Geeks of NatureA show by podgypanda

For all of you who couldn’t make it to the opening here is a preview of the Geeks of Nature show by Podgypanda complete with pricing.

For purchase inquires please email: info@thisisnation.com

Digital Prints each ed. of 50 (clockwise)

• Tea Party $60 cdn
• Godzilla Greg $60 cdn
• Whales $60 cdn
• Kristopher Kong $60 cdn
• The Last Sushi $60 cdn
• Boof $60 cdn

Note: All prints are 11.75″ by 16.5″ including a 1″ white matte.

Canvas Prints (clockwise)

• Kristopher Kong $300 cdn
• Whales $300 cdn
• Tea Party $400 cdn SOLD
• Boof $300 cdn
• The Last Sushi $300 cdn
• Godzilla Greg $300 cdn

A3 Original Paintings Framed (clockwise from top left)

• Kristopher Kong $185 cdn
• Nora Narwhal $185 cdn
• Betty Yeti $185 cdn
• Livi Unicorn $185 cdn
• Godzilla Greg $185 cdn
• Bigfoot Bryan $185 cdn
• Walk (A4 size) $250 cdn

Custom Sculptures (clockwise from top left)

• Livi $300 cdn
• Kris $300 cdn
• Snowpal $150 cdn
• Bryan $300 cdn
• Betty $300 cdn
• Greg $300 cdn SOLD

A4 Sketches (clockwise from top left)

• Main Wall
• Drool Puddle $80 cdn
• Dreamin $80 cdn SOLD
• Waterballon to the Face $80 cdn
• Raining Legless Catspuds $80 cdn SOLD
• Vandals $80 cdn SOLD

Our big ol’ side venture Nation Toys has poll positioned it’s way to the forefront with a recent redesign and subsequent launch.  We will now be supplying y’all with the latest in vinyl goodies, apparel and art for your purchasing convenience. Also be sure to notice our “artists” section where we hope to aid in the rock star status of all who have coloured up our walls. Oh it doesn’t end there!… as we’ve added a basic blog to inform our guests on the latest goings-on regarding exhibits and future products, meow.

We wanted to flex some creative muscle on this one so we created some cute n’quirky illustrations with lightly militant undertones, perhaps even some overtones (all in good jest, of course) and away we went!  Currently, we’re working on some character development and back story which will hopefully breath more life into this colourful and slightly odd web endeavor.

If you are in the market for some vinyl goodness, perhaps a gift or feel like supporting some local artists we highly recommend clicking on THIS LINK and taking a look around, and buy all means throw something in the shopping cart.

- Team Nation thanks you!

Google hired out some ultra-hip creative video company to promote their super-fast Chrome web browser. I’ve switched from Firefox to Chrome for the most part (still love my Firebug) and you should, too. It is, as the video claims, ultra-fast. I think my personal favourite is the potato gun, however the lightning definitely has more impact as a blog post title.

Source: http://chrome.blogspot.com/2010/05/potato-gun-lightning-and-sonic-magic.html

So I stumbled across this bonkers hotel while surfing for coolness. It’s the Yas Hotel in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. and it is crazy cool. Built half on land, half on water with access to the marina. The shell of the hotel is created to resemble the tossing of a fishing net, and the LED colour display is truly impressive. It encompasses contemporary style rooms, 14 restaurants & lounges, 10 treatment room spa and multiple rooftop pools.

WEAR WASH REPEATthe art of KOMBOH

Donning the walls of Nation Toys this November is the works of KOMBOH (aka Michael Mateyko & Hans Thiessen). With a very descriptive theme you can gather that the show will focus on wearable art. There is an assortment of incredible hand screened imaginative and simplistic graphic tees accompanied by some beautifully framed illustrated prints. I have a feeling that both the tees and prints wont be around long and their reasonable price *ahem $30* certainly makes them a great gift idea and hotter than the hottest of hotcakes… I guess if you could wear hotcakes the former would be true.

From my angle the work of KOMBOH epitomizes not only clean contemporary design (with a side of whimsy) but also the diversity to switch from amazing typeset documentation to cute and colourful vector illustration & animations.  I look forward to seeing whats next for this talented duo.  I’ll be sure to post photos of this month’s show.

The opening is tonight: 6pm – 9pm @ Nation Toys & Tees so if you are in Calgary we hope to see you there!

The work of Michael Mateyko & Hans Thiessen.

KOMBOH is comprised of two individuals who realized that working together solved more problems than it produced. Michael Mateyko and Hans Thiessen approach the visual world with the belief that creativity is a process, not a formula. A process that sometimes involves medium-fit, 100% cotton t-shirts.

Go to komboh.com for more form-fitting goodness.

Ahoy! We have a special treat this month in the Nation space. Mommy Still Likes Me: The art of Pete & Jo features wood. Art on wood, that is! If you’re in the Calgary area this month, make sure to stop by anytime. Even better yet, if you’re in the Calgary area tonight then we’re having a little shin-dig from 6pm to 9pm. Did I mention these are the two responsible for many fantastic projects such as custom artwork for Beatroute, illustration and branding for the Market Collective and album artwork for local band Günther’s Nuclear Stallions … to name a few.

Here’s a drop from the artists:

Peter and Joyelle Komierowski are illustrators living in Calgary, Canada. They are NOT brother and sister as some would believe. They draw things that are funny, weird, cute, scary, but mostly moronic. Their work is wrapped up in nostalgic memories of childhood and it is a sort of grown-up fairy-tale.

Also, make sure to check out more of Pete & Jo’s work on lovefrompeteandjo.com

Gone are the days of your Granny’s dull and dusty wall decoration. Wallpaper is being revived in homes, offices and retail spaces thanks to some interior savvy individuals. I just thought I would draw some attention to two companies that you may want to investimigate if you’re looking to give some custom kick to your space.

Number 1: Flavor Paper (Brooklyn, NY)

Flavor paper offers you a wide selection of pre-made hand screened wall coverings.  Categories include Floral, Funky, Traditional & Geometric.  These designs run the full gamut of beautiful, designer, witty and down-right mind bending (seriously checkout some of the geometric series).  Now of course I’m sure some of you are of the creative type and will want to create your own.  Don’t worry they do customs!

Number 2: Rollout (Vancouver, BC)

Now for us Canadians who want something a little closer we have Rollout.  These cats offer an amazing selection of pre-made designs through their artist series.  If you live in Calgary you may even recognize a couple if you have recently noshed at Mango Shiva or picked up some threads from Worth Clothing.

I’ve given you all I can.  Now go out there and start covering those walls!

I was pretty enamoured by the photo work of Chris Hornbeck & CincoDesign after a few whiskey’s on ice last night, and on second inspection I’m just as in love. Through the use of projected white light onto the props and models, they’re able to capture magnificent detail in the reflections. I picked this one up off Photography Served so check that out first, then head over to Hornbecker’s portfolio and CincoDesign’s company site.

Extra! While I was searching for CincoDesign, I found this other Cinco site that’s super swell.

Created by Argentinian designer, Ignacio Pilotto.

I can’t get over how genius this product is, substituting pantone colours for the conventional colour realm that is usually provided with your standard rubik’s cube. It’s Rad! I’ll take three por favor!

Love Will Tear Us Apart AgainPeter Crnokrak

Behold! You are currently feasting your eyes upon Love Will Tear Us Apart Again, a piece by The Luxury of Protest.

This is one immaculately detailed piece of work, outlining all of the various covers for Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” with a Cartesian minimalistic approach. C’est beau. I’d love to have this hanging this on my wall.

You can check out more of Peter Crnokrak’s work on The Luxury of Protest studio site. And now, I must go rescue my socks from my roommate’s abode. Oh, and don’t ask me how to pronounce Peter’s last name.

I don’t have much time but it is imperative that in what little there is, I share with you ToyCamera AnalogColor. This fun little app takes your boring old contemporary photos and turns them into exciting snapshots from yester-year. I decided to download the demo and play around with some shots of the Splash Fantastic team (above). Well I did miss one person. I’m sorry Chuck, I’ll do you next… again the time issue. Okay so ya, there’s lots of presets and settings that allow you to tweak to your retro hearts content. If you want to remove the watermarks of the demo, you can buy a full license for only $9.99USD. Not a bad price for something oh so fun.

Okay so it’s been a week since my return from SDCC. Typically I would have so much to immediately say… and it’s not that I don’t… it’s that there is an overwhelming amount to say.

Mindstyle had some incredible Stitch customs and some great new products including the Godfather by Michael Lau.

Kidrobot wasn’t so much a booth but more of a perpetual lineup.  I did get a sniff at their new releases from behind glass, but unless I waited in a 4 hour lineup the Huck Gee, Deph & Amanda Visell releases were a no go… apologies to all the collectors.

Strangeco was the most gracious of incredible toy making & distributing machines.  I managed to fenagle some exclusive Tokidoki platinum editions from them. Their Kaiju wrestling after party was incredibly weird… nah it was just incredible with a side of weird.  The venue was incredible too, we need more Wonderhaus style venues in Calgary (it was a well renovated old Wonderbread factory)

Tokidoki’s booth was just impossible! Too busy to even venture a walk by.

Rocketworld had some new tricks and products up their sleeves and we should be seeing more toys from them coming our way! These guys are also doing a fantastic job at providing socially conscious products which support the WWF and everyone on team Splash loves animals so hells yeah, Rocketworld.

Poketo’s team was overwhelming cool, great to meet and even greater to line up as a new vendor.  Plus anyone who carries DGPH is in like flynn in my books.

I thought a strategic visual approach would be to somehow categorize my experience via photos, using my own version of the dewey decimal system (more slideshow and less dewey). So here goes:

First the vinyl!

SDCC 2009 Part 2: Celebrity (on it’s way…)

Help yourself to this great design. I am diggin’ this product, it’s clean, simple and the product speaks for itself. Therefore, I will let the photos below do the talking.

www.helpineedhelp.com

Clocks seem to pop up quite often when rummaging through Internets for industrial design inspiration. I’m not sure why, the only clocks I ever use are the ones on my computer and cell phone (doesn’t every device have a clock these days?). Because of the seemingly overwhelming amount of digital time-telling devices, I general ignore the things. However, this one caught my eye. It’s sleek, and is usable on either dark or light surfaces. Now, if only it switched from white to black and vice-versa based on the room’s lighting, that’d be swell.

Here’s some more concepts & products from Kibardindesign.

Casey Weldon
“The Reading”
acrylic on wood
30 x 20 inches
$1,350.00
(Various Cult Movie Directors, from left to right; Jim Jarmusch, John Waters, David Lynch, Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Tim Burton)
SOLD

Gallery 1988 Los Angeles opened round 3 of the the wildly popular / annual Crazy 4 Cult show last week.  There is a decadent amount of pop related artwork that is destined to become iconic perhaps solidify the fame of already established artists and/or propel lesser known artists into the low-brow lime-light.  Those lucky enough to be in the West Hollywood (Melrose) area should take the opportunity to see these pieces in the flesh as the show expires on August 8th.  Those less lucky (namely myself) will have to settle for the bloggED version to see fantastic, original and reasonably priced artwork get snapped up at an alarming rate.  At least I have SDCC to look forward to, to meet my pop culture needs…sigh.

N.C. Winters
“I Am Jack’s Broken Heart”
acrylic and resin on wood panel
16 x 20 inches
$1,200.00
(Fight Club)
SOLD

2cents
“Trap”
screenrpint on archival paper
16 x 20 inches
signed and numbered edition of 40
$25.00
(Ghostbusters)

Leanne Biank
“Walter”
linoleum print, one of a kind
14 x 17 inches each, framed
$200.00 each
(The Big Lebowski)
SOLD

Wade Schin
“Donnie”
4.75 inches tall
acrylic and spraypaint on acrylic plastic, one of a kind
$750.00
(Donnie Darko)
SOLD

Bob Dob
“I Don’t Tip”
oil on panel
6.5 x 9 inches, framed
$650.00
(Reservoir Dogs)
SOLD

Where There is SmokeThere is Fire

I’m loving the Behance Network. There’s a ton of glorious inspiration and wonderful things to experience on there. I had the luck of snagging an account, and found some time early this morning to put a sampling of my personal work up there.

Shameless plugs aside, ‘Where There is Smoke, There is Fire’ hosts a series of work from creatives who have taken over a cigarette factory. Go for more!

Obviously, there’s the novelty of striking a match on your favourite readable. The typography on the front, and the book’s spine are screened with matchbox material. But that’s not the best part of this craft, the papers used to print the book encapsulate the various patterns from the factory itself. Chaud!

More photos and details on the Trapped in Suburbia’s Behance portfolio.

I say with great certainty that one day I will own an original Josh Keyes painting.  His work is perfectly haunting and meticulous, to the point where you think it’s a digitally compiled piece. The shadows and dissections are seemingly both random and abstract, though somehow make sense alongside the visual juxtapositions of Wildlife v.s. Man-made Monuments/Artifacts.

There is something so calming about his work and I’m not sure if the post apocalyptic vibe is supposed to have that effect… but hey that’s just me. Anyway, if you’re lucky enough to be in the Oakland CA area this August you can head over to the Swarm Gallery to check out his latest creations up close and personal.

Also, be sure to head over to www.joshkeyes.net to see how beautifully talented this artist is.

The above print is available for purchase through David B Smith Gallery.  Only $175!

Calgary is now becoming home to more unique boutique stops. The latest boutique stop, espy, is situated in a character building on the main drive (9th ave.) of Inglewood, an eclectic suburb of the downtown Calgary area.

This boutique shop is all about class and fashion; bringing in designer names and fashions that are not typical to the Calgary fashion market. Espy has a so much to offer fashion hungry consumers and offers the latest in fashion and trendsetting.  This is a great destination to go and peruse on a weekly basis to check out the new stock. Take a look at the space which espy occupies… great design and fits so well within the character space. Perfect place to pick up a unique gift, outfit or that one piece to complete your ensemble.

Images are all taken by Alix Broadway and are from the espy website.

espy space during grand opening night.

James, Christy and I at the opening, having some very much appreciated beverages.

espy owners and employees, celebrating and enjoying the grand night.

Ah yes. finally! Bridging the gap between fashion destination stores and pertinent fashion blogs, Holt Renfrew, always creative and innovative with their window displays, are once again proving their worthiness. Commencing with a “Fashion Blog” definition displayed on an introductory window we see that each progressive window is designated a fashion blog and corresponding visual theme. It is well executed and it’s fantastic to see large fashion venues such as Holt Renfrew with an appreciation of the influence of blogging in a fashion context. Not only have they used their store as a venue to show that they’ve got their fingers on the fashion pulse but there is also the opportunity to promote these new online pioneers of fashion. This is a great cross promotion idea and obviously advantageous for all parties.

Click on “more” to see each window, blog and my thoughts!

This blog is one of my favourites. They shows a lot of street style pics of men’s / women’s fashion and runway. They focus mostly on very high-end and innovative fashion, always visually inspiring.

www.jakandjil.com

Great blog! It’s focus is on fashion and culture and formatted with images and brief captions which means it’s very to the point but still engaging. While the inspiration behind this blog is about shoes it’s definitely not only about that. There are images of fashion that follows with the shoes, street pics, and the culture that surrounds it all.

www.seaofshoes.com

While very much involved in fashion, shows and the scenes in which they exists. The blog has a very directed cultural, inspirational approach surrounding fashion, music, and day/night life.

www.bryanboy.typepad.com

I’m excited to see this blog as one of the windows as it has been a favourite in my blogroll for some time now. While it shares both men’s and women’s fashion, it focuses mostly on men’s which is great because there are so few that do. It showcases street and runway fashion…always fun to go through the images and gather inspiration.

www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com

Wow, this blog’s got it all.  Runway and street fashions, events and parties, arts and culture, and more more more. There is lots to look at on this site and definitely interesting to see the wide spectrum of content.

www.iwantigot.geekigirl.com

This blog focuses on women’s fashion trends and showcases mostly street styles, runway, along with illustrations which are more often than not, overlooked…but oh so important to design.

www.garancedore.fr/en

Banksy is definitely one of my favourite artists. His artwork is usually satiracal pieces of art which surround controversial issues politics, culture and ethics. For those who don’t know much about Banksy, he operates himself as an anonymous artist so no one really has too much information on him as a person. This is also intriguing because you wonder about him as an artist, however, you focus more on the artwork than the mystery. I won’t write too much about him, as most of you probably know about his work. For those of you who don’t, I encourage you to do a lil’ google search on him, he has some really amazing work.

The video and the pictures I am posting are from his latest exhibit running from June 13th through to August 31st at the Bristol Museum in Bristol, England. Check out the video and images, or if you are lucky enough to be in the area of the exhibit, go check it out!

www.banksy.co.uk