May 29, 2012 - Comments Off on Mugginess and Moisture

Mugginess and Moisture

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend! It was a hot one. I enjoyed a fair bit of outdoors time but it was a bit too sticky to stay out the entire time. I'm always amazed by how quickly these long weekends zip by. The sun was nice but the heat and humidity were oppressive. Heat moves us all, quite literally. I was out Friday enjoying the fresh air with the masses but when it began to rain I bolted into the Subway--along with about half the city.Sunbather

The works of Ian Francis exude a level of heat almost equivalent to a muggy New York summer. The paints seem to melt on the canvas in a splattering of warm hues that intermingle with the deconstructed scenes in a complex fashion. The layered and broken qualities of his works speak of the digital age while his method is clearly more classical. His abstract backgrounds and expressive figures seem to live in a world of constant searing heat.

Sweat and heat aside, the biggest change that comes with the warmer weather is undoubtedly our clothes. The warm weather allows for much more interesting forms of self expression. New York City is fairly diverse fashion-wise on a cold day but when garments no longer have to keep their wearer warm city dwellers begin exploring the vast landscape of fashion. Krystalrae does just this with a bright collection of styles and a fabulous site. The heavy reliance on pattern reflects the product itself while the centerpiece model that changes as you scroll reminds me of those paper dolls of youth.

KrystalraeWhile the weekend was a true scorcher, I'm thankful that things weren't as bad as they are in this week's video by Jacob Streilein. While a beautiful and poignant piece of animation, let us pray global warming never gets so bad. And it if it does, make sure you have a wrench handy.

The Sketching Mechanism is a series of weekly posts, published on Mondays, containing the artistic musings of Mobile Designer/Developer Ben Chirlin during our Monday morning meeting at the NY Creative Bunker as well as his inspiring artistic finds of the week.

Published by: benchirlin in The Sketching Mechanism

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