What was it that originally inspired the ‘a love letter for you’ project?

Being on the train as a youth and seeing girls look at the graffiti on the rooftops facing the elevated. Even though they always looked at the graffiti, they weren’t all that interested in talking to me about it, so I thought about creating graffiti that girls would want to talk about, for the lovers who’d want to talk to them.

The murals are both romantic and inspirational, did you want the pieces to have a deeper message to society or were they more designed just to make people smile?

Yes to both

The pieces are more like the painted advertisements of the 50′s than conventional graffiti do you think that you would have had the same kind of acceptance for the project if you had gone down the route of conventional graffiti?

Graffiti is only graffiti if it’s non-conventional. Once graffiti coalesces into convention its just decoration. My graffiti defies convention, pretension and prevention. The guiding influence in Love Letter are two distinct schools of painted American letterforms, Sign Painting and Graffiti. I’ve painted graffiti that looks like signage and vice-versa. In Love Letter, we followed the basic rules of sign painting, but we used spraypaint and graffiti’s palette and speed in order to maximize the impact and fun.

Other graffiti artists such as Banksy have taken their artwork out of it’s original location and taken it to other cities around the world, would you ever try and recreate the love letter project somewhere else?

I started Love Letter in Dublin and Belfast. Letters like these overcome all distance. It might be the distance that gives them power

You have had some interesting comments about the murals one women commented ‘If someone did that for me I’d like it better than being taken to Red Lobster’ what is the most interesting comment you have heard about the project so far?

I don’t know, is busting out in tears a more interesting comment?

You can find out more about the ‘a love letter for you’ project on their website, I have picked a few of my favourites but essentially they are all awesome.

The images are overtly sexual, you can’t help but think that but draw the comparison between mouth and vagina. The fullness of the lips and the slick saliva on the tongue all add to the sexuality of the drawings.  Despite the fact that they display nothing like nudity they have an almost pornographic quality, the female mouth has always been synonymous with sexual images, the fullness of Angelina Jolie’s pout is undoubtedly what makes her the sex symbol she is, otherwise she is just a scrawny, scary lady.

The fact that the mouth is the focus independently without makes these images have an oddly surreal, and fantastical.
Randall makes great use of the subtle range of pinks and reds around the mouth, the layers of the skin on the lips are thinner than elsewhere which makes the skin oddly translucent, the delicate shading and pigments in these drawings perfectly captures that element. The are reminiscent of the softly coloured photographs of Victorian pornography with the subtle rose and sepia tones. Everything about these images is feminine and sexy. I think there are amazing.

Oh they are glorious, so pretty, shiny and dainty, they may bend my toes into unnatural shapes and give me posture issues that will ensure that as a forty year old woman I will require some sort of a back brace.  But what is the point of all that logic when I can dress my feet up and trip around town.

My particular weakness is Irregular Choice, they take decorating your feet to a whole other level (admittedly Manolo Blanik can probably do it  bit better but I just ain’t got that sort of money)

That’s why the latest escapade of Jimmy Choo has made me so happy, it has combined two of my favourite things social media and shoes. Finally the chance to use my geekery to get me free shoes. Oh yes baby free shoes, not half price, not 20% off from the ridiculous high price so that they still cost the same amount as your months rent. Free!

Jimmy Choo have started a Foursquare treasure hunt; catch a Choo, now if you don’t know what foursquare is I can’t possible help you, go read mashable come back once your educated. Basically some Jimmy Choo employee is wandering around London town checking into places, all you need to do is to check into the same place at the same time, and you get free shoes.  See all that time spent wandering round the internet, playing on twitter, checking in on Foursquare might actually result in a beautiful pair of shoes.

It’s renewed my love of Foursquare, I really want those shoes, I need them. Social media for social good, I mean how much more good can it get to give me a pair of shoes that will surely cripple my feet. I know I shouldn’t like it my  principles tell me that I shouldn’t want the designer shoes I should want some made out  vegan materials  but I can’t help it, it’s like a primal urge.

Now you will have to excuse me I need to go stare a my iphone until I see that catch a choo has moved within an easily reachable distance….

Art = Good
Styrofoam cups = Bad

If I buy art that is on a Styrofoam cup, I am preventing it from becoming part of the increasing landfill. But eventually I will die and it will become part of the landfill any way… or will it live on forever reminding our future selves of the folly of non-recyclable containers. Or is the fact that the art is on a Styrofoam cup highlighting the ecological issues? What happens to the cups that go wrong? But then perhaps I over-think things…

Anyway, I saw his stuff again recently and I was reminded how much I like it. He does things in a variety of styles from Japanese hokusai, to realist, to his own random doodling style. But the cups are only part of what he does, if you check out his blog there is a whole other level of random fun to get involved with. In the same ilk as xkcd, it is an endless source of entertainment. Mixing the banal and the incredible and commenting on the idiosyncratic nature of everyday life. You can spend far too much time flicking through his journal and giggling to yourself, to get anything of any substance done.

So I figured with everyone needing to banish their January blues, I would share some of my favourites with you…

You can find all of Boey’s cups and blog based fun on his website, where you can also purchase a ethically confusing artwork for yourself.

When the Tate modern re hung a lot of the pieces a couple of years back, I was really disappointed. Bizarrely, they seemed to have gone for the coffee shop option; crowding lots of paintings into a small space to make it look quirky. Which is fine when you aren’t looking at actual art, but not in a gallery. This exhibition restored my faith, it really captured the idea of pop art. Whole rooms were given over to a concept, the space was wonderfully manipulated so you felt like you were in a completely new gallery.

You enter and are faced with the iconic image of Jeff Koons bunny, and a giant Manga character squirting milk from her balloon shaped breasts. To be fair that is a pretty strong start. From there you are led through, Andy Warhols iconic images, synonymous with the pop art movement. As you make your way through the maze of rooms there are more wonderful things to encounter. I think my favourite, was the room entirely covered in gold foil with Leo Castelli’s eighties hip hop and black power posters, viewed to a soundtrack of old skool hip hop. To be honest I could have stayed in that room, danced about like a idiot and been quite content. But every room had it’s own drawn and novelty.

Every so often there were side rooms with the doors closed off, given over to the more pornographic side of pop art. The Jeff Koons room was hysterical, in the centre you are faced with a bigger than life size sculpture of Jeff and his porn star wife in mid mount . This is surrounded by huge images of Jeff and his lady from the Made in Heaven series, the most gloriously cheesy porn images I have ever seen. These high colour, high gloss photos tower over the viewer as you move around the centre piece. Jeff Koons pieces turn himself into the commodity, explicitly so as he places himself in the context of pornography.

You then go through to another room bedecked with iconic Keith Haring graffiti and blasting out yet more 80’s tunes, creating a mock up of the Haring’s Pop Shop. Here faced with old t shirt designs and products, the relationship between pop art and mass culture is evident. In fact there is also a shop within the exhibition space selling recreations of the artists famous t-shirts. It’s hard to tell whether this is an ironic nod, or a commercial venture. But I have a feeling true pop artists would probably approve of both.

The whole exhibition culminates in the embodiment of commoditisation and art, the final room is filled with the works of Takashi Murakami. These pieces are crammed with images of modern culture. From a perspex box diamonds embedded in the white gold representation of a Pepsi can wink at the viewer. While the soundtrack of Turning Japanese plays from the lcd screen where a costumed Kirsten Dunst dances through the streets of Tokyo.

All and all this exhibition is high colour and high sound. Half the rooms seem to have their own soundtrack, or maybe that was just the memory I took from it. I loved the use of music, so many galleries are quiet spaces , not loud and boisterous but that’s exactly what pop art was and is. It’s unapologetic and brash.
The exhibition get’s busy, very busy, which fits with the mood of the space but can get frustrating.  If you can go into the exhibition on the opposite side of the floor; Pure Beauty. In comparison it offers you a quiet, curious and intriguing collection as well as the opportunity to learn the rules to the choose a carrot  game. It’s a nice contrast from the in your face quality of Pop Life.

You can find out more about both exhibitions on the Tate Modern website.

I found these pictures Cyana trend land, you can see that there has always been a fairly stock format for photography lips, make them full, make it close up, if you can get something protruding from the mouth, be it soft fruit or a wisp of cigarette smoke. And keep them on a blank canvas, the paler the skin the better, alabaster cheeks and chins from which a glorious full pout appears.

I have to say there is nothing quite like a woman wearing lipstick well, I have a friend who has one of the most glorious pouts know to man or beast.  She went through a wonderful stage of wearing rich red lipstick covered with red glitter. It was one of the most captivating sights. You couldn’t take your eyes of her lips.

It isn’t one of looks you can keep going all night, lips are all about first impressions, the entrance. Those looks when some ones gaze flicks from your lips to your eyes. A heavily lipsticked mouth is a statement makeup, halfhearted just doesn’t cut it.

Now you’ll have to excuse me while I go and blow a ridiculous amount of money on lipstick. Here are some of the most wonderful pouts fashion has to offer.

So I just had to ask her if she would do a picture for us around the theme of ‘Squidge’ and find out a bit more about her work. This is what she came up with.

Squidge Mag: How would you describe our work to anyone who has never seen it before?

Lily Mae Martin: I would describe my drawn work as often grotesque and unsettling in the depiction of it’s subjects, but not without a little humour. They are sort of an overt representation of the inner psyche. Conversely my painted works are generally softer and not as immediately confronting. The subjects seem to hold their emotions further within. In each image I am striving to improve myself technically and conceptually, which I think is really starting to shape my work now.

SM: What artists and illustrators have been the biggest influence on your work so far?

LM: When I was younger, comic books were my biggest inspiration… Such as FooTrot Flats and Archie. Then I was really inspired by The Simpsons when it came out and Disney and Looney Toons. (Especially the earlier ones.) Osamu Tezuka and Peter Chung’s “Aeon Flux”. Then when I was older, I really got inspired by Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell, I really loved Alan Moore’s “V for Vendetta”, I enjoyed Neil Gaiman, and was very inspired by Garth Ennis’ “Preacher”, and David Mac. Other than comics and cartoons, I am very inspired by Caravaggio, Goya, William Hogarth, Munch, Lucien Freud, John Currin, etc.

SM: What’s your working space or studio like?

LM: My space is rather new so I am still waiting on some furniture. It’s decorated with old photographs I have been collecting and images I like from magazines, postcards etc. It’s pretty incomplete. But, it’ll get there. I have double doors that open up to the back garden so I can get some ventilation while looking at the pretty garden. Very nice light.

SM: How did you get on with the theme of Squidge?

LM: The image I chose is about how we all live off our screens. We work with them, we study with them, we socialize with them, we entertain ourselves with them, we lust with them, we are glued to them and I think it is affecting our social behavior. I think how we run our work spaces and conduct our social lives are heavily influenced by these machines and are squidging our brains and ourselves!

You can find more of Lily’s work on her website

Emma studied at London College of Fashion before being given a Scholarship from Marchpole to make my graduate collection. Now the designer and textile artist set up the label ä elska from my studio space in the creative hub that is Cockpit Arts in Deptford. We asked her some questions and she said this…

Squidge Mag: Can you talk us through your work process, how do things go from a fuzzy concept to the finished article?

Demiswede: Well for me usually everything starts with a lot of photocopies! I’ll spend a lot of time in libraries and this creates loads of ideas that usually lead to a theme. For my graduate collection I was influenced by a lot of scientific diagrams and symbols that document movements or sounds. I thought about how even though most people can’t read musical notation they can enjoy the sound, so their brain understands the same symbols just in a different way! Its a thought process that feels simple and obvious but points to other ideas about interpretation. This leads to me scribbling a lot and playing with shapes on the mannequin which leads to garment shapes!

SM: What or who do you think has been the biggest influence on your designs to date?

D: I think Swedish culture is my biggest influence, I find the design aesthetic so beautiful, Its so pure and so functional yet has a massive visual impact, It is my aim to design like that.

SM: Which designer would you most like to work with?

D: At the moment my favourite designer is Erdem Moralioglu. It is difficult to combine femininity, modesty and modernity and he does it so so well. I also love Martin Margiela for his design ethos, it’s very admirable for a designer to shy away from the spotlight because a huge team of people will have worked on the designer’s collections. The work is so high end, yet exposes the processes behind making the garments.

SM: The fashion industry has been massively influenced by the recession, what effect do you think this has had on new designers?

D: I think it has hit everyone hard, I’ve definitely lost some opportunities due to the recession but I’ve gained the absolutely amazing one to have a studio space at cockpit arts and support from head for business that I never would have had otherwise! Seeing other businesses fail makes you realise that you can’t spend money you don’t have, and you have to be very clever about what you put on the market, but it pushes you to do well on your own. I don’t think it would be any fun if it was easy ; )

SM: How would someone reading this hope to get hold of one of your designs?

D: The garments you can see are made to order and you can email me at demiswede@googlemail.com. Later this year I will be selling accessories at Greenwich market and slowly but surely building up a bigger product range and stockists! Also look out for my label launching which is going to be called ä elska

SM: Your final collection features items which have incredible intricate patterns cut into the fabric, is the process as painstaking as it looks?

D: I drew the textile design by hand and used a laser cutting machine to cut the design.  So the laser does the really clever bit! Although it does take a long time to digitally match the textile design to the garment shape, not to mention make sure that you don’t set anything on fire!!

SM: I love that there is an origami element to your work, the pieces are incredible architectural, where did this feature in your work emerge from?

D: Architecture feels similar to fashion in a lot of ways, basically in both disciplines you are cutting out flat shapes and putting them together to make one big three dimensional shape. I also think that you inhabit your clothes as much as you do your home. Its funny that you say it looks like origami because at first when i was trying to work out how to fit people into the shapes I made little paper models of them!

SM: Your studios are in Deptford; South East London has often been suggested as a hub of creativity, do you think that the area has had an influence on you?

D: It’s impossible not to be influenced by your surroundings and Deptford is brilliant as the creativity is a really exciting undercurrent that bubbles underneath society and comes out in graffiti and little community projects. I think you will always find emerging artists and designers where the rent is cheap!

SM: What would you say has been the highlight of you career so far?

D: I’m really only just getting started so I feel like all the highlights are yet to come! I think my graduate show was a definite highlight even though I totally almost fainted afterwards! Can highlights exist in the form of people? I’ve been really lucky since graduating to work with some amazingly creative people at places like Amelia’s magazine and Louise Goldin.

SM: Have you got anything interesting in the pipeline for the future?

D: I have so many ideas and so many plans! I’m going to be doing large pieces of textile artwork to place in empty shop windows, converting negative recession-affected spaces into positive ones! I’m going to be setting up my market stall and I also have some really cool interior products in the pipeline!

SM: What other up and coming designers do you think we should watch out for?

D: Definitely look at Louise Goldin, she does absolutely astonishing things with knit and her shapes are so forward thinking. I also think Peter Pilotto is doing some really interesting things with digital print so I’d keep an eye on him!

The cellotape figures are equally fascinating. These fantastical images of animals and figures opaque and ghostlike.  You can only imagine what it must be like to come across one of these sculptures when walking down the street.

These sculptures both illustrate the ridiculous as well as having a deeper layer of the sinister and hidden nature of cities. In the same way that Richard Long plays with the natural environment to create pieces of art that may stand untouched for years. Artists like Jenkins and Banksy create a urban version with a shorter lifespan. As fast paced and transient as urban life, these pieces are unique in their nature because no one expects them to last.

You can find more of Mark Jenkins work at his website check out his storker project, equally creepy and entertaining.

I found these images on a website called my love for you is a stampede of horses, which for one, is an awesome name for a site, I mean how can you not be excited when you stumble upon a site with such a momentous name. Anyway I digress, but I discovered this artist called Olivia Jeffries and literally had to know more about her work. You know how some art grows on you and some things just immediately grab you. This was on of those moments.

Jeffries has an obsession with using found paper to draw on, many of the images appear on the back of old book covers, record sleeves and scraps of discarded paper. Because of this, her images use a lot of white, the discoloration of the paper over time means it this pale figure stand out like ghosts on the page. She uses relatively little colour which adds to the ethereal nature of her work. They are so finely drawn and highlighted that they come at you from the page.

There is something wonderfully innocent and childlike about these images, intermingling people with paper oragami. They are both simple and uncomplicated images and at the same time, wonderfully intricate.

I love the fact that she uses old book covers, each with their own history and story and then overlaid with this is the artwork, which will in turn create a history and story of it’s own. Here figures are placed in these environments, strangers to the story that has proceeded them. The water damage and discoloration of age creates a landscape in which these figure sit, explore and interact. One of my favourite pieces is the one below draw on a child’s book, where there is a juxtaposition between a childish drawing of hornets and the exquisite representation of two women kneeling.

There is something so unique about these tiny fragments of art. There will be no reprints, it exists only within that space of forgotten paper. It has such a personal nature to it, you feel like by looking at them you’re leafing through someone else’s belongings. Which I suppose really you are, and to own a piece of her work, you are taking on someone elses posessions. I almost feel like the paper is in transition; waiting for it’s next purpose, it’s next story. It moves from book cover, record sleeve, love letter adopts it’s new persona as an artwork. Where will it’s next journey take it, how will it be re-appropriated and manipulated in the future? Constantly being passed from person to person creating a tangled history to be imprinted on the paper.

Olivia Jeffries work is a wonderful example of the amazing artists that you can find on the web. You can buy her work on Etsy and I know that is where I am heading as soon as the next payday comes around. You can find out more about her work on her website.