Alex Varanese, Lateral Progression

Alex Varanese, legend, has a couple of his various themed series in his TTP collection. Pavement Loop is one of them, and we featured it way back in January, when I said “It’s like he’s on creative speed or something.” Since joining TTP in October last year, Alex has become one of our most popular artists, and it’s not hard to see why. The combination of wit, style, and thoughtfulness in his pieces is hard to miss. Anyway we have five Pavement Loop pieces in the store, and with the addition Lateral Progression (above), it’s a nice bit.

As a refresher, here’s what Alex wrote about Pavement Loop on his site:

…As fate would have it, the otherwise expansive distance between the dispassionate chaos of adult life and the reassuring resilience of youth has been reduced to a single line—Route 17—beginning at a point I pass on a daily basis.

So while Luddites and hippies may decry urban sprawl and the gradual surrender of the natural world to the unrelenting empire of Big Box Wal*MartHitlerStarbucks, Inc., part of me has to thank that callous industrialization for providing a cartographic metronome that keeps the downbeats of life’s runaway rhythm synchronized on the fours.

In fairness, however, I should note that this is all coming from a guy that AAA Roadside Assistance once dropped from their service for locking his keys in his car four times in a two-month period.

You can see the rest of his TTP store here.

Cristian Grossi, Insekta Fashion Aesthetic (gififized)

Italian illustrator and designer Cristian Grossi, whose “Insecta” series we have discussed at some length in this space previously, has seen his work come alive yet further. First his prints became fashion designs and wearable items like scarves; now they’re moving gifs on the walls of a gallery. His work is currently featured at the Fashion Space Gallery (at the London College of Fashion) Go Figure; New Fashion Illustration exhibition.

We’re also huge supporters of the gif movement here at TTP, so we’re thrilled to see Cristian using the animated gif to great affect (as you can see in the image above) in this exhibition.

Prints from the show are exclusively available in his TTP collection, which you can see here. The piece above is available here (although regrettably our prints are not animated, at least not yet).

Here’s what the folks over at the Fashion Space Gallery (at the London College of Fashion) say about Cristian’s work in the show:

Cristian Grossi is an Italian graphic designer and illustrator based in Parma who cleverly contrasts organic patterns and bold colour planes. His ‘Insecta’ series takes it a step further and the illustrated image literally comes alive through the use of animated gifs.

John Padlo, Red Ready

I love the car/trip/adventure pieces on TTP. After some brief driving time, I remembered how much fun it is to be on unfamiliar roads, too. These John Padlo and Kareem Rizk pieces, for example, have a certain mix of nostalgia, irreverence, and whimsy that can, corny as it sounds, make pieces as memorable as road trips. And John’s gangster toy guy reminds me of Bonnie and Clyde and The Untouchables. Hmm.

Check out John’s TTP collection here, and Kareem has a bunch of other car collage pieces in her TTP collection here.

Kareem Rizk, Blue Car

Shino Arihara, Meantime

Instead of the usual Five Links for Friday I think it’d be fun to put up five pieces in honor of Mother’s Day. Not like gushy mommy this mommy that pieces, but some pieces that hint at mothers or family in all sorts of different ways. Yes? And please do add more Mother’s Day related pieces you find in the comments. We can build a nice little Mother’s Day collection.

Raudiel Sañudo, Forgive Me Mother

Christopher Umana, Mommy

Jeremy Forson, Organs

Riki Blanco, Laurea

Nishant Choksi, Monsters

More in honor of Maurice Sendak – we searched “Monster” and found these, among others.

Wilson Hsu, Mr. Foot

Christian Turdera, Monsters

Heiko Windisch, Behemoth

Peter Diamond, Il Dottor Della Peste

Yesterday this this interview tidbit from Maurice Sendak was blogged tweeted posted reblogged shared RT’d and commented upon. This is in case you missed it.

RIP Sendak, true legend.

Tatsuro Kiuchi, Spring Training

Just because.

Chris Lyles, Spring Rain

Put on a bird on this/put a bird on that. When we wrote about a quick bird thing back in February we had to leave out Chris Lyles‘s stuff because he’s one of TTP’s bird royalty. He’s got them all over the place, and his illustrator instincts help him produce them (among other subjects, of course) totally different every time. Whever we write about him it’s hard to choose which of his bird pieces to put up. Real talk.

In any case he just added this new one called Spring Rain (above) and we’re pumped about it. Which one do you like? Here’s another one of our favorites:

Chris Lyles, Seasonal

You can see the rest of Chris’s TTP collection (including other new stuff) here.

Michael Sieben, Discovered

1. Chris Uphues show at Rotofugi here in Chicago opening tonight. Go.

2. New pieces in a slightly different style by Colin Johnson.

3. Also so many new pieces by new TTPer Tim McDonagh that we had to do it in two parts.

4. Agan Harahap. This dude is too smart.

5. Lilli Carré doin work.

Colin Johnson, Mystic Flora

Colin Johnson gets a lot of attention for his larger, intensely detailed pieces like Big Numbers, Heart & Teeth,  Effloresce or others because they’re hand done and stunning. I really don’t like that word, “stunning.”  The point is that they are what they are, which is impressive. Now, though, Colin has added three new pieces to his TTP collection that show a side of him less obvious in those other bigger pieces.

Colin Johnson, Pulse

They show a side fascinated in nature and science and the peculiarities deep within. Some of his other TTP pieces, like Division or Many the Root hint at nature and the sort of cellular motifs you see in Mystic Flora, above, or the combination of sci-fi and crazy neuron looking biological graph stuff like in Pulse and Vernal Bloom. Either way, when you take the body of Colin’s TTP work and combine the big detailed pieces with the natural and sort of mysterious pieces you get a fascinating picture: An oeuvre of examination and wit. Dope.

Colin Johnson, Vernal Bloom

Go look at the rest of Colin Johnson’s TTP collection here.

Tim McDonagh, Shoes Amongst Grass

We touched on some of Tim McDonagh’s new pieces yesterday, but today you can start to see just how much we’re talking about. Prints. On. Prints.

Tim McDonagh, Mickey’s Girl

And to continue the themes from yesterday, these pieces are both totally unpredictable regarding subject (a bird, shoes, a scary girl,  a shark) and packed with the layers of detail that make Tim’s work instantly recognizable. It’s something we talked about at some length all the way back in April:

TTP: I think the thing that gets me about your stuff is this foreground/background thing. There are these subjects that are sometimes front and center, sometimes not, but there’s always another level – a detailed background, a bottom half…it’s something MORE underneath it all.
TTP: More layers.
TTP: I don’t really have a question to follow this up with. I’m just throwing it out there.
Tim: It’s nice that you picked up on that, yeah things just kind of developed in that direction and I’ve found it a really comfortable way to build an image. I like just adding and adding to an image until I’m happy with it really. Recently though I’ve been trying to cut down sometimes and go slightly more stripped back with my images.
TTP: Right I mean how do you know when to stop? When it’s “done” – whatever that means.
Tim: I think it might be a confidence thing, the need to just fill it up with as much as I can so people will at the very least say, “That must’ve taken ages” but as I’ve worked for more clients and find a bit more confidence I can sometimes find a more appropriate place to stop cramming.

You can read the rest of that interview/chat here.

Tim McDonagh, King of the Fishers

And the rest of Tim’s TTP collection is here.

Tim McDonagh, Sleep with the Fishes

Tim McDonagh, Geishas

Ahhhhh look at these new pieces Tim McDonagh just added to his TTP collection! They’re huge! And they’re nuts! We learned during our chat with Tim a few weeks back that he’s a man of many layers both personally, like the way in which his experience in an alternative school West Virginia affected him, and artistically, like the literal layers of texture and composition in his works. These new pieces show his range.

Tim McDonagh, Lady of the Flowers

From geishas to a skeleton to a pheasant, he’s all over the place in terms of subject – in a good way. Also interesting is the fact that Tim didn’t particularly load up the Lady of the Flowers (above) with the same kind of layering and detail that he talks about regarding, for example, blades of grass. Maybe it’s part of a transition he mentioned back in the chat:

“I like just adding and adding to an image until I’m happy with it really. Recently though I’ve been trying to cut down sometimes and go slightly more stripped back with my images.”

Tim McDonagh, Pheasant Elder

Well here’s to Tim’s new TTP stuff. Whether he gets more detailed or less so, we’re for it.

You can see the rest of Tim’s TTP store here. We’ll have the rest of Tim’s new pieces tomorrow.

Christopher Umana, Reconstruction of Classical Beauty

Today’s the last day our spring time coupon/sale/promotion thing is good. Get 10% off your stuff with coupon code SPRINGTIMESMASH (or 15% off if you get the Thursday blast).

And if you hurry and get it today, you’ll have it shipped with plenty of time to give it to mama for Mother’s Day. Just sayin.

Lucas Aguirre, Thinking Lady

1. MOTHERS DAY COMETH. Get 10-15% off until the end of the month, and get whatever you get delivered in time to give to mama.

2. New work – with his signature typography – from Bryan Holland.

3. Since the wise people of Tumblr seem to have rediscovered our interview with new TTPer Mike Egan from last week, here it is again for your enjoyment.

4. Ever wonder what Angela Trentin was like in person? Dig this video.

5. Barry’s interview over at Origami Chicken.

Shino Arihara, Blow

First of all, we want to remind you all that Thursday Blast recipients get 15% off with our spring sale until the end of the month. It’s a special perk of signing up for these emails and passing them on, so go use it if you got it! (You blog readers still get 10% off at the store. Just enter coupon code SPRINGTIMESMASH.)

Olaf Hajek, Maskedgirl

And not to jump on the bandwagon but the best news is that you can parlay that spring coupon with Mother’s Day which is – eeks! – just two weeks away now. Get your ma something she’d never expect, something that will blow her away. Get her some art that shows you appreciate her humor and her quirks. Get her something that shows her you care, or at LEAST that you remembered to get her something.

Gina and Matt, Apple

You can see the rest of the TTP store here.

Paul Blow, Learning To See

Sometimes it can feel a bit bland to search art by color. It’s rarely JUST the color that makes us love a piece, but it’s also hard to argue that you can love a piece and hate its color(s). Also I wanted to keep messing with our search features, so I searched for dark blue, like the night. I found a bunch of stuff, including these two from two of our quirkiest artists, Paul Blow and Nick Dewar.

Nick Dewar, Cowboy Shirt

Look for more good stuff by searching by color up there to the right of every TTP page, or in the dark blue search, or at the personal TTP collections of Paul Blow and Nick Dewar.

Pete Ryan, Arm Wrestle

Don’t forget! You faithful readers of the blog get 10% off all the whatever-you-wants in the Thumbtack Press store with the coupon code SPRINGTIMESMASH.  Also remember that if you are signed up for the Thursday blast, you’d have a 15% off coupon. (So sign up here.)

The primavera special will be good until the end of the month, hurry!

Bryan Holland, Symbiosis

A few weeks back, Bryan Holland added a swirling, textural piece with a giant Polar Bear called Animus. Here’s another new piece with a central animal figure and texture galore. This one, Symbiosis, also has some of Bryan’s signature stylistic typography in the bottom left of the piece. Any idea what it says?

You can see the rest of Bryan’s TTP collection here.

Linzie Hunter, Spam One Liners: Realise

1. Obligatory + celebratory spring blog post with a very NON-obligatory spring coupon. Buy yaself something nice.

2. This photoset of the Space Shuttle Discovery’s last journey is too cool.

3. Interviews with new TTPers Mike Egan and Tim McDonagh touch on everything from their processes to their FEELINGS.

4. An Anthony Freda piece, GIFifized = now with extra screwing!

5. “Because you talk to me with words. And I look at you with feelings.”

Gianluca Foli, Presagio di Primavera

Ah spring, when Passover and Easter are closely followed by that first day you walk home from work, baseball season, and buying a bunch of art.

So of course we love spring as much as the next art site. It’s around this time every year that we emerge into the blinding outdoors, stretch a nice and big stretch, and write blog posts and email blasts about spring related works in our store. Like Tax Day and the first day of school, the “Hey it’s spring check out what we got” posts/emails are inevitable, in every business, and impossible to avoid.

But really, we spent some time fixing up our new site’s search features so that you can now quite easily scan through all sorts of fun symbols and things related to spring. It’s actually pretty cool – it’s the quickest way to find something specific since the card catalogue was invented. Search for “spring,” for example, and you’ll see Gianluca‘s piece (whose title translates roughly into, um, “Harbinger of Primavera”) above. Search for an optimistic, spring-like green color and you’ll find this one, by Mark Frauenfelder:

Mark Frauenfelder, Stumpdance

Or, if you’re into anthropomorphizing spring, check out some of Doug Boehm‘s works, which you can find under the subject aptly named “Seasons.” I mean it’s so on point that we probably could’ve cut this whole thing short and only sent you this piece, with the heroic warrior of spring vanquishing (vanquishing!) that impish ghoul of winter:

Doug Boehm, Winter Vs. Spring

To prove how much we care, you readers of the blog get 10% off  if you enter the coupon code SPRINGTIMESMASH in the TTP store. (But if you get the Thursday blast, you get 15% off. You can sign up here.) It’ll be good until the end of the month.

Browse through the spring things and non-spring things here. And then go outside and play with your kids and friends!