Art Recommendations

Anxiety is one of those subjects that innately resonates with creative people. I’m not sure why the two go hand-in-hand, but if Gemma Correll’s The Worrier’s Guide to Life taught me anything, it was that this problem affects a lot more people than anyone realizes. Maybe it’s society’s relentless nature to make us work more and rest less that makes us seek solace inside our minds. Whatever the case, it’s a subject that’s hard to put your finger on in words, which is why Catherine Lepage‘s Thin Slices of Anxiety takes a different approach.

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There used to be a popular website called Stuff Overheard in New York (that, surprisingly, is still up) that highlighted all the odd things locals and visitors stumble across while moseying around the city. Considering there are 8 million people living here from all cultures, economic backgrounds, and walks of life, it’s no surprise that things gets a little weird from time to time.

Illustrator Andrea Tsurumi, who we wrote about last year for her hilarious mini comic about an ass-kicking Andrew Jackson, has a new ongoing series called Eavesdropper, which is a lot like the illustrated version of Stuff Overheard in New York. Presented like a visual diary, Tsurumi describes her city encounters day-by-day, observing the surprising politeness of “Don’t sit there!” or “Watch your bag!” and highlighting how entertaining one 5-minute transfer at the train station can be. If you liked this, Tsurumi also has another ongoing comic about books called Library Book.

Drake’s known for a lot of things: being emotional, coining YOLO, being emotional. But one thing he’s not known for is being sweet and highly caloric. Instagram account @drakeoncake combines two drastically different things and brings them together, like sewn-in dickies. Created by New Orleans backer @joythebaker, the account is cake porn combined with Drake lyrics. It’s so ingenious it’ll make you wonder why you didn’t think of it yourself. Oh yeah, we know: cause we hate cooking.

There’s a lot we love about animator Makoto Shinkai, whether it’s his pertinence for slow narratives or his obsession with melancholic atmospheres. But Shinkai is as much a master of creating stunning backgrounds as he is a storyteller. The Garden of Words, a short film about a lonely teenage boy and his relationship with a 27-year-old woman, is one of Shinkai’s better known films, and one of the best things about the film are all the gorgeous background shots of rainy Shinjuku. Rain is a major theme of the whole film, and Shinkai manages to turn slick streets and drenched gardens into scenes that have a life of their own.

The Garden of Words: Memories of Cinema is an art book that compiles all of Shinkai’s stunning background art for the film. At $75 a pop, it’s only recommended for hardcore fans, but we included a few images above for you to gawk at from afar. If you haven’t seen the film yet, watch the trailer.

Today’s technology is sophisticated enough to make game design a legit art form. Designer Sandro Tatinashvili mostly design game backgrounds, but they decided to take a break and create these ambient animations of mini scenes. Together, each scene looks like it could be a part of a larger story, either a short animation or a video game, but that’s what’s most appealing about it, the suggestion of something larger. But ultimately, these are just a couple of beautiful looking gifs. And you can’t argue with that.

The anonymous soapbox-like atmosphere of the Internet has long made it the best place to air out dirty laundry. Artist Anna Ladd is one of those people, and over the years she has confessed to all kinds of personal embarrassments on her blog. Her photo series Things I Told the Internet, But Didn’t Tell My Mom examines the blurry lines of what’s considered public and private. Using banners to spell out phrases that are directly lifted from her blog, the series cleverly shows how broadcasting our thoughts to others over the Internet sometimes doesn’t translate well in the real world. Or, as Ladd describes, these are just “some pictures about my backwards concept of privacy.”  Touché.

Typically the words “tiny dancer” makes us think of Elton John’s popular song of the same name. But illustrator Charlotte Smith took the literal approach with her series Tiny Dancers, which feature, you guessed it, gifs of tiny dancers. With her simple drawing style, she highlights famous dance scenes, like Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” side-step or Billy Elliot‘s cathartic leaps. But probably our favorite thing about it is how she uses simplicity to illustrate how easily we remember certain pop culture landmarks. Now excuse us. We’re gonna go watch Moonrise Kingdom again.