John Jay Cabuay is an illustrator out of New York City. He studied illustration at F.I.T. (Fashion Institute of Technology) where he received his BFA degree. He later continued his studies at the School of Visual Arts. His work has appeared in major publications as well as advertisements and promotions in North America, Europe, and Japan. He is known for his versatility and ability to caption motion and inject life into his subjects. Whether in color or black and white, Cabuay knows exactly how to breathe life into his characters.
Cabuay is also an adjunct professor at the illustration department of Fashion Institute of Technology and the fashion design department at Parsons New School. Cabuay has also been a guest lecturer at Spero Villioti design academy in South Africa.
Fresh and minimal, Bil Donovan’s watercolors exude sophistication and elegance with simple colors, content and compositions. His timeless style and ideal of glamour have attracted the attention of some of the biggest names in fashion, including Vogue and Christian Dior. His relationship with Vogue resulted in commissions for portraits at events, which utilizes Donovan’s ability to portray a fleeting moment and personality with sparse details and limited time. His career in fashion illustration culminated from the same dedication to studying at a variety of schools while freelancing, and his style developed with experience from traveling and working in Milan and Paris.
These are two of the works which will be included in the ICON exhibit. These illustrations appear in the Harper Collins book on renowned costume designer Edith Head and are appropriately titled Country Chic and City Chic:
In the upcoming ICON: A Labor of Line, we are excited to be presenting work by New York based artist Chris Buzelli. We've had the opportunity to work with Buzelli before and have kept an eye on his career as it continues to build greater momentum. Over the past 15 years, his work has made appearances in numerous influential publications such as: Time, US World News & Report, Rolling Stone, Playboy, The Village Voice, and Boston Globe. With all of his success in the commercial arena, the artist is also able to focus efforts in showing personal work in galleries throughout the US.
The above piece titled Transference will be one of two works featured in the upcoming exhibit. Transference was done for a recent Rolling Stone article on the band Spoon. Learn more about the making of the piece and view it within the context of the article here
"Gary Taxali visually blends now with then. His style, inspired by vintage comics and advertising art, is repurposed with the goal of communicating the ironies and comical essence of popular culture. His work is at once alluring and endearing. Despite the vintage look, he is neither maudlin nor nostalgic. His imagery is rich in satiric verve." - Steven Heller
Gary Taxali’s illustrations have a rich inviting quality about them that draw one in to tell their story. An award-winning illustrator whose work has appeared in many major magazines, Taxali has exhibited in many galleries and museums throughout North America and Europe. Illustration has been a big part of Taxali's life. Although born in India in 1968, a year later, he and his family emigrated to Toronto. The encouragement of his parents led Taxali to take art classes as a child which eventually led him to pursue an art education. In 1991, he graduated from the Ontario College of Art and immediately began working as a professional illustrator.
A few years later, he began showing in various exhibitions and galleries throughout North America including Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles. In 2005, he launched his first vinyl toy, The Toy Monkey, which includes a special edition specifically created for The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. Aside from his gallery shows and illustration work, Taxali also devotes a portion of his time traveling through lecturing and teaching at various arts organizations and schools such as The Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto. An advocate for the arts, Taxali has invested years of his life and is apart of many organizations promoting illustrators and artists in general. He is a Founding Member of The Illustrators' Partnership of America and sits on the Advisory Board of 3x3: The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration. His style is suited to everything, fine art, illustration, mixed media, screen-printing, and now moving into the world of sculpture: his toys.
Currently, Taxali is working on his next mass production toy figure, "Oh No", under the name of his new company, Chump Inc. as well as 'This Is Silly", a children's book published by Scholastic and slated for a spring 2010 release. Which came as no surprise after finding out the artists who inspire him the most, "core people like EC Segar (the creator of Popeye) and the Fleischer brothers. I’ve always really liked Dr Seuss; Maurice Sendak; 1930s typography, package design and advertising posters; the Russian constructivists. Andy Warhol is a favourite – he helped me a lot. He helped all of us a lot. Picasso helped all of us too". Despite his various skills, the artist tries to keep versatility in his media as much as possible. To this day he continues to live and work in Toronto, Canada.
We will be featuring an original by the artist in the upcoming ICON: A Labor of Line exhibit.
There is a rare one day 4 hour workshop coming up to help you gain some insight into the deft, skill, and chaos that goes into creating some of our best/worst onscreen fears. Slides will be presented, film history will be discussed, and most importantly a demonstration will commence.
As art further assimilates into the digital age, cg models dominate the public sphere of what is perceived as the norm. "Why make it out of clay when you can sculpt it in the computer” they question this while the virtual data become zealous of their more tangible counterparts.
Visiting Jordu's studio was always a feast for the imagination, seeing Jordu work is to experience a birth as beautiful and monstrous as it is captivating. It is actually from in-depth awareness of the human psyche and diligent understanding of organic nature that such creatures are born. Evoking such licit emotions from a piece of clay, as you will see, is harder than it seems.
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