A few artists jumped out at me this weekend at Art Basel down in Miami — one of them I had to mention was Atsushi Kaga. Born in Japan, and schooled at the National College of Art in Dublin (weird, right?), Kaga’s work is devilishly intriguing. He had about 15 or 20 pieces, represented by Mother’s Tankstation (a small Irish gallery) available for sale — and into the third day as I was deliberating buying one, a collector-like looking woman walked in and bought the entire show of oil and acrylics with the snap of her fingers, as well as a few drawings. I’d keep your eyes peeled for more of Kaga’s work in the near future; my guess is he’s going to come onto the scene in a big way, and very soon. One more picture after the jump…

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Back in October, I raved about Whale Hunt, the latest project from Jonathan Harris, friend and JS regular. Finally, the project is online and is a must see for anyone interested in the art of story telling. If you missed it when we posted earlier, the whale hunt is a project in which Harris went up to Alaska, shooting photos at 5-minute intervals and faster when his heart rate sped up as he witnessed a traditional whale hunt (a 1000 year old ritual). The photos are incredible, but what’s even more amazing is the organization of the content. Seriously, go spend some time on The Whale Hunt and read his beautiful statement about the project. Congratulations Jonathan!

This trailer for Heima, the documentary by Sigur Ros is a must see. It’s gorgeously shot (HD is stunning), and shockingly moving. The film was made last summer at the end of an extensive world tour– the group returned home to Iceland and played a series of free concerts around the homeland, all unannounced. The film takes us through venues and scenery throughout their beautiful (read: incredible) homeland, from an abandoned fish factory to a protest camp at the edge of a controversial dam. The DVD will also have a companion album entitled Hvarf-Heim which will feature a few unreleased songs. Go, watch it now! I look forward to the DVD’s release on November 5th.

There is a screening of Heima on Wednesday 24 October at Cecil Sharp House in London– the BBC website has some more information about this showing as well as a couple more sneak peaks at songs performed in the film.

Our heads have been bobbing all morning to the new Jose Gonzalez album, In Our Nature. No, it’s not available yet (slated for a September 25 Release), and yes, we’re naughty boys for listening to leaked music — but I assure you I’ll buy three copies to make up for it. The new album continues his compassionate, sometimes heart-wrenching finger picking melodic-madness that was Veneer (the rookie album sold just over 700,000 copies, not to shabby for an acoustic guitarist).

You can grab one of the best singles on the record, Down The Line already, available on iTunes DRM free and worth every penny, and be sure to catch him this Fall on tour around the US — this man is a genius.

Ooh, this sounds good: “An online talent search engine designed to connect the creative class with enthusiasts around the world.” If “enthusiasts” means clients (also known as jobs) like I think it does, the new Global Talent Database sounds like a great new way to help independent artists and performers connect with the people who need them. By allowing creative types to create a free listing (that can include their portfolio), the site makes it easy for potential customers to find them and hire them. To make sure each artist is given equal chance for exposure, popularity and ranking on the site is determined via community feedback and a variety of networking/socialization features built into the site (instead of the “number of friends” systems used elsewhere). The artists that use the site can also take advantage of the genre-relevant, pre-filtered newsfeeds that will help them stay on top of the news and trends that affect their industries — a thoughtful addition to a networking site. The site was officially launched only yesterday, but it looks like they’ve reached fast popularity within several of their twenty artistic categories. Only time will tell with GTB, but it is free, so if this looks like something *hypothetically* useful, I say…go for it.

Cubadust is the portfolio of insanely talented Swedish freelance graphic designer Jonas Strandberg-Ringh. It was recently updated with some of his incredible work in both motion and print for the likes of MTV Europe, Discovery Channel, Unicef, Nike and many more. Cubadust was also the host of the “Versus Project“– a unique online event where 40 different designers came together and made magic on a 30,000 pixel wide canvas, all together and at once. When you’re not admiring Jonas’ portfolio, check out the images from the Versus Project, it’s quite inspiring.

Legendary graffiti artist Vulcan was recently commissioned to paint a line of servers for Google in conjunction with his solo show that recently opened on the company’s Mountain View Campus. You can browse the work from the show on Vulcan’s site and purchase some of his work via Google Checkout, naturally. Awesome to see such a huge company like Google staying grounded by supporting the arts. More shots of the super-sexy limited edition servers after the jump.

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We have to admit we’re going to miss our friend Chean Wei Law’s old portfolio site– but the new one is just as impressive. If you don’t remember Undoboy, he created those super-fun Super-bastard box figures. His new identity is solid and interface is simple and sexy– it helps further deliver his simple message about life: Design Brings Happiness. The new site of the NY based designer shows off some of his awesome work for folks like Mini Cooper, Coke Zero and Volkswagen. Congrats on the new site, Undoboy!

Ashkahn just launched his new online studio called Don’t Stop. Through his new site, Ashkahn will continue to wow the masses with his experimental and utterly unique visuals for music packaging, merchandise branding, posters and identity. I also learned through his blog that he just contributed some illustrations to the new issues of Beautiful/Decay and BPM. From the looks of it, Ashkahn has been a busy guy– a great thing to see from a young designer. Keep up the hard work!

Jillian Tamaki calls herself a displaced Canadian illustrator, currently braving the wilds of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Having lived in Greenpoint, I can only imagine what she’s finding so wild about one of the statistically safest neighborhoods in all of the five boroughs– but I’ll let the likely soft-skinned Alberta College of Art and Design graduate slide on that one. This aside, I’m a big fan of her illustration work– emotionally deep and detailed, unique and refreshing. Clients of hers include everyone from Nickelodeon to Outside Magazine. This 3D map of Japan on the right really has me buzzing.

Above are the top five finalists for the annual Champagne Chair Award– the contest held every year by Design Within Reach where super-handy craftsmen (and woman) put together chairs from the cork, wire and foil off a champagne bottle. The winner wins a $500 DWR gift certificate (enough for a trash can or two) and their winning chair joins the other outstanding chairs on a nationwide studio tour. Voting closes on Friday , February 9th at 5pm PT and you can only vote once, so choose wisely. The Copenhagen Rockegg chair (far left) by Brandy Shih has my vote!

It’s tough to categorize Ray Fenwick, a young and hugely promising cartoonist, illustrator, typographer out of Canada. When forced to choose a definition for himself, he jokingly prefers to give something like, “One Who Draws on a Regular Basis, Whether For Purpose of Sharing or Merely For Self-Gratification.” Personally, I prefer to just leave words out of it and let my eyes sort out exactly what it is that Mr. Fenwick spends his time doing, because he’s pretty darn good at everything. His illustrations and musings are honest and sweetly sarcastic, and I’m super buzzed about his typography which is powerful, creative, AND fuctional (a trait sadly lacking in font design these days). While he’s spent a little over a year on his Hall of Best Knowledge comic strip (which ran exclusively in “The Coast,” Halifax’s weekly paper) he recently retired the strip to focus on his new job of managing a soon-to-be letterpress. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Ray is also incredibly funny; the online magazine LAB has a hilarious interview with him up right now. Check it out if you’re into that sort of thing.

Hello Color (previously Norbb) is the design portfolio of 22 year old Pawel Nolbert– a freelance graphic designer, interactive, branding 3D genius based in Poland. You’re probably thinking to yourself “another 20-something graphic design mad-man?”, us too. With tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, a decent computer and a great imagination, we’re seeing extremely talented individuals come out of every city worldwide. Pawel has some nice prints available for sale as well.

Perttu Murto is a 20-year-old Finnish graphic artist, and his portfolio ‘Overmode‘ is nothing less than breathtaking. He only recently started (2003) working with graphics and photography– and he clearly has a gift. When he’s not doing work for a solid client list like Volvo, Dolce & Gabana and ICON Snowboards, he’s a first year student in information technology at Oulu Polytechnic Institute of Technology. Keep up the good work Perttu!

Emeric Trahand is a 25-year-young freelance graphic designer from France, and his work is definitely worth a look. Emeric, or Tksh**** (which is his professional name) is an up-and-comer in the design game– he’s only been working intensely with graphic design for about a year. But although he’s a relative rookie, he is super passionate about design and his work shows a lot of promise; with his passion and natural talent, Emeric is sure to become a force to be reckoned with in the coming years. His work can most accurately be described as an ‘urban decay graphic style,’ and I think it has a very aesthetically pleasing — not to mention marketable — quality to it. Also be sure to check out some of Emeric’s newest work in the premier, Volume 1 edition of the new art and design lounge DesignDiary. More of Emeric’s design work after the jump…

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