Peeling the Layers Back in Pop Culture With Ben Allen

For a self-taught artist, UK skater/surfer Ben Allen’s talent is quickly evolving and his work is increasing in popularity not only with art lovers, but also with celebrities. Richard Branson, Stephen Dorff and Jade Jagger are all huge fans of his work, and it’s no wonder – the imagery he creates is awesome and full of great pop culture icons. His art is now found in galleries across the world and in much of our advertising.

Allen works in a myriad of different materials and media, and his influences are heavily saturated throughout each piece – comic book, surf and skateboard culture, Mexican “Dia de la Muerte” style, various forms of typography, nature, Japanese graphics, and the human condition are all represented. His work is infused with the gradual corrosion of society and the urban environment – the art of fading, peeling, cracking over time, and creating a fresh, and unpredictable style. He works off the top of his head, letting each piece evolve on it’s own, out of objects from the everyday, creating layers of time – yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Some of his corporate clients include Levis, Virgin, Channel 5, The Hoxton Hotel, Nokia, DJ Eric Morillo, and Subliminal Records. He’s also been featured in major magazines internationally including Design Week, The Observer, The Times, Elle Déco, Plus 1, FRANKIE and GQ. In 2012, he’s got some stellar work on permanent display in Selfridges, London and he’s been touring with his work in New York, The Hamptons, Singapore, Korea, Miami and L.A.

To check out more of Ben Allen’s explosive work, check out his website.

Robert Bradford: Turning Childhood Refuse Into Riches

One man’s garbage is another man’s gold. London-born Robert Bradford takes elements of discarded children’s toys and other oddities and repurposes them into life-size sculptures that speak to the inner child in all of us. Some of them are even blown up to larger-than-life sizes that dominate the senses. Focusing on mainly animals and humans as his subjects, he carefully pieces these works together out of any brightly coloured plastic items he can find – from playthings to combs, buttons, clothes pegs, and other useless bit of miscellany that are usually discarded and thought of as rubbish.

While classically-trained as a visual artist in both the U.S. and the U.K., he also makes a career as a psychotherapist, which kind of puts things into perspective when it comes to analyzing his art. These long-forgotten toys that were easily cast aside are a piece of a much larger puzzle that comprises the human psyche. Each small piece of plastic represents a part of someone’s history, a past unknown to the viewer – a point in time, frozen in order to pass on a piece of someone’s cultural history. It comes as no surprise that some of these sculptures can be comprised of pieces from up to 3,000 toys.

Bradford wasn’t originally intending to make reusing and recycling his modus operandi but each of his creations definitely keeps a few handfuls of plastic out of the landfills that are continuously encroaching on us. What’s more, is that some of these creative pieces are fetching around £12,000 (US $19,000) a pop! How’s that for turning garbage into gold!

To see more of his inspiring works, visit his website.

Kate’s Little Doodles

Kate is a really cool UK illustrator working out of London whose doodles and whimsical designs give off a truly nostalgic, vintage feel. Her “Little Birds” remind me of French children’s book illustrations, full of chubby, adorable little birdies, splashed with vibrant colours. 

Kate also designs a lot of beautiful things in fashion, from clothing to accessories, and even jewellery. Her designs are as organic and comfortable looking as they are imaginative and timeless. 

Check out her ‘Little Doodles’ blog and her portfolio.