El Mac continues to paint murals around the world, this time getting down in Montreal. If you haven’t been to Montreal, it is definitely a great city to see graffiti, street art, and mural art. The city is covered, one of the most covered in North America. And they have good food there.
Mac said about the piece: “This one’s titled ‘Spirit of Summer’ and was my expression of the vitality you can feel this time of year there. Montreal is one of my favorite cities, and it seems to hold a unique creative energy.”
Longtime friend of Upper Playground & FIFTY24SF Gallery, Greg “Craola” Simkins, will be opening a show in Montreal with artist Lola at Yves Laroche called “Escape With Me.” The show opens June 8, 2011.
The piece above, The Nature of Nurture, will be in the show, and is another really great piece from Greg’s fine art body of work.
And if you haven’t been to Montreal, its a great city, with a ton of art and graffiti everywhere. So if you need another reason, go see Craola’s show up North.
Where do you live?
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
What do you take pictures of?
It started out as documenting my life, so i began (and still do) with taking photos of my friends. I still mostly only shoot people, but now im starting to work with more and more models.
What kind of camera do you use?
I almost only shoot film… I have point and shoots on me at all times (these vary, cheap models) then i use my Olympus om2n, and my Bronica SQAI. I also just recently bought a digital camera, and i got the Canon 5d mark2
Are you formally trained in photography?
No i am self taught. However i am finishing up my third year of college in Illustration and Design. So that has helped with creating images.
What are your influences?
I try not to let one thing influence me too much. I much prefer to get influenced by many things and merge it all together to create my work. Films are also a huge influence. Some films are just breathtaking, the photography can be beautiful. And i love directors that use long takes.
Traditional arts have a huge influence on me as well, such as paintings and sculpture. I like to get influenced by colors in paintings. Some names in photography that have influenced me lately: Mario Testino, juergen teller, Cass Bird, Harley Weir, Terry Richardson, and Viktor Vauhtier.
Also, all my close friends are artists or related to the fashion industry and we party lots together, so that whole vibe is great to run off of.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
New York City!
What makes you happy?
My friends, Sketching and painting, and music keeps me going.
check out his website : www.nicholaspittman.com
Remember when we went to Montreal? The people at Drawn and Quarterly were so nice an helpful. They made us a list of the best poutines in the city. The store was pretty great too. Like a little slice of San Francisco in Brooklyn in Paris. We miss them.
Kid Koala will be performing a 4-hour set at Noise Pop’s Culture Club this Saturday (Feb 26) at Public Works in San Francisco, and because we are going to be spending most of the day there, we wanted to get you and us ready. And Montreal is great, only good things happen there.
Here is what Noise Pop says about the set:
An afternoon of quiet time records to warm up those creative juices (as part of the Kid Koala Loud Party / Quiet Work weekend), the 4-hour ‘Music To Draw To…’ participatory soiree will be a touch quieter than his Friday night set at Mighty.
Bring your sketchbook, yarn, 3D rendering laptops or that lump of clay. Your admission ticket includes a free cup of hot chocolate and a pencil and music will be provided by Kid Koala. Expect a full 4-hour set of some of his favorite quiet time records that he has collected on his travels around the world plus a sneak preview from his forthcoming soundtrack to Space Cadet.
Baked goods will be provided by Kid Koala’s wife, Corinne, who dreams of someday opening a bakery in Montreal and would like to try some of her new creations first.
Quiet people are invited. Bring something you like to work on. No dancing. Hope to see you there! More information here.
Normally, we aren’t huge fans of this type of illustration, but we really enjoy the work of Jeff Simpson, a young illustrator from one of our favorite cities, Montreal. It just has a nice life to it, good conceptual illustration work. We like it. Good things to come from Mr Simpson.
Here is a video of the piece I painted at the new offices of the Montreal architecture firm Aedifica last month. Very cool! Video directed by Phil Arsenault & project curated by Basta!/Nicholas Coupal More photos here.
I did some painting in Montreal, Quebec recently..the yellow paisano was venturing into a Hasidic part of the city, painted with local aerosol kingpins Senck & Omen. The other piece was a really special project for the new offices of the architecture firm Aedifica. The two kids serve as a subtle reminder of the importance of creating a better environment for the next generation. I’ll try to post more shots later. Merci to my friend Louis C, Val, Snoop, Poutine, and all the fine folks at Aedifica.
