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Jason Hindley at theprintspace
Posted in Things I love, Things I see, May 23 2011
This is a slightly belated post, having been to the private view last Thursday (May 19). Jason Hindley is a photographer based in London who is showing a lovely collection of photos taken in Japan over the last 13 years. He captures moments that we might normally dismiss as being mundane, but that recall a certain feeling of stillness, calm, warmth and familiarity (for anyone who has spent some time in Japan, at least). His photographs almost invite you to imagine yourself there, waiting at the amber light bathed in sunset, or listening to the distant dry crack of a baseball bat, the call of a crow, a truck rumbling past. Here there is a rusty old bicycle under a light blanket of fresh snow. There, a sheer pastel-coloured dress hangs in front of a window in anticipation. The 100 images on show at Familiar and Distant are available for purchase, with all proceeds going to the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal. The exhibition runs until the 3rd of June.
Onwards and upwards
Posted in Things I do, April 10 2011
Welcome to the new website. Thanks for your patience during its construction — it was an overhaul that was long overdue. As with any project there are a few people that it couldn’t have happened without, and I’d like to take this opportunity to say thanks to those who gave me a helping hand. I hope that somewhere down the line I can return the favour.
This website was built by the formidable George Hurst, a man of many talents and virtues who is currently available for both design and printmaking. He’s made himself a studio out of a working farm in North Dorset, from which he runs his screen printing business called Barnhaus. Rumor has it he’s recently acquired a letterpress machine — hopefully we’ll be working together again soon to bring you something for the shop! Find him here: www.georgehurst.co.uk and here: www.bantamstudio.com
Some of the photography for the portfolio was shot by Kojun Shimoyama, who you’d normally find shooting beautiful photos and promotional videos for music events in clubs and festivals. Kojun is one plate in the backbone of Selective Pressure along with Look + Bearight, who collectively bring you the cream of house music to venues around London. Find him here: www.selectivepressure.wordpress.com
The lovely animation on the splash page was done by Maki Yoshikura, whom I met while working at Airside and who was kind enough to lend her talents to make the icon come alive. As you can tell she’s a brilliant freelance Flash animator and illustrator who is always a pleasure to work with, and who is very good at adding personality and charm to any static character through her animation. Find her here: www.movingcroissant.com
Thanks also to Tom and This is It Studio for lending me a corner of their studio to shoot the work, and to everyone who took the time to advise me along the way. I can now announce a funky new portfolio for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!
Cut&Paste Global Championships: One week to go!
Posted in Things I do, April 10 2011
If you’re in or around New York City next weekend, come and hang out at the Cut&Paste Global Champs. I’m one of the 30 local winners to compete live on stage at Webster Hall. Tickets are available online now, and details are as below:
When: Saturday, April 16th. Doors 7 pm, show 8-11pm
Where: Webster Hall, 125 E. 11th St., NYC
Open Bar 7-8PM, courtesy of Media Temple
Music by DJ Ayres of The Rub
Afterparty: Gallery Bar, 120 Orchard St., New York, NY. Also with open bar (thanks Media Temple!) Show event bracelet for open bar.
Tickets: $15.00 online; $13.50 Block of 4 online; $20.00 at door
Tickets are available now through Eventbrite.
Retrospective 2010
Posted in Things I do, December 31 2010
For all the uncertainty of the first full year out of uni, it has certainly been an eventful one. I’m exactly where I was this time last year, geographically, in my room in Japan, although it’s fair to say a lot has happened. At the start of the year I was still doing flyers for peanuts, although that isn’t a bad thing. I have to thank Airside for giving me a leg up early on in the year with my first properly paid freelance work, which suddenly made the recession seem a little bit less scary. Meanwhile I also got to go all out on a colourful campaign for Lek hosted by the Universities of London Japan Society, including poster, wristbands, t-shirts and my first moving web banner, not to mention the honour of VJing for Frivolous on the night, a definite highlight. I rewarded myself with a long weekend in LA, which was disappointingly cold but really worthwhile for the friends I got to see.
As spring gave way to summer I joined the ranks of Winkreative, who gave me a chance to flex my illustrative muscles to refresh the look and feel for the world of Mr. Porter, the face of Toronto-based Porter Airlines. The campaign had me drawing over 30 full-colour newspaper ads and counting, all the while working on corporate identity design for various other clients. I feel blessed to be counted as part of this impressive bunch, who are as much a joy to be with in the office as in the pub ’round the corner.
In the summer I spent a beautiful week basking in the sun-kissed do-nothingness of the Spanish rockpools with Kris and my family. Our escapades on a rented Vespa through the maze of one-way streets in Barcelona sparked a certain love for the motocicleta that gave fruit a few months down the line in the form of Roxy, a second-hand ET4 named after the first two letters on her number plates.
We were also blessed with useless estate agents, whose consistent incompetence finally proved to be useful for the fact that they could not sell off our flat despite warnings that they would do so. Consequently we were able to enjoy yet another sunny barbeque-filled summer month (let’s face it, it’s a month in England) on that bit of our rooftop, trips to the lido and picnics out in London Fields. Six months later they still haven’t sold.
In September I invited myself to Portugal to top-up my tan and watch Hot Chip from a cloud of dust for a three-day festival in Meco (obrigada to Sara for looking after me and Rita for her generous hospitality). It was also the month where I finally put two fingers up to T Mobile and signed up for an iPhone. Autumn brought some exciting projects, including Nike78 initiated by Paul which resulted in a shoe-shaped cake. I also participated in the Anti Design Festival, and exhibited in a very special little show called God is in the Details, in an intimate gallery in Hackney. It’s hard to work all day and then come home to work some more, but in bursts of two or three weeks it’s manageable — it helps to have a partner whose skill with a wok is something to be reckoned with.
Finally, just before my birthday, I battled my way to the London finals for the digital design competition Cut & Paste. I won, which means in February I will get to go to New York to represent London in the grand finals against all the winners from the ten other cities participating in the tournament. Very exciting stuff indeed.
Also coming up is a grand redesign of my slightly dated website. Many of the projects on there now will still be on the new site, along with the stuff I’ve been posting on my blog and a few NDA’s I’ve been saving, all neatly packaged up with a brand new look. Watch this space… By the way, I have also finally joined twitter, so if you’re interested enough to have read this far, I salute you — please follow me on @erica_dorn.
My last words of the year should really be ones of gratitude. I would not be telling you any of these things were it not for the people involved in making them happen. Thank you for your support — my resolution this year is to work hard and do you proud. Happy New Year!
Erica Dorn
Joe Wilson
Posted in Things I love, December 7 2010
I went to the Blisters Blackout show near Print Club on the weekend and acquired a brand new screen print. In line with the theme of the show it has a secret glow-in-the-dark world that appears in the night-time. Thanks Joe!
Fifteen minutes of fame
Posted in Things I do, November 17 2010
Photos courtesy of Cut&Paste
Thank you so much to those who came to support me and to those who watched the broadcast from as far away as Japan, to those who organised the event and made it all happen, to the judges, to the crowd, to Basic (you were awesome) and the sponsors of Cut&Paste. I haven’t felt that kind of high in a while!
I’ll be going to New York to take part in the Cut&Paste Global Championships in mid April. In the meantime I’ve posted my illustration from the London finals above and you can see all of the work from the other contestants on the official website.
Cut & Paste Digital Design Tournament
Posted in Things I do, November 6 2010
I just found out that I’ve been selected to participate in the London leg of the 2D Cut & Paste Digital Design Tournament, a live event in which designers have 15 minutes to create an image digitally to a theme. The winners of each city get to go to the finals in New York.
The event kicks off at the Village Underground in Shoreditch next Thursday at 8pm. See you there!
Bad Things That Could Happen
Posted in Things I love, Things I see, November 6 2010
Tom McCaughan and This Is It have put on a great show at Jaguar Shoes a few weeks back and it’s taken me this long to put it up. If you missed the showing of their short film you can still watch it on Vimeo. The place was so packed that we had to watch it through the glass from outside. Well done guys!
God is in the Details
Posted in Things I do, Things I make, November 6 2010
Thank you to everyone who made it to the private view. It was a tight fit but a very good turnout and if you’d still like to see the work (which is on the most part very intricate and intimate) the show is still on for the next few weekends.
It’s the best my iPhone could do, but I’ll go back to the gallery soon to take some better pictures of the show, so bear with me. This is the piece I exhibited, called Cogitation as part 3 of the Anatomy of Intimacy series. The figure is standing in front of a mirror, which unfortunately you can’t see in this picture.
God is in the Details: A celebration of craftsmanship and precision in fine art
Posted in Things I do, October 19 2010
I feel honoured to be able to take part in the beautifully (and aptly) titled show with such a selection of talents. God is in the Details opens a week from Thursday at the Primo Alonso Gallery.
29th October 2010 – 5th December 2010
Private View: Thursday 28th October 2010 6-9pm
conversation with Rise Art: Thursday 2nd December 2010 7-8pm
Gallery Primo Alonso is proud to announce the launch of their newly refurbished gallery space with God is in the Details presented by co-curators Medeia Cohan-Petrolino and Justin Hammond. This group show features 13 artists working in a variety of disciplines, drawn together for their demonstration of dexterity, craftsmanship and a thorough and meticulous approach to his or her practice.
Co-curator Justin Hammond notes that “The idea for this show came about last year when myself and co-curator Medeia Cohan-Petrolino began to notice a rising trend at degree shows of artists beginning to swing away from loud, showy or even abstract work and back toward more subtle and precise pieces with high levels of craftsmanship and intricacy.”
God is in the Details celebrates not only the exquisitely fastidious final products but also highlights the captious processes by which the works are realised. Artists such as 2009 Catlin Prize winner Alex Ball can take as long as six months to complete a piece between the research stage to fruition, via a rigorous layering procedure. Ball admits, “My work employs techniques and processes that border on the obsessive or even the absurd. I often concentrate on painting perfectly smooth gradated areas or choose subjects that allow for an almost limitless level of detailing.”
Fellow artist James Brooks’ work is also the result of an elongated methodology. Brooks has extended his drawing-technique to include the intricate practice of punching graduated dots in paper, a process of removal rather than addition. This extensive and grueling process creates images with such depth and richness that it’s hard to believe that pencil never touched paper.
Co-curator Medeia Cohan-Petrolino believes that “This show is not just about the beauty that hard work produces, but also about a certain recognition for the technique and the skill involved.” God is in the Details artists include: Alex Ball, Leah Bradford, James Brooks, Gary Colclough, Tom Cookson, Erica Dorn, Martin Krolzig, James Musgrave, Damien O’Connell, Rose Turner, Emma Wieslander, Miyo Yoshida, Gong Yu.
Sponsored by: www.riseart.com
For press enquiries please contact Angelica Sule: a.sule@primoalonso.com
Gallery Primo Alonso, 397 Hackney Road, London, E2 8PP
Open Friday-Sunday 11am – 6pm or by appointment
Nearest tube: Bethnal Green, Busses 26, 48, 55
Tel: 020 7033 3678
Email: info@primoalonso.com
Web: www.primoalonso.com
Gallery Primo Alonso, 395-397 Hackney Road, London, London E2 8PP, UNITED KINGDOM