
WHAT I'VE BEEN
looking at:
A small collection of what I’ve been looking at for inspiration. This can be in several fields, from visual goodness, to ideas and concepts.
this inspiration is partly responsible what ends up happening in What I’ve been up to, in case you’re curious.

Mike Perry
First of all, I can’t even remember when has my cousin Afonso gifted me this book. Perhaps when I got my first screen print internship in 2013? Ages ago!
I get inspired every time I open it, whether looking at the amazing artwork displayed in here, or appreciating its editorial design and style. We could say that rounding his favourite designers and printers for a book is in pair with the idea behind my zine as well. Am i right? Nonetheless, Mike Perry has a colossal and playful portfolio of his own, and I can’t resist his risographed Bowl of Fruit!

Print technique wise, Lucille is crazy. Good crazy for printing CMYK (Cyan Magenta, Yellow and Key process colours) halftones in unheard of values, and crazy good at it! You get drawn in for her theme and illustration itself, yet you’ll stay long for the general offset detail that is a true printing mark. What’s more, this detail goes round and pushes the notebook aspect and thin-tipped-marker details one step further. I‘m excited to try it on my own print work soon.
On these illustrations
Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book speaks to me a great deal, it was one of the first films I have ever watched in a theatre. Lucille’s work takes me back to this fascinating time, adding a time travel to my school notebook sketching days (not that I have ever drawn this well). This image is part of a series of incredible illustrations that were shortlisted for the Illustration World Award.
Olafur Eliasson
Some say simple and basic matters are the best. Whether true or not, I do agree that the simpler the subject seems, the more I will be surprised when in turns into an extraordinary feat. Olafur’s work thrives on basic, even elementary matters like light, water and weather, for instance, yet far from a simple approach. As fundamental as light is, his work shows countless hours of research and above all, curiosity. Culminating in stunts like removing the perception of colours besides yellow in a full room, for example. Imagine, now you only see in shades of yellow.
I had the opportunity to see his exhibition In Real Life at Tate Modern. You start the whole experience by getting out of the lift and into a monotoned entrance, followed by several studies and scale models for numerous projects. Further through the whole exhibit, you get to be amazed at his studios’ play and take on his main three elementary subjects.

The room showed in this image and branded as the exhibition’s poster, might be the most interacted with. Your Uncertain Shadow (colour) is powered by a row of five different coloured lights, every passing person gets several different shadows of his/her own. I like the challenge of this additive colour system play, discerning what hues are formed by which beam of light crossing another.
Most importantly, I have found the most mesmerising piece to be the Big Bang Fountain. In this one, a spotlight would shine for no longer than a photographic flash, revealing the shape of some pumped up water, almost as if crystallising it in my mind – making an instant and unique sculpture. Moreover, this effect would be repeated roughly every two seconds, creating countless different results.
I recommend watching Netflix’s Abstract episode where Olafur Eliasson’s work is displayed and explained. Even if (and all the more reason) you have seen Tate Modern’s exhibition. It has certainly made me grow a deeper appreciation for such nature-oriented work.

Sam Peet
These two pieces are, above all, a pretty urban demonstration of Sam’s outstanding line work and colour combo. Working mostly with big spot colour blocks, his illustrations mix geometric shapes with a sense of slight misproportion of them, making sure that you stay and linger looking at them. Or you can visit his website here.
What I appreciate the most on his work is the storytelling. I can immediately perceive the outline (no pun intended), and yet there is room for little side stories with his various characters. Plus, he does it in a simple and very contemporary style.
A little side note: Do you know what I see when there are big large spot colours blocks like these? An opportunity for some screen printing experimentation! There is little texture shown and thus room for some unpredictable mono printing. Always fun!


The Premise
There are enough chemical and synthetic pigments around and Nicole wants to change this paradigm. Doesn’t this mean that anything dyed or painted with these pigments can be a circular product? Provided that the product itself is natural too. As a common approach to take when going back to natural ways, Nicole studied how were oil paints made before you could buy them in a plastic tube. One of her goals is also to avoid the petrochemicals present in some industrial inks, said to play their part in our world’s contamination.
How does it work?
Kaiku’s device works in a fairly simple and incredible way. After boiling the vegetable waste in water, you strain the water and add it to a reservoir. An extraction tube will then lead it to an atomizing chamber, helped by an air pump. This chamber is now spaying mist above 100ºC and thus separation the evaporated water and the dye powder. This pigment powder falls to his own container and is now ready to be mixed as an additive to dyes, paints, printer cartridges, etc.
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I am quite curious to try these recent pigment powders in my screen prints. As natural pigments, I am interested in knowing how long can they hold their colour for – their lightfastness. I suppose that would also depend on my choice of binder. One more idea to try in the print studio.
I’ve experimented with something similar!
Sleeves up and bam! You can see the beetroot ink experiments here.
Date: 6th Dec. 2019
Category: Inspiration
Author: Zé Monteiro