Art Attacks

Hugo Horita

 Alice and Martin Provensen, The Color Kittens, 1949

(one of my favorite books when I was child!)

Celestino Piatti

Dale Maxey, back cover of Nurseryland Annual, 1969 

Vladimir Pivovarov, 1971, thanks to polny_shkaf

N. Radlov, 1990

Gwen Keraval, Oscar et l'impala

 unknown author, from L'enfant et la lecture

 Vyaceslav Legkobit

Anthony Browne, Willy's Pictures

Sandra Boynton, Chlöe and Maude, 1984, thanks to Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves

Yusuke Yonezu

Nicola Bayley, Parrot Cat, 1984

 Kurt Vargo for Art Direction Magazine, 1980s

Fun with Appliances

Peter Gut is a Swiss typographer, illustrator and caricaturist based in Winterthur. 

He has collaborated for years with the weekly magazine Facts, and today works for Weltwoche,

the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and the business magazine Bilanz. Gut also designs book covers and

 has illustrated the children's book Der Bär auf dem Försterball. I recently discovered his work

thanks to my daughter Michelle, who bought me the postcard above. His surreal and whimsical humour

 and artistic style are in a similar vein to the great Michael Sowa, who I haven't posted so far 

only because he's already quite famous, and Roberto Perini. These pictures are part of the book

Tierisch unter Strom, which explores a series of funny and creative interactions 

between different animals and various appliances and machines.

 You can also find them as postcards via Incognito.

Franco Matticchio

Cita va in città

Happy in the Sun

A very sweet 2004 video by Spike Jonze for Weezer,just because I'm in a very good mood!

Simona & Simone

I've been wanting to take some photos of these beautiful volumes since I bought them 

at the Bologna Book Fair, but only now I've found the time to actually do it.

Last year I had already posted about Topipittori, one of my favorite Italian publishers

of illustrated children's books, and this time at the fair I had a chat with its founders,

Giovanna Zoboli and Paolo Canton. Turns out that Paolo and I knew each other

when we were teenagers! Anyway, I really love what they do, and was very happy

to get a copy of the wonderful Vorrei avere signed by the artist SImona Mulazzani...

GIovanna Zoboli's Vorrei avere (I wish I had) is an ode to the beauty and wonder of animals

sung through the poetic words of a child enamored with nature. Mulazzani's enchanting

 illustrations interpret every verse with great sensitivity and a richness of visual inventions.

Love the endpapers with the illustration sketches!

I have also previously featured the works of SImone Rea, one of Italy's brightest young illustrators. 

His elegant paintings illustrate this new translation of Aesop's Fables with warmth 

and a wonderful sense of color and composition. 

Coincidentally, I have already posted the equally sophisticated Aesop interpretation 

by Jean-François Martin which won the Bologna Ragazzi Award this year.

To each his own, I love them both!

Bric-à-brac Creatures

 Many thanks to Miquel Aparici for writing and inviting me into his magical world.

Just looking at his artworks makes me happy, hope to see them in person someday! 

Miquel's wonderful recycled sculptures are assemblages of disparate vintage materials

that he collects from junkyards and antique sellers. He then catalogues, stores and 
transforms them in his workshop located inside an old industrial ship near Barcelona.

Thanks to La Factoría Plástica and pad blog for the studio photos.

A fantastic box of toys made for a lucky someone called Lucas. 

On Miquel's website you can also find his series of animals painted with coffee, 

sugar and a teaspoon. And check out his blog to get the latest news!