Arturo Elena, the master of fashion illustrations

Stunning is the term that could be used to describe the work created by the Spanish artist Arturo Elena. With his technique and outstanding drawing skills, Elena has revolutionized the world of graphic illustration.
Arturo Elena began working in the 80's with the design team in charge of women's collections for a well-known fashion firm in Barcelona. Over the years, he developed his career in other cities such as Seville and Murcia among others, executing designs for both men's and women's collections.

Fascinated by Elena's unique style, Victorio & Lucchino have asked him to produce the press images for their collections and illustrate their campaigns. The self-taught artist has been doing their graphic images throughout his whole career.

Arturo Elena has also collaborated with designers and brands such as Loewe, Chanel Spain, Audemars Piguet, and Citroen to mention a few. His illustrations have also been featured in several publications such as Cosmopolitan, Elle, Telva and other international magazines.

Arturo Elena has received several awards and was recently invited by the Fashion Museum in Madrid, where he launched an exhibition dedicated to his 25 years as an illustrator, called "Arturo Elena: 25 years of illustration."


I had the pleasure of asking Arturo Elena a few questions.
What are your favorite designers?
I admire several, I could mention some names like Tom ford and Nicolas Ghesquiere or designers that have made history like Coco Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga. In regard of firms, I love YSL, Prada and Gucci.


What is your major inspiration?
I have to say that I believe more in the hard work than in the inspiration. I don't have a particular source of inspiration and it also depends on the type of work that I have to deliver. I normally look at fashion photography, but not exclusively. Even daily activities can give me ideas to develop a piece of work, but like I have said before, it depends on the job requirements.


What is your latest project?
For the moment, I am working on a project for Audemars Piguet Watch company in Spain. It's taken a lot of effort and time as they required a high number of illustrations that are quite complex. Hopefully it will be finished in September.

Courtesy Arturo Elena @ Factory311

Robert Longo: "God Machines"

God Machines, an exhibition by the American artist Robert Longo, opens on March 21 at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac. This will be the artist's first major solo exhibition for Paris in many years.

God Machines is a major installation of three immensely heroic works. Dedicated to the three monotheistic world religions, Longo has created multi-paneled, monumental works depicting images of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. In each of these artworks is an iconic depiction of a sacred space.

Since the 1970s, the multimedia artist has attracted attention for his manifold work ranging from music, film and video to installation, drawing and sculpture. Perhaps best known for his Men in the Cities series from the early 1980s, he has developed several other distinct bodies of work including: Monsters, The Sickness of Reason, Ophelia.
Like an Old Master artist, Longo achieves an extremely emotional range through his use of chiaroscuro, harnessing light and dark as primary material. His photorealistic drawings are based on images borrowed from the world of media containing a political and social statement. This makes Longo one of today's most important history painters.

Also on view are studies and large-scale, single-panel works of themes like the images of tigers, burqa-clad women, waves, etc..
Robert Longo lives and works in New York City with his wife, German actress Barbara Sukowa, and their three sons.

Robert Longo
"God Machines"
Opening in the presence of the artist, Monday, March 21 from 7pm to 8:30pm
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris

Robert Longo

Untitled (Mecca), 2011
Charcoal on mounted paper (166 x 252 in)

Untitled (St Peter's), 2011
Charcoal on mounted paper (156 x 300 in)

Untitled (Wailing Wall), 2011
Charcoal on mounted paper (120 x 325 in)

Untitled (White Tiger), 2011
Charcoal on mounted paper (94.5 x 70 in)

Untitled (Barbara in a Burka, Paris 2/2), 2011
Charcoal on mounted paper (96 x 70 in)

Study of Isabella, 2011
Ink and charcoal on velum (23 x 25 7/8 in)

Study of Shark - Gola, 2009
Ink and charcoal on velum (31 3/16 x 29 3/8 in)

Untitled (Rock Band), 2011
Charcoal on mounted paper (48 x 108 in)

All images, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris/Salzburg

This post is also featured on The Huffington Post

Milton Becerra: Drawing Now Paris! A series of Masks

Born in 1951, in Tachira Venezuela, Milton Becerra began exhibiting his works in 1970, while still a student at Cristobal Roja School of Plastic Arts in Caracas. He won the first prize in the third Salon Nacional de Jovenes Artistas (National Salon of Young Artists) in 1973. In the same year he held his first solo exhibition at the Caracas Athenaeum.
In 1976, after his first exhibition at the Caracas Museum of Contemporary Art, he began a series of explorations of natural landscape, to depict the manner in which the rivers are becoming polluted and the devastation of the land, influenced by Land Art movement of the time, marking the introduction of the movement in Venezuela.

Milton Becerra offers a balance between the modern civilization and the most primitive and ancestral elements of the human culture. He is well known for his aerial installations, where ropes and stones intertwine to form large structures.
In 1980, Becerra moved to Paris, where he still works and resides. His work is represented in numerous museums, foundations, and private collections internationally.

" Drawing Now Paris," a series of Masks, Becerra's solo show will be on view at The Carrousel du Louvre March 25-28.
Forcefully reviving the old figures of Indian gods inhabiting the banks of Orinoco, Venezuela, Milton Becerra's drawings are not, strictly speaking, mere works of art, they are also here to provide a spiritual force.

Serie Copiar Cortar

Phacelia Tanacetifolia, 2004, Drawing on paper

Mask, 2004

Details

Untitled, 2002, Drawing on paper and cotton fibers

Turtle, 2002, Drawing on paper and cotton fibers

Mujer I, 2003

Mujer IV, 2003

Mujer V, 2003, Drawing on paper and cotton fibers

All images, courtesy Galerie13Jeanette Mariani

Drawing Now Paris!

teamuncoolfashion likes: Designer Laura Mackness

Continuing the hand drawn print design seen in her acclaimed graduate collection from Central St Martins in London, Laura Mackness unique collection for Weekday is full of witty drawings. Inspiration comes from her private collection of watches, from artists François and Jean Robert as well as from the human body itself. Wandering hands and tan lines are all part of the equally amusing and daring prints.

VIA