Olaf Hajek

olaf hajek is one of Germany’s most renowned illustrator and one of my favorites. he took a degree in graphic design at the fachhochschule in düsseldorf in 1993 and currently he lives and works in berlin.

most of his work could be described as 'magic realism' and it includes elements of South American folklore, mythology, religion, history, and geography creating a fantastic images on the border between imagination and reality.

his list of clients includes the new yorker, rolling stone, apple, united airlines, macy's, daimler chrysler, volkswagen, playboy, architectural digest, taschen, flaunt, qvest and many more.

his exhibition 'FLOWERHEAD' will be open till the 20th of July at the Gallery Johanssen at the Direktorenhaus in Berlin.

Iakov Chernikhov

Iakov Chernikhov is a Russian constructivist architect and graphic designer, the illustrator of 101 Architectural Fantasies, one of the only avant-garde art books published in the eastern bloc during the Stalinist era. he was born in 1889, in Pavlograd, Yekaterinenskav Gubernia, Ukraine (now Dnepropetrovskaya Oblast - i can't pronounce these names). in 1904 he left Pavlograd for Odessa and became a student at the Odessa Art School, a branch of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. his teachers were G. A. Ladyzhenskii and K. K. Kostandi, both leading artists of the South Russian School.

to earn his living, young Chernikhov did some common student jobs, one of them was an assistant architect employed to design and construct the Odessa Exhibition, during which he mastered various aspects of graphical design. this period became the most significant for the formation of his creative personality and it was in Odessa that the distinctive style of Iakov Chernikhov took shape. in 1912 he became interested in the art of drawing, in graphics, and began his work on a course in ornamental drawing, which gave direction to his subsequent creative searches. that same year he began his pedagogical activity, which he would continue until the end of his life.

for other images visit the Iakov Chernikhov International Foundation website

Klaus Buergle

was born in 1926 in Stuttgart. he started to illustrate for magazines in the beginning of the 50's focusing on technical and scientific illustrations. His work became famous in the late 50’s and 60’s when he produced hyper technical images of futuristic world for science fiction books and magazines. his drawings show what people thought about our time in the last century reflecting the collective optimism that the society had for space and technology at that time. other works in retro-futurismus.de or in achtung poster

Gregori Saavedra

is freelance creative director, designer, illustrator, copywriter and art director based in Barcelona. i saw some of his works last year at Illustrative 2008 in Zurich (i was so impressed that i uploaded immediately one of his images on my desktop...) but unfortunately this year he is not showing in Berlin. once you learn his website (it took me few minutes...) you can enjoy his illustrations, graphic design and video works. definitely worth a visit.

Cristobal Leon - Luis

LUIS from diluvio on Vimeo.

Cristobal Leon is an animator-video artist. he was born in Santiago de Chile (1980) where he also studied Design and Art at PUC. He created with two other artists, Niles Atallah and Joaquin Cucina an online exhibition space for their video works - Diluvio Gallery. in Illustartive 2009 in Berlin they show this amazing video work - Luis (it reminds me of some locations in kreuzberg...). other videos in the online gallery.

Russell Cobb

is an artist that participated in Illustrative last year in Zurich. this year he is not in taking part but i like his works. Cobb is an illustrator based in the UK. he studied in London and in Switzerland and he has featured in many publications. except for the drawings, i personally like also the colours combinations and the text style.

Roman Bittner

is a german illustrator, born in Berlin (1971). in 1996 he founded his own graphic design studio - Apfel Zet. in his series 'Ancient Cities of Tomorrow', Bittner constructs an axonometric urban imaginary with references to early mid-twentieth century geraman and american architecture. his works are full of details, colours and in a way, they somehow remind me of a computer game. in Illustartive 2009 in Berlin, Bittner uses laser engraving to create his urban visions with a delicate lace frame.

Klaus Staeck

Klaus Staeck (born in Saxony, Germany in 1938), is one of the most prominent graphic artists in Germany. except for being a lawyer, politician, organiser, publisher, author, and television contributor, he is mostly known as a political artist. for over 30 years he has made posters that deal with freedom of speech, peace, environment, poverty, and the constant struggle against political hypocrisy. something to remember for the up-coming elections in Germany next month.

The Hanuka brothers

on the research for israeli illustrators and cartoonists you can't miss the brothers Asaf and Tomer Hanuka (maybe because they are one of the few that have websites...). Tomer (right image), works on a range of projects for magazines, book publishers, ad agencies and film studios. he was also involved in the animation for the film Waltz With Bashir. Asaf (left image and i love the name) was collaborating with the israeli author Etgar Keret. although the two identical twin brothers have a very distinguished style, they do collaborate in common projects: the comic book bi-polar and a blog!

Persepolis

persepolis is a comic book you have to read if you want to know a little bit more about what is happening in Iran in these days.

it is the story of a girl, Marjane Satrapi, through her childhood during the islamic revolution; her high school years as a foreigner in Vienna and her return back in Iran until the decision to leave again her beloved country for good.
although it is kind of a biography, it provides a lot of information about the history of the post-shah Iran and about the everyday life in Tehran.
the illustration in the book, and then in the movie, is great. it is sharp and expresses so good with only few lines. it is influenced by the style of the comic book artist David B. who Marjane studied under (wikipedia).
the story made me feel very familiar with certain aspects of it; the middle-eastern way of life (some of the characters really reminded me of my cousins and aunts) and the difficulties in a foreign country. it is an absorbing, funny, sad story.

Persepolis. author and illustrator: Marjane Satrapi. published for the first time in France in 2000.

Illustration III

Evol is the name of an artist based in Berlin (although you might think the name comes from spelling Love backward, it's actually after the name of the sonic youth album).
he began his career as a street artist and a graffiti writer but then he moved inside. his work is connected usually to architectural elements (platenbauten) or urban context applied on 'dirty' surfaces: electrical boxes, wood and cardboard that accumulated dust or patina just because they were sitting outside or used.
Evol uses spray-paint, adhesive tape and stencil to create his images that look completely realistic.
unfortunately i couldn't find his website to make a link. if you know of one, please let me know.

i was trying to be a street artist as well, but the only time me and my friend Sharon tried to write a graffiti in Jerusalem in the middle of the night, we were caught by a passing by policeman that was by a chance on his way home. he forced us to cover it with paint. well, it wasn't a big loss anyway...

Illustartion II

a comparison between two visions of the world. on the left, the famous cover of the New Yorker by Saul Steinberg on March 29, 1976. on the right the cover of the Economist by Jon Berkeley on March 2009.

by the way, both of the illustrators are great. i saw some works of Saul Steinberg two years ago in new york and i just discovered Jon Berkeley. his website really worth a visit.

Illustartion I

one of the good thing that happened to me since i'm here in berlin, is getting to know a little bit the world of illustration. until than, illustration for me was mainly comics - Garfield as teenager and Diabolik in Italy. yes, and some tv cartoons. anyway thanks to friends here, especially Tim Dinter, i got to know some really interesting illustration works. illustration is in a way the perfect combination between architecture and art (maybe better architecture and graphic design?). it's a personal interpretation of architectural situations that transforms the reality into a different place. it gives the viewer the chance to see things that he never saw before. i will try to show here a list of artist that i personally like and that use urban scenes in their works.

the illustrations from top to bottom are of: Evan Hecox, Daniel Egnéus and Tim Dinter. i'm sure there are still many. but it needs time to learn and study this territory. i will keep the blog updated...