Mona Lisa Book covers

There have been a variety of book covers which uses the very famous image of the Mona Lisa in a new twist. Examples are shown below:

The famous cover of New Yorker Magazine depicting Monica Lewinsky as the Mona Lisa (above). This clever and attractive image plays on multiple characteristics of its subject: Monica was known among friends as "Mona," The images of her in the popular press emphasized her mouth and smile (with appropriate innuendo), and in both Monica and Mona there flies the uncertainty of the nature of her relationship with a great celebrity.

Lucy Skaer

Another artist that grabbed my attention at the gallery in Glasgow was Lucy Skaer.

Skaer's drawings utilise found imagery sourced from photojournalistic reportage. Working on paper - large stretches that in scale resemble unfurled banners, flags or giant scrolls, typically, the main substance of her drawings is graphite to which she adds enamel paint, ink and gold leaf. The paper she works on is often so big she has them laid out on the floor.

By merging photo-orientated images with different forms of patterning, Skaer creates shifting collages that, once distanced from their original source, become open to alternative interpretations. This is what caught my attention, as I was trying to work out what the drawings where. Below are two photos I took of one of her drawings. One is a close up on the other.

Jim Lambie

While in Glasgow I visited the Gallery of Modern Art. The main exhibition that was on was called forever changes and was by an artist called Jim Lambie.


Lambie was born in 1964 in Glasgow, and is a contemporary visual artist. He was shortlisted for the 2005 Turner Prize with an installation called Mental Oyster. Lambie specialises in colourful sculptural installations made from everyday modern materials including pop culture objects, such as posters and album covers, and household accessories. The other trademark theme in his artistic practice is using brightly coloured vinyl tape arranged into patterns around the floor of the gallery space, tracing the shape of the room to reveal the idiosyncrasies of its architecture.


The forever changes exhibition I saw was no different. One of the main art pieces were concreate slabs sticking out of the floor with the side of vinyl covers stuck to them, 100s on each. However although I wasn’t majorly impressed with his art pieces (as I am not a lover of modern art) his designed floor for the gallery was amazing. Below are some pictures of the floors he has created in gallerys around the world.

Becks

When we got the last delievery in at my pub, i couldnt help but notice that the labels on the becks bottles have changed to four diffenerent images, one is shown below:

This completely puzzzled me. Why would they suddenly change a well reconzined brand label into something ocmpletelty differnet that dont even contain they name on and have four different images that dont even link together in any clear way. So i done some research on it.

There main aim is to start an initiative that gives promising contemporary artists the opportunity to exhibit their work in pubs, bars and off-licences across Britain. The brand, which has been fostering emerging artistic talent in the UK for more than 20 years, has linked up with the Royal College of Art (RCA) for the new initiative which will raise its retail profile in the months ahead.

A panel of judges from the prestigious College have selected four talented young artists who will have the unique opportunity to showcase their work on the labels of more than 27 million bottles of Beck’s (275ml) available to retailers in the on and off-trade from August.

The four successful Beck’s Canvas artists are:
• Riitta Ikonen, 27, who is studying a two year MA in Communication Art and Design at the Royal College of Arts and graduated last month.
• Tom Price, 26, is an alumni of Sculpture (2006) who received a First Class BA (Hons) Sculpture degree from Chelsea College of Art in 2004 and currently works from his Brixton studio.
• Simon Cunningham is an alumni of the MA Fine Art, photography course (2007) who lives and works in London.
• Charlotte Bracegirdle, 34, is an alumni of the Masters degree in painting (2006). Originally from Devon, Charlotte spent seven years applying to art schools across the UK before accepting a place at the RCA.

So what do becks get out of this? Well they believe, that the striking new labels that will be featured in a TV campaign for Beck’s to be run throughout August – will boost consumer awareness during a key trading period for retailers and that the introduction of new bottle labels will also have significant benefits for retailers. They believe the four new designs will stimulate the interest of pub-goers and shoppers and attract new consumers to the brand in the months ahead.

Will this actually be in case? I am not so sure, certainly in the last 2 weeks we have had these new deisgns in the pub i work in i havent recalled the sales in them going up, but maybe i will be better of judging this once august has gone and the ad campaign is in full swing as i personally havent seen a tv advert for these bottles yet. What do you think?

James Downing

James is a friend of mine and is a local artist. He specializes in illustrations, he advertises his work on a website called http://www.couk-art.co.uk/. His home page represents his work very well, shown below:

The page is set out like a book or diary, the left hand side describes who he is and the right allows you to click on other links. The reason it reflects his style so well is that its all hand drawn and looks like sketches or doddles, this is his style. Another reason i like his work is there is no p.c and he gets straight to the point without being posh. An example of this is shown in the writing in this home page where he writes 'where you can see how ruddy amazing my illustrations are.'

Another good example of this and his main work that i really like is his 'clog' which is a comic blog. Its called suede diary. Instead of writing a normal diary in his blog he writes about his day to day life in cartoon form, most of which are very funny, shown below:

I am even in one of these cartoons :D

Julian Bever

Julian Beaver is a artist who specializes in 3D art, he likes to do these drawings in chalk on the street where they are esaily viewed by many and have the biggest impact. He has been doing this for ten years all over the world.

He also does oil paintings and wall murals however it is his 3D work that i find most amazing and inspiring, as i have always been fascinated by the way illusions can work.

This laptop illusion was drawn on the strand in London.