James and Karla Murray, both photographers and authors who live in New York and Miami, published a book called STORE FRONT: The Disappearing Face of New York. They spent incredible 8 years travelling through New York City and its outer boroughs only to capture the old faces of fading and decaying stores. The outcome of their relentless work is simply magnificent and deeply inspiring. When opening the book (which weighs more or less 3 kgs) you’re overwhelmed with crisp and colourful photographs of old store fronts which all tell their very own stories. Personally, I love every single page of it and don’t regret that I, a “poor” student, spent more than 60€ on that book. I strongly recommend this bestseller to inspiration-seeking artists, New York aficionados and all those who are keen on urban photography.

Put your iTunes collection on shuffle, and write down the first line of the first twenty songs. Post the poem that results. The first line of the twenty-first is the title.

Some days her shape in the doorway will speak to me

We’re really rocking in Boston.
Well, you call me your baby…

I’ve got a whole lot of things to tell you.
Say the word and you’ll be free,
Lead me through these cities of imaginary trends

She would never say where she came from.

We don’t care if you only love “we”,
You, who were born with the sun above your shoulders.

Since she’s been gone I want no one to talk to me,
Just let me hear some of that rock’n'roll music.

I lost myself on a cold dead night.

It’s not the way you smile that touched my heart.
All my life I’ve been searching for something…

Yeah, I’m a back door man!
I wanna be your lover, baby…

I’m finding out what love is all about.
Come on, skinny love, just last the year,
You know that it would be untrue…

Clouds are holding up the dawn,
Let’s all get up and dance to a song.

(I made some slight changes, though. Is that cheating? Who cares, anyway.)

Emily Webber takes photographs of London’s shop fronts. I don’t know anything about her. I don’t have a clue why exactly she does what she does but what I certainly know is that it fascinates me. There are so many tiny, somehow magical details you can find in those shots if you take a really close look at them. Moreover, you realise that every shop front has a character on its own. Some may even stir up old memories which were thought to be long lost. Now, who would have thought that? Shop fronts, eh. Don’t underestimate shop fronts.

In my last post I told you about the abundance of inspiring artists you can find on Eyestorm. In this post, I would like to introduce you to one I liked in particular. Actually, I fell in love with his works instantly. It was – what I call – love at the very first sight in its finest form. The marvellous artist, whose stunning creativity I admire deeply, is called Dan Baldwin.

Dan Baldwin is a West Sussex (UK) based artist whose ambivalent and partly provocative artwork focuses on life. Furthermore, he deliberately mingles elements such as death, decay, conflict, religion, harmony,etc. and uses colours which will undoubtedly catch your eye. Although his works seem kind of unworldly at first sight, he always keeps them realistic. For instance he uses an interesting layering process by adding 3-dimensional objects such as bullets, knives, razor blades, or money to his eye-catching paintings.

I guess you should have a look at them. It’s worth it, believe me.

http://www.danbaldwinart.com

“Disneyland Horror Show / Politics Fuck-up No1″

Dan Baldwin on Opus Art
Dan Baldwin on Eyestorm

As the name suggests it’s a site where your eyes will most probably be temporarily overwhelmed since there is an abundance of unique, contemporary art works to discover. On top of that, it is a great source of inspiration for every (aspiring) visual artist out there. What makes it even more interesting is that you can actually purchase those art works. So that you can first order them online, then decorate your own four walls and finally show them off to your friends by telling them (only en passant, of course!) that they are ‘so not from IKEA’. Not even to mention what a great gift one of these art pieces would make.

However, the prices are rather not so ‘ikea-like’, after all. They usually range from £100 to £13000, which is more or less reasonable for the majority of the works you find. I guess there is something for everyone’s taste. Anyway, enough babble! Click here and have a look, if you haven’t already.

Dan Baldwin’s “The Future Frontline Renegades of Dead London” (2009)

When I was a child I used to be terrified of blindness. I spend many sleepless nights in my small bed enveloped in the threatening darkness of the night, trying my best not to fall asleep. I simply believed that one day I would wake up blind, forever trapped in a thick, dark something.

The day I was told I had to start wearing glasses, I consistently refused to wear them as I was convinced that I was going blind and thus had to die – at once. Therefore, wearing glasses would have been absolutely futile, right? A typical reaction of a scared child, if you ask me.

Today, I see it quite differently. I’m faithfully wearing my glasses (or my contact lenses). Blindness still is a disability which slightly scares me, though. On the other hand, it is a strong handicap which is on my mind often and greatly fascinates me. Today, I know that blindness doesn’t necessarily equal total darkness.  Today, I know that blindness doesn’t equal the end of creativity, the end of  joy, the end of life. And I decided to share some photos with you. Taken by blind people, of course. People who don’t perceive the world the same way as most of us do and yet have the courage to hold a camera. I deliberately use the word ‘courage’ here, since taking beautiful, high-quality photos has to be challenging and time-consuming. Always. For everyone. Blind people have to rely on all their other senses to take those pictures, which makes their works incredibly beautiful and special. See for yourself.

If you want to see some more, click here. It’s definitely worth a look.

(via Sad Autumn)