Jon Contino

Last in my Top 100 but probably my favourite of them all is Jon Contino. He never failed to inspire me at college even when I felt the least motivated and I think his work really pushed me into experimenting with my own typography, his work is hand-drawn and very illustrative.

He is inspired by street art since as far back as he can remember, he works as a freelance illustrator in Brooklyn and is the Creative Director of the mens clothing brand CXXVI.

Here is some of his incredible work.

Empty Shop Project

The thought behind the Empty Shop Project is really amazing. The general thought is that any unused shops in the area are used for gallery space for local artists. Our uni has hosted a Photography Exhibition there.

Our ultimate aim is to engage the general public with the arts and the arts with the general public.

This is something everyone should get involved in.

 

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is located in Chamberlain Square, free of charge to enter to the majority of shows. There are different areas to the Gallery all exhibiting different things. The Gallery ranges from historical artefacts to photography to art exhibitions.

For example, I visited the Gallery for the Staffordshire Hoard:

The Hoard is made up of over 1,500 pieces of beautifully crafted gold and silver from the 7th century Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia.

and Steve McCurry’s photography exhibition:

His coverage of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980’s, when he crossed the border disguised as a local with rolls of film sown into his clothes, won him the Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad Showing Courage and Enterprise.

Cardiff Arts Institute

Cardiff Arts is a gallery/nightclub venue.

The venue is currently going through changes, the owners are going separate ways leaving Brains in charge. The venue houses exhibitions for local Welsh artists, performance artists and up and coming music.

Cardiff Arts Institute reopens after its rebrand.

Read more about it here

 

National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery is located in central London however for the first 40 years it was in Westminster. As the collection of portraits grew so did the amount of customers,  it’s collection size is now 160,000 portraits, from 16th century to the present day. The Gallery houses portraits of William Shakespeare, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. There is currently a gallery on Mick Jagger, Charles Dickens and
Augustus John. The gallery is divided into different sections such as: Tudor and Elizabethan, Georgian, 20th Century and Contemporary Displays.

One of the best aspects to the National Portrait Gallery is that it’s FREE.

Kari Cieszkiewicz

Kari Cieszkiewicz is an amazing photographer, who is all over current blogs on the net. My favourite work of theirs at the moment is a gallery called peaks plains and canyons which is exhibited on her flickr.

Her photographs are so beautiful they give me a sense of peace.

Kim Holtermand

I’ve loved Kim Holtermand since I found his work in college. The first set I discovered was Reflections. I fell in love with the colours and the composition. Kim is from Denmark and is described as an architectural photographer. Clients he has worked for are: Behance Network, Manifesto Music, Borders and Frontiers and loads more.

British Museum

The British Museum is another example of an amazing venue for art and design in England. The British Museum is located in London and holds a wide variety of exhibitions. One of my favourites that I visited earlier this year was the Egyptian Book of the Dead. The exhibition not only housed the book of the dead but it had many artefacts from Ancient Egypt itself- even a mummy!

The museum is currently exhibiting:Landscape, heroes
and folktales, German Romantic prints and drawings and Grayson Perry The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman.

The Custard Factory

The Custard Factory was built 100 years ago and is now what I would call the creative centre of Birmingham. There’s a nightclub and live music and offices, studios and galleries are always being developed on the site. There’s an indoor skate park, small boutique shops, cafes and restaurants.

During college, our class held an exhibition at the Custard Factory.

Tate Modern

In January 2010 I visited Tate Modern for John Baldessari’s Pure Beauty exhibition. The Tate in London is part of a family of four, there are also galleries in Liverpool, St Ives and Tate Britain. The galleries hold some of the most amazing work in the world such as: Picasso, Matisse, Dali, Rothko and Warhol.

I also saw The Unilever Series: Miroslaw Balka.

Miroslaw Balka’s box of darkness is disturbing in its historical echoes but beautiful as well.

The Times

See a video about it here.