Top 10 May 7

Welcome back to another of them top 10's.
But if this list doesn't for fill your needs of design and beautiful jems, why not check out BKLYN DESIGNS™ this weekend?
BKLYN DESIGNS™ is New York’s hottest exhibition of designers and manufacturers of contemporary furnishings, lighting, and accessories made and/or designed in Brooklyn, all handpicked by a jury of editors from leading design and shelter magazines. Founded in 2003, this not-to-be-missed design show packs the streets of DUMBO for three consecutive days, and features a diverse array of satellite exhibits, demonstrations, panel discussions, keynote speakers and numerous design related after parties. Find out more HERE

Until next week...stay classy San Diego.
/Mr J

1. Julian Meagher

Julian Meagher is a contemporary Australian artist based in Sydney. Classically trained in Australia and Italy in oil on canvas portraiture, his work has evolved to include aesthetically complex and intricate oil paintings of tattoos on viscerally painted floating body parts, as well as larger cultural scenes.

Born 1978, Sydney, Australia

See more work by Julian HERE

2. Kohlton Ervin

Photos by Kohlton Ervin. Spokane, Washington.

See Kohlton's portfolio HERE See his flickr page HERE

3. Coco

Coco on Coco:
As an illustrator my background gives me a unique insight into fashion. After spending five years studying fine arts in Paris, I worked as a communication consultant for many leading fashion designers.

In 2004 I moved to London to set up getconfused – a company which offers consultancy and creative solutions to clients from all around the world.

I began producing illustrations as a favour to friends in the fashion industry who needed them for lookbooks, magazines and websites. On the trail of those I started to receive press interest and these days I create imagery for publications spanning both the independent and mainstream press.

I’ve have also recently started producing a small collection of scarves, forget-me-not, which will be available soon online and in shops all around the world.

I find inspiration in a wide variety of places. Living between Paris and London I feel at ease with the visual landscapes of both cities. As art and fashion capitals, they are a byword for innovation, creativity and metropolitan edge.

I tend to start my work by experimenting with old-school processes such as painting, drawing and ceramics, before designing the final image digitally.

I like to mix several techniques but aim for restraint and minimalism in the finished work as I like the results achieved from combining these two approaches.

See more of Coco's work HERE

4. Whydeo

About Whydeo:
Whydeo is a communication experiment created by the students of Digital Media 11 at Hyper Island in Stockholm. It's an online service that allows people from all over the world to ask and reply to questions using their webcams. What you choose to do with it is completely up to you. So you want to know where tonight's hottest party is? Perhaps you're also worried about the feeding habits of your pet Tamandua? Maybe you've already been shunned by your friends for being an obnoxious know-it-all? Then you've sure come to the right place. There are no stupid questions here. No right or wrong answers. All of this is for you, from us, with love and squalor.

Check it out HERE

5. Jenny Morgan

About Jenny:
Jenny Morgan is a contemporary artist who creates large paintings. She was schooled at the School of Visual Arts in New York and the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in Colorado. Jenny has held several solo shows throughout the Denver area and has participated in numerous other shows across Colorado and New York.

Jenny on her work:
I manipulate the figure to expose the individual’s idiosyncrasies and create a physiological portrait. Working with people from my own life as subject matter allows me to hone in on specifics of their character and present their personalities as I experience them.

See more of Jenny's work HERE

6. Mario Hugo

Mario Hugo spends an inordinate amount of time in front of his computer, though he still feels most honest with a pencil and two or more sheets of paper. When time permits, he loves working on any number of personal projects, illustrations, paintings, and interior products.

Recent commissions and clients include Capitol Records, Warp Records, Dolce & Gabbana, Channel 4, and The Fader. Mario has been featured in magazines and books including Flaunt, Area 2, Grafik, Dazed & Confused, XLR8R, Print, and IdN.

This past year, Mario & Jennifer Sims founded Hugo & Marie, a New York based agency, consultancy, and talent boutique.

Mario would like to spend his Small Talk with stories, secrets, and other such words. He will discuss the nature of design as visual communication, how communication implies dialogue and conversation, and how this emphasizes the importance of vernacular, vocabulary, tone, and inflection in design. In general, it’ll be about maintaining one’s “voice”, focusing less on the immediacy of communication, and more on the intimacy of discussion.

Check out more work by Hugo and Marie HERE

7. Comic Sans Destroyer

"Happiness Brussels is looking for a graphic designer with taste. Before you send your candidature, please destroy Comic Sans from your computer immediately” says the specially designed site by Happiness Brussels, a Brussels based communication agency.

Message is loud and clear..to whomever left out there still using Comic Sans. The download includes a simple Mac app that destroys the font on your computer.
Check it out at comicsansdestroyer.com

8. Lynn Palewicz

Lynn on Lynn:
I combine photography, sculpture, and drawing to explore different approaches to self-portraiture: the self as subject, the self as material, and the self as creative impulse.

See more of her portfolio HERE

9. Francis and The Light - Darling, It's Alright

Directed by Jake Schreier

10. Aron Wiesenfeld

Here we have another fine artist who goes by the name of Aron Wiesenfeld, a San Diego based artist who first dabbled in comic books and is now a fancy pants painter. I can’t remember who I found him through but I’m thankful for it, his paintings and drawings are meticulous and filled with suspense, mystery and sometimes terror.

It seems like each and everyone of his pieces fills me with some kind of emotion, which is invoked by the looks on the faces of the people in the paintings, their sometimes desolate location or the colors used throughout. They kind of feel like the most complex storyboards ever done which are created for a movie that’ll never be made. There’s also the scale of a lot of these pieces, some of which can be more than 5 feet tall. I’d really love to see some of his pieces in person, I think they’d be incredible.

See more work by Aron Wiesenfeld HERE