Interview with Artist Eli Bornowsky

by Jonah Samson

Just a few years out of art school, Eli Bornowsky has been included in shows at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver and the Vancouver Art Gallery, and has had two solo shows in Vancouver’s delightful Blanket Gallery. I recently met up with him at his studio to check out more of his work.

What lead to the recurrent pattern of circles you've been using in your recent work?
I recognized my affinity with Islamic geometric design. Studying these patterns helped me to further abstract my work—a very difficult task. The circles just happened to work. Of course they didn't happen overnight. You work at these things. I was looking for a structure where I could experiment with weak gestalt relationships, where the perceptual strategy of the viewer would become embroiled with a composition that was always in flux.

Your work involves a lot of color theory. How much of it is science, and how much is intuitive?
It is hard to imagine inspiration without intuition. If we wait patiently, we may become inspired. Today, the neuroscientists and geneticists want to replace our subjectivities with scientific facts, wrongly attempting to end the mystery of being a human. When we experience color, for example, the sensation cannot be summated by articulations of wavelengths. In fact, formalist lingo is not very useful either. The difference between yellow and orange is absolutely remarkable. Science cannot verify the experience of art, or the merit of the subjective exercise of looking at pictures. However, for me art is important, even necessary, for the experience of reality.

Whose work is really exciting you right now?
I recently curated an exhibition called Making Real at the Or Gallery (Vancouver, 2008). It included two of my close peers, Mat Bushell and Monique Mouton who's work I am very excited about, along with Richard Tuttle and Guido Molinari, two very different artists who would be something like my masters. Richard's work has been deeply impressive; his achievement is of the most difficult kind. I'm also planning to fly to Montreal to see the Claude Tousignant retrospective and I couldn't forget to mention Brice Marden's large but quiet abstractions.

Welcome to Toddland

by Mike Giles

After noticing a killer one-piece jumpsuit called the "Conchord" online we asked ourselves, “Who would make such a great piece?” Below are the answers we got back after exchanging a few emails full of intrigue and wit with one of the founders (Todd) of the clothing line Toddland. It's the story of a little company that started with a bunch of friends wanting to make things from ideas that existed only in their heads.

Who are you?
Who are you? We don't know you. We aren't supposed to talk to strangers. Accept candy, yes. Talk to, no. We are a handful of friends that just want to make rad stuff. We were all making rad things together for our friends at Paul Frank, then decided it was time to make rad stuff for ourselves. We all loved the stuff that we grew up with from our childhoods and don't see why we can't bring some of that magic back. It's just clothes, not rocket science. It's a tee shirt, we're not changing the world. But if we can make things that make people happy, that's great. (Oh, and did we mention charge them for it?) We are a tiny group of friends doing what we do, it just so happens that we're designers, photographers and artists and thought it was time to share our little world with everyone.

What is the brand about?
Nachos. And making things that we think are rad and want our friends to have. We have a rule, rad goes with rad. It doesn't really matter if its a jumpsuit, roller skates, a painting of a water skiing squirrel. If its rad, it fits in our little world. (And feel free to roller skate with your jumpsuit on, carrying a painting of a water skiing squirrel. We do it all the time, its called Tuesday.) We stick to everything being priced at where our friends can buy it. Our tees are $28 and we throw in rad for free. We appreciate and love vintage, but decided it was time to offer people an option that doesn't involve the possibility that A) someone died wearing it; B) it's haunted; C) it smells like patchouli oil; or D) all the above. Plus our stuff fits, good luck finding that in a thrift store.

Where can readers get your goods?
We only sell to our friends and stores that "get" what we are all about. Purveyors of radness in California include Fred Segal, Villlains San Francisco, Thalia St in Laguna Beach, Wolf in Venice, and Hobie. We also sell at service in Austin, and Urban Outfitters nationwide. We are adding a bunch of new stores for fall though, so check out our online site in July for more places to track stuff down. The only place to find every piece is our online store. We accept all major credit cards and cookies. And by cookies, we mean credit cards. But we're not kidding about cookies, we're totally not above eating baked goods from strangers.

Why did you start a company?
Because I didn't want to shave my beard and I like wearing shorts and a sweatband to work everyday. Oh, and because this is America. Somebody told us they take away your citizenship if you don't start a clothing company at least once. So yeah, it was either start Toddland or move to Canada. USA! USA! USA! USA! Maple syrup wreaks havoc on the bearded.

When will the new collection be out?
The second part of spring is shipping out of the cardboard forest (our warehouse) right now and we just put it up online today. Summer will be out at the end of May, then a whole bunch of new stuff for fall will start popping up in stores in the middle of July.

Brit Insurance Designs of the Year 2009

by Leonora Oppenheim

The second year of the Brit Insurance Designs Awards has sneaked up on us rather steathily and The Design Museum in London once again plays host to a wonderful collection of the past year's designs nominated in seven categories by the great and good of the design world. The overall 2009 award has been won, unsurprisingly, by Shepard Fairey for his already iconic poster designs that he made in support of Obama's election campaign.

Other winners include the Italian Vogue's "momentous" Black Edition in the fashion category, Konstantin Grcic's cantilevered MYTO chair in the furniture category and Oslo's new opera house, designed by Snøhetta won the architecture category. All worthy high profile winners of course, but plenty more inspiring projects are featured in the rest of the exhibition too.

The Indonesian Magno wooden radio by designer Singgih S Kartono, a sustainable product which happily won the product category and the people's choice award. The production of this radio provides a cottage industry for villagers in Kandangan, Central Java, retraining members of the community with new carpentry skills and reviving their local economy so villagers don't have to move to the city to look for work.

The Witness Flat Series by Studio Makkink + Bey is a collaboration between innovative dutch designer Jurgen Bey and his wife Rianne Makkink. Together they created a family of furniture made from off-cuts of Dutch wood and wool felt. We loved the sort of pixelated effect created by collaging the wood and felt pieces together and the simple unexpected beauty of the white felt chandelier.

Wonderland is another fascinating collaboration exploring concepts of sustainability in design. Fashion designer Helen Storey and polymer chemist Tony Ryan have been working together for three years creating disappearing dresses from biodegradable materials. A beautifully ethereal film by photographer Nick Knight and SHOWstudio explains the extraordinary chemical process that leads the fabrics to disintegrate.

James Frost's ground breaking video for Radiohead's House of Cards was a great nomination for the interactive category. Using a scanning and laser technologies instead of normal lights and cameras, Frost was able to capture extraordinary 3D images in a 360 degree radius. Not only are the images incredible, but viewers were able to manipulate the information and create their own versions of the video.

Brit Insurance Designs of the Year
14 June 2009
Design Museum in London
Shad Thames
London, SE1 map
tel. +44 20 7403 6933

Gliss: Devotion Implosion

by Doug Black

Well schooled in the fuzzed-out guitars and ambient vocals of the shoegaze canon, Gliss brings a wall-of-sound approach to their dark pop compositions. In the two years since their more somber and mopey debut, Gliss is back with "Devotion Implosion." On the record, the Los Angeles triumvirate evoke the best elements of My Bloody Valentine and the Jesus and Mary Chain, displaying anthemic qualities that help navigate the droning, murky minefield that plagues many of their contemporaries.

Songs show a practiced versatility, as members Martin Klingman, David Reiss and Victoria Cecilia switch instruments between songs. "Morning Light," one of the record's stand-out tracks, could be a female-fronted outtake from Psychocandy. While the first single, "Anybody Inside," shows all the swagger and verve of Spacemen 3.

"Devotion Implosion" comes out 7 April 2009. They've shared the stage with acts like Raveonettes, the Editors, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Smashing Pumpkins and on 25 March 2009, they'll embark on an extended North American "Stimulus Package" tour (tickets average $5) with the inexplicably Pittsburgh-based Takeover UK. Check their Myspace for dates.

Stefan Sagmeister for Levi's

by Karen Day

Levi's is no stranger to collaborating with pioneers of modern art; originality like that of Shepard Fairey and Damien Hirst have a lot in common with the brand's creative spirit and rock n' roll attitude. Joining the ranks of this esteemed consortium is famed graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister who unmade a pair of 501 jeans, stripping and unweaving them down to their core to expose all the constituent parts for a window installation at American Rag's L.A. boutique .

The first in a series of works created for Levi's, Sagmeister's depiction of the building blocks of jeans is an example of the kind of stunningly elegant and subtly clever touches that makes his approach to graphic design successful with clients like Lou Reed and the Rolling Stones.

The installation is on display this month at American Rag's L.A. location, but to further mark the occasion a limited run of 501 museum-quality, poster reproductions of the graphics will be distributed at both the L.A. and San Francisco American Rag stores.