The Parasol

CJ Hendry, 50 Foods in 50 Days

Australian artist CJ Hendry is currently making my scrolls through Instagram an absolute joy with her amazing project 50 Foods in 50 Days. Represented by The Cool Hunter, who spotted her talent last year, CJ is currently creating one drawing everyday for 50 days for an exhibition happening later this month in Melbourne.

Combining vintage Hermes plate designs with ordinary food items like french fries, a bagel and sardines, CJ's exquisite hyperreal drawing style takes pictures of food on plates to a whole new level. 

There are days when I can barely write my own name, so to see such precision, delicacy and craft within CJ's drawings is incredible. And the progress shots she's included on her Instagram journey are equally fascinating with the impeccable detail magnified. 

The ornate patterns in the Hermes plates are wonderful on their own, but they contrast beautifully with the humdrum foods the artist has paired with them. Ridiculously life-like the depth and composition of CJ’s drawings are stunning and her ability to make a pile of tortillas and jammie dodgers look so classy is a delicious talent. With just under 10 days to go until drawing number 50, CJ's drawings are a celebration of pen, paper and monumental skill. 

CJ Hendry, 50 Foods on 50 Days

CJ Hendry, 50 Foods on 50 Days

CJ Hendry, 50 Foods on 50 Days

CJ Hendry, 50 Foods on 50 Days

CJ Hendry, 50 Foods on 50 Days

CJ Hendry, 50 Foods on 50 Days

CJ Hendry, 50 Foods on 50 Days

CJ Hendry, 50 Foods on 50 Days

CJ Hendry, 50 Foods on 50 Days

Molly Matalon, Mom

Looking through Molly Matalon's series Mom is a fascinating glimpse into a daughter seeing her mother beyond her role as a parent and capturing the womanhood, beauty and strength she also exudes.

Having photographed her mother for years, we see Molly’s mum in various guises - fully made-up in tropical prints, bespectacled in a sports bra and shorts and smiling in Disneyland with two black eyes after an eyelid lift. The willingness of her mother to be photographed is endearing and it’s wonderful the vulnerability Molly manages to capture.

The Florida-born photographer intersperses shots of her mother with landscapes of her surroundings giving more depth to the series. The Florida suburbs are eerily perfect, with expertly manicured trees and brilliantly beige buildings lining the unmarked tarmac. This is all interrupted beautifully by the brash fabrics and patterns worn by Molly’s mum and her radiant personality.

Molly Matalon, Mom

Molly Matalon, Mom

Molly Matalon, Mom

Molly Matalon, Mom

Molly Matalon, Mom

Molly Matalon, Mom

Molly Matalon, Mom

Molly Matalon, Mom

Sarah Illenberger, Tafelspitzen

The day my sister turned a napkin into an origami swan was mind-blowing and for months I begged her to share this magic with me. Eventually she relented and passed on the art of paper pleating. But even now, years later, my serviette swans still don't have quite the same finesse as hers do.

Again I find myself envious of someone else's folding with Sarah Illenberger's still life series of artfully gathered napkins created for SZ-Magasin called Tafelspitzen. Beautifully graphic, the colours are jaw-droppingly dreamy with lurid fluoros popping against pastels and metallics. It's a feast for the eyes with each object so crisp and clear, it's pure perfection.

Sarah is a whiz at curation and direction and her vast portfolio is executed with such precision it makes you feel like a slob just looking at it. Photographed by Christian Hagemann, this particular series stuck out to me for its unapologetic vividness. And while there are no pond-dwelling birds in the German artist's napkins, never have I seen such impeccable concertinas.

Sarah Illenberger, Tafelspitzen 

Sarah Illenberger, Tafelspitzen

Sarah Illenberger, Tafelspitzen

Gadir Rajab, By The River (Oyster Magazine) 

If I feel like being cool and hip, Oyster Magazine and its internet counterpart Oystermag.com is the place I go to find hot, new photographers. It's where I recently discovered Gadir Rajab and his fab portfolio of photography, styling and video work. 

The Sydney-based creative's impressive client list is steadily growing with work for Adidas, Topshop and Kylie Minogue littering his website. It's this menswear shoot for Oyster Magazine that really excites me though with saturated, fuzzy tones perfectly highlighting heavily gelled hair and exposed seams.

Bleak but mesmerising, the images are strong and uncomplicated. The textures are beautiful with the weave of different fabrics contrasting wonderfully with the grainy concrete and panelled fascia. Gadir's style is familiar but this project is pleasingly gritty with enough edge to separate him from other young photographers. 

Gadir Rajab, By The River (Oyster Magazine)

Gadir Rajab, By The River (Oyster Magazine)

Gadir Rajab, By The River (Oyster Magazine)

Gadir Rajab, By The River (Oyster Magazine)

Tantzee, Andrea Grützner

Kristen Martincic, Bathing Suits

These paper swimming costumes from Kristen Martincic are beautifully delicate, and I love the way they've been carefully laid out like preserved butterflies in acrylic cases.  

Throughout Kristen's Bathing Suits and Skin Suits projects it feels as though she's really studied these objects and the way they work with the body.

She's keen to explore the context of the bathing suit and the way it's perceived by people in comparison to underwear, where the basic components are virtually the same. This is wonderfully reflected in the colours used for the paper suits with varying shades of nude and pale pastels. 

What I really like about this work is how Kristen has taken a piece of clothing that's normally so functional and shifted the focus purely to form and the individual components that make the whole. 

Kristen Martincic, Bathing Suits

Kristen Martincic, Bathing Suits

Kristen Martincic, Skin Suits

Kristen Martincic, Skin Suits

Kristen Martincic, Skin Suits

Nothing Special, Martin Kollar

The phrase "capturing a moment" is often overused but in the case of Martin Kollar it's perfectly apt. His ability to tell a story in one single frame is incredible and his series Nothing Special demonstrates this fantastically. 

As a collection of photographs that explores Eastern Europe during the post-Soviet era in the early 2000s, Martin documents clashing cultures, the rift between tradition and modernity and the bizarre situations that happen with no way of explaining what it all means.

Nothing Special manages to combine both the bleak and the funny and it's this juxtaposition that makes the work so successful. I've seen so many projects that try to emulate the obscure and the sad using a saturated palette and dreary backdrop but Martin's photos seem much more genuine as though he was there first. It's a beautiful unravelling of an area of the world that at the time was going through a huge transition and trying to work out where it belongs.

Nothing Special, Martin Kollar

Nothing Special, Martin Kollar

Nothing Special, Martin Kollar

Nothing Special, Martin Kollar

Nothing Special, Martin Kollar

Nothing Special, Martin Kollar

Nothing Special, Martin Kollar

i am everyone. i am no one (SS/15), Sabinna

With designers’ collections always looking to the future, the fashion world is always good for a healthy dose of optimism. Heck, even now SS/15 has started creeping into our radars and Russian born Sabinna’s collection i am everyone. i am no one is already getting me excited for next summer despite the sunny rays of 2014 still burning my fair head. 

The editorial for Sabinna’s final collection at Central Saint Martin’s is simply stunning and the whole concept is a beautiful idea. Referencing her mother’s childhood in Russia under communist rule, the fabrics used are inspired by sportswear worn in the USSR and traditional tablecloth, often used to make clothes when supplies were scarce.

The collection feels like a wonderful mix between basic and luxury. And the beautiful contrast between the thin, light cottons and the heavier, structured pieces works fantastically especially with the varying shades of white used throughout the collection. 

The simple backdrops of brownish sports halls with frayed nets and grey concrete with spray-painted yellow lines create a nod to the past that’s instantly recognisable.

i am everyone. i am no one (SS/15), Sabinna

i am everyone. i am no one (SS/15), Sabinna

i am everyone. i am no one (SS/15), Sabinna

i am everyone. i am no one (SS/15), Sabinna

i am everyone. i am no one (SS/15), Sabinna

i am everyone. i am no one (SS/15), Sabinna

Hair Highway, Studio Swine

When I saw Studio Swine's Hair Glasses project back in 2011 at the Royal College of Arts show it instantly stood out due its slick execution elevating it from being a fun and innovative use of materials, to a genuinely beautiful product.

Returning to hair as inspiration, Studio Swine have managed to do it again with their latest project Hair Highway. Exploring the global hair industry in the Shandong province of China, Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves have followed the journey of the material from the people who sell it all the way to the markets and factories. 

The pair have documented their journey in a wonderful short film about China's hair trade and created a range of stunning accessories and decorative objects to sit alongside it. Using their method of infusing hair in natural resin, the warm brown and red ombre tones are fantastic and look like an updated tortoise shell. 

There's a real progression in this series, with more sophisticated and intricate shapes being used, demonstrating an increased knowledge and understanding of their material. Studio Swine want people to see their hair resin material as a sustainable alternative to wood and I love that they're illustrating this in the most stylish way possible.

 Hair Highway, Studio Swine

Hair Highway, Studio Swine

Hair Highway, Studio Swine

Hair Highway, Studio Swine

Hair Highway, Studio Swine

Fruit, Christopher Dina

The sun is shining, people are smiling and despite the Bank Holiday weekend being over, fear not - there's another one on its way. Hooray! But if that still seems alarmingly far away, check out these fun and fruity posters from graphic designer, Christopher Dina.

Never has fruit looked so graphically juicy in this series where Christopher celebrates vegetable's pippy and peppy friend in all its colourful glory. Everything pops wonderfully here, with simple shapes slotting together to create a lovely geometric and minimalist visual identity for such a universally recognised subject.

Playful and vibrant, this is exactly the kind of work that will relieve you of any sort of back-to-work blues lickety-split! 

Fruit, Christopher Dina

Fruit, Christopher Dina

Fruit, Christopher Dina

Fruit, Christopher Dina

Fruit, Christopher Dina

Sigrid Calon

When I used to volunteer at a charity shop, I loved looking through all the old knitting and embroidery patterns. Not just for the incredibly retro cover images of families wearing matching knitted attire in lurid colours, but for the masses of grids, lines and numbers that filled every page too. It was fascinating to think that somehow they could all come together to create a fine piece of craft.

Dutch artist Sigrid Calon has visualised these types of patterns and grids in a brilliant way by creating beautiful rectangles of coloured, geometric lattices. Lacing patterns, shapes and hues over each other, these Risograph prints skillfully blend traditional craft with the digital age.

Sigrid's website is a graphical goldmine of works, each one offering something tempting - a bit of gradient here, some abstract basketweave there. And the colours are simply excellent, it's rare to see such a marvellous compilation of shades that compliment each other so well. I can't help but feel excited when I look at these prints.  

Maybe one day I'll fashion one of the old charity shop patterns I used to browse - but for now, gazing upon Sigrid's visualisations will do perfectly for me.

Sigrid Calon

Sigrid Calon

Sigrid Calon

Sigrid Calon

Sigrid Calon

Sigrid Calon

Pizza in the Wild, Jonpaul Douglass

If you've ever wondered what pizza gets up to in its spare time, then this series from Jonpaul Douglass will be truly enlightening. Titled Pizza in the Wild, these amusingly surreal images capture pizza laying on a pony, pizza slumped next to a wall and pizza chilling out with a curious peacock.

As much as I jest, I actually really like these photos. The background colours throughout the series really pop against the greasy tones of the pizza, like the speckled green grass, the lemony shine of the car and the slate grey decking. I love how each shot really fills the frame with the simple shapes and shades within them. 

It's worth noting the pizza depicted has been chosen specifically for its quintessential qualities; the congealed all-American cheese sighing under the weight of perfect pepperoni rounds - the dish has almost become an icon. After a long search, Jonpaul found the perfect pie from Little Caesar's for the bargain price of $5. 

The cool, lackadaisical nature of the pizza really works here and Jonpaul has captured the humdrum of life perfectly in this fun series. These photographs may not be the most highbrow thing you'll see this week, but hey - it's Friday!

Pizza in the Wild, Jonpaul Douglass

Pizza in the Wild, Jonpaul Douglass

Pizza in the Wild, Jonpaul Douglass

Pizza in the Wild, Jonpaul Douglass

This film is wonderfully weird and I mean that in the best way possible. Lei Lei, a multimedia Chinese animation artist created, This is Not a Time to Lie for Nowness (always a treasure trove of good) and the result is a journey through an imagined world, following a cute, bobble-headed protagonist.

Created using vintage book covers, the animation uses blocks of colour and pattern with subtle movements while small figures navigate through this backdrop. Lei Lei explains "no plots, storyboards or scripts were involved" and you can feel this when watching - while there's a loose narrative, there's a fluidity and it's not clear where we'll end up, which I like.

Lei Lei's musician friends Stars Lee and J-Fever feature in the film and exercise their talent for freestyle rap. It's really quite beautiful with abstract word pairings and seamless enjambment, it feels more like poetry than anything else.

Gym Boy, Jo Metson Scott

Jo Metson Scott met Hamish, AKA. 'Gym Boy' back in 2010. For the next two years she followed his life at the Elite Great British Gymnastic Squad. The series documents Hamish's daily routine, training schedule and his peers. It's a great insight into a twelve year old boy's dedication to achieving his dreams. 

It's a beautifully honest series showing the camaraderie and companionship between Hamish and his training partners. But also the other, more competitive side where they stand and watch each other intently, conscious of the fact that one day they'll be competing against each other.

The athleticism and power demonstrated by Hamish is remarkable and it's easy to forget that he's essentially still a child. Thinking back to when I was twelve, his focus is incredibly admirable as all I was capable of was simultaneously watching Hey Arnold while scoffing down a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. 

The palette of red and blue gym apparatus combined with soft skin tones and grey walls is lovely and crisp. Jo's careful observation of Hamish's world demonstrates her talents brilliantly and it's her quiet, unobtrusive approach to her subjects that makes us feel as though we're getting a true image. Be sure to check out the rest of her stunning portfolio.   

Gym Boy, Jo Metson Scott

Gym Boy, Jo Metson Scott

Gym Boy, Jo Metson Scott

Gym Boy, Jo Metson Scott

Gym Boy, Jo Metson Scott

Gym Boy, Jo Metson Scott

The Touch, Julita Malinowska

There's a lovely, serene sparseness to these oil paintings from Julita Malinowska. The muted colours, the focus on people and relationships and the composition all work really nicely together.

Julita leaves the background blank in her works to give us beautiful clusters of human interaction. Collating together multiple studies of the same people, or creating a whole scene using various couplings, it's a real snapshot into everyday behaviours and movements.

They remind me a bit of Greg Eason's early sketch work, but Julita's paintings are less concentrated on the finer details, and put more importance on capturing a moment and telling a story.

These minimal vignettes are so well observed and simple. I love how they all seem to be focused around water and the beach. I like to think this was a conscious decision from Julita, catching people unaware and uninhibited when playing by the sea.  

Family Systems, Julita Malinowska

Dance, Julita Malinowska

The Harmony, Julita Malinowska

Lovers IV, Julita Malinowska

An Offer, Julita Malinowska

Xoclad branding, Anagrama

Anagrama's treatment of high-end pastry and confectionary shop, Xoclad based in the Mayan Riviera, is so fresh and exciting. It injects a much needed revamp of the usual identities you see for cakeries.

Gone is the stereotyped fancy script and artisan-like sketches of confections and in place is a whole load of graphic loveliness. Anagrama were keen to "communicate the area's strong Mayan culture in a classy way that could never be called cliché or tacky", which they've achieved sublimely.   

The studio designed a bold, labyrinthian pattern that subtly emulates antique Mayan art and architecture in solid, strong black. This works wonderfully with the rest of their colour palette of dreamy sherbet and pastel shades, reminding us of the shop's sweet origins.

The whole identity is clean and striking, and just the tip of the creative iceberg when it comes to the rest of Anagrama's portfolio. It's a real visual feast to look through and a great example of a studio realising its clients needs in a beautiful way. 

Xoclad branding, Anagrama

Xoclad branding, Anagrama

Xoclad branding, Anagrama

Xoclad branding, Anagrama

Xoclad branding, Anagrama

Olympic Stadium, Robert Götzfried

There's something really beautiful about unoccupied public spaces. It's like being allowed the see the building through the eyes of the architect when they first envisaged it. 

It's also an opportunity to see spaces in a more abstract way, to really dissect them into the basic shapes they're made out of. This notion is what drew me to Robert Götzfried's series of photos of the olympic stadium in Munich, Germany. He's completely removed the context of this building by focusing on the patterns and design within it. I love how only hints of sport are present in the photos, like the bright green turf contrasted with the burnt orange track and how they're brought together by the sprayed white lines at opposing angles. It's also the multiple rows of empty arena seats, reminding us of the spectators and how vast the space is. 

It's a wonderfully curated set of images with lovely crops and crisp detail shots. And it's a great example of the beauty you find when considering architecture in its purest form. 

Olympic Stadium, Robert Götzfried

Olympic Stadium, Robert Götzfried

Olympic Stadium, Robert Götzfried

Olympic Stadium, Robert Götzfried