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Artist Feature: Doug Gordon

Posted by Tom in illustration | August - 10 - 2010ADD COMMENTS

Image © Doug Gordon

Doug Gordon was born and raised in the rugged wilds of suburban Ohio. Though the son of an artist mother, as a youth he never advanced beyond the rank of occasional doodler. Graduating from Oberlin College with a degree in Psychology he struck out west and completed several tours of duty as a residential counsellor at a psychiatric facility for children, an experience that unsurprisingly had a profound impact on him and would later play a significant role in his work as an artist.

Image © Doug Gordon

Finding himself unemployed after 8 years of social work he somehow swindled, cajoled, and wheedled his way into an animation studio where he would work as a Flash animation symbol wrangler. Over the past 10 years he has dedicated himself to animation, illustration and for the past couple years, airbrushing. In his spare time he also enjoys writing about himself in the third person. Yeah.


You can see more of Doug’s work on his site: www.strangosity.com, which is definately worth a look.

Image © Doug Gordon

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Artist Feature: Scott Nellis

Posted by Tom in illustration | August - 5 - 2010ADD COMMENTS

Scott Nellis is an artist based in Brighton on the south coast of England. He graduated from the University of Brighton with a BA (Hons) in Illustration and uses pen on paper to create intricately detailed drawings. The drawings vary in and are influenced by subjects that are both global and personal, combined with fantastical realms.

Scott says: “I’m often questioned over my patience to create such large, detailed drawings. My response is patience only exists when something is being tolerated. I do not tolerate drawing, I love to immerse myself within it”.

Scott has exhibited work alongside other talented artists including Goldie and Jamie.

You can see more of his work here: www.scottnellis.com

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Artist Feature: Kirsten McCrea

Posted by Tom in illustration | August - 5 - 20101 COMMENT

I want to live in a world where every home is full of art and it isn’t illegal to paint the streets.
My paintings and drawings explore issues of cultural memory, looking at pop vs. underground culture, the media, and popular mythologies. I tend to work in large series: in ‘Hot Topic’ I explore the role of artist-as-memory-keeper through 60 paintings that depict important, but little-known, feminist icons. The series ‘Kim Jong Bomb’ parodies traditional political portraits and plays with the narratives that are constructed around world leaders. I enjoy the contrast of the decorative and fantastical with the real and serious.

Blank walls break my heart, so along with painting I’ve thrown myself into publishing Papirmasse, a broadsheet-style art subscription that delivers cheap prints by post.

Since 2006 I have lived in Montreal; a city I fall in love with over and over again.

You can see more of Kirsten’s work here: www.hellokirsten.com and www.papirmasse.com

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Everfresh – The Book

Posted by Tom in graffiti, news | July - 8 - 2010ADD COMMENTS

Melbourne graffiti collective Everfresh are releasing a lavishly illustrated book of their works this September.

© Everfresh Studions

Titled ‘Everfresh: Blackbook’, there’ll be a hardback limited edition of 500 signed by all studio artists, a hand finished cover, 1 of 500 Everfresh screen print, and 1 photographic print signed & numbered by Josh Robenstone.
At $80AU (roughly $70US), it’s an absolute bargain and I really don’t expect them to last long, so get it quick if you want it. Grab it here through their online store.

© Everfresh Studios

The regular soft back is cheaper at $39.99AU ($35US), and though not available from them directly, the ISBN is 978-0-522-85745-0 so you should be able to order if from your local bookshop.

When I lived in Melbourne, I loved wandering the streets looking at the fantastic selection of urban graffiti work, but Everfresh’s work always stood out in my mind. The vampire image (stencil above) was dotted all around Richmond where I lived and I still love it. If you enjoy finely crafted graffiti work, this book is a must for your collection.

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Laurie Liptons Nice Tees.

Posted by Tom in interviews | June - 22 - 2010ADD COMMENTS

After a fantastic solo show in LA’s Copro Gallery, Dangerous Ink managed to grab Laurie for a few minutes to talk about her new range of t-shirts sold through the AllSaints stores.

So Laurie, how did the tee shirt thing come about? Did you approach them?

Over the years I have been approached by many boutiques and shops around the world asking if they could use my imagery on t-shirts. The moment I presented them with a contract, however, they would disappear. I was in the middle of negotiations with a store in Germany when I walked in to one of my favourite shops in London to look around: All Saints. It dawned on me that the imagery on their t-shirts was very similar to mine, and I thought I might as well contact them to ask if they’d be interested in using my work before I signed a deal with anyone else. The quality of their printed tees was far superior to anything else I had seen. I emailed them and to my surprise got a response almost immediately.

How does it feel when you see someone wearing your work?
I was on my way to an exhibition reception in Los Angeles and I saw someone walking towards me wearing one of the Lipton Tees. I shouted, “That’s mine!”. The poor girl thought I was accusing her of stealing and rushed past me nervously. I get a kick out of it. I love it.

So how are the tees going down? I saw Dakota Fanning sporting one in the press. ‘Queen of Bones’ I think.
I was told that the Lipton Tees are the best selling line they’ve ever had. There is a page solely for my work on the All Saints website (http://www.allsaints.com/women/laurieliptoncollaboration) so that it’s easy to find. Thandie Newton, the Suicide Girls and Dakota Fanning are some of the celebs with good taste enough to wear Lipton Tees. I think the whole thing is a hoot. I was given tees as well and that’s all I’m wearing this summer. It’s probably obnoxious to wear my own work, but I get loads of compliments when I do and the cotton is so soft & comfortable & cool that I don’t really want to wear anything else. God… I sound like a bloody commercial.

Nothing wrong with sounding like an ad and plugging your work!
So I see there’s also children’s sizes as well. Corrupt ‘em while they’re young, eh?

Yes. There is an adorable children’s tee called “The Death of Romance”. Never too soon to start purging your child of Disney and Hallmark toxins.


Laurie’s t-shirts are available from AllSaints stores and online, and she also has a book out from beinArt Publishing called ‘The Extraordinary Drawings of Laurie Lipton’ for only $39 USD. See more of her work at her site www.laurielipton.com.

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Moulding with Chet Zar

Posted by Tom in news | March - 25 - 20101 COMMENT

Chet Zar; painter, sculptor, make-up FX guru, posted a great insight to his process for creating mouldings for frames last week for #FridayNightArtDorks on his Twitter page – @chetzar. They’ll adorn the frames in next months solo show at Last Rites gallery in NY.

Frame Corner Sculpture

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THE CHUNG!! In your hand.

Posted by Tom in illustration | March - 24 - 2010ADD COMMENTS

Dangerous Ink favourite The Chung!! has just released his own iPhone sketchbook app. He says: “To all of you who own or know anybody who owns an iphone or and ipod touch, come and check out my just released artist sketchbook app downloadable via iTunes.

Released and brought to you by the amazing people at Imaginism Studios Inc. and ArtistSketchbooks.com this downloadable and portable book of select works and never before seen sketches can now be yours to hold in the palm of your hands.

Also soon to come, some top secret awesomeness!!…I’m not allowed to announce what it is just yet, but stay tuned!”

You can see more of his work on his site www.thechung.com or buy limited edition prints from the Dangerous Ink Gallery.

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Dangerous Ink, Volume 4, Issue 4 Online

Posted by Tom in news | March - 10 - 2010ADD COMMENTS

We’ve finally posted up the last issue of Dangerous Ink to the site, and you can view it by clicking here. If you wanted a real copy of the issue, some are still available through our online shop and are now all half price!

If you enjoy the issue, please leave a comment. It’s always a buzz to know that people enjoyed what we did, and you never know, one day Dangerous Ink Magazine might come back.

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David McCallum, Actor – Interview

Posted by Tom in interviews | March - 7 - 20106 COMMENTS

With a career spanning a little over 50 years, David McCallum is a face most of us, young and old, recognize. From eccentric coroner Ducky on ‘NCIS’; elemental time-fighter Steel on ‘Sapphire and Steel’; Ilya Kuryakin fighting the sinister group T.H.R.U.S.H in ‘The Man from UNCLE’, and countless other incarnations – he has entertained and enthralled generations, but how many know of his other talents as a musician, composer, and photographer? Hopefully this interview David kindly let us conduct will help shed some light on those unknown depths of his deep artistic skill.

Can I ask what made you change your direction from music to acting?
I was very young and involved in local theatre. In the local school hall, an amateur theatre company produced an evening of recitations, singers and soloists. These were intermingled with one or two scenes from plays. I played the part of the doomed prince in the dungeon in Shakespeare’s ‘King John’. I pleaded – unsuccessfully – with the assassin not to kill me. It is a real tear-jerker and audience applauded loudly at the end. It was in that moment I realized once and for all that my home in this world was on a stage. My efforts didn’t require homework or lengthy musical practice. The oboe took second place from that moment on. I did what was necessary in school and sought work at the earliest opportunity. ‘Whom the Gods Love, Die Young’ was the first part – oddly enough playing another doomed royal. It was on BBC Radio in 1946, the year I joined Equity.

How did your parents take your decision to concentrate your energies on theatre?
Their philosophy was simple. My mother and father gave my brother and I a secure environment that allowed us to go out and achieve our maximum potential. They never interfered, only encouraged. We both made our own decisions and lived by the consequences. I knew my father felt that music would give me a better standard of living than the vicissitudes of the theatre but he didn’t say it openly. When he came to the premier of ‘Robbery Under Arms’ at the Odeon Leicester Square several years later, my name was in large letters on the side of the building. By then I think he realized that I had probably made the right choice.

Even though you moved fully into acting, did music still play a part in your life? Did you still play the oboe in your spare time?
I still have my oboe. When doing ‘The Man from UNCLE’, I conducted several albums at Capitol. Top forty arranged by HB Barnum for woodwind and four French horns. Later, in ‘Motherlove’ on television I played an orchestral conductor and had the pleasure of conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Mozart and Prokofiev.
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Adam West, Has-been?

Posted by Tom in humor | March - 4 - 2010ADD COMMENTS

Absolutely not! Never in a million Bat-years!
We’re all well steeped in Adam’s Pop-art infused, psychedelic turn as the Caped Crusader’s 1960’s incarnation, and probably as much now for being Mayor Adam West (or Adam We) in the ‘Family Guy’ city of Quahog, but how many know of his comedy pilot of the 90’s co-written by Conan O’Brien?

‘Lookwell’ is a riot, and a slice of comedy gold that if I had a DeLorean, a Flux Capacitor, and a high powered job in a TV Network (the first two would be easier for me to get hold of), I’d go back and commission this. No more words from me, just enjoy Adam West at his best.

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