I recently travelled back to Santiago, Chile (where I grew up) for one of my best friends wedding, and while there I was amazed by how many good local bands I was exposed to and how good of a music scene that city has.
Amongst them was Zebra, a dream-wave trio formed by DJ/Producer Sebastian Roman (Roman/MKRNI), Miguel Irarrazaval (Treboles) and Enrique Escala (Treboles), who with their first EP “AD Portas I” caught the attention of Picnic Kubun’s label Endemika Records. I was instantly blown away by the level of sophistication in their arrangements and catchy hooks, not to mention how virtuosos they are in regards to live instrumentation, so when they asked me to design an album cover for their upcoming release, I was honored (I’m also working on an official music video…more on that later).
Today, Zebra unveiled the title track of that release, which carries the name of “Summer Love” and is set to drop early March, 2013.
The Chromosaturation by Carlos Cruz-Diez relates to the idea that in the origin of every culture lies a primary event as a starting point. A simple situation that generates a whole system of thoughts, sensitivity, myths, etc. The Chromosaturation creates an artificial environment composed of three color chambers: one red, one green and one blue, that immerse the visitor in a completely monochrome situation. This experience creates disturbances in the retina, accustomed to receive wide range of colors simultaneously. The Chromosaturation can act as a trigger, activating in the viewer the notion of color as a material or physical situation, going into space without the aid of any form or even without any support, regardless of cultural beliefs.
Expedition 31 Flight Engineer Don Pettit relayed some information about photographic techniques used to achieve the images:
“My star trail images are made by taking a time exposure of about 10 to 15 minutes. However, with modern digital cameras, 30 seconds is about the longest exposure possible, due to electronic detector noise effectively snowing out the image. To achieve the longer exposures I do what many amateur astronomers do. I take multiple 30-second exposures, then ‘stack’ them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure.”
Brooklyn based artist and writer Shane McAdams created this amazing series of abstract Ball Point Pen Paintings. The depth created by the color variations is quite hypnotic and mesmerizing. Shane has developed quite the technique here.
“Forgotten Modernism” is the title of an ongoing visual exploration of San Francisco’s rich catalog of modern architecture by Michael Murphy:
Often overlooked, Modern architecture in San Francisco has played an important role in the ongoing Modernist Movement, and this work is an attempt to acknowledge the contribution that these stunning buildings make to the visual landscape.
Using bold colors and a stylized graphics, I portray this architecture not as something that quietly blends into a background, but rather elevating achievements that embody the best and highest principles that Modern architecture has to offer all of us.
Wish these were sold at every gift shop here in San Francisco.
Italian artist Alberto Seveso was born in Milan, but is now working as a freelancer in Portoscuso, Sardinia-Italy. In his series a due ColoriSeveso experiments with high-speed photography while trying to find a new way to make something beautiful using ink and water. Loving to play with colors and tones, this series embodies the concept of stopping time through ink in the image.
