Jack Sachs is a London-based 3D animator and illustrator whose eye-ball popping work has excited us for some time. His illustrious client list includes Weiden & Kennedy, POP Magazine, DFA Records, Converse and Zeit Magazine. This month (June 2016) he signed up as a director with Blink Ink.
Work by Jack Sachs:
Jack Sachs chose the LA based illustrator Niv Bavarsky as his current source of of inspiration:
I've been following Niv's work online now for about 3 years and I've always been so impressed by the consistency of his work, which is accomplished while still feeling relaxed, natural and surprising - this is is a super rare balance. Also his palette is always super distinctive and beautifully crafted. There's something about his drawings that feels timeless. Also he has a really cool name.
Work by Niv Bavarksy:
Niv Bavarsky selected Michael Olivo as someone who is inspiring him now. Michael is a illustrator and comic book artist who has collaborated with Niv (see the God-Dog gif above):
Photo of Niv by Nick Iluzada
I chose to write about my friend & collaborator Michael Olivo because he always finds some way to surprise me, with his ideas and with his work. When we met and started making drawings together in late 2011, I was surprised to discover that his previous focus had been video art and that he was returning to drawing after a period of being disenchanted with it. Michael’s drawing language seemed so innate and natural that I’d never have expected that.
Over the years I’ve watched him take on intense comic book projects, very unusual takes on established genres – a completely Olivo-esque homicide detective story, twisted sci-fi, etc, big murals in the US, Mexico, Italy, animations, ceramics, and recently, tapestries. When enamel pins became a popular commodity within the alt comix scene, he declared to me that he “wanted to change the pin game”, and made a two-tier pin connected with a swinging chain. Michael wants to do everything, and he wants to do it his way, and it’s really fun to watch.
Michael works and lives like no one else I know. He’s constantly questioning and searching, asking probing questions, forcing you to search and question along with him. As a collaborator, he is both sensitive and demanding – he doesn’t let his friends off the hook in critique, which is extremely valuable. I always look forward to the next big surprise.
“When enamel pins became a popular commodity within the alt comix scene, he declared to me that he “wanted to change the pin game”, and made a two-tier pin connected with a swinging chain. ”
Work by Michael Olivo:
Primordial Thicket (third image on first row) is a collaboration with Niv Bavarasky & Jesse Balmer
Photo of Michael by Brock Brake
Michael Olivo nominated the painter, sculptor and animator Kate Klingbeil:
Coming from a more illustration-based background, the first quality I noticed about Kate Klingbeil’s work was its consideration for texture and its reverence for process. The texture is palpable, the process is evident yet clever. In an age where many artist's studios consist of a computer and a drawing tablet, walking into Kate’s studio is a reminder of the sensory impact a studio should have. Her studio is a world, and although clique, it’s a portal into the artist’s mind, not behind a screen or glass, but physically surrounding you. This sensation of a private sanctuary is mirrored in the work, the viewer wants to enter the work, does so, and stays there. They don’t glimpse the flat meaningless canvas and move on to the next, instead they find themselves in the luscious paintings and they recover their lost romantic moments or discover their next erotic reveries. It’s a guilt-free viewing made with a guilt-free process, cutting through shame to find the stolen sweetness within. Her work is charged with an energy that is undeniable.
“It’s a guilt-free viewing made with a guilt-free process, cutting through shame to find the stolen sweetness within. ”
Ultimately I’m inspired by artists that need to be artists. Not those who chose it as a lifestyle, or an alternative, but those on an unavoidable and singular path. I believe Kate’s work speaks to that inevitability…all the other bullshit is here today and gone tomorrow…
Work by Kate Klingbeil:
Photo of Kate by Eva O'Leary
Kate Klingbeil nominated the photographer Eva O'Leary:
Eva O'Leary captures something unusual from her subjects, a gaze so real you feel like you can understand a stranger's soul. When I look at her pictures, I relate deeply, I can feel their humanity. Although they might appear to be far from someone I think I could understand (fraternity brothers, middle school girls, older women with plastic surgery or babies) they are baring their humanity to Eva, their gaze documented by her unique lens. It's her pictures of people that capture my attention the most, the pictures that I think about. I admire the honest connection between the subject and viewer that is apparent throughout Eva's work.
“it’s this dedication to the unknown that I find fascinating and moving.”
Her pictures function as paintings, walking the line between reality and surrealism. Often, it's their truth that translates as something far more surreal than anything constructed entirely from scratch. Her process praises the awkward and uncomfortable through connecting with strangers. She often photographs friends of friends, craigslist recruits or college kids, and it's this dedication to the unknown that I find fascinating and moving. Eva intentionally places herself in uncomfortable social situations in order to make a great picture, which takes vulnerability and courage. Her work wrestles with being in between two places, metaphorically or physically. She's dealing with transitions, moving between childhood and adulthood, between the age of analog and cyborg, the beautiful deterioration and acceptance of being human within a shifting technological landscape. My relationship with Eva goes back almost 10 years, and I continue to see her as not only my friend, but a powerful force in the art world, constantly making challenging and inspiring pictures that are mysterious and masterful yet completely relatable.
Work by Eva O'Leary:
Photo of Eva by Harry Griffin
Eva O'Leary nominated artist and photographer Harry Griffin with whom she has worked on the Two States project:
Over the last 6 years, Harry Griffin's work has continued to inspire and surprise me. Visually seductive and strange, his work confronts and disorients the viewer.
His recent work with video is particularly exciting. Using homemade renderings for backdrops, Griffin hired actors to conduct a tour through a virtual house. By dramatizing a consumer ritual (relating to real estate), the video subtly addresses themes of labor, salesmanship and invention. For something set in a digital world, this work feels remarkably emotional and human.
Open House by Harry Griffin:
Further work by Harry Griffin:
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