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Out now! My profile of illustrator Hudson Christie in Issue 27 of 3×3 Magazine. Here is an excerpt:

In conversation, Hudson Chrisite laughs easily, and often. He is amused by incongruity in art and film, and finds unintentional flaws especially endearing. “It’s why the original Star Wars trilogy—before George Lucas got his hands on CG and went back and “‘fixed” it—is a lot more fun to look at. Because you can see the seams,” he says. All of which may help explain Hudson’s aesthetic—what might be termed “blobular affability.”

This playful, childlike quality seems instantly familiar—perhaps because all of us at one time or another have had the experience of squeezing a handful of modeling clay or Play-Doh. The immediacy and accessibility of this visual language is one of its strengths: it is difficult to not be charmed by Hudson’s work.

Read the entire profile (as well as prior articles) under Design is Play Articles. [MF]

Out now! My profile of illustrator Sandra Dionisi in Issue 26 of 3×3 Magazine. Here is an excerpt:

The quality of inscrutability, of an image that is simultaneously clear yet veiled, is a persistent feature of Sandra’s work, and it prompts not simply passive interest, but active contemplation. This invitation to contemplation is one of the recurring pleasures of Sandra’s work, and I find myself poring over the details of her illustrations in an effort to decipher the external cues of deeply internal and private states of being.

Sandra’s work is lovely—and worth your spending time with. Read the entire profile (as well as prior articles) under Design is Play Articles. [MF]

Out now! My profile of illustrator Scott Bakal in Issue 25 of 3×3 Magazine. Here is an excerpt:

A persistent feature of Bakal’s sketchbook drawings is his continuous exploitation of the line’s potential for expression. Beyond simply establishing contours, it is a line that he unspools across surfaces like convoluted entrails; nestles against other lines to sculpt sinewy, striated forms; and repeats in arabesques to relentlessly fill space—as if he were a tattoo artist paid by the square inch.

“My line probably comes from being taught by Jack Potter and Sam Martine, who were both my instructors over 20 years ago,” reflects Bakal. “They were very contour-line heavy instructors and it never really left me. Although the quality of my line has changed—it’s become more ‘stitched’ for certain things and more flowing for others.”

What Bakal calls a stitched line is the result of linking many short, staccato gestures. In his loosest examples, the quality of this line can appear hesitant, or agitated. A sketchbook spread from his personal series “Skulls of Ultimate Death” features scratchy contour drawings of eight conventionalized skulls floating above a red and black field. The inked lines seem incised, as if Bakal is carving into a resistant surface rather than drawing on paper. Redolent of graffiti, the drawing conveys a raw immediacy.

Sandra’s work is lovely—and worth your spending time with. Read the entire profile (as well as prior articles) under Design is Play Articles. [MF]