movin’ on

to anyone who stops by this blog: if it seems deserted, it is. The address to my new blog is:

www.pkafka.com

Thanks. I hope you guys enjoy my new blog as much as I have enjoyed working with WordPress on this one.

-pk

banksy – written up

My dad, an avid art fan with impeccable taste, recently introduced me to the work of Banksy, a British graffiti artist. Similar to the type of art my father usually collects, Banksy’s art is cutting edge; however contrary to my fathers taste, his art is abstract in meaning, not method.

Like most artists, Banksy is not well known; on the other hand, unlike most artists, Banksy prefers to remain anonymous. With the majority of his followers reporting that they don’t know who he is or what he looks like, it is safe to say that Banksy is an enigma.

Although he specializes in attractive and welcomed public vandalism, he also produces pieces for private collections. In April of 2007 one of his creations, entitled Space Girl and Bird, was auctioned by Sotheby’s for £288,000 ($576,000); unlike most people, Banksy refuses to embrace fame. A day prior to the sale of this work, Southeby’s succeded in auctioning off more of his pieces. In response to the absurd prices people paid, Banksy produced this work of art and posted it on the front page of his website. Be sure to check his website out.

Explore his collection, do some research, all his masterpieces rely on their location for much of their meaning. Here are some of my favorites (click to enlarge):

-pk

gnr8 – a well balanced collection

You might need to take a second and even third look at that lopsided plank of wood to actually recognize it; it is a bookshelf. At first glance the sleek and definitely unique library piece seems to resemble a playground favorite, the See-Saw. The bookshelf, which is honest in design, is also upfront about the inspiration behind it – it is in fact called the See-Saw bookshelf.

Generate, a Canadian lighting, furniture and home accessory provider, can take credit for the distribution of this book balancer; however the functionality of the piece was devised by BCXSY, a design duo from an unknown place ( you are going to have to do your own research on that).

I am glad I came across this nostalgic piece of functional art. However, what I am most excited about is my discovery of Generate (or gnr8). As stated above, gnr8 is a Canadian store that provides creative people with interesting decorative solutions.

They seem to specialize in unique lighting, and even have pieces of furniture that incorporate light in some way. It is hard to describe the collection, but I can say that they do have a good amount of innovative and beautiful things that every design driven person would appreciate.

Here is a desk that caught my eye. It is a modern rendition of the classic writing desk.

-pk