Stillness Within Every Piece: Q&A with Graphic Designer Elyn Kazarian

Use other peoples’ negativity as your fuel to create something positive.

Elyn Kazarian is a designer currently based in Los Angeles, CA. Her work provides an atmosphere of orchestrated pulse which effects people in a subliminal way. 

what is your craft? My heart will always be in the arts. Right now, I work as a graphic designer and creative director within the music industry, but who knows where I'll be in the coming years.

what are you most afraid of? I'm most afraid of not living up to my full potential. 

where do you get your drive from? My drive primarily comes from music. Besides nature, it's one of the few things that keeps me constantly curious.

what does mindfulness mean to you? Mindfulness to me means being aware of yourself, your abilities and potential, while also being aware of your surroundings and how you're affecting it. It's important to stay open minded, especially towards those around you.

what role does stillness play in your life and art? Stillness actually has always been an important aspect to my life and art. I never talk about it, especially in regards to my work, but it's there within every piece I create. People don't realize how powerful stillness is. Sometimes when I'm listening to music, the most catching moments for me are those exact moments of stillness in between the notes.

name up to 3 emerging visual artists, designers, musicians that inspire you right now. They all happen to be musicians: Innanet James, Smino, and The Code.

what is a book you have read / talk you have heard / video you have seen that has impacted your outlook on your life and art in the past year? There are 2 TED talks that I recommend: Janine Shepherd: A broken body isn't a broken person and Ramona Pierson: An unexpected place of healing.

what is a mantra or affirmation you are working on this year? Use other peoples' negativity as your fuel to create something positive.

how do you stay woke (awake/aware) on a daily basis? I listen.

Artist Decoded: Andrew Thomas Huang and The Importance of Collaboration

Artist Decoded is a weekly podcast series created by emerging creative director and photographer Yoshino.

Artist filmmaker Andrew Thomas Huang lives and works in Los Angeles. He studied Fine Art and Animation at the University of Southern California, graduating in 2007.

Huang's film and video work have been exhibited at the MoMA, NYC; MoMA PS1; The Barbican Centre, London; Potmasters Gallery, NYC; and the MoCA, Los Angeles.

As an experimental filmmaker whose work bridges the gap between video art and film, he has developed a strong reputation for his collaborative practice, having worked extensively with Icelandic artist Bjork, as well as Radiohead's Thom Yorke, the Icelandic band Sigur Ros among others.

Topics discussed on this episode:

  • How learning how to figure draw changed the way he generated ideas
  • His thesis project in college, entitled "Doll Face", was the first video he posted on Youtube. He released it in 2006 and it was received very well. This video marked the first realization of the viability of online video content to him.
  • His journey into the world of filmmaking after college
  • How the creation of his short film in 2012, Solipsist, made a huge impact on the current trajectory of his career
  • Collaborating with Atoms For Peace, Bjork and Sigur Ros
  • The importance of storyboarding
  • The ebb and flows of creating art
  • The importance of promoting your work

www.andrewthomashuang.com

An Artist's Guide: The Art of Starting Over

It's officially mid-summer here in Los Angeles - the end of July - and like clockwork this season always brings me back to the visions I had at the beginning of the year. While reflecting back on the last six months of good and bad choices I'm also thrusted forward to December, anticipating the end of the year and praying with clenched fists that I'll have something worthy to show for it. 

It's a good time to re-up on the self-promises I may have forgotten: the album that stalled, writing regimen that wained (*this blog included, sorry*), the workout habit that somehow faded away...all in the whirlwind of what we call 'life shit.'

While stuck in the thick of reflection I came across the following words from GFDA:

It reminded me that restarting is inevitable, that everyday is day one, and sometimes life forces you to adapt. Evolution, however - now that is a conscious choice. 

With the intention of growing and not repeating the same mistakes, I ask myself the following: 

  1. What am I grateful for?
  2. What am I avoiding?
  3. What small step can I take, today?

I remember back when I was first starting out in music and Myspace was my only gateway. When Myspace began to fade out, I started recording cover songs on YouTube (when you could get away with webcam video quality and crap audio). When I got bored of the covers, I started uploading originals to Soundcloud. A year later we released on iTunes and Spotify. I tried it independently. I tried it with a small label. I tried it with an agent, two managers, and a handful of producers. And I'm still trying. The distribution platforms and processes have consistently changed from year to year, but my hustle is the same. And it's because of this experience of cyclical upstarts and downshifts in my career that I can say:

You've been here before. You did it then. You'll do it again.


Bonus Questions

A: What are you checking in on? What's changed since you began? Are you where you thought you'd be? Why or why not?

BWhat does it mean to start over? Is it just a change of heart? A change of perspective? Or just part of the territory. How does it feel to start over? 

CWhat's causing you to start over? What inspires you to start over? Is there a project that you've scrapped for something else? Is there a relationship you've had to abandon to build anew? How are you dealing?

Leave a comment or email your response here.

Thumbnail Image via Tony Webster

Artist Decoded: Artistic Duty with Vice Photo Editor Tim Barber

Artist Decoded is a weekly podcast series created by emerging creative director and photographer Yoshino.

Tim Barber (b. Feb. 5th 1979) grew up in Amherst Massachusetts, lived for a few years in the mountains of Northern Vermont, studied photography in Vancouver B.C. and now lives in New York City. A photographer, curator and designer, Barber worked as the photo editor for Vice Magazine (2003-2005) and founded the online gallery and image archive tinyvices.com (2005-2012), which was released as a free App (2010) and evolved into time-and-space.tv (2013-2016), a curated community platform for artists. Barber co-curated the inaugural New York Photo Festival (2008), curated / edited a series of five monographs published by the Aperture Foundation (2008) and launched the independent publishing house TV Books (2008-2010).

Ideas expressed in this episode:

  • Art being able to communicate messages that words can't describe
  • Creating, manifesting, capturing, hunting for... "IT"
  • The podcast highlighting todays "unsung heroes". These artists have the potential to eventually become "cult classics".
  • Our job as an artist is to translate experiences and to share them with the world
  • Different levels of dimensions and consciousness
  • Virtual reality becoming a part of reality
  • Living with love and fear in our lives. Creating a no fear zone
  • Becoming Photo Editor for Vice
  • Conversations becoming artworks within themselves
  • Trying to live within a non-consumerist way of life
  • The art world being a vast sea of hits and misses. Being both deep and shallow.
  • Our relationship with our own truths and universal truths

www.tim-barber.com

Five Unique Artist Tributes To Victims of Police Brutality

On social media platforms generally reserved for self-promotion and fan engagement, artists of all walks are speaking out against racism and police violence, in a way that only they can. 

we need to stay +

A photo posted by knwng (@knwng) on

To our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters who may not know how loved you truly are ♡

A photo posted by Kenesha Sneed (@tactilematter) on

The Dark Noise Collective is crowdsourcing a resource for writers who want to join the fight against police violence. Click here for more.

Artist Decoded: Exploring Self-Development with Makeup Artist Isamaya Ffrench

Artist Decoded is a weekly podcast series created by emerging creative director and photographer Yoshino.

Isamaya Ffrench is a makeup <slash> interdisciplinary artist whose clients included Junya Wantanabe, YSL Beauty, Chanel, Selfridges, Nike, and Camper. She works with magazines / publications such as Vogue, Love, Dazed and Novembre. She is the UK Brand Ambassador of YSL Beaute. She splits her time between London and Paris.

Topics covered:

  • Self discovery through artistry
  • The importance of collaboration
  • Creating a creative dialogue with collaborative partners
  • Trusting those who you collaborate with
  • Having ideas and executing them
  • Self-development
  • Personal approaches to beauty
  • Mental wellness
  • Psychotherapy
  • Being comfortable in one's own skin
  • Life being a constant flow of change
  • Letting go

www.isamayaffrench.com