Book Review: Watercolor, Paintings by Contemporary Artists

Amy Ross

Becca Stadtlander

Danny Gregory

Daire Lynch

Paolo Terdich

John Norman Stewart

Amy Park

Sujean Rim

Jane Mount

Fabrice Moireau

Well hello summer, hello everyone! We are having a great "summer" here in "sunny" Portugal with the scorching heights of 20'C, well I guess you can't have everything eh?

We have a book review today here on Rally with the absolutely lovely, Watercolor, Paintings by Contemporary Artists. The book showcases some great talent in the medium of watercolour with a wide range of styles and approaches, from the fresh crystal clear visuals of Daire Lynch to the sweet gentle tones of Sujean Rim, and the masters of the craft like Fabrice Moireau there are many eye grabbing uses of watercolour in great palettes. Every artist who is familiar with the medium will recognise common themes and reasons for using watercolour, it's unforgiving nature, the unpredictability. nowadays watercolour can seem like a noble challenge in the modern world of near infinite undos, and cloud based art software. Each set of plates is accompanied by a great little artist bio which gives you the scoop on what makes them tick.

It is certainly worth a look as the illustrations are stunning and the book itself is well put together, The artists are universally good, some are really top draw and the book itself is a great research resource as well as a nice thing to have for the sake of the artwork. Well recommended if slightly unimaginatively titled!

With much love, the IR.

Exhibition feature: Stephen Chan and Friends Presents

It's exhibition feature time now here on the rally and we have something totally boxfresh for you guys now, with Stephen Chan and Friends Presents curated by the irrepressible graphic master Stephen Chan. For this, his first solo stint, he has rather graciously decided to share the limelight with other global artists and creators,in fantastic Hong Kong gallery/cafe Odd One Out crafting a really unique mashup of retro anaglyph, cutting edge visuals and CG animation. Among the other visual eye snacks were paper toy creations in an event so cool that hipster's pints are freezing solid from Toronto to Hackney.

Recently featured on Kotaku, Chan is repainting the definition of global scene with his globetrotting squad of international art pirates and is at the forefront of the new age of illustration, carved out by the naive pioneers and built on with ever slicker and more intelligent content underpinned with a new wave mass market social delivery. This is the time that art can cut the corporate corners and punch you in the consumer gob with a big refreshing pile of eye fire. Note to self, do more, travel more create more. It's hard not to be inspired and frankly a little jealous with such talent on display.

We wish him the best with his endeavours, so if you are in the area check it out and if not, well we have the internet for that hey.

here follows the press release:

'OPENING NIGHT' : Friday 17th May - 6pm - till late
'LIVE SCREENPRINTING' : Saturday 18th - Sunday 19th May - 3pm - 7pm
'EXHIBITION ENDS' : Friday 28th June - 7pm

'Stephen Chan and Friends Presents' is the first exhibition developed and curated by illustrator and graphic designer 'Stephen Chan' & 'Odd One Out' Gallery. He has drawn together 30+ creatives around the theme of Anaglyph / Red and Blue, exploring illusions and 3D effects along with a visual narrative of 'Opposition and Harmony'. Stephen Chan and Friends brings: Animation, Surrealism and Papercraft to the table all in the vibrant setting of - Hong Kong - at the serene cafe / gallery 'Odd One Out'

http://www.oddoneout.hk/
http://www.stephen-chan.co.uk/

Participating artists include:

Artwork:
Bubble Friends, Cloud Commission, Mr the Beef, Mister Millerchip, Tim Cockburn, FiST, Will Scobie, Sam Peet, Patrick Schmidt, Dominic Le-Hair, Peskimo, Natsuki Otani, Tougui, Zutto, Yema Yema, ph7labs, Jessica Fortner, Sokkuan, Kuanth, Martojaks, Dan Matutina, Kristopher Ho, Stephen Chan...more TBA

Animation:
Clarissa Gonzalez, Sparkle VFX, Draw and Code, Rethunk Animation, Broken Antler, Stephen Chan...

Papertoy sculpture template:
Tougui, Stephen Chan...