Damien Hirst launches his own website. See the artists at work in the live feed of his studio.

"Joan of Arc" 2010 by Slavery



"Hand of Doom" 1980 by Seen

There was a really great article in The Arts section of the New York Times yesterday about graffiti. Living in New York City, graffiti begins to fade into the landscape, but the truth is, it's a huge part of the culture. A few weeks ago, the graffiti collective Slavery created a piece entitled "Joan of Arc" on the side of a warehouse along the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY. This piece pays homage to a 1980 work by artist Seen (known as the "Godfather of Graffiti") entitled to "Hand of Doom," that covered an entire number 6 train car. These "historical revival" pieces have been showing up all over Brooklyn and Manhattan-all by different artists honoring those who paved the way for them.


Here are some of my favorite graffiti artists:




British artist Banksy is probably one of the most infamous names in the graffiti world. His work has a sense of dark humour and satire. The above piece is on the Bristol Museum in England.





A disused road tunnel in South London was transformed into "an oasis of beautiful art" after Banksy got a hold of it.





Artist Victor Gastelum creates pieces like the above "Guy With Pin In His Mouth" using spray-paint and stencils on aluminum





Here's another of Gastelum's mixed-media pieces entitled "Nervous Guy"





Photojournalist Martha Cooper is best known for her photographs documenting the New York graffiti scene.





Cooper befriended many of the street artists in the 1970's and 80's.

One of my favorite go-to books for inspiration is LULU by textile designer and artist extraordinare Lulu De Kwiatkowski. It's packed with her amazing collages that depict her magical and worldy childhood and tell a very unique design story from her point of view. In a recent revisit to the book, I was drawn to a specific Bohemian-esque collage and it prompted me to find some pretty fabulous coordinating items to start an inspiration board with...check it out.




Dream



Speak



Reflect



Think



Shine



Glide



Sit



Dance



Relax



Lounge



Sparkle

Mary, Mary,



quite contrary,



how does your garden grow?



With silver bells



and cockle shells



and pretty maids



all



in



a



row.

Our current issue has a resounding spin-art theme. Therefore, I thought it was appropriate to give a little credit to the Spin Art King himself: Damien Hirst. Hirst is one of the most wonderfully controversial artists but also produces such whimsical, beautiful pieces with no sense of anger...go figure! Check out our new slideshow in the MEDIA ROOM to learn more about this amazing artist and to see some of my favorites pieces of his incredible works of art!

When I was looking for Bedroom Art for the latest issue I stumbled upon one of my favorite sites, www.nonchalantmom.com and I saw her feature on children's portraits. She featured some truly talented artists, like the above Karim Hamid.

I was inspired to put my fingers to the keyboard and see just who else is out there creating awesome children's portraits. I mean, who better to look at when you wake up than your own child?

Here's what I found:



This was one of my absolutely favorite finds! I mean, how cool is it to be able to turn your own kid into a cartoon?? I'm pretty sure they would think it was equally as entertaining.



Those eyes! Those curls! Ok so this little girl is clearly a great subject but artist Tracey Costescu did a beautiful job of capturing her essence.



I'm not surprised that I found this fun custom silhouette on Etsy. It seems like that's where all of the coolest stuff comes from! You can have one made in any color under the sun. My problem would be stopping at just one. :)



Portrait artist Stephen Bennett is clearly handy with a paintbrush. I love the way his portraits all have a prismatic glow, it's like a subtle Warhol effect!