Kata-illustration

Resolution 2012!!

2011-12-31T21:57:00.001+02:00

Dear Kata, this is what you promise to yourself for 2012:

Read more. Much more than before. Especially focus on reading Russian authors (at least classics) in Russian and English/American authors (dig more into both classics and contemporary literature) in English.
Draw more. Buy and fill a proper sketchbook with observational drawings, focus on faces, arms and animals, architecture. Find a way to do that in geometric but not too primitive style.
Dig deeper. In anything that interest me. Research now as much or more as I used to research issues back in university - with proper sketchbooks, also write more while researching, stop being such a superficial dilettante as I was in 2011. This promise is especially focused on researching costume history, folk ornaments of different nations, visual propaganda and advertising history history / politics in general, fashion illustration, patterns, collages, marketing basics, hand-written typography, typography in general, art history and personalities (biographies) that interest me. Dig deeper, one issue at a time.
Write more. Take out of my head all those half-stories, characters that live their own life in my head, but never on paper. Give at least few hours per week for writing, re-writing what was written, and try to write a full story, not one of those typical-to-me half stories that have no ending or too many words that lead to wrong direction and distract me from actual story-line.
Send more self-promotional cards to editorial art directors in UK, EU and USA. More than once per year.
COLLAGE MORE. After graduating from Kingston I somehow managed to work in vector all the time, and very rarely cut out something from paper and glue to other piece of paper. This is really bad, and it really starts to scare me, so I promise to actually open my plastic folder of colored card and cut-outs from magazines (the folder, that I always take with me to Moscow and back to Vilnius whenever I change location few times per year).
Try new things, go to new places.
(+ few silent promises that could not be told out loud)

RIP Hitch

2011-12-18T02:48:00.009+02:00

Life is a terrible thing to waste.

So I hope I haven’t wasted too much of it.

- Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens has passed away. I thought I would write this post as soon as I heard the news, but too many thoughts crossed my mind at that moment, so I had to give myself few moments, few days I should say, to sort it out in my head before writing this little obituary.

Was he a socialist in some point of his life? - Yes.
Did he express very right-wing ideas on different times of his life? - Yes.
Did he contradicted himself more than once? - YES
Did I agree on everything he said? - No. Did it make me think and provoked my mind? - YES, and this is the best compliment I could ever tell to anyone.
And YES, he was not only a polemicist on the outside, he seemed to be one in the inside too, which is why I will always respect him, as it shows a life-long growth, a state of mind in constant search of a new argument, not only strong in its meaning but also brilliantly phrased, struggling with everyone who stands in the way of principle, even if that someone was Hitchens himself.

Not so many people are brave enough to be themselves, to admit that their job was their life and that it all was worth it after-all:

"It’s not for everybody. Not everyone wants to always be an outcast or out of step or against the stream. But if you do feel that the consensus doesn’t speak for you, if there’s something about you that makes you feel that it would be worth being unpopular or marginal for the chance to lead your own life and have a life instead of a career or a job, then I can promise you it is worthwhile, yes."

- Hitchens on my favorite interview on summing up his life - on Charlie Rose show - http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11168

Thank you, Christopher Hitchens, for reminding me that not everyone has to grow out of youthful maximalism during very confusing times in my life when I almost chose an easy way.

Rest in peace, Hitch', I really hope you are not in heaven now, but just in case you are, I hope you're at least enjoying the argument with God about the fact he does not exist.

Crafty Christmas Cards!

2011-11-20T17:07:00.002+02:00

Hi all, just wanted to present you few of my folk inspired crafty but professionally printed blank Christmas cards that you can buy at my Etsy Store ; here they are (and there are more on Etsy):

Ever dreamed of getting lost in the forest where every tree is a Christmas tree? ©Kotryna Žukauskaitė

Christmas Wreath! ©Kotryna Žukauskaitė

Rocking Reindeer! ©Kotryna Žukauskaitė

Christmas in the country-side! ©Kotryna Žukauskaitė

Going home for Christmas! ©Kotryna Žukauskaitė

Snow flakes falling! ©Kotryna Žukauskaitė

These come in sets of 10, envelopes included.

Kata Kiosk on Etsy

Also don't forget to check

KATA KIOSK website at www.katakiosk.lt

all images ©Kotryna Žukauskaitė, 2011

KATA KIOSK re-launched!

2011-11-09T14:44:00.000+02:00

Ladies and Gents, finally after long weeks of working and waiting for the right moment, I've relaunched a proper website for my illustrated products brand KATA KIOSK separatly from my editorial/book portfolio. These are pure self-initiated products (tees, cards, souvenirs, etc) that I sell on Etsy and 'offline' stores in Lithuania, so please check it out at www.katakiosk.lt! I would be very grateful if you could tweet or share on your facebook wall this newly re-branded small business adventure, as I appreciate every new visitor! P.s. let me know what you think!! ;-)

Queen of Rage

2011-11-01T14:16:00.007+02:00

what "don'ts" do inspire you?

As its a long weekend back here in Vilnius, I decided to put my serious assignments aside and give myself some time to exercise something I would not normally do, just to give my brains a break. So the exercise was to illustrate few things I hate most in illustration and pop-culture in general, so those were:

pocket-sized pet fetishism
pink+purple color scheme
photoshop use without knowing how to use it (pixelated, oversaturated, all-effects-on images without any irony)
cute stitching patterns
over-the-top cuteness although I love over-the-top aesthetics in general
all sort of non-ironical kitsch especially kitsch in politics
someone looking from the image straight to a viewer.
no-questions-asked, no-provocation, no-thought-involved advertising/design
cult of beauty
those scary cat-patterned bags I see everywhere I go

So, this is a result of trying to include all those 'inspirations' into one image:

Queen of rage: what "don'ts" do inspire you?

ETSY!

2011-10-04T20:11:00.008+03:00

Big KATA KIOSK update coming very soon with new website, new production and new everything! Take a small glimpse of the future look of Kata Kiosk and check out KATA KIOSK's ETSY SHOP FINALLY AVAILABLE at http://www.etsy.com/shop/KataKiosK?ref=pr_shop !!!! more cards coming this month! Also, please please 'like' KATA KIOSK facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kata-Kiosk/175076925843579 and keep checking it for big news in late October!

Till then, these are wedding cards 'Rococo Garden' series that are already in my Etsy. Spreading the word would be very very very appreciated, thanks!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/KataKiosK?ref=pr_shop

Golden autumn. Petersburg. Life.

2011-10-04T18:47:00.001+03:00

It's been a while since my last personal post on this blog and sorry to all my followers for that (one of them even wrote me an e-mail, asking if I've ever post anything again :))) ) but recent month was a real rollacoaster in my personal and professional life, and I don't even know where to start and where to stop to tell a story about it.

So as I'm sitting in front of a window in my hometown Vilnius and see few golden trees in front of me shivering a word 'autumn autumn' already, so its about time to do some retro/introspective thinking. And those thoughts for me now starts with thinking on dearests friends, and a concept of friendship itself. It seems that recently it finally took a shape for me - sometimes it takes me a while - I don't want any random people near me, honestly, I've learned few hard lessons recently and made my conclusions: no more effort from me to to anyone who never puts any effort into the friendship, no feeling uncanny or even guilty when talking about my plans (of ruling the world!!!) in front of anyone who puts me down every time or takes that as dry careerism and an insult to their own indifference and lack of dreams. I'm done with people who take others success as something that make themselves look worse, I'm done with that and I wish I could say it breaks my heart, but it really doesn't when 'friendships' with people like that end.

----

Well anyway, did I mention that there was an European Basketball championship (Eurobasket 2011) just held here in my home-country Lithuania? It was and it seems a country passed the test with A+ except of the fact we didn't win any medals :))) But somehow even with no medals it felt as a big celebration over here and of course there were few more tourists than normally in September, which was not bad for my 'Lithuania' t-shirt and other souvenir-stuff sales. Plus: now I have my second favored basketball team in Europe (the most favorite of course is Lithianian national team) - so the second place in my personal ranking goooooessss toooooo.... ----- Macedonia! Well done, guys, I wish you've won your bronze, cause you really were worth of it.

So after those dramatic games I needed a break and is there a better place than St.Petersburg for that? Long walks even on a rainy day are worth doing there, not mentioning an improvised visit to the concert by Nina Karlsson or a Graphic Novel festival, great food in Petersburg's cafes, great people, beautiful old-town architecture and great atmosphere hanging in the air, and there is just nothing bad to say about that place, one of my most-loved train-destinations in the whole world.

train station where train from Vilnius comes. Nice architecture, especially when its the first thing you see in Petersburg at 6 o'clock in the morning

a wonderful drawing from the exhibition by Kojiro AKAGI

At the Graphic Novel festival (this was just the entrance, much more ofcourse was hidden inside the building and also scattered all around Petersburg

At the concert of Nina Karlsson

"Demand for: croissants and sandwiches"

Well, thats it for this time, fellows, sorry for a long delay, just needed to put my thoughts together, to sit in the corner of a room hidden in my bathrobe with earphones and sun-glasses on. Now I'm done with it and back to my previous life with few stones taken out of my pockets. Life gets easier every-day.

P.S. I think this band 'BrassBastardz' made of few Lithuanian musicians will be a soundtrack of my autumn2011 - check them out (at http://brassbastardz.bandcamp.com/ or their Facebook page) they just won few 'The People's Music Awards' in the UK and I don't think there is anything that could stop them now.

Lithuania: Country-side, Nida, Vilnius.

2011-08-21T15:43:00.001+03:00

Holidays. Finally!!!

Long story told short, it all started with me traveling from Moscow to my home-country Lithuania, re-packing a bag for a weekend in the country-side, then re-packing a bag for a short 2-days trip to the Lithuanian seaside, Nida in particular, and then coming bag, walking in Vilnius old-town during my birthday and later that day going to the historical capital of Lithuania, Trakai, losing my bag there (with keys, debit cards, cash, pretty new cell phone, etc.) and finding it at six o'clock in the morning the next day.

Happy birthday, me.

Country-side weekend

reading Anna Karenina and drinking tea in the terrace, walking to the lake, cooking mushrooms, eating berries, sleeping in the hammock, breathing fresh air, taking a Russian-hot-steam-bath, and just resting my mind without a laptop, e-mails and anything like that.

Taking the long way

Traveling from Vilnius to the seaside on the long way (by the Nemunas river-side, not by the highway) and looking to my home-country as a tourist, visiting old historical places such as Veliuona church , Raudone castle and others and stopping to eat in Sturmai restaurant, great great place to eat fish-soup cooked by a local witch who brings it to you, puts on the table, takes her hot coal-stick, asks you to think of a wish, and then puts that burning stick into the soup for a second and leaves you to eat it. Food was great by the way.

Sea-side: NIDA

Nida Nida Nida.. what a great place to rest your mind, to be lazy, take a walking or cycling tour and get inspired. A place where Thomas Mann came to rest and write too, as well as tons of German seniors do now. This is not a place to go for clubbing or any other nigh-life, but it has clean and pretty empty beaches, amazing view from really high dunes, where it feels like being on the moon, also it has a pretty original cultural details that you wouldn't sea anywhere else, such as wooden colorful weathercocks that used to work as a code for what a family earned (how many houses, ships, etc they had). Not a cheap place, I should say, but it worth every penny spent there because after few days it feels like taking a month-long holiday. Switch your internet off, rent a lounge in the beach, buy some ice-cream or local smoked-fish, close your eyes and let Nida take care of you. At least that was what I did.

On a way home

Again, taking a long way home from Nida, visiting Joudkrante and its Witch-Hill full of wooden sculptures, and then taking a trip to the Hill of Crosses near Siauliai - magical place even for those as me, who has almost nothing in common with the actual religion. I found it inspirational and uncanny at the same time, but it worth visiting and at least taking a glance to it as to the historic place related not only with Christianity but with freedom and independence of Lithuania, a symbol of resistance against Soviet Empire. (for more about it, read here)

Vilnius-Trakai

So after long trips all across Lithuania, it was time to stop and think, take a cup of coffee in Vilnius' old-town, visit a Contemporary Art Center (and see some painted/graphic art by one of my favorite artists Laisvyde Salciute), then go to historic town of Trakai, eat local meet-pies there for dinner and say: happy birthday, me.

painted/graphic art by one of my favorite artists Laisvyde Salciute

Zoo. Mammuth. Sunday. Moscow

2011-08-04T14:09:00.000+03:00

Sunday time – lazy time

What a Sunday was recent Sunday. Something I really needed - good rest, big inspiration, tasty food, and ofcourse - RAIN here in Moscow, where I'm staying from time to time. After a week full of sitting in front of monitor and illustrating a Math school book for grammar school students, I finally got a chance to escape my room and have some real rest. It all started with a french film 'Mammuth' (starring Gérard Depardieu Mammuth Yolande Morreau, Anna Mouglalis, Isabelle Adjani, Benoit Poelvoorde and Miss Ming) in old Soviet-era cinema 'Kinocentr na Krasnoj Presne',

a so-so story where a character of G.Depardieu is searching for his new poetic himself while traveling to places of his youth in France. Although not the best film in history of cinematography, but good enough for lazy Sunday morning with a big paper-glass of Pepsi in one hand and ice-cream in another.

So after seeing a film me and my bf somehow appeared next to the entrance to Moscows Zoo across the street from the cinema, and the Zoo, as appeared later, was not as small as we thought at first.. Well first of all, as it was Sunday, people from all around Russia, visiting the capital, were the dominating part of visitors there, which was interesting to observe, as most of them found it necessary to take pictures of every creature posing next to it.

Secondly, why why WHY would you put a fun-fair stuff next to a cage of the tiger? So that was a bit surreal as I didn't expect to see plastic cars or spaceships in a Zoo.

And thirdly - some of the aviaries were very small, too small in my opinion. So besides all that, its a pretty big zoo with a variety of creatures and most fascinating for me was to observe all those birds, reminding fairy-tales or folk-tales about bird of happiness and all other magic birds. Very inspirational. Also I saw a cat, which somehow came into zoo, found a piece of grass in front of zebra's yard and enjoyed all the attention she got, as people started to feed and flatter her. I've never seen anyone more high than that cat, who accidentally got all that attention, in my life.

Some other surreal thing - THE TERRARIUM made out of an old soviet-era building, strangely enough, reminding a small cinema somewhere in the province. Look at the typography!!

Well anyway, besides all that, the day in the zoo was interrupted by a massive rain, which was great.

In conclusion, great experience, a lot of inspiration for illustrations, as I haven't been in a Zoo for ages, but on other hand in the end it became a bit sad, as some of the animals looked sad, especially monkeys, who, I can swear, were looking to people from behind the glass in the same manner as people where looking at them. So who is an animal behind the glass after all?

and so the day ended in Shtolle cafe, eating all those wonderful pies (pierogi) that I've wrote about in my recent Moscow-life-style post HERE. I was so tired, I could barely walk back to metro, but you know, I can't complain, as I had a long-waited Sunday without a computer monitor in front of me.

Amy.

2011-07-23T20:55:00.003+03:00

R.I.P. Amy Winehouse.

You were a soundtrack of my late teen-years and I used to listen to you on my way from University to the airport in UK for many many times. For more times than I would like to admit.

Welcome to the Rococo Garden!

2011-07-22T14:06:00.001+03:00

Ladys and Gent's, let me present you my newest product series - Rococo Garden wedding cards series, inspired by French and Slavic ornaments!

Shop in Lithuania at:
C&D style (Vilnius, PC Europa, PC Panorama)
Baltas Angelas, Vilnius (PC Europa, PC Gedimino 9)
Popieriaus Stilius (Basanaviciaus g. 25, Vilnius, www.popieriausstilius.lt)
UAB "DS Baltic" / Vestuves1

directions for shopping world-wide coming soon. If you urgently want to buy some of these outside of Lithuania, please contact me directly at katrez[@]gmail.com

Invitation / Greeting card (white envelope included) ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2011

Thank You card, (white envelope included) ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2011

Gift card ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2011

Invitation / Greeting card (white envelope included) ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2011

Thank You card, (white envelope included) ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2011

Gift card ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2011

Invitation / Greeting card (white envelope included) ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2011

Thank You card, (white envelope included) ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2011

Table Card, ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2011

all images in this blog-post ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2011 and can not be used or re-blogged without a permision.

MOSCOW times

2011-06-26T17:59:00.002+03:00

Its been a while since my last life-style post, so this one will be dedicated to my recent trips to Moscow, as now I live sort of 'one month here, one over there' life and as much as I hate airports and not having my constant work place, my own desk and my books with me all the time, I think I started to enjoy this lifestyle as much as I can and I even admit that recently Moscow was friendlier to me than ever.
So I would like to introduce you to some of my favorite places and events over there:

STOLLE PIES!

RUSSIAN PIES!

Stolle pie-place

One of my favorite cafes in Moscow - cozy Stolle cafe that serves best PIEROGI (pies) in the world! The next best thing after food there is interior of the cafe that was inspired by interiors of Russian cities of the end of XIX and beginning of XX century: oak parquetry, solid wooden doors, cast brass chandeliers, leathern sofas, natural tones facing. While sitting and eating chicken-pie 'Kurnik' I sort of waited for Chekhov to enter the room. The best thing about this place is its democratic family-type atmosphere, very cozy, very tasty.

USADBA JAZZ festival

http://www.usadba-jazz.ru/en

as images speak louder than words, here is a promo of the 2011 festival that I've attended:

Shortly about the festival (quoted from http://www.usadba-jazz.ru/en )

' "Usadba.Jazz" is a festival that takes place during the first weekend of summer in the manor Arkhangelskoe near Moscow.Festival has five stylistically different stages: Parter (mainstream), Aristocrat (traditional jazz and avangard), Caprice (swing, blues, rockabilly), Waterfront (acid-jazz, cool-jazz, dj's) and LiveJournal (rock, funk , ethno). Each stage offers full program of performances. In addition, you will find many different interactive areas, playground, art objects, exhibitions, fairs, coffee shops.

Arkhangelskoe is a palace and park ensemble of classicism, a monument of Russian culture, the estate that once belonged to knyaz Golitsyn, then Yusupov. The artistic value of the estate, intended "for fun, not for profit", had already been noted in the XVIII century. Arkhangelskoe has always been a center of arts and social life. And in the beginning of the XXI century jazz took place in here. Jazz integrated into the heart of the Russian Country Estate and made us look with new eyes at palaces and scenic beauty, enjoy the riot of colors and mixing genres, savoring every drop of art like good wine, dive into the mystery of new music. '

My favourite act personally from what I saw at USADBA JAZZ was Georgian diva and an energetic life-performer Nino Katamadze: (sorry, the only proper sounding video I could find was a life-act from the previous (not recent) Usadba Jazz festival, but I hope you'll get the idea). And no, I don't understand Georgian, but it still sounds great to me..

MOSCOW ITSELF

There is not enough place in the whole blogasphere to show or describe the beauty of what is left from the Moscows old-town and central area - a mix something European and something Asian, of something imperial and grandiosic and something that chaces that grandiosity. A mix of something that could be called Soviet futurism and something, that was a Soviet reality.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

After almost three years of visiting Moscow I finally took a ride on a public bus! Pretty cozy after all :)) even if it was a midnight in the middle of somewhere outside the metro-area. Not sure if I took a bus if I were alone at night in Moscow but anyway, a driver seemed very friendly :))

But ofcourse there is nothing as Moscow Metro, starting with names of central stations - Chekhovskaya, Pushkinskaya, Mayakovskaya.. and ending with gorgeous interiors full of marble, ornamental decor, sculptures, paintings, murals, etc., its like a history lesson in live action:

photo taken from http://www.trekexchange.com/tours/131

photo taken from http://www.226-design.com/review/blogimages/2008/1116-moscow-metro.jpg

photo taken from http://www.thisarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/moscow-metro-subway-art.jpg

photo taken from http://www.thisarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/masterpiece-architecture-in-public-area.jpg

but as beutiful as metro in Moscow is, there is nothing better than a train that takes you home. Or at least a train that takes you back to the airport :) bye bye, Moscow, for now, see you soon!

SIGNED SEALED DELIVERED!

2011-06-13T10:29:00.005+03:00

VILNIUS / LITHUANIA SOUVENIRS BY KATA finally available to shop in Vilnius! Bright, fun, young. Big times. A list of places that sell these (links and addresses included) is in the bottom of this post. All images included in this post ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2011

send best wishes from Vilnius to your dearests! Available at BALTAS ANGELAS ,
MIELOS DOVANELES, and VILNIUS TOURIST INFORMATION CENTERs


LITHUANIA T-SHIRTS! and so the rain strikes on hot summer day. could this get any better? Available at BALTAS ANGELAS , JAZZY, MIELOS DOVANELES, VILNIUS AIRPORT (Arrivals hall), VILNIUS TOURIST INFORMATION CENTERs

LITHUANIA T-SHIRTS! Lithuania - best place to go back to nature. Free your wildest side here! Available at BALTAS ANGELAS , JAZZY, MIELOS DOVANELES,
VILNIUS AIRPORT (Arrivals hall), VILNIUS TOURIST INFORMATION CENTERs

LITHUANIA T-SHIRTS! Is your religion basketball too? Then run and buy a ticket to come toLithuania - European Basketball Championship 2011 is held here! Bigtimes. Available at BALTAS ANGELAS , JAZZY, MIELOS DOVANELES,
VILNIUS AIRPORT (Arrivals hall), VILNIUS TOURIST INFORMATION CENTERs

Best way to pack some adventures, memories and good spirits from Lithuania and its capital Vilnius! Available at BALTAS ANGELAS , VILNIUS TOURIST INFORMATION CENTERs

Best way to pack little gifts from Vilnius to your dearests back at home. This bag is included for free for every "LITHUANIA" t-shirt by KATA, no matter where you buy it. If you want to buy a bag separetly, its available at VILNIUS TOURIST INFORMATION CENTERs

PLACES TO SHOP:

VILNIUS TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE
www.vilnius-tourism.lt,

Vilniaus St. 22 (Main Office)
Didžioji St. 31 (Town Hall)
Geležinkelio St. 16 (Railway Station)
Šventaragio St. 2 (Cathedral Square)

VILNIUS AIRPORT (Arrivals hall)

-----------------

JAZZY
www.jazzygift.lt,

-----------------

BALTAS ANGELAS
www.baltasangelas.lt

department store „Europa“
Konstitucijos per. 7A
Vilnius

department store „Gedimino 9“
Gedimino pr. 9
Vilnius

department store „Babilonas“
Savitiškio g. 61
Panevėžys

-----------------

MIELOS DOVANELES / LINOGAMA
Ausros vartu g. 13, Vilnius
Pilies g. 19, Vilnius

FFFFOUND!

2011-06-06T20:49:00.000+03:00

storm in a cup of tea. A fragment from the folded book. Snapshot of the process.

my old student 'summer project' "book of sounds" featured at ffffound! http://ffffound.com/image/8b56e9586bf5b056f2f1ea193f24370b3d1b8b7d?c=7920443 for me it doesn't get better than this!!

KATA KIOSK. Totally re-newed.

2011-05-30T16:31:00.000+03:00

All my illustrated products available to shop online/offline are listed under my one-woman brand KATA KIOSK at http://kata-kiosk.tumblr.com/ . So what hides in my lovely Kiosk? - T-shirts, wall-art, art-prints, cards, home and fashion accessories, some special stuff for your (i)phone, and so-much-more. All shopping details included. Check it out!

I swear, if this goes well, I'm buying a REAL post/soviet-era metal kiosk somewhere in Vilnius and pack it with my stuff. Fingers crossed.

http://kata-kiosk.tumblr.com/ ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2011

A! B! C!

2011-05-02T22:48:00.002+03:00

F i n a l l y ! ! !

finally my initiated ABC book was published by Alma Littera publishing house back in Lithuania. Its available (very very soon) to shop at HERE and better quality images are available at my PORTFOLIO. As I've put all I had into this during snowy days spent in Moscow, I really hope YOU enjoy this. And its a great way to start learning... Lithuanian.

End Papers

all images in this blog post ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2011

Did I mention I'm looking for a representative for European/UK market??

UH?

2011-04-28T11:12:00.000+03:00

Ok. this is pretty random. Someone made a collage out of my collage by adding a lot of coca-cola identity elements around my box. The most awkward thing is that they show a price of my print separately. As much as I love a glass of Cola... WHY??

Editorial for NEW SCIENTIST magazine

2011-04-16T12:32:00.000+03:00

Big news! Editorial assignment for NEW SCIENTIST magazine for a story that tracks progress in developing the mother of all sci-fi inventions: Programmable matter. It was a great opportunity to draw something structural and conceptual at the same time, and all I can say - it doesn't get better than this;
an opportunity to offer my own ideas and style with great art direction from Craig Mackie and Ryan Wills, great final spread design by magazines design staff, and a very interesting story to illustrate.

Happy times.

April, 2011
©Kotryna Zukauskaite

Magazine available to shop in print at NS official website or at ZINIO as digital edition.

DIGITAL ARTS MAY 2011

2011-04-14T20:49:00.003+03:00

Some of my illustrations show-cased.

Thanks to DigitalArts magazine's editorial staff, especially to Johann Chan forshow-casing my digital illustrations - "The Missionary" art print andsome of the images from "Spending Cuts" digital collage series. Next toillustrations there is a short interview about me and my work. (You can read the interview by clicking on the image beneath the text and enlarging it)

Magazine available to buy in print or digital edition for the iPad, Mac or PC at http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/magazine/

preview or buy digital edition of the magazine at http://www.zinio.com/browse/issues/index.jsp?skuId=416165170&pss=1

Small Business Experiment. HELP!

2011-04-08T14:25:00.000+03:00

Finally launching small business offline.

Your help really needed!

Hi everyone!

I'm finally launching my small business experiment - a souvenir seriesfor Vilnius (capital of Lithuania) this summer that will be soldoffline, for those who come to visit Vilnius or to watch EuropeanBasketball championship that will be held in Lithuania by the end ofsummer .

All illustrations already finished, now choosing final colors forplastic bags, t-shirts and fabric-bags, and I have just two questionsfor you in my facebook question survey (just two questions) - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kata-Kiosk/175076925843579?sk=questions- please tick one or more answers, really really appreciated. Iunderstand if you didn't want to tell your opinion for t-shirt stuff,but please vote for bags question then. thank you!

thank you very very much!xx

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kata-Kiosk/175076925843579#!/pages/Kata-Kiosk/175076925843579 becoming a fan would be really appreciated

Decoded. Triptych

2011-04-04T08:32:00.004+03:00

Decoded Light / Decoded Dark / An error

Decoded Light | Decoded Dark | An error
more detailed preview available here

Ladies and Gents, let me introduce you to my newest work - an abstract triptych 'Decoded', wall art available to shop at:

As different sized paper and canvas prints, iphone case/skin, laptop skin at http://www.society6.com/studio/kataillustrationcom/store

Different sort of prints and cards at Art Flakes (recommended for Europeans): http://www.artflakes.com/en/shop/kata/decoded-tryptich

As different sort of prints, cards at Red Bubble: http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/6974493-greeting-card
More links coming soon. See more of my illustrated prints and other illustration at www.kata-illustration.com
if you buy just one of these, turn it vertical or horizontal on your wall as you wish, I don't mind at all. If you buy three of them at once as triptych, please put them next to each other as shown above.
Some of the products available:
shop these iphone cases HERE

shop these laptop/ipad skins HERE

shop these iphone/ipod skins HERE
shop online here
shop online here

madebyhandbags

2011-03-29T21:35:00.000+03:00

Great leather designs by Alius Makackas! Bags.

Alius Makackas is a young Lithuanian theater designer and a great emerging self-taught leather master based in London. His work is already published in press and his bags are so great he will be famous and rich very soon. Visit Alius' blog for more. Be fast, write him an e-mail, order one. Leather. Hand-made. Very well designed. Fresh. These will be very expensive in a couple of years or less, so don't wait too long.

follow his blog. spread the word.
http://madebyhandbags.blogspot.com/

Waiting For Superman

2011-03-23T16:07:00.001+02:00

HEARTBREAKING

few days ago finally got to watch Waiting for Superman - a documentary on public school system in United States directed by Davis Guggenheim. As for someone who loves listening to sir Ken Robinson and other speakers on topic of education, it was heartbreaking for me to listen to those naive and such basic dreams of those children and their parents, who participate in a lottery to get to a proper school..

God, I now understand how lucky I was to go to a school I went in my local neighborhood.

and what about ten-years created by unions of teachers in USA?? wtf? who else gets a ten-year job contract impossible to break no matter how bad at work one is?? good luck, America.

Inspirational. I know, I know, I know what I am chasing

2011-03-18T14:27:00.003+02:00

R.E.M. - ÜBerlin

Can't sit on a chair still when this plays but can't turn it off too. for a long time haven't seen a music video that I would enjoy watching repeatedly all day long. Inspiring song, great acting and dancing by Aaron Johnson, and just there is something very very cool in this video that makes me move, forget all the small stresses of daily life and focus on what I'm really chasing after in my life :) I needed this.

I know, I know, I know what I am chasing
I know, I know, I know that this is changing me

<...>

I will make it through the day
And then the day becomes the night
I will make it through the night

Late Night Coffee!

2011-03-15T18:06:00.007+02:00

Late Night Coffee illustrated product series for those who’re stillawake and other coffee addicts!

Recommended as decor for your kitchenor a cozy cafe
Available to shop online at:

Society6 as different size art prints on paper or canvas
Art Flakes (recommended for European shoppers) as cards, framed art, canvas, gallery print, poster
Red Bubble as cards, postcards, matted prints, laminated prints, mounted prints canvas prints, framed art, posters
Zazzle as posters, framed art, invitation, postcards, greeting cards, fridge magnets, ornaments, coaster, apron, bag, phone case

Featured in the Fluster Magazine

2011-03-10T16:21:00.000+02:00

Interview. Big times.

I was happy to be intervied by the Fluster Magazine which chose to feature my "Spending Cuts!" Series.

read the whole interview HERE

ME ON RED BUBBLE FRONT PAGE!

2011-03-04T15:35:00.002+02:00

STORM IN A CUP OF TEA!

March, 4th

Me aka KATA KIOSK featured on the front page of red bubble on 4th of March
http://www.redbubble.com/home !

shop this print at http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/6709778-matted-print , or shop other kata kiosk products on red bubble at http://www.redbubble.com/people/katakiosk

* Greeting Cards
* Matted Prints
* Laminated Prints
* Mounted Prints
* Canvas Prints
* Framed Prints
* Posters

shop different products at http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/6709778-matted-print

LISTED ON ARTPROJECT.COM!

2011-03-02T15:33:00.003+02:00

Shop my illustrated products on ZAZZLE!

Big News! Kata Zazzle store listed on Artsprojekt.com!
Check out the latest stuff from Kata at Zazzle at http://www.zazzle.com/kata_illustration !

Shopping categories include:

more stuff coming soon!

orshop by product type such as greeting cards, envelopes, postcards,posters, magnets, ornaments, invitations, key-chanes, stickers, buttonsand even more!

http://www.zazzle.com/kata_illustration

Spending Cuts. Big times.

2011-02-26T19:38:00.001+02:00

What would you sacrifice?

Ladies&Gents, I'm presenting you my latest work - Spending Cuts series of 6 (all images available HERE) - vector drawings mixed with paper collages, a technique that I'm developing recently so I could work faster than when making paper cut-outs (that I still enjoy making though).

This was born in my head while listening to Morning Joe podcast on MSNBC and hearing 'budget cutes' 'spending cuts' 'everyone has to sacrifice' and etc all the time, and they drink coffee there as Starbucks is their 'brewer', so it all somehow mixed in my head as I thought on ways to save personal money, and those thoughts gave birth to this little series of 6.

So, what would you sacrifice? Coffee breaks maybe?

©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2011. Available to shop as an art print on paper or canvas (different sizes, starting with really small ones) at http://www.society6.com/studio/kataillustrationcom/Cut_down_on_Coffee and please take a look to the rest of the series at http://www.kata-illustration.com/index.php?/other/new-spending-cuts-series/

Most of the series will be available to shop as art prints on paper or canvas at my Society6 store very soon. And I will update other options of buying these prints in this blog when its ready.

MADE MY DAY.

2011-02-24T11:05:00.000+02:00

Machines by Nik Ramage that serve as an apt metaphor for all sorts of things. Gifs by Liquid Atomic Gonads . Made my day when I saw this HERE. Now I want my own gallery where I could exhibit stuff like this. Great. And wait till you see the Jelly Wobbler - hysterical.

THE UNPLUGGER

PEDAL SHOES

Back to One's roots!

2011-02-23T23:33:00.002+02:00

I feel SPRING coming!

I feel spring coming somewhere in the horizon already, although I still can't feel it yet as it's -16°C outside my window here in Moscow. Cold. But Easter always comes unexpectedly for me (because I never know how you count the date of it) so this year I decided to make an easter card in advance and at least once have a visual send-out self-promotion thing on time, as I forgot to make something for Christmas and I was embarrassed with 'Marry Christmas' cards coming into my e-mail from previous commissioners and other people I work with when not having anything nice to send them back.

Also I should say I miss editorial illustration, as I'm working mostly on picture-books and school-books recently, so I miss all that verbal concept exercise and also I'm still trying to update my portfolio and stay relevant with art directors or agents looking for illustrators for editorial assignments. But till then I'm experimenting on more ways of merging vector stuff with paper cut-outs (more of that coming soon) so my portfolio became more stylistically consistent.

Well, anyway, I had great fun with this Egg-nesting-box, I hope you like it too, and if you do like it very much, its available to buy as print on paper or stretched canvas in different sizes at HERE

"Back to One's roots", ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, shop prints on paper or stretched canvas in different sizes at HERE

and yes, it did appeared on the most popular section in the Society6 homepage today :-)

NOT A CUTE CAT

2011-02-16T15:39:00.002+02:00

Today was a day of bad news. After reading those news online, I was not able to draw a cute cat for a ABC picture book I'm working on for a while. So I started to make some concept-based collages in my sketchbook, but I was so depressed I couldn't do that either. So as my mood was in a gray-scale, I started to experiment on fast pure-shape exercises, something totally formal - no concept, no cute cats, just pure decor. This is what happened:

I'm especially happy with the looks of the iphone case and laptop. You can shop my prints on paper, stretched canvas, iphone and laptop stuff and everything else at my society6 store HERE or greeting cards and other sort of prints at my redbubble store HERE

Upper Middle Class

2011-02-15T23:02:00.004+02:00

As a freelancer I spent a lot of time on my own working in my room and trying to find ways to not go mag with no colleagues around me. So I listen to a lot of podcasts including some from United States and their economical situation. For about 2 years I heard a lot of people talking about the foreclosure crisis and its impact to middle class and small business owners. So I decided to make a self-initiated 'editorial' illustration based on all those talks as if it was a particular article. I thought a nesting box is an appropriate symbol because birds come and leave the same as people in real estate do: you can neverknow when you have to pack your stuff and leave wondering behind whichcorner a new opportunity of going up to the upper middle class hides.

shop this print on paper or stretched canvas (mini - extra large) at http://www.society6.com/studio/kataillustrationcom/Upper_Middle_Class

I have to say I miss editorial assignments, as I'm now illustrating a lot of children literature and there is not that much Lithuanian magazines that would commission professional editorial illustration beyond black-lined caricatures. This illustration might become a self-promotional postcard for Europe-based magazine art-directors and editors some time soon!

Illustration representative, I NEED YOU! check out my professional portfolio at www.kata-illustration.com

Flash game designs. Big times!

2011-02-10T21:58:00.000+02:00

Flash game: Backgrounds & Characters

Underground (swamp) level. Bugs! ©Kotryna Zukauskaite

Big news. Finally got an assignment on Flash game designs - for a long time didn't have so much fun making illustrations! I did a little bit of animating too but mostly my work consisted of bug drawing and making a 'uncute' labyrinth texture and surroundings.

You can see all designs in my recently updated PORTFOLIO .

Assigned by Šviesa publish. Game is targeted into children who need additional learning (the game works by asking questions in pop-up boxes and those need to be answered in order to continue).

A link with the actual game will be posted soon!

Cuckoo hits the sky

2011-02-05T21:49:00.001+02:00

Little Cuckoo out of My Head

Shop Cuckoo prints and other products at http://www.society6.com/studio/kataillustrationcom/Cuckoo_hits_the_sky

This is my little digital improvisation while struggling to work on a picture book for 4-year-olds. Just needed this to get out of my head, as last week was pretty hard in a sense of brain-block and the 'I can't draw cute zebras anymore' syndrome. Black&white illustration is not very common for my portfolio, but after this short exercise I think I might come back to gray-scale more often.

I think I prefer this more on products than a print, and you are more than welcome to check the Cuckoo products available at http://www.society6.com/studio/kataillustrationcom/Cuckoo_hits_the_sky

If you are a facebook user or a society6 member, PLEASE vote ('promote') this print in the link provided :) thank you!

From the archives

2011-01-31T16:29:00.000+02:00

Some old work I've found while cleaning my archives - i think this would be greater as fashion accessory than illustration, but still, couldn't just delete it without posting a little note on this fox hiding in a box :)

FEATURED IN 3x3 Illustration Annual No. 7 !

2011-01-27T18:12:00.002+02:00

Me featured in the 3x3 annual No. 7! Cover illustration by SHOUT

Ta-daaa!

Pretty old news but I became a merit winner in Animation category in the 3x3 Illustration Annual No. 7 (professional show) call for entries, and so my work now has been published in the annual that I always considered my yearly illustration bible. Still didn't get a copy of it from New York, so I can't take a photograph of the spread, but the work that was published is my animation series for Lithuanian National TV channels charity action 'When I grow up, I will be..' ('Kai užaugsiu, būsiu') that I made about a year ago. You can see animations (without the soundtrack) at http://www.kata-illustration.com/index.php?/animation/ltv-lithuanian-national-tv/ and here are some of the stop frames from it:

When I grow up, I will be a musician!

When I grow up, I will be a stylist!

When I grow up, I will be a pharmacist!

show intro

To be honest, I'm not totally happy with the actual animations, as I'm not a professional animator, and I made these long time ago without a proper knowledge of animation as a genre and not even knowing how properly use flash, so even for me they look unprofessional now but I have to admit that a recognition from the 3x3 annual jury panel in the professional category is very pleasant and encouraging.

P.s. I'ts funny to see the typography that I used in the end of every animation - I knew I'm bad at it, but I didn't know I'm so so so bad at it - ridiculously BAD, so bad, I can't believe I made it. And some parts of the animations are so unfinished!! haha. but I think I might got the merit award because of the fact that these animations were made by an illustrator which is obvious I guess from looking into these stop frames (above). Please don't laugh at me, I promise to submit something better this year, and this time to the professional illustration category.

Till then, thank you 3x3 for featuring my work in the annual!

THE STATE OF THE UNION. OBAMA. 2011.

2011-01-26T17:18:00.001+02:00

Everyone who knows me personally knows that I am a geek of politics, and a geek of info graphics. So I just had a Christmas Morning moment when watching a video of The State of The Union speech by president Obama at www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2011 - with those little PIE CHARTS and other data changing according to the part of the speech! Great way to sum up main issues for those who tend to loose attention during an hour-long speeches interrupted by applauses each minute or so.

Great stuff for those like me who work in visual industry (and wishes to do more editorial illustration on politics), is addicted to listening long interviews or long speeches on important issues from different fields of life, and LOVES info-graphics. Happy times. Oh and that Salmon chart was just beyond my highest expectations!

Plans for the first half of 2011

2011-01-10T10:10:00.002+02:00

As a freelancer I'm glad that 2011 starts with a lot of hard work. I think I almost took too many assignments and on the top of that started planning my own stuff, so 2011 January-early May are going to be pretty intensive.... My self-initiated book (contract with the publishers already signed) for pre-school aged children, other assignment from other publisher for a 'creative coloring in book' for toddlers, a little bit of flash-game design (fun times!), and my own product series hopefully starting to sell on early May. I've just realized that its only three months (January, February, March) for illustrating books books together with designing stuff I plan to sell, and few additional weeks for printing my self-initiated illustrated products, dealing with tax-issues before starting to sell it, and probably re-printing (lets be realistic..) some of the stuff, and taking boxes from printers office to the store by a ... trolley-bus?huh?..

Probably not going to my own graduation event at Kingston University because of all of this.. Otherwise I would spend the first half of April in airports as around that time my Russian visa will end and I'll have to go back to Vilnius..

Having said that, no weeping here. Working already from Vilnius, but going to Moscow in a week and doing most of the job from there. Moscow, here I come! hope you're already making a big mug of coffee for me!

P.S. Portfolio updates coming soon as I still have to take photos of school-books I've illustrated in 2010, and also I've almost finished a flash game backgrounds and characters so those are going to be published in a 2 weeks or so.

HIERONYMUS BOSCH

2011-01-02T15:11:00.000+02:00

'Hieronymus Bosch. Garden of Earthly Delights' by Hans Belting. Finally.

Bought this book in Moscow more than a month ago, and had to save it for Christmas holidays, so I could read it without being interrupted.. Was worth waiting, although I still have a feeling that I went to a date with Hieronymus Bosch, but instead of intimate atmosphere, I appeared in a crowd of his friends - starting with Durer and ending with More. Not a bad crowd to spend an evening though.

Bosch has been a big inspiration for me recently as my interest for monsters, fiction world, manipulation of nature and Middle-Age epoch grows and I'm guessing will grow in 2011. First of all because of fascinating Bosch's choice of colors - bright, contrasting, and, very inspiring for me as someone who works in the field of commercial illustration where bright colors is often a must and I'm sometimes really struggling with making it bright but not distasteful, brave but not kitschy. So while looking for ways to struggle with my personal problem, once more I came across with Bosch and this time I decided to stay with him for a while.

Hieronymus Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights,
1480-90, triptych oil on panel 220x195/390 cm,
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.
Press on the image for more detailed view.

I still can't believe this was made in 1480-90 because it looks as contemporary as work by Gary Baseman. Sometimes while looking into details of Garden of Earthly Delights I just could not stop thinking 'you're sick, Hieronymus, you really are', but in a good way, I guess.... Some of the scenes are so beyond nature, that religious interpretation was and still is probably the only way to define this triptych and every character in it. Although (European) religious iconography was always a big passion of mine since days in Vilnius Academy of Arts, I couldn't find enough time for a proper research on symbols hidden in European, and especially German-Dutch religious art, and now I will come back to it by investigating every berry, every creature, every object surrounding these characters. Having said that, it should be pointed out, that Bosch's iconography is very different from the typical iconography of that time: 'It (the painting) is unsettling not only because the subject matter is so enigmatic, but also because of the remarkably modern freedom with which its visual narrative avoids all traditional iconography' (H.Belting: 7). And, there is a very erotic side of symbolism in this painting, which is described in a book by Peter S.Beagle that i still have to find and read before writing more on the subject; although by looking into the painting and some particular fragments containing berries, a thought of erotic concepts behind those symbols crossed my mind without a bigger investigation.

in comparison to someone as contemporary as Gary Baseman, who also uses erotic concepts, fictional characters in a fiction world:

In conclusion, I'm really glad that someone as Hieronymus Bosch starts to find its deserved place not only in best art museums, but on publishers table and in a book-stores around the world, because his art really speaks to the context of contemporary art and even commercial illustrators by showing no boundaries of fantasy and all those bigger and smaller concepts behind almost every element of the composition and still staying a pure poetry of the highest level. I should also point out that middle-age art somehow is still in a land of specific researches, instead of being something that every educated person has an opinion about - there still is a big misconception of middle ages being dark and very restricted and I think H.Bosch is the best example of that huge un-researched, un-presented piece of the western art-history, lying somewhere in the archives, always as a reason or a result of some other epoch, but very rarely as a leading act itself.

"The Garden of Earthly Delights" is a perfect example of the contradictions in Bosch's art which defies conventional iconography. The triptych takes the form of an altarpiece without ever having been an altarpiece, and employs biblical themes without reiterating the text of the Bible. The central panel, whose meaning has so long been a mystery, is the touchstone. It appears to show the biblical Paradise and yet it remains a fiction since the Paradise seen here never existed. In other words, it is a question of discovering the fiction within the chosen theme, for all its biblical basis, and of grasping fiction as the timely expression of an art in search of poetic licence and freedom

(Hans Belting: 121-122)

NEW WORK!

2010-12-20T11:27:00.001+02:00

Christmas greeting e-card commissioned by Scaent Baltic Energy (http://www.scaent.com/Our_Group/Scaent_Baltic.php), 2010.

p.s. its really nice when commissioners come back two years in a row.
I did a Christmas e-card for SBE last year too, so I really hope it will become a tradition :) More of my work at http://www.kata-illustration.com/ , ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2010.

Charlie Rose interviews Jay-Z

2010-12-19T09:56:00.003+02:00

If you read my blog, you probably already know that I'm an ultimate fan of thesis-based speeches (such as TED) and long interviews, especially those from Charlie Rose Show. So you may suspect how happy I was to find this in recent Charlie Rose Show archives:

An hour with rapper, author and CEO Jay-Z, taped in front of an audience at the Brooklyn Museum on November 18, 2010, http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11337

Although I don't have Jay-Z music in my iTunes and this is not my genre, but its always great to get some thoughts from people who achieved as much as he did. And its also great to see people from such different worlds on one stage talking to each other, I think I love Charlie even more after seeing this. Very funny, honest, inspiring interview about Jay-Z's life, music, relationships, inspirations, and future plans. I recommend to everyone, even those as me, who never listen hip-hop and has no idea about the genre, slang, street culture and anything related to it.

Interview takes about an hour and you can see it at http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11337

KATA KIOSK FACEBOOK PAGE!

2010-12-08T17:53:00.001+02:00

hi there,
its official, i have online business. I mean I have a facebook page !!!

So its called Kata Kiosk and it is an addition to my tumblr KATA KIOSK catalog of stuff i sell online. Please join to stay updated about my new products, places to shop, inspirations, mood boards, interior images, life-style concepts and even more. I would be very grateful if you could share this page on your facebook wall or blog, or any other place online. Please shop and comment, any feedback is appreciated.

NEW PRODUCTS!

2010-11-30T18:36:00.002+02:00

KATA FOR ZAZZLE! updated.

strongly updated KATA ZAZZLE SHOP! shop online athttp://www.zazzle.com/kata_illustration/gifts?st=date_created#products- Christmas decorations and gifts! - Christmas tree ornaments, greeting cards, magnets, pins, bags, and so much more!

http://www.zazzle.com/kata_illustration/gifts?st=date_created#products

Weekending in Moscow.

2010-11-28T23:55:00.003+02:00

Its been a while since I've last time written a post on my personal life here with no self-promo message behind it :) And its been a really great and active weekend here in Moscow, exactly what i needed just few days before leaving back to Vilnius for Christmas. So I decided to share some of it with you.

So it all started with a lecture in the GARAGE - a contemporary culturecenter here in Moscow. Sorry, I didn't make any photos there, and itspretty hard to find some online, so this is all i could get:

Before culture came to the GARAGE

Really nice cafe inside the GARAGE - cozy cozy cozy, well designed details, friendly costs and no complaints on food or service from me.

I've attended a public lecture/discussion on art and design relation in the lecture-hall, then bought a book that I couldn't leave in a book store - Hieronymus Bosch / Garden of earthly delights/ by Hans Belting, published by Prestel - can't wait till I get a spare hour for it at least in an airport in a week, and then had a cup of coffee with people from the lecture at the Garage cafe, and moved to the Don Jonne pub to celebrate friends birthday and have a drink, some food, and one more drink between silly drunk talks about art, design and life in Russia in general.

Best food I've ate at John Donne - chicken/ham sandwiches with potatoes. Photos re-blogged from http://joffreyp.livejournal.com/tag/moscow%20pub

And finally, after getting up late after that long Saturday night on Sunday morning, having a slow breakfast, then going for food-shopping, doing some house-work and etc., the TIME FOR THEATER-TRIP IN MOSCOW HAS COME! ta-daaaa!! Finally: saw Chekhov's play 'The Cherry Garden' in the Sovremenik theater (Московский театр "Современник") - classical Russian theater in Moscow - one of my dreams came true finally. Loved the atmosphere, actors, and public - it seems most of the people in the audience knew where they came and what did they come for - saw more than few fans of classical theater - a house full of snobs hating contemporary theater and expressing 'finally no blood and meat on the stage' sort of ideas - could it get any better? :D

Sovremenik theater (Московский театр "Современник")

So to conclude: Design-talks, Pub, friends, Bosch, Chekhov, and a cup of cacao before Monday. Too good to be true. It reminded me all reasons why I love Moscow so much. Nice way to end a really intense week: glass of bear in one hand and a theater-binocular in other one. Going back to Vilnius in a week.

KATA FOR ZAZZLE

2010-11-26T10:26:00.001+02:00

Illustration on stationary, bags, accessories and other stuff in my new ZAZZLE shop! check out now at http://www.zazzle.com/kata_illustration

http://www.zazzle.com/kata_illustration

2010-11-25T17:21:00.001+02:00

FREE SHIPPING FROM BZAco!

Best Place for your Christmas Shopping!

So just go to http://www.bza.co/kotryna and shop Christmas Presents for your dearests!
Offer begins now till end of Christmas. Shops globally.

2010-11-22T21:06:00.002+02:00

FREE SHIPPING!

http://www.society6.com/studio/kataillustrationcom/store

FREE Shipping on all orders, now thru Sunday!

KATA KIOSK! illustrated products

2010-11-22T00:26:00.000+02:00

BIG NEWS!

woa woa everyone! Finally this is happening. KATA KIOSK is opened; its an online catalog dedicated to my illustrated products that I sell online through different retailers. So i thought its important to put them into one place and show it in a context - in interiors and mood-boards, as well as on actual products beyond prints or canvases.

an example:

MY NEW STORE AT BZAco!

2010-11-13T16:29:00.002+02:00

Check out my new print Store at BZAco!

Prints are available on Satin Paper of Matte Canvas, size range: A5-A1.

http://www.bza.co/kotryna

Its important you would check Galleries on the right menu to see full range of work, not only latest or most popular editions. Prints vary from paper-collage to vector-drawings, from simplistic compositions to over-the-top decorative prints, so you would find something that suits YOU. These prints are aimed as gifts or just a good wall-decor interior of your home or office. Hope you like this. re-blogging is appreciated if any of my links used as a reference.

MADE MY DAY.

2010-11-11T16:55:00.001+02:00

Jessica Harrison’s zombified sculptures

this is what I found on Lost At E Minor.

Those who came across my blog not for the first time already should know my passion for Kitsch. And what is more Kitschy than those cute porcelain figures? When I saw this twist on symbol of cuteness, it made my day. As much as I hate re-blogging stuff, I couldn't not to share this with you. Go to http://www.lostateminor.com/2010/11/06/jessica-harrisons-zombified-sculptures/ for more right now, really worhts looking through these incredible zombified queens of Kitsch by Jessica Harrison.

WHITE CHRISTMAS! new vector print for sale

2010-11-08T13:53:00.001+02:00

Hi, check out my latest vector print on Christmas season for my 'Holiday Castles' series.

this is a twin print of Christmas Eve.

buy at http://www.society6.com/studio/kataillustrationcom/White_Christmas_Morning/prints

SHOP ONLINE AT MY ONLINE STORE!

CHRISTMAS EVE PRINT! shop online

2010-11-04T20:07:00.007+02:00

NEW WORK! CHRISTMAS EVE!

This is a twin print of White Christmas

http://www.society6.com/studio/kataillustrationcom/Christmas_Eve/prints

SHOP ONLINE AT MY ONLINE STORE!

The Walking Dead

2010-11-03T01:11:00.005+02:00

Just saw the first episode of The Walking Dead ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1520211/) by Frank Darabont with Andrew Lincoln in the leading role. Way too scary for me as I am not an ultimate fan of zombie-movies but its so welldirected that I think I might come back for episode 2.

Is it just me oris this somehow influenced by a hurricane in New Orleans? Those big traffic jams, everyone trying to survive in urban circumstances with no food, guns, unconctrolable situation and a helicopter in the sky. George W. Bush, is it you in that helicopter again?

KITSCH series, #2

2010-10-29T18:35:00.077+03:00

Oldpromises kept. Finally found some time to split my undergraduatedissertation on Kitsch into series of 'articles'. The paper was writtenduring my final year at Kingston University, Illustration and AnimationBA. The thesis is Kitsch being a gatekeeper of ideology in both -communist and capitalist countries. In this part I research a kitschy cult of totalitarian leaders in Communist countries through out the 20th century. Feel free toquote but use a proper reference of 'Kotryna Zukauskaite, undergraduate dissertation 'KITSCH: GATEKEEPER OF IDEOLOGY', Kingston University, 2010' with a link to this post.

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KITSCH: GATEKEEPER OF IDEOLOGY, article series, #2.

for #1 click HERE

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TOTALITARIAN COMMUNIST KITSCH

This chapter focuses on Totalitarian Communist Kitsch in former Soviet Union and some existing Communist regimes in countries like Turkmenistan or North Korea, and analyses how kitsch was and still is used for ideologising everyday life as well as “elite culture”.

The Kitschy Cult of a Political Leader

On one hand, the cult of political leader, head of Communist party, was and in some parts of the world still is, an essential part of Utopian Communist ideology and that is why it is a perfect subject to be kitsched. There would be few reasons why leaders of Communist Totalitarian regimes (such as Lenin, Stalin, Brezhnev and others in USSR or Lukashenka, Kim Jong-il and Saparmurat Niyazov in contemporary Belarus, North Korea and Turkmenistan) would spread a cult of themselves. Those reasons vary from just personal egoism and narcissism to an attempt to be a reliable authority to the masses, the face of ideology (and in this way the face of a bright future) and a leader who is closer to the people in order not only to keep control on masses (the “Big Brother is watching you” effect) but also to get into closer connection with them:

Kitsch keeps a dictator in closer contact with the “soul” of the people. Should the official culture be one superior to the general mass-level, there would be a danger of isolation (8)

Particular examples could not vary more than it did in the former Soviet Union: official celebrations of leaders birthday, monuments and painted portraits in public places, such as hospitals, schools or universities, names of streets or even cities (Leniningrad instead of St. Petersburg or Staliningrad instead of Volgograd), poems, songs, even symphonies praising political leaders. As a witness to the communist regime in former Soviet Union, Rita Zukauskiene (b.1957), when asked about what signs of the cult of a Communist political leader she could remember from her childhood and years of the youth, recalls:

The attributes of Communist Party leaders were exposed everywhere, starting with official buildings, offices, ending with portraits of Soviet Communist Party leaders in kindergartens. Portraits of Party leaders were included in textbooks for students from the first to last grade in school. They were visible on TV, also as in huge posters on the outside of the buildings (9)

Why is that kitsch?

Because it does not provoke any discourse or doubt in unmistakable leadership in those visual, literal and other kinds of prayers to the leaders. That kind of kitsch ‘fills another kind of bill: it feeds the mass appetite for the ... sensational, and the supercolossal’(10). One of the most typical examples of that supercolossal kitsch of Communism occurs in the case of long-time leader of Turkmenistan, a former bureaucrat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Saparmurat Niyazov, who, after the collapse of the USSR, ‘styled himself Turkmenbashi, or “Father of all the Turkmen”, and spent enormous sums of money on building sumptuous memorials to his own wisdom’ (11) (such as a statues made out of gold (not only surfaced by gold) in center of Ashgabat (fig. 1) or Neutrality Arch, ‘a giant white tripod with an Eiffel Tower-type observation deck, the monument is capped with a spinning 39-foot-tall effigy of Mr. Niyazov.’(12), (fig. 2 A/B)). It should be pointed out that two very similar illustrations of two golden statues of the same leader (he never grows old in his portraits, always wears a suit and has some kind of a cloak behind him) are put into this paper purposely in order to prove that by using kitsch, ‘the same themes are varied in a hundred of different works’(13) and go even further by adding that: all kitsch that works on the same theme, looks almost the same.

This kind of official ‘art’ was dictated by Communist officials and leaders praised themselves, and all of the official and often national award-winning colossal “masterpieces” were mechanical (and by using word ‘mechanical’ I mean opposite to true creative-approach based art, that, as Hens Belting defines, ‘must continually take risks if it wants to remain true to itself’(14); kitschy approach towards any genre means mechanically repeating something that was once done without taking risk and trying to make a step further) and operated by default slogans which idolized the political leader as a “Father of the Nation” and this is the reason why it could be reasonably called Kitsch: it is ‘pretending to express something and you, by accepting it, are pretending to see.’(15)

On the other hand, it should be pointed out, that not all people were totally hypnotised by the cult of leader...

{....... sorry i had to take this part out because I don't have a permission to quote interviews with witnesses of Cult of a Leader in former SSRS that originally were in my dissertation........}

...These testimonies by people, who experienced the cult of political leader around themselves, show that next to the mass reaction there was an individual approach towards official kitsch and not all individuals were affected by “the Father of the Nation” cult and passiveness of mind that ‘characterizes the amazingly undemanding lover of kitsch.’(18)

To sum up, kitschy forms of the cult of totalitarian Communist regime leaders, were targeted into masses, in order to affect them in everyday life, to control them by creating a feeling that “the Father of the Nation is always with you”, to create an atmosphere of the only one omniscient leader that a nation can trust in, a strong reliable leader, “who knows all the answers”. And kitsch was a perfect way to do it because this style helped to create an illusion of something colossal and sensational, something that has does not doubt or ironize the subject purposely, and a context where, as Milan Kundera has precisely observed, ‘all answers are given in advance and preclude any questions.’(19)

Kitsch as a leading style of ideological propaganda

There were few reasons for kitsching ideological propaganda: to fake enthusiasm of all the nation in order to make the illusion of people voluntarily agreeing on political decisions, to hide the criminal side of a regime and to fill a gap that appeared after forbidding religion and (partly) local folk traditions.

To start with, communist ideological kitsch has grown from the top of Communist Party just after the Revolution ended and power was concentrated into the hands of a few Party members who somehow had to create an illusion of masses agreeing to political decisions made. But instead of revolutionary slogans becoming valued in the actual political system, they became mechanically repeated clichés, that only varied in form, but held no concept behind itself (they were kitsched):

Communist kitsch - depicting smiling workers in factories, young couples on tractors cultivating a collective farm or building a hydroelectric power station - played on the mythical values of the joy of work and the enthusiasm for building a classless society (20)

One of typical examples of such kitschy propaganda were posters, promoting (as if people had a choice) Kolkozes - commune-based farms - where everyone works for the good of “all the nation” (fig. 3). In reality, people were forced to join Kolkozes after all the land was nationalized, and the whole idea didn’t work because there was no real motivation to work harder if you personally didn’t get anything from it, so people just stole what they could steal, faked working when they could fake it and voted for accomplishing five year plan, when they were asked to. But the kitschy propaganda showed smiling faces, enthusiastic young people building the future, trying to persuade everyone that “all the nation” is happy about it and one, an individual, has voluntarily to join that mass. Other examples of such propaganda were iconic posters telling what is “already accomplished”, by declaring that “It Gets Better With Every Day” (fig. 4); this particular example is very typical because it includes not only industrial and agronomic elements to show the progress towards wealthy future but also because it represents a very typical image of a ‘Soviet woman’ (that was repeated in films, fashion magazines and other medias as an ideal Communist woman): a strong healthy body and a scarf represents her being a worker (‘proletarian’) who is ideologised by putting a medal on her chest, symbol of official accomplishments important for all society. This is one of many examples where ideology of hard work for better future is overshadowing other roles

of people in the society - she is not a mother, not a wife, she is not even very feminine because the aim of propaganda was to represent her as a true believer in Communism, a ‘true proletarian’ for whom ideology and ‘shared purposes’ are more important than anything else. To sum up, this kind of propaganda, typical Soviet kitsch, was faking enthusiasm of people to people; it was a ‘beautiful lie’(21) used in order to create an illusion of everyone enthusiastically agreeing on decisions by dictatorship and that illusion is kitsch by its nature.

Secondly, the dark side of the regime (concentration camps, mass-spying, deportations to Siberia, and etc.) could be overshadowed by ‘innocent’ kitschy images pointing out something, worth adoring, for example children (fig. 5, 6), as a new generation of Communism. Is it possible to doubt a face of a smiling child or ironize his dreams of becoming a heroic pilot? The answer to this question is “no, if you don’t want to doubt”, and masses needed just that - something reassuring, something that would point ones attention from the horrors of reality to something pure and innocent: ‘Kitsch comes to support our basic sentiments and beliefs, not to disturb or question them’(22). And this is where kitsch shows its true function in a totalitarian regime: ‘kitsch is a mask that hides death behind it’(23). To sum up, the second reason why propaganda was kitsched, was the need for sentiment which would mask the horrific reality of a totalitarian regime, and an image of a popular theme of a child following (militarized) dreams, was the perfect solution, because it united personal sentiment in your own experience (could there be stronger sentiment than a sentiment to a reckless childhood) together with a hope for better future, natural wish of all humankind.

Thirdly, kitsch filled the gap which appeared in society after the Communist regime kept repressing religious and (partly) authentic folk activities. Masses, feeling sentiments towards a lost tradition, is a perfect audience for kitsch to blossom, and in this case, forms of kitsch went beyond visuals: there were songs, poems, and - even more striking - military demonstrations on revolution or war related dates (North Korea, fig. 7: “General view of a ceremony to cerebrate 75th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army in Pyongyang April 25, 2007”. ‘North Korea celebrated with a grand parade on Wednesday the 75th birthday of its “invincible” army, which experts say is capable of dealing a quick and devastating blow, but is hollow at the core.’(24)) that brought to the masses an illusion of being part of something more powerful than a mankind (the same effect that different religious movements in history made of people by building striking interiors of temples or objects of worshiping). Communism was “a new religion” with its own celebrations, rituals and idols, persuading the masses of infallibility and the power of a regime. One of the best examples of Communism as a kitsched ritual was the main holidays of a year - “First of May” (“National Workers Day”) celebration (USSR, fig. 8):

On that occasion everybody pretended to be genuinely smiling, genuinely happy, genuinely gleeful; the idea is that they should all look like-genuinely conforming. It is not, as Kundera writes, the issue of politically conforming with communism but of conforming with existence as such. (25)

To conclude, the way that ideology was brought to the masses was kitsched beginning with every-day propaganda such as posters in streets and ending with big celebrations on “special occasions”. There were few reasons for doing that, such as keeping or at least faking the fading enthusiasm of Communist slogans, disguising the dark (criminal) side of a regime and filling the gap that appears when a regime forbids any spiritual activities, such as religion. Kitsch was a perfect solution for creating an illusion of the masses following an ideology voluntarily, and totalitarian regimes understood that better than anyone else.

Academism as the only appropriate style for the “elite culture”

Academism is always a leading style of “elite culture” of Communist Regimes. As Clement Greenberg pointed out, [in academism] ‘the really important issues are left untouched because they involve controversy’(26) and that is why it was and still is so appreciated in former USSR or countries like North Korea or Belarus by totalitarian leaders - there is no risk that artists will show any individual approach towards the subject by producing a work in an academical manner (which in Communist regimes developed from Social realism, style mostly developed by Repin in 19th century, that actually showed hard and poor reality of the nation in very realistic manner, (fig.9) into “social realism” (fig. 10)). This kind of “elite culture” in theaters, concerts or exhibitions at so called “Culture Houses”, and etc., was kitsch because it carried no concept, no provocation, no introvert experience to a spectator, just a celebration of what was already done by mechanical variations on the same themes: ‘something that has been done before, something that was once new and revolutionary but which has become ordinary’(27).

This is especially true in visual arts, where by mimicking Social Realism, Socialist realism was created: an enthusiastic working class, children or political leaders (fig. 10) or just apolitical themes such as greatness of nature (fig. 11) visualizer in a very technical, or even strikingly realistic manner with no signs of Avant-Guardian tendencies like in the rest of the world at the same time. The most recent and very typical example of this kind of Socialist Realism is ofcourse a famous photograph (‘an official picture taken at the end of talks that led to the freeing of two imprisoned American journalists’(28)) taken in North Korea in 2009 during the visit of president B.Clinton (fig.11). The background behind the politicians strikes one even more than a report about the visit that had to be the aim of the image. As a journalist of The Wall Street Journal has accurately observed in his article:

This is no ordinary painting but art with a purpose. What seem to our eye as limitations are the result of deliberate intent. It’s a piece of political propaganda. As such it belongs to a subspecies of kitsch known as totalitarian kitsch, where art’s sole raison d’etre is to bolster a dictatorial regime and glorify its leader.(29)

In this particular case, not only is an apolitical theme chosen, but the apolitical theme becomes political by its size and technical level - it is an example of the culmination of Totalitarian Academic kitsch, which is not only safe for a regime by being apolitical, but at the same time it manages to glorify the “greatness” of the regime by being put into the right context, for example in the background of the biggest political victory in recent decades.

Having said that, it should be mentioned that this paper does not argue the quality of any classical genre, developed in Communist regimes such as social-realistic theatre (often called “School of Stanislavski” referring to Constantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski, actor and theatre director of the first half of 20th century in Russia/USSR) or worldly-recognized school “innocent” classical ballet but points out that all modern (or the Avant-Guard) approaches towards the visual, literal or performing arts were strongly censored or forbidden because abstraction was considered to be a threat to the regime, something that might have an anti-regime message even when it didn’t. And that is why this “elite culture” in Communist regimes became one of the soil for kitsch to grow in, to develop its techniques, rather than conceptual approaches towards well-known “classical” themes and genres with no provocative meanings pointed to the viewer.

CONCLUSION of the TOTALITARIAN COMMUNIST KITSCH chapter

In conclusion, it would be very hard to find a better quote than words by Roger Scruton to sum up this part of the paper about Totalitarian Communist Kitsch:

Great crimes and revolutions of our century have taken place behind a veil of kitsch: look at the art and propaganda of ... revolutionary Russia, and you will see the unmistakable sign of it—the gross sentimentality, the mechanical clichés, and the constant pretence at a higher life and a noble vision that can be obtained just like that, merely by putting on a uniform. Socialist realism ... and May Day parades — the best description of such things was once given to me by a Czech writer, at the time working underground: “kitsch with teeth.” (30)

Hopefully attempts towards research and analysis of kitschiness of cult of Totalitarian leader, ideological propaganda and academical approach to “elite culture” in this chapter of the paper proved that kitsch was and in some part of the worlds, still is, the safest style to glorify and bring ideology with all of its idols, manifestations and visuals to the people. That is why the power of kitsch as a gatekeeper of the ideology and danger to what is hidden behind kitschy surroundings inside the regime can not be overestimated.

#3 is coming soon

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8 Lewer, D. (ed) (2006) Post-Impressionism to World War II,
Oxford, Blackwell Publishing Ltd., pp.198

9 Interview with Rita Zukauskiene (Appendix 1, p. 31 )

10 Brown, C.F. (1975) Star-Spangled Kitsch. New York, Universe Books pp.9

11 Gurt, M. (2008) Turkmenistan to move gold statue of Turkmenbashi, Reuters. 3 May 2008.
[Online news agency]. http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSL0355546520080503

12 Stern, D. L. (2008) A Turkmen Dismantles Reminders of Old Ruler. The New York Times, 5 May,
2008, [Online]. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/world/asia/05turkmen.html

13 Greenberg, Cl. (1939) Avant-Garde And Kitsch. Partisan Review, 6(5) 34-39 [Online].
Available at http://www.sharecom.ca/greenberg/kitsch.html

14 Belting, Hens (2003), Art History After Modernism.
Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, pp.81

15 Scruton, R. (1999) Kitsch and the Modern Predicament. New York: City Journal, 9(1) 94-95
[Online]. Available at http://www.city-journal.org/html/9_1_urbanities_kitsch_and_the.html

18 Calinescu, M. (1977) Faces of Modernity. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, pp.260

19 Kundera, M. (1984) The Unbearable Lightness of Being. New York, Harper and Row, pp.254

20 Kulka, Th. (1996), Kitsch and Art. Pennsylvania, The Pennsylvania State University Press, pp.28

21 Greenberg, Cl. (1939) Avant-Garde And Kitsch. Partisan Review, 6(5) 34-39
[Online]. Available at < http://www.sharecom.ca/greenberg/kitsch.html>

22 Kulka, Th. (1996), Kitsch and Art. Pennsylvania, The Pennsylvania State University Press, pp.27

23 Mohebbi, S. (2007) Archetypal Intellectuals, Devastated Revolutionaries, Kitsch Mythologies,
And A Writer Who Dared To Look At Herslef. Bidoun 1(9)
[Online]. Available at http://www.bidoun.com/9_archetypcal.php

24 Anonymous (2007) Description of the image, Reuters. 25 April 2008.
[Online news agency]. http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/searchpopup?picId=648513

25 Bozilovic, N. (2007) Political Kitsch And Myth-Making Consciousness.
FACTA UNIVERSITATIS 6(1) 41-52

26 Greenberg, Cl. (1939) Avant-Garde And Kitsch. Partisan Review, 6(5) 34-39
[Online]. Available at < http://www.sharecom.ca/greenberg/kitsch.html>

27 Kaya, Devrğm (2004) A Research On The Possibility Of Distinguishing Kitsch And Art Using Philosophical Hermeneutics. M.A. dissertation, Middle East Technical University Ankara pp.73,74
[Online]. Available at < http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12605433/index.pdf>

28 Gibson, E. (2009) Why Dictators Love Kitsch. The Wall Street Journal, 10 August, 2009
[Online]. Available at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204908604574336383324209824.html

29 Gibson, E. (2009) Why Dictators Love Kitsch. The Wall Street Journal, 10 August, 2009
[Online]. Available at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204908604574336383324209824.html

30 Scruton, R. (1999) Kitsch and the Modern Predicament. New York: City Journal, 9(1) 94-95
[Online]. Available at < http://www.city-journal.org/html/9_1_urbanities_kitsch_and_the.html>

NEW WORK! -------- PLAYING CARDS!

2010-10-27T13:48:00.002+03:00

PLAYING CARDS PROJECT!

Paper collages mixed with vector details. Inspired by folk fairy-tales and my recent obsession of folk and royal fashion, decor and ornaments. Self-initiated project for my PORTFOLIO and SHOP.

http://www.kata-illustration.com/index.php?/new-playing-cards/

Soon available at my Society6 store as prints!

Click HERE to buy.

MODERN ART in formula

2010-10-21T23:13:00.000+03:00

Modern Art by Craig Damrauer,

included into New Math Postcards, hand selected by Ed Ruscha

source: http://www.20x200.com/blog/

On-The-Go ---------------- an emerging band from Tolyatti (Russia)

2010-10-20T21:47:00.000+03:00

I can't tell you how much I love a great band coming out of nowhere, so this time I'm twice as happy because a new emerging Russian band 'On-The-Go' comes out of middle of nowhere literally. Have you ever heard of 'Tolyatti' city somewhere in deep Russia on the edge of Volga? No? Well, for some a fact that russian car Zhiguli was produced there many years ago may tell something. If you never heard of that car, the chances you've heard of Tolyatti are pretty small.

Nikita Zhilina, manager of the label Xuman Records, about shooting this video: 'Straightaway it was decided that we will shoot it in the countryside. Initially, we observed the outskirts of Yalta, but then we thought that members of the band are natives of Tolyatti, where Volga river flows next to Molodetsky mound and Zhigulevskie mountains; beautiful landscape that fits us for the purpose of shooting a video in the nature. So the idea was to express the atmosphere of the song, without making a specific subject - in fact the words in the song are metaphorical and can be interpreted in different ways, so we didn't want to frame it into specific story. Video-clip filmed by Andrei Nikolayev and Sasha Metelkina.'

On-The-Go - In The Wind (Official Video)

I wouldn't be surprised if this video was shot on a photo camera or any other simple device..

Source: some parts translated from http://www.lookatme.ru/flows/muzyika/posts/108087-premera-on-the-go-klip-i-ep

NEW WORK! ----------- Stuck in a fairy-tale!

2010-10-20T15:43:00.000+03:00

This print was done with a Halloween theme in my head, but not aiming to do something 'halloweenish'. No personal references or emotional metaphors, except of inspiration source - a typical russian wooden window I saw in during a trip to Ulyanovsk (middle-Russia). This represents my efforts to merge two mediums that I love working with most - paper collage and adobe illustrator vector drawings. Available to buy as an Art-print or Stretched canvas HERE.

ASTRUD GILBERTO (inspiration of today)

2010-10-20T14:08:00.000+03:00

QUEEN ON BOSSA NOVA

Astrud Gilberto was born as Astrud Weinert, the daughter of a Brazilian mother and a German father, in the state of Bahia, Brazil, and was raised in Rio de Janeiro. In 1959, she married João Gilberto, later emigrating to the United States in 1963 and has continued to reside in the US since then. They eventually divorced in the mid-1960s and, after this, she began an affair with her husband's musical partner, Stan Getz.(Source: Twomey, John. "The Troubled Genius of Stan Getz". jazzsight.com. http://www.jazzsight.com/jazzsightprofiles.html. Retrieved 24 March 2010.)

She sang on the influential album Getz/Gilberto featuring João Gilberto, Stan Getz, and Antonio Carlos Jobim. She had never performed professionally, and sang on the recordings at the suggestion of her (then) husband, João Gilberto.(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrud_Gilberto)

All day listening to her wonderful vocal, while a windy autumn weather is trying to get me through a balcony. Moscow seems dull today, dominating colour behind my window - gray. So this music keeps me warm here while I'm drowning into a sea of sentiments. At least they seem tasteful with this sort of soundtrack.

NEW WORK BY SEAN PECKNOLD!

2010-10-20T10:19:00.000+03:00

Lovely new stop-motion ad directed by Sean Pecknold for BBC Knowledge. This was shot in-camera and in sequence from beginning to end. Trendy colourful shapes so popular these days in illustration or graphic design as well as in motion design, finally look appropriate with a context (children audience) in this animation. I loved the way how one scene naturally merges with the next one in a surreal but somehow logical manner.

BBC Knowledge - Honk If You're Human from Grandchildren on Vimeo.
Director: Sean Pecknold
Executive Producer: Aaron Ball
Producer: Brian Waldrop
Animators: Sean Pecknold, Britta Johnson
Paintings: Britta Johnson
Editorial and Color: Grandchildren
Art Assistant: Randy Bretzin
Sound Design and Mix: Justin Braegelmann

Agency: Three Drunk Monkeys, Australia
Exec. Creative Directors: Justin Drape, Scott Nowell
Creative Director: Noah Regan
Art Director: Matt Heck
Copywriter: Damian Fitzgerald
Agency Producers: Thea Carone, John Ruggiero
Group Content Director: Dan Beaumont
Account Director: Kristen Hardeman
Content Manager: Brad Firth

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And these are some older work directed by Sean. Two of my favorites - "Grizzly Bear - While You Wait For The Others" and of course the one with a lot of flying triangles and other cut-out paper shapes "Fleet Foxes - Mykonos". While studying at BHSAD (Moscow) and Kingston University (UK) I've used stills from these animations as references in almost every sketchbook of every project. Smart, very well designed, surreal, inspiring.

Grizzly Bear - While You Wait For The Others

Grizzly Bear - While You Wait for the Others from Grandchildren on Vimeo.
Director - Sean Pecknold
DP - Michael Ragen
AD - Tristan Seniuk
Animators - Sean Pecknold & Britta Johnson
Producer - Joy Saez
Illustrations - Toby Liebowitz
4 faced mask - Jack Strain
Record label - Warp

Fleet Foxes - Mykonos

Mykonos from Grandchildren on Vimeo.
Director/Animator - Sean Pecknold
Artist/Illustrator - Jesse Brown
Animation Assistant - Toby Liebowitz
Animation Assistant - Chris Ando
Art Director - Sean Pecknold
Produced by Grandchildren
Labels - Bella Union & Sub Pop

Making of Fleet Foxes - Mykonos

Mykonos making of from Grandchildren on Vimeo.

You can find even more work directed by Sean at his website www.grandchildren.tv

KITSCH series, #1

2010-10-19T14:51:00.003+03:00

Old promises kept. Finally found some time to split my undergraduate dissertation on Kitsch into series of 'articles'. The paper was written during my final year at Kingston University, Illustration and Animation BA. The thesis is Kitsch being a gatekeeper of ideology in both - communist and capitalist countries. In the Introduction below you can find main terms defined and main goals of the essay set. Feel free to quote but use a proper reference of 'Kotryna Zukauskaite, undergraduate dissertation 'KITSCH: GATEKEEPER OF IDEOLOGY', Kingston University, 2010' with a link to this post.

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KITSCH: GATEKEEPER OF IDEOLOGY, article series, #1.

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None of us is superman enough to escape

kitsch completely. No matter how we scorn it,

kitsch is an integral part of the human condition. (1)

INTRODUCTION

Before arguing the main thesis of kitsch being a gatekeeper of ideological beliefs, I think it is very important to define the key-terms of this paper, as well as to narrow down the subject to very particular historical contexts in terms of political, social and economical systems that impacted on the cultural development of the masses in different regions of the world that will be defined more particularly in further pages of this paper.

Firstly it is essential to point out that this essay does not focus on Camp - ironical, “conscious kitsch” that ‘sees everything in quotation marks. It’s not a lamp, but a “lamp”; not a woman, but a “woman” ‘ (2) . It could even be said that Camp is opposite to what the term Kitsch means in this paper because, Camp, by being a form of art, is targeted into a spectator and ones introvert emotions, and Kitsch, as I will discus later in this dissertation, is an extrovert experience, because, as Devrğm Kaya has accurately pointed out, ‘kitsch has its real being when it meets with the mass’ (3) .

Secondly, this essay is based on idea of Kitsch being more than an aesthetic term. It is a social phenomena, ‘product of the industrial revolution which urbanized the masses ... [That lost] their taste for folk culture whose background was the countryside’ (4) and this definition broadens the meaning of kitsch with ethical, psychological and even political layers because ‘every ceremony, every ritual, every public display can be kitsched’ (5) . This approach towards Kitsch gives an opportunity to analyze the depths of Kitsch, its role in leading masses to ideological or even utopian dreams, such as:

The totalitarian utopia of ‘bright future of Socialism’ in former Soviet Union beginning with cult of Stalin during The Second World War and ending with collapse of Soviet Union in 1990 as well as the last ruins of Communist Utopia in some of still totalitarian Communist countries (such as North Korea, Belarus, Turkmenistan) lasting till today.

‘Western’ capitalistic ideology (most often directly related with democratic political system), based on free market ideals and mass (over-) production where freedom of choice is often replaced by ‘constant stimulation of individual dreams and desires’ (6) , overconsumption and greed of corporate players such as mass media (advertising especially) or even politicians who want to be (re-) elected.

It also should be pointed out that there were more totalitarian regimes that used kitsch as the official style (such as Nazi regime in Germany for example) or other ideologies (such as religious ideologies) that could be related with kitsch and these subjects could be a further development of this paper, but this dissertation focuses particularly on Totalitarian Communist kitsch and Western tradition of Capitalism (as two ideologically opposite doctrines that developed in parallel in the 20th century) in order to show that Kitsch acts the same role in any ideology.

Finally, the aim of this dissertation is to take a new angle of research on Kitsch by taking the famous quote of one of the key-writers on Kitsch, Clement Greenberg, - ‘Kitsch changes according to style, but remains always the same’ (7) - and expanding it to ‘Kitsch changes according to ideology, but remains always the same’ by showing Kitsch’s role in affecting and even forming lifestyles of masses in different and even contrasting ideological contexts.

for #2 click HERE

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1 Kundera, M. (1984) The Unbearable Lightness of Being. New York, Harper and Row, pp. 256

2 Sontag, S. (1964) Notes on “Camp”. Partisan Review, 31(4) 515-530 [Online].
Available at http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/Sontag-NotesOnCamp-1964.html

3 Kaya, Devrğm (2004) A Research On The Possibility Of Distinguishing Kitsch And Art Using Philosophical Hermeneutics. M.A. dissertation, Middle East Technical University Ankara pp.66 [Online]. Available in full at http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12605433/index.pdf

4 Greenberg, Cl. (1939) Avant-Garde And Kitsch. Partisan Review, 6(5) 34-39 [Online].
Available at < http://www.sharecom.ca/greenberg/kitsch.htm

5 Scruton, R. (1999) Kitsch and the Modern Predicament. New York: City Journal, 9(1) 94-95 [Online]. Available at < http://www.city-journal.org/html/9_1_urbanities_kitsch_and_the.html

6 Jacobsen, M.H. and Poder, P (eds.) (2008) The sociology of Zygmunt Bauman: challenges and critique. Surrey, Asgate Publishing Group pp. 221

7 Greenberg, Cl. (1939) Avant-Garde And Kitsch. Partisan Review, 6(5) 34-39 [Online].
Available at < http://www.sharecom.ca/greenberg/kitsch.html

MOSCOW: LUBERCI

2010-10-19T12:46:00.000+03:00

Extremly cozy weekend at my friends home at Luberci, an edge-part of Moscow. Late dinner of home-made pizza, chess, drunk-drawings, sleeping on a couch, laughing, eating, drinking, talking.

drunk team-drawings on 'out of the box'

theme and chess while waiting for pizza.

Home-made PIZZA!! I have to confess, i didn't participate in cooking it although I've promised to. The good side is that by not participating I didn't ruin it all - it was SO GOOD.

Outside and inside.

Surprisingly cozy interior of the Soviet-era block-house.

photos by Yar, Pasha and me, pizza by Lena :)

TONIGHTS MUSIC: BIBIO Ambivalence Avenue

2010-10-18T22:56:00.000+03:00

HALLOWEEN print and other products SELECTED FOR SOCIETY6 SHOP HALLOWEEN RANGE!

2010-10-18T18:59:00.000+03:00

http://www.society6.com/shop/product/67614/prints?cl=24

ME ON FFFFOUND.com !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-10-17T00:51:00.000+03:00

THOUGHT THIS DAY WILL NEVER COME.

http://ffffound.com/image/f434735c87f6843f704cce6cb8b06e6c022265da

i can't tell you how cool is to be published on one of my favorite blogs of all times.

http://ffffound.com/

HAIRY SOCK. SO GOOD.

2010-10-16T23:55:00.000+03:00

This is not the first time I'm posting something about HAIRY SOCK , accessories brand created by Lithuanian Ruta Kiskyte, but what she does is so good, you have to see it. Check out her official website or blog. Or you can just follow her news on the official facebook page.

Some of my favorite stuff from her newest collection (great photos by the way!):

www.hairysock.com

COLLAGED MUSIC VIDEO by Talking Heads

2010-10-15T11:35:00.000+03:00

Talking Heads - "And She Was" from the album "Little Creatures", 1985.

I'm SO IN LOVE with this music video by Talking Heads, not only from a music side; as an illustrator, I'm so happy to see Collage genre expanding out of still illustration frames. This is composed so wisely, and I'm still learning new stuff every-time i watch this, also I've already replayed it few hundreds times.

NEW WORK! Halloween!

2010-10-15T10:00:00.000+03:00

Halloween!

http://www.society6.com/studio/kataillustrationcom/store

Available to buy as Art-Print, Stretched Canvas, Laptop & Ipad skin or Iphone & Ipod skin or Iphone case at my Society6 store http://www.society6.com/studio/kataillustrationcom/store

Society6 members, please vote (promote)

at http://www.society6.com/studio/kataillustrationcom/Halloween

Ulyanovsk trip! ARCHITECTURAL MIRACLES

2010-10-14T19:30:00.000+03:00

So couple of weeks ago I've been in Ulyanovsk, a city devided by Volga river, and a homeland of Lenin, as you probably already understood from its name. So Lenin beside, some architectural and landscape miracles you can find there:

(above) one of Ulyanovsks airports. It was a military airport and they used to or still build massive airplanes there, I was told those are biggest air-planes in the world. Well anyway, so you get off the plane, and thats it, you just go. No terminals included. The only transport from there - taxi, with a loud Russian pop music in it, so you start getting the experience of Ulyanovsk from the first steps off the plane.

(above) a balcony promoting English language courses in Ulyanovsk.
I just love those self-made ad's - they're so honest.

(above) some urban architectural miracles not only from Soviet era - some of those are pretty new I guess. A lot of bright colours, a lot of advertising (you can HEAR advertising through speakers just in the street, so weird), and totally NO PLANNING - they just build it.

(above)The old-town. There is a Lenin street there, so it is taken care off and you can see some re-constructed or preserved old buildings with typical Russian gorgeous ethnic wood-crafted elements, rich ornaments and decor. There is more than one house with one of those 'Lenin lived here' signs, and most of the houses are historical museums or galleries. Pretty empty in those streets, no traffic allowed there, but actually, even for me, who is definitely not a fan of Lenin, it was interesting to see and the rich architectural decor elements were a big inspiration.

(above) Some cool sculptures we saw through the fence of one museum, which, unfortunately, was closed that Sunday. But I loved the design, and I loved the fact I saw it in the center of Ulyanovsk. Is this a new folk craft or a pray to industrial culture?

(above) true miracle. Short trip to Volga beaches just before the flight back to Moscow. By the way, Volga looks more like a sea than a river from the first glance.

It's not that bad after all, some nice cafe's, reconstructed center of the city, pretty normal shopping center, beautiful nature on the edges and outside the city, and great people whom i met there. I've totally enjoyed it, hope to go back there soon.

photos by Yar R.

WHY PRINTED ILLUSTRATION WILL NOT DISAPPEAR

2010-10-14T00:05:00.000+03:00

once again i've heard THE question of this year: will new technologies kill old-fashioned 'still' illustration?

for me the best way answer this is: would you teach your kid to read from a Kindle? - i wouldn't.

so i think children will get used to printed illustration from an early age anyway, and so as tv didn't kill a book, as a computer didn't kill a book, as any other screen-based thingy will not manage to do that.

So, illustrators, just keep calm and carry on. Its all good.

-------

I'm going deeper underground, there is too much panic in this town.

ME ON ULTRA-BOOK!

2010-10-10T16:36:00.000+03:00

Check out my Portfolio at Ultra-Book for French market at kotryna.ultra-book.com !

http://kotryna.ultra-book.com/

I used google translator to write those little notes in French, sorry if some of them doesn't make any sense at all, BUT I'VE TRIED really hard! :D

FOXES on PRINT & PATTERN!

2010-10-10T10:06:00.000+03:00

I was very happy to find out that one of my old works on a fox theme was published at the PRINT & PATTERN blog. The post was dedicated to a recent trend of foxes in illustration and so one of my 'foxland' series prints was included:

http://www.society6.com/studio/kataillustrationcom/P_i_c_n_i_c/prints

http://www.society6.com/studio/kataillustrationcom/Fox_in_a_box/prints

http://www.society6.com/studio/kataillustrationcom/Foxes_in_a_lake/prints


SHOP MY ILLUSTRATION PRODUCTS AT SOCIETY 6!

Kata-illustration

Resolution 2012!!

RIP Hitch

Crafty Christmas Cards!

KATA KIOSK re-launched!

Queen of Rage

ETSY!

Golden autumn. Petersburg. Life.

Lithuania: Country-side, Nida, Vilnius.

Zoo. Mammuth. Sunday. Moscow

Amy.

Welcome to the Rococo Garden!

MOSCOW times

SIGNED SEALED DELIVERED!

FFFFOUND!

KATA KIOSK. Totally re-newed.

A! B! C!

UH?

Editorial for NEW SCIENTIST magazine

DIGITAL ARTS MAY 2011

Some of my illustrations show-cased.

Magazine available to buy in print or digital edition for the iPad, Mac or PC at http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/magazine/

Small Business Experiment. HELP!

Decoded. Triptych

As different sort of prints, cards at Red Bubble: http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/6974493-greeting-card

More links coming soon. See more of my illustrated prints and other illustration at www.kata-illustration.com

if you buy just one of these, turn it vertical or horizontal on your wall as you wish, I don't mind at all. If you buy three of them at once as triptych, please put them next to each other as shown above.

Some of the products available:

madebyhandbags

Waiting For Superman

Inspirational. I know, I know, I know what I am chasing

R.E.M. - ÜBerlin

Late Night Coffee!

Featured in the Fluster Magazine

ME ON RED BUBBLE FRONT PAGE!

Me aka KATA KIOSK featured on the front page of red bubble on 4th of Marchhttp://www.redbubble.com/home !

shop this print at http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/6709778-matted-print , or shop other kata kiosk products on red bubble at http://www.redbubble.com/people/katakiosk

* Greeting Cards * Matted Prints * Laminated Prints * Mounted Prints * Canvas Prints * Framed Prints * Posters

LISTED ON ARTPROJECT.COM!

Big News! Kata Zazzle store listed on Artsprojekt.com! Check out the latest stuff from Kata at Zazzle at http://www.zazzle.com/kata_illustration !Shopping categories include:

EASTER!

PARTY TIME!

NEW HOME!

LOVELY!

FUN TIMES!

DARK!

orshop by product type such as greeting cards, envelopes, postcards,posters, magnets, ornaments, invitations, key-chanes, stickers, buttonsand even more!

Spending Cuts. Big times.

MADE MY DAY.

Back to One's roots!

NOT A CUTE CAT

Upper Middle Class

Flash game designs. Big times!

Cuckoo hits the sky

From the archives

FEATURED IN 3x3 Illustration Annual No. 7 !

THE STATE OF THE UNION. OBAMA. 2011.

Plans for the first half of 2011

HIERONYMUS BOSCH

NEW WORK!

Charlie Rose interviews Jay-Z

KATA KIOSK FACEBOOK PAGE!

NEW PRODUCTS!

Weekending in Moscow.

KATA FOR ZAZZLE

KATA KIOSK! illustrated products

MY NEW STORE AT BZAco!

MADE MY DAY.

Jessica Harrison’s zombified sculptures

this is what I found on Lost At E Minor.

WHITE CHRISTMAS! new vector print for sale

CHRISTMAS EVE PRINT! shop online

The Walking Dead

KITSCH series, #2

NEW WORK! -------- PLAYING CARDS!

MODERN ART in formula

On-The-Go ---------------- an emerging band from Tolyatti (Russia)

NEW WORK! ----------- Stuck in a fairy-tale!

ASTRUD GILBERTO (inspiration of today)

NEW WORK BY SEAN PECKNOLD!

Me aka KATA KIOSK featured on the front page of red bubble on 4th of March
http://www.redbubble.com/home !

* Greeting Cards
* Matted Prints
* Laminated Prints
* Mounted Prints
* Canvas Prints
* Framed Prints
* Posters

Big News! Kata Zazzle store listed on Artsprojekt.com!
Check out the latest stuff from Kata at Zazzle at http://www.zazzle.com/kata_illustration !

Shopping categories include: