posters and prints

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Art Design

Using Long Continuous Strokes, Thomas Yang’s New Print is a Zen Meditation on Cycling

In his new print “Journey to Zen,” artist Thomas Yang (previously) focuses on the mental benefits of his favorite pastime. The Singapore-based artist is behind 100 Copies, an ongoing print project in which he releases limited-edition works centered around his love of cycling—previous iterations include architectural renderings inked with bike tires and a competitive peloton of riders.

“Journey to Zen” renders a lone cyclist in a manner similar to a Japanese sand garden, using long, uninterrupted strokes of black ink. “To simulate that particular style with continuous lines or samon (砂紋) in the gravel, I had decided to use a rake paintbrush as part of the tool. To familiarise (myself) with the brush, it took me quite a while to practice on the strokes and shades, especially for those curvy ones,” the artist shares. Once complete, Yang digitally enhanced the brushtrokes and printed the piece on textured paper to deepen the stone-like effect.

Born out of a period of uncertainty, the fluid and composed lines represent the meditative qualities of the sport and its ability to serve as an outlet for stress and anxiety. “Sometimes, taking our bike out for a ride brings us on an inward journey,” Yang says. “Almost like a form of Zen meditation, the noise fades, our mind clears, and all we are focused on is the path before us. The longer and farther we go, the more we learn about ourselves and the nature of our mind.”

There are still a few “Journey to Zen” prints available on 100 Copies, where you can find more of Yang’s available works.

 

Art Illustration

Minimal Lines and Colorful Geometric Shapes Compose Luciano Cian’s Portraits

Rio de Janeiro-based artist Luciano Cian (previously) has an affinity for the bold blocks of color that compose his minimal portraits. Although he recently expanded his practice to include acrylic paintings and collage, Cian works primarily digitally, rendering anonymous figures with thin lines and vibrant, geometric shapes like in his MAGNA series. “It has this name because it is big, both in dimensions and in purpose,” he tells Colossal. “I always work with images that allude to ethnicity. This series, like the others, talks about the miscegenation of races and peoples, with diversity as the central focus.”

Cian teamed up with the nonprofit Prints Against Poverty to sell a collection of 15 works, and you can purchase more of his available pieces on Saatchi Art, Artsper, and The Artling. Find an extensive archive of his portraits on Behance and Instagram.

 

Illustration

19 Illustrators Celebrate What They Love About Asian Culture in a Print Sale Raising Funds to Combat Racism

Nineteen international illustrators have banded together to raise money to stop violence against Asian communities. Curated by the new platform Paperboy, a print sale called MUST BE NICE! asked the artists to share what they love about Asian culture, which resulted in an electric array of works celebrating everything from food and animals to traditional craft. Each sale directly supports the illustrators, and the remaining profits will be donated to organizations combatting discrimination and hate, including Besea.n, End The Virus of Racism, and Hackney Chinese Community Services. See some of the prints below, and shop the full collection on the Paperboy app, which you can download on its site.

 

 

Art

Enchanting Scenes Combine Multiple Precisely Carved Woodblocks into Full-Color Prints by Tugboat Printshop

Valerie Lueth, who’s behind the Pittsburgh-based Tugboat Printshop (previously), continues to cultivate dreamy scenarios painstakingly printed with intricately carved woodblocks. Her recent creations include a distant truss bridge peeking through vegetation, a whimsically intertwined pair of trees—now in full color, this piece began as a black-line woodcut commissioned for an edition of Jean-Claude Grumberg’s The Most Precious of Cargoes—and a web of vines dripping with rain and jewels evoking a dreamcatcher.

After sketching with pencil on plywood blocks, Lueth hand-carves the meticulous designs with knives and gouging tools and often cuts multiple panels with slight variances for each print. In addition to building depth of color, Lueth’s sequential process yields greater highlights, shadows, and overall detail to the completed work. The lush, leafy scene comprising “Blue Bridge,” for example, is the product of four blocks coated in black, blue, green, and purple oil-based inks, which are pressed in succession to create the richly layered landscape.

Prints are available on Esty or from Tugboat’s site, and you can see more of Lueth’s process and a larger collection of her works, including a glimpse at a new floral relief in black-and-white, on Instagram.

 

Design

A Chart Chronicles the Colors of Mister Rogers’ Cardigans from 1969 to 2001

It’s a beautiful day for a chronological look at the colorful range of cardigans beloved television host Fred Rogers slipped on during each episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Starting with blue near the beginning of the show’s run—the soft-spoken icon seems to have favored more pastels during these early days—the chart spans all the way to the red he wore for his last airing on August 31, 2001. Rogers’ legacy is synonymous with the cozy garment, many of which were hand-knitted by his mother. One is part of the collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Pick up a print of the graph, which was created by Owen Phillips who runs the data-centric F5 Newsletter in honor of Rogers’ birthday on March 20, from the F5 shop. (via Laughing Squid)

Photography

More Than 90 Archival Photographs Celebrate the Unpredictable in Magnum’s Next Print Sale

Next week, Magnum Photos (previously) is pulling more than 90 photographs from its archive for a print sale that pays tribute to chance moments and serendipity. The Unexpected launches March 22 with a range of compositions documenting more than seven decades worth of “under-explored issues, reporting of events unfurling in far-flung locations, or single frames capturing split seconds of levity.” All prints are 6 x 6-inches, signed or estate-stamped, museum-quality, and available for $100. See some of Colossal’s favorites below—including Ian Berry’s shot of children at play in Oman, Ernst Haas’s image of an energetic horse leaping on set of The Misfits, and René Burri’s wilting lotus flowers—and shop the full collection during the one-week sale.