Work by Mrzyk & Moriceau 

Any article mentioning Sébastien Tellier needs to have the word sex somewhere in it. Not because he is beautiful - or even hot - but because he, an odd, bearded, forty something French man, is way sexier than any old Megan Fox type wearing shorts humping a motorbike. Of course this isn't necessarily true if you're a eighteen year old boy who can't wait to the see the third installation of 'Transformers', but as time goes by you might agree with me. There isn't anything sexier than someone who knows their business.

After going through his releases, reading his interviews, watching his live gigs and seeing how he turned down a DJ set because he wouldn't be allowed to smoke a cigar during it, we've decided we're on Team Tellier. And Monsieur Sébastien has proved us right again with a new video for the post coital tune 'Look'.

The video directed by Mrzyk & Moriceau shows a semi-erotic animation about a perfect ass (not a donkey). Yes, an ass. An ass that slinks around the world farting diamonds and phasing through a range of different clothes and dimensions. Just too creative to ignore.

'Look' is part of the 10^th anniversary celebrations of the Record Makers label.

Danny Sangra

The scope of Danny Sangra's mad skillz is seriously enviable. Truly of the multi-media, multi-talented breed, Danny Sangra's work spans everything from film, illustration, collage to knitwear and all in between. Further more, he's not just a dabbler, or even a jack of all trades; London based Danny in fact excels at all the mediums he manipulates and embodies the ultimate in a modern, multifaceted young artist.

From videos for Metronomy to designing prints for Louis Vuitton Homme and tees for Uniqlo in Japan as well as others he's not even allowed to mention yet, he is also responsible for the infamous I Hope You Die Soon print which the most excellent Fanny and Jessy (FAJ) turned into a tee. Danny has also worked with another talent; IM//UR alumni Gabriella Marina Gonzalez, who along with FAJ, has Danny directed short films about. And in a sweet bit of cross-creative-pollination, Danny has also used the super hot Fanny and Jessy to model his latest project, clothing label AMS (or A Minute's Silence) with Lynnda Needles (I'll be posting their lookbook this week...wait for it, their stuff is GENIUS).

Stills from the shoot for the AMS lookbook

So. Danny works with a huge variety of people. And in a huge variety of creative mediums. And he does it supremely well. All evident in the crazy wicked background he's done for us this month. "I know you have the 'I Hope You Die Soon' t-shirt, so I kept the type as my own hand drawn type. The image is a collage image of my illustration work. I make images with multiple meanings and idea. One image doesn't necessarily mean it's one idea." (Images in this post are collated).

How and when did you know you were going to be an illustrator?

I never thought of being an illustrator...I mean, I don't consider that as what I am now. It's one thing I do and can do fairly easy but it's not the only thing I do. I grew up just wanting to make things. Be it drawn, photographed, filmed or glued together. I still pretty much work in the same way I did when I was 8 years old. I just start something and see what happens with it. However, I am slightly smarter than when I was 8. Only slightly though.

Danny Sangra for Louis Vuitton

What have been are your biggest influences?

Growing up I had artistic influences like most people, but when I left college I was lucky to meet people that had been in the industry for many years and had a profound way of looking at it. Namely Camilla Lowther (CLM UK) and Johnny Chatters (owner of Double Identity); these were people who had faith in me at a young age and guided my approach into what I should be trying to achieve.

Film stills

Who (else) would you love to work for or collaborate with?

It's weird as I have have pretty much worked with almost everyone I have wanted to work with, however the one person/label I have always wanted to work with is Vivienne Westwood. It can seem like an obvious choice for most people, I know. I would usually give a stupid answer to that question.

What did you dream about last night?

Apples, gun fights and a Fox.

Favourite medium?

Film

Charlotte Gainsbourg

photographs by Kurt Iswarienko

Taken from Flaunt Magazine's

latest issue (#107, the art issue) are the photos from a feature editorial spread on 'France's favourite daughter', and that of virtually royal creative blood, Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Gainsbourg is coquettishly gamine and the eternal ingenue even at 38; captured flitting about the Chateau Marmont in LA.

The last couple of years have been somewhat of a roller coaster for Gainsbourg; but the result is a full length album produced by Beck entitled IRM in the French fashion, inspired by the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRIs) that she underwent as a result of an accident she had.

And here's Nosaj Thing's smoothly slinking remix of 'Heaven Can Wait', the single of which is from IRM released last week via Because Music:

GALLERY

18 centuries dresses, beautiful deserts and girls... You know where this is going right? Food fight! This might be one of the biggest videos clichés ever, but don't you wish you were part of this? Oh yeah, this video is for the Acid Girls' single 'Lightworks', released back in September. The song is a mediocre electronic number (meh) but it does get better with the video - almost like an eccentric ad. And as I am being mean already, they could've used a bit less reverse on this one.

Steven Ilous, the director of the video, said he was inspired by Da Vinci's Last Supper and obviously by Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (just check this picture below and dare to deny it). We liked the video so much that we separated some amazing backstage pictures taken by Caesar Sebastian.

Marie Antoinette datchu?

GALLERY

Henry  McCausland

Say hey to our artist of the month, UK based illustrator Mr Henry McCausland! I met Henry whilst we were both travelling some years ago, when we both happened to be in Berlin.

We've kept in and out of touch since, and to wrap up 2009 I was super chuffed when he agreed to whip up an illustration for this month's background. Henry's work has a gorgeous depth and texture; his drawings are serene observations about the world around him, which he articulates with a gentle touch. Henry's drawings are often from an above perspective, suggesting the distance of a quiet onlooker viewing the scene.

His work for IM//UR is all about one of his all time favourite films, Trading Places, a Christmas classic starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd. "I liked the '//' in IM//UR, so it's sort of about the rich//poor, haves//have-nots; and set around Christmas and the Stock Exchange and financial games... somehow it seemed appropriate right now."

How and when did you know you were going to be an illustrator?

I don't remember ever choosing, I think I just never found anything else I was any good at to stop me drawing. Though I thought I was going to be a footballer until I broke both my legs and shattered my pelvis in a motorbike accident when I was 15. I was bedbound for nearly a year and just drew the whole time. When I could walk again it was still all I wanted to do.

What have been are your biggest influences?

My biggest inspiration right now is probably running through town so early in the morning that no one else is around. It's sort of beautiful and post-apocalyptical at the same time. Otherwise, I like to use the cartoon semiotics from my youth, watching too much TV framed like a film, trying - trying - to give forms weight like a Picasso drawing.

Who would love to work for or collaborate with?

I don't know...If I could somehow get a job where I got to hang round with Arsene Wenger perhaps being his personal illustrator or Shigeru Miyamoto's concept artist (if I could speak Japanese); or hanging round with David Attenborough, just gleaming wise words and doing drawings. I would like that.

What did you dream about last night?

I was working in a bar and a man in a suit and tiny round glasses asked me for a drink. I couldn't make out what he said. Every time I asked him to repeat himself, he became more and more inaudible. I couldn't give him a drink and then the bar caught on fire and then I woke up.

Favourite medium?

Medium rare.

Go follow Henry's lovely work on his BLOG

Yo Sydney, what y'all doing tonight/tomorrow? YOU SHOULD COME CHECK THIS:

Drop in at the Finders Keepers SS // 09 Independent Art and Design Markets over at Carriageworks, bringing together all kinds of cool people doing cool shit in art, design, fashion and publishing.

I'll be there tomorrow looking after the stall for one of the magazines I write for (which also happens to be one of the most beautiful and inspirational independent publications EVER. No seriously, it actually restores my faith in publishing AND in humanity. I know right!); Dumbofeather, Pass It On so come and say HIYAAAA.

OPEN FROM:

Friday 4th December from 6pm - 10pm

Saturday 5th December from 10am – 8pm

WHERE and HOW TO GET THERE:
The inside foyer at CarriageWorks - 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh NSW 2015.

The pedestrian entrance is at the corner of Codrington Street and Wilson Street. Wheelchair ramp and level access at all entrances. Fully accessible toilets.

Nearest train:
Redfern or Macdonaldtown and its only a short walk from King Street in Newtown.

SEE Y'ALL THERE!

Hiya Herbie!

It's that time of the month again - we've got a new background! This time round it's done by our good friend, Herbert Loureiro. Hailing from the coast of Brazil from a place called Maceió, Herbie is a 20 year old journalism student, who also happens to own Estúdio Alba, a design studio along with his amazing and talented partners, Daniel Hogrefe and David Pacheco.

What I enjoy most about this superbly talented young gun, is that he exhibits such a sense of joy simply creating in his work, no matter what the subject matter. Anyway, amongst our usual epic and highly entertaining conversations, we asked him a round of the standard q's and here's what we got.

How and when did you know you were going to be an illustrator?

Well, I still don't know if I'm gonna be an illustrator. But I started drawing "professionally" when one of my highschool teachers saw some scratches I had done on my notebook and then he asked me to illustrate his poetry book, called Açougue. That was when i realised I could do something and not just these little scratches; that I could create something that to reflect and expose myself to other people. Yet I don't think I'm gonna ever only be an illustrator cause I'm always eager about starting something new in some different ways... on photography or vídeo...Or something that I don't even know of yet.

What have been are your biggest influences?

When I was a kid I used to have this esoteric curiosity, so I think it got me going to places I would picture real life from a fantasy point of view. I love how with the dumbest things, a touch of the grotesque and a bit of magic can elevate it from normality/real life. So it's like my starting point: doing something about aspects of real life - or how they look in my head.

Who would love to work for or collaborate with?

I love fashion and music. I would really like to collaborate with Dazed and Confused (are you reading? I am asking!), Róisín Murphy and Gossip. And of course, a lot of Brazilian people, like Copacabana Club and Stop Play Moon. I think they are all very different but have these elements that are somewhat nonsense, fun and boundary pushing, so I LOVE to collaborate with people like that.

What did you dream about last night?

I can't remember! Really, I can't remeber for sure what happened while I was dreaming but usually it is pretty simple and about recreating everyday situations. But I can remember last night...I have these symbols that are often in my dreams, such as hair or teeth. I love the symbolic weight that dreams have, so they're also very common when I'm thinking about putting down ideas.

Favourite medium?

Allison Dubois. Haha, no. I am very divided about illustration and photography. Cause I'm so impatient when it comes to doing something. I want it to be done as soon as I can feel it's done, that's the image. So illustration works for me better now, cause photography needs this after production, and it takes longer to turn it into that something I am happy with.

Check Herbie's studio www.estudioalba.com and then go follow Herbie on his flickr