breathtaking graphite illustrations by will duty

i’ll be heading on over to budapest for the weekend, then coming back to complete my last classes/exam of the year (!!!) before finally greeting my friends at the train station monday evening. i also have some super exciting news but i haven’t told a single soul about it yet, so i’ll keep it hush until it’s physically presentable ;) the more suspense the better!

at long last, the 25th and inaugural collaborative edition of ten minutes is up!!! kyu will be making his beautiful illustrations available as desktop wallpapers on his site, but the section doesn’t seem to be up yet – so for now, email either of us and we shall send the file your way.

leah beeferman‘s artist statement:

My drawings and animations investigate the satellites, observatories, telescopes and structures that monitor the earth and the universe around it. Because they are often isolated and perform the same tasks over and over again, I ask myself if these instruments have patience. I am fascinated by what they discover by way of subtle shifts in endless information streams, or capturing an occasional rare “event” in the vast expanse of space and time. I wonder what characterizes an event, what defines change.

These questions are the starting point for my projects: research-based abstract narratives inspired by the slow processes of monitoring. My drawings and animations represent the two parts of these ongoing stories. Monitoring the architecture of science, a weekly drawing project distributed by email, is my way of monitoring these instruments that monitor for us, and their concrete moments of discovery. My animations reconsider the time in between when, seemingly, nothing is happening. I want to recreate this space of slow, but constant, activity — to make it equally as complex as a typical cosmic or earthly breakthrough.

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i’m heading to berlin this coming saturday and will be staying there for approximately five days – just long enough to experience reunification day on the 3rd, emtedankfest on the 4th, and to catch ryuichi sakamoto play the piano live in concert. it’s going to be epic!!! not to mention, i will finally be able to see mies van der rohe’s neue nationalgalerie, up close and very personal.

illustration by justin gabbard

it’s been a long time coming but sweden is now only 11 days away! i’m beginning to pack and am getting all the important details finalized. i’ve also created a new “project”, so to speak, called andedräkt (swedish for “breath”, as i have learned from online self-taught lessons…) – it will be a travelogue of my adventures overseas, which will probably be updated more frequently than this blog. keep an eye out for updates starting in about two weeks or so :)

villa 1 designed by powerhouse company

i love the fluidity of lines within the otherwise rigid horizon-straddling build of this home. the choice of building materials is also very well suited to the environment (the forests of holland)… organic and complimentary to everything around it.

this weekend i went down to seattle to attend bill callahan’s concert at the triple door. he was as i had expected him to be – a natural poet down to the tips of his toes (he took his boots off after the second song or so and went barefoot). at some point there was a weird sound coming from above the stage so he paused for a brief moment and said of the noise, “there’s men with whips galloping towards us from beyond the horizon”. effortless.

in addition to the fold-out poster and the beautiful illustrations inside, my favourite part about oscar pastarus‘ zine is the blank seafoam green cover.

hand-lettering by darren booth

i was tagged by natsumi to do the fourth of fourth thing again! since i took something from my hard drive last time, i drew this image from my external drive instead.

so what is sustainability? on the one hand, we are headed full-force into the digital age where material substances are abandoned in favour of abstractions, of meaningless zeros and ones. one could say that this is a being somewhat sustainable – we are not physically wasting away our environment. on the other hand, natural resources continue to be depleted at exponential rates because of technology’s relentless uprise. the word sustainability has since become a political tool to throw around, a more user-friendly term that sounds good and encourages people to do things ‘for the good of the environment’. what does this even mean? i’m listening to president obama’s news conference right now and he just mentioned the word ‘sustainable’. what are we trying to sustain when we are living in a time of conscious consumerism?

okay, my random ramble ends here. ten minutes of your life is updated. midterms are coming up. papers are due. and last but not least, to those in australia – i hope you and your loved ones are all safe and well!!

hello! it’s been a while. winter has finally hit montreal and it’s -29 degrees celsius with wind chill outside, hence why i am staying in all day and hibernating like a bear. i’m also in the process of writing my paper about european cinema of the 1920′s, so excuse me while i continue to use this blog for semi-educational purposes…

my paper is not about fritz lang’s metropolis, per say, but it was definitely one of my favourite screenings for class. i think what appeals to me most about metropolis is its depiction of the modern metropolis (literally) in all its glory. the city scenes often remind me of hugh ferriss‘ work which i absolutely love – soft focus, rigid architectural lines, lights beaming in the deserted night. one would think that these delineations convey a sense of fear towards modernity and industrialization of the city, but in fact they seem quite romanticized to me. i also find it amazing how these drawings, done in the early part of the 20th century, are so futuristic – even for our time.

drawing by april lee for kendi ties