was honestly never going to happen! I’ll leave that to other vastly more dedicated types!

Enjoy,
Alex

Well for me, I would dedicate a decent sum to buying artwork I liked. I’m not comfortable with the notion of people purchasing artwork as a asset. I doubt any artist, for all their creativity, dedication, passion, blood, sweat and tears, would want there art, to merely amount to ‘an investment’. I find that a rather depressing thought if they do.

Art, by its very nature is meant to be seen, experience, enjoyed, disliked and commented upon – not locked up in an attic for 30 years, out of sight, gathering dust in the hope that one day it might be worth a fortune.

It should be purchased (in my mind anyway) on a very simple principle – because you simply like it.

At 27 (and further proof that it is little more than fantasy of mine) I own a ONE single piece of artwork. There has always been rent to pay, bills that add up, dentist visits, food to buy – things which seem that much more important, that spoiling yourself with such a luxury as a piece of art. The value of which, is utterly in your own mind.

But one thing I’ve learned in my 27 years, and can attest to 95% of my decisions being ruled by, is to go with your gut instinct. That very first emotion, that very first thought, more often than not, is the right one. It’s an innate feeling inside, almost like the reassuring words of a friend or supportive family member. At times, that feeling can be mislead and muddied with indecision, but for good or bad, I’m fairly black and white when it comes to first impressions and reacting to how I feel.

I still enjoy looking at the first piece of art I purchased. It serves as a gentle reminder, of my life at that time. I often reflect on all the situations it must have seen unfolding and presided over, always there watching, yet ever silent. It’s a funny little picture, I’m not sure how many of you have seen it, it’s very Tim Burton-esque and when I first saw it, it instantly reminded me of an advert I’d see during my teens called ‘Beware The Judderman’ a take on Jack Frost, to advertise a new alco-pop as they were called at the time.

This chap would appear, as the voice of an elderly lady read out:

‘Beware the Judderman my dear, when the moon is fat. Sharp of tongue and spindle limbed he is, and cunning. With sweetened talk of schnapps and Metz and the deliciousness of Judders – but schnapps though sweet has teeth my dear, and sharpened ones at that.’

I really like it, I think it says a lot about the impact it had on me as a teenager, that I still recollect that advert even today. So I’ve just taken a photo and put this together, the flash makes it a little hard to see the entire picture, so I’ve spliced below for you. Clicking on the image, will take you to (the artist) Nik Markovina’s site.

I’ve had that charcoal picture for around 5 years now, across various houses, walls and situations. And I thought it was about time, that it finally got a companion. I plan on moving soon, having artwork on the walls, will give my new home a greater sense of personality and style. I’m desperately over being surrounded and confined to beige, cream & vanilla.

So you can imagine my delight, when I came across a recent screenprint of Heath Ledger as The Joker, limited to 100 prints and got that feeling again, that instant buzz. I knew I’d found my 2nd piece of artwork, right then and there.

It certainly cost a pretty penny – but I think it will look fantastic framed in the new place, it’s a big image, I’ll take a photo of it when it’s up, I promise

It’s by an artist who goes by the name of “Pure Evil”. So who exactly IS he? Well this is the description from his official site

“In 1990 PURE EVIL left the Poll Tax Riots of London behind and went to live in California where he spent 10 years ingesting weapons grade psychedelics , thinking about stuff , making electronic music and printing t-shirts . Inspired by skateboard culture and the west coast character graffiti of Twist he returned to London and picked up a spraycan and started painting weird fanged vampire bunnies everywhere.”

You can find out more about the artist and his recent work here.

Each print is marked with an individual thumbprint for authenticty, but will it be worth millions? Will its value stay the same? Who really cares?

I love it.
Alex

I’m not sure how many people have heard of Charlie Isoe, indeed I hadn’t until quite recently. But it’s safe to say I’m going to watching his work with on-going interest, because I think his talent is quite remarkable at times.

(I discovered him as a result of this feature.)

There is something really fluid and yet equally childlike in his imagery which I really enjoy – I hope you do to.

Check out more of his work over on his official site www.charlieisoe.com

Enjoy,
Alex

Yayoi Kusama: Mirrored Years
Yayoi Kusama, is an avant-garde painter & sculptor. She’s also an award-winning film producer and fashion designer and even at the age of 80, she’s still creating and developing her art. She has experienced hallucinations and severe obsessive thoughts since childhood, often of a suicidal nature. She claims that as a small child she suffered severe physical abuse by her mother.

Early in career, she began covering surfaces (walls, floors, canvases, and later, household objects and naked assistants) with the polka dots that would become a trademark of her work. The vast fields of polka dots, or “infinity nets,” as she called them, were taken directly from her hallucinations.

Currently her new exhibit is on display at the Museum Of Contemporary Art.

The example below, is actually on display at the MCA.

You can read more about her via Wikipedia or visit her official site at this location.

Inspiring stuff don’t you think?

Alex

My friend Kate once mentioned to me that ‘colour therapy’ is actually a viable alternative medicine. It’s mainly referred to as “Chromotherapy“. Whilst I’m deeply sceptical about the benefits of Feng Shui (move the chair and you’ll be happy) or Aromatherapy (smell yourself better), other alternative medicines such as Iridology, Kinesiology and Acupuncture seem to carry more weight and for me at least seem a little less far-fetched.

Think about Aromatherapy for a second, have you ever seen an aromatherapist at the scene of an accident? Pushing past paramedics, yelling “Make way, I can help this man and his severed arm!! I have some lavender and some tea-tree oil….” 

But acupuncture, now THAT, has been around since the dawn of time and both that and kinesiology certainly helped me far more than physiotherapy or the mailable hands of chiropractors.

So where exactly does “Chromotherpay” sit on the medicine wheel? An utterly absurd pseudoscience or a worthwhile and potentially valid form of alternative therapy? 

It actually dates back to both Chinese and Egyptian culture. In traditional Chinese medicine, each one of your organs is associated with a colour. Ancient Egyptians built  rooms (not dissimilar to a solarium), which could be fitted with colored panes of glass. The sun would shine through the glass and flood the patient with color. 

The over-arching concept is that different colours cause your body to act and respond in different manner. The colour blue for example is designed to cool inflamation and reduce blood flow. Does that sound even half believeable? I didn’t think so either. But I do find the concept of it quite intriguing, if only for a fleeting moment.

However, all this talk of colour, did inspire me to visit this rather addictive site created by Adobe called Kuler. It’s  design to let you try out, create and save various color schemes. Seriously I spent hours playing around haha and then on the wave of inspiration I put this together.

It’s nice to be productive in your downtime innit.

Alex

Each week I hunt for artists to feature on MySpace Arts & Culture, and without fail each week my jaw just repeatedly keeps hitting the floor. The sheer number of talented people out there is beyond belief!

So as part of my on-going journey of discovering cool and wonderfully gifted artists, this week I want to introduce to an artist who goes by the name of GRAPHEART.

He’s 27, hails from France and is the creator of some really kooky little characters. To me it has a few touches of the Garbage Pail Kids about it.

Check out his MySpace profile and add him as a friend, or visit his official site to purchase prints and find a little more about him!

Hope you’re well,
Alex

Hey Everyone,

I’ve just updated MySpace Arts & Culture with some new artwork – honestly the imagination and creativity I see each week from people on the site utterly blows my mind.

This week I chose to feature a guy called Joshua Clay, who is just immense – I wish I could have 1/10th of his talent. You can view his artwork here.

Check out more artists & view brand new artwork on myspace right here.

Alex

Alex