Mamma Mia!

Victor Pivovarov, 1971

Lena Guberman

Anthony Browne

Helen Borton, Do you go where I go?, 1972

Brian Wildsmith, Wild Animals

Helene Carter, Sharp Ears, 1938

Rare Animals, via HannaRivka

Józef Wilkon

Knud Kyhn

Andy Warhol

Gerry Turley

Óscar Villán

Ironic Trophies

After its recent exhibition dedicated to Franco Matticchio, Galleria dell'Incisione in Brescia

 is hosting Bestiary, featuring the sculptures and drawings of French artist Quentin Garel.

Born in Paris in 1975, the son of artist and teacher Philippe Garel, at a very young age Quentin

became interested in art, which he studied at the École Supérieure des Beaux Arts, 

the Art Institute of Chicago, and Casa de Velasquez in Madrid. 

Whether sculpting or drawing, the constant focus of Garel is the animal world, 

which he studies and portrays in its its strenght, dignity and vulnerability.

While his first works celebrated livestock, a group of animals that suffers much

due to the common barbarian practices of contemporary industrial breeding, 

today his subjects also include wild animals from the jungle and the savannah.

Garel's eye is ironic and precise, and his creatures are full of character.

He often represents them as a head or torso, and sometimes as skull and bones.

His sculptures are made of wood or other materials including bronze, iron and ceramic. 

The orangutan bronze sculpture above has been worked to give it the feeling of wood.

The sculptures are often conceived as installations for outdoor public spaces. 

Garel also draws with pencil, charcoal and watercolors on large sheets of paper.

These beautiful studies are exposed alongside with the sculptures.

The exhibition is on until the 15th of July.

Photos via Galleria dell'Incisione and Galleria Forni.

Sweet Dreams

Squirrel Spoon

I really enjoy the rich and colorful tenderness of Sandra Dieckmann's art.

She clearly loves animals, line drawing, patterns, and collage, and I couldn't agree with her more.

Coincidentally, as I was preparing this post, I dicovered that just yesterday she was informed

that her work has been chosen by Shaun Tan as the winner of the Emerging Talent category 

at the 2011 Cheltenham illustration awards. Congratulations Sandra!

Crowned crane

Dieckmann is from Germany and has been living in London since 2002.

You can read an interesting interview with her at We Love Creativity.

Hi : Bye

Found You There

This work is part of a collaborative project with illustrator Jaime Mills

portraying ten of the world's most endangered animals.

Japanese crane

Young Treasure

Dieckmann is very active on the internet and you can find her at her website and blog,

 on twitter, tumblr and flickr, and at her society6, etsy and Envelop shops.

Congratulations again to Sandra for her seemingly boundless energy!

Try a Little Tenderness

 I have recently fallen in love with Kyoko Okubo's small sculptures, 

delicately handcrafted from traditional japanese washi paper.

Okubo is a self taught artist who began playing with washi as a child, 

and in her mid-30s began making dolls for herself. After sharing 

her works with family and friends, she first exhibited them on a 

sidewalk Tokyo’s Harajuku district. Since these humble beginnings, 

she has gone on to show internationally and is currently represented 

by Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge Massachusets.

Okubo's miniature scenes realistically portray intimate moments from her poetic 

dream world, a soft universe inhabited by gentle and enigmatic wild animals

mysteriously bonding and interacting with lovely girls and young children. 

"Washi, meaning “Japanese paper”, is a crisp, sturdy material created from fibers 

from the bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub or the paper mulberry. 

While today the material is often mass-produced, it is still handmade 

in rural communities throughout the country."

From an article about Okubo at American Craft Magazine.

You can also read a nice post on her work at Art Found Out.

Stay tuned for more January in Japan findings!