Category: Art

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Art Love – Charmaine Olivia

charms
Charmaine Olivia at work

Charmaine Olivia – dreamer, painter, tea drinker, self-taught San Franciscan artist. She first started drawing with soy sauce on napkins but has since upgraded to paper and paint. She loves playing Scrabble in the park, cuddling with her kitten and drinking peppermint tea.

Her work is a mix of intense paintings and whimsical drawings, she shifts with ease between styles and mediums. Oil painting requires discipline, commitment and composition, where as her drawings are more spontaneous and free. She admires the work of Brian Viveros and Sam Weber, she is obsessed with Gustav Klimt.

Here is a selection of her differing styles of work.

bunny_hands
Bunny Hands
pirate_silhouette
Pirate Silhouette
thegarden
The Garden
housekeeper
House Keeper
vampire
Vampire

Her work has a contemporary edge and she has worked on projects with Urban Outfitters, Nylon Magazine, Eyes on Walls,  Threadless, Infectious, Cool Hunting and Society6. Her work also lends itself perfectly to tattooing and this girl has a tattoo inspired by Charmaine Olivia’s Vampire.

Charmaine Olivia tattoo
Tattoo by Garrett Egles

Photo: Facebook Girl: Coreena All artwork taken from Charmaine’s website

Read a full interview with Charmaine Olivia on My Modern Met.

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My body is a blank canvas.


RachFeature girl: Rachael D’Alessandro
Today’s feature girl is the beautiful ink addict Rachael, she is in the buying team at Topshop, she loves art and lives in London.

Rachael considers her tattoos as art and treats her body like a blank canvas. The tattoos that adorn her body are art not necessarily about meaning, but about beauty. Art that will live on her skin forever…She even considered tattooing as a career option, but somehow her path has taken her into fashion and as you can see from this collection of photos she is one stylishly painted lady…

Heart wings tattooHer first tattoo was the heart wings, in between her shoulder blades, adapted from a drawing that she did at the age of 16 (tattoo was also done at this time but shh don’t tell anyone – clearly a rebel at heart). The tattoo was done at a studio in Lincoln.Faith tattoo

Her second tattoo is the word Faith on her wrist in  flowing type. This lovely little inking is by Chris at Modern Body Art. Chris was also lucky enough to ink her for a third time, this time her right wrist and a very feminine flowing garden vine design.

Garden vine tattoo
round and round the garden...


heart, locket and flower tattooHer fourth (and one of my faves) is her heart, locket and flower design, on her lower back, so beautifully feminine against her skin. This is by Dawny and again was done at Modern Body Art. Rachael liked this one so much she got Dawny to do her fifth arm piece, inspired by all the things she loves.

Rach's life-inspired arm design
This is Rachael's personal favourite piece


Treasure chest and agape tattoo
I unconditionally love this tattoo.

Her sixth piece, again another Modern Body Art masterpiece, is her treasure chest with the word Agape. Agape means unconditional love in Greek philosophy.

Her seventh piece is the writing on her neck, this is a love piece and her boyfriend has the same design. Inspired by Beethoven’s third love letter to Josephine, Immortal Beloved. ever thine tattoo

Rach BackRachael your art is beautiful and I would love to see more as you cover your canvas…

Photos: Olivia Snape

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Probably not Born this Way.

I have a confession to make…I think I am in love with a zombie boy.

Rick Genest (aka Rico, aka Zombie Boy, aka the Mugler Muse) is fashion’s latest unconventional star. Moving from sideshow (used to star in a Montreal Circus) to main attraction (Mugler, Nicola Formichetti and Lady GaGa).

Rick and Nicola
Rick and Nicola
Rick and GaGa
Rick and GaGa - for her Born this Way video

 

The Muse of Mugler
The Muse of Mugler

Genest walked in the Thierry Mugler Fall 2011 runway show, and he was recently photographed by Mariano Vivanco, (styled by Formichetti) for a spread in Vogue Hommes Japan, Hard to be Passive.

hardtobepassiveIt it these pictures – along with about a million views of the GaGa video and constant stalking of his tumblr – that have made me slightly obsessed with this unconventional hotty. He encompasses two of my loves (fashion and tattoos) in a form that in theory sounds unappealing (sexually not in a human intrigue sense), but with those cheekbones, that body and an undeniable sex appeal, I just – like many others – cannot resist.

And for those of you intrigued  to see the before…which I know you are…feast your eyes on this… (unfortunate about the unattractive mouth-open face he is pulling).

Before Rick Genest
I thought long and hard about what I really wanted, what my passion was. And I decided I wanted to be a fucking zombie.

So who’d have though it? I think the skeletal look is rather becoming. With the face above, I fear, he would never have made it onto the Mugler Catwalk or the pages of Vogue (although I am intrigued to see more before shots of the un-photoshopped variety).

Rick, I salute you , your vision and your overactive imagination. You’re a celebration the art of obscenity and the macabre in a high-fashion form.

To read an in interview with the man himself go to www.bizarremag.com

and Rick I truly hope that one day I will get to meet you in person…

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Pens and Needles.

A contemporary exhibition celebrating the realisation of tattoo art, culture, and lifestyle.

Pens and Needles

Forget everything you think you know about tattoo art. For the first UK art exhibition of its kind, London Miles invites a selection of the world’s top tattoo folk to finally liberate tattoo enthusiasts and artists from ingrained prejudice…their manifesto No more ‘I LOVE MUM’. It is time to redefine the stereotype.

As attitudes evolve, tattoo technique follows. Much of today’s fine art isn’t too disparate from that which tattoo artists create on bodies. The most accomplished and skilled of tattoo artists assign exacting precision to composition, tone, perspective, and conceptual design when producing their inimitable works of art.

London Miles is to take an in-depth look at all forms of tattoo art, lifestyle, and culture. Featuring original artwork, tattoo stencils and photographs, Pens and Needles brings together artists from across the tattoo and contemporary art sectors to shed light on the entire domain of tattoo art. It will document, discuss and celebrate one of contemporary art’s most burgeoning yet contentious art forms.

The opening night of Pens and Needles will be a fiesta of tattoo art with live music performances and live tattooing taking place in London Miles’s very own pop-up tattoo parlour on Friday, February 25th 2011, 7pm to 11pm.

As I can’t make the opening night Olivia and Keely (Th’ink feature girls) will be attending for me. My first contributing bloggers, I cannot wait for their feature post on this original exhibition.

London Miles address:
Westbourne Studios
242 Acklam Road, Studio 303
W10 5 JJ
London, UK