This week in my blog about Vancouver artists, I bring you Daniel Elstone.  You can get a small taste of his fine work in our premiere issue; Dan photographed the Radio Station Cafe at 101 East Hastings.

Dan graduated from Langara’s Professional Photo Program and is currently getting his BFA at UBC. He is a killer surfer and he spends some of his summer nights rock climbing, photographing Vancouver at night, feeding raccoons, and jumping into Lynn Canyon.

His work speaks both very high and low of the west coast. He documents the green beauty around around him and his eye is dead on.

I chatted him about his work, summer 2009, and his take on photography today.

Sad Mag: Why are trees such a prominent subject in your photos?

Daniel Elstone: I shoot trees because there are endless variations of shapes, forms, patterns and sizes, even between the same types of trees. I don’t shoot exclusively tree’s though, I’ve been shooting more shrubs and thickets lately. I can get bored fairly quickly shooting the same type of things, but I always go back to trees.

Sad: What’s it like to make a name for yourself as a photographer today?

DE: I have mixed feelings about it. In commercial photography, digital technology is making it harder to make a living as a photographer. The cost of equipment, workload, and image standards are going up disproportionately to income, but at the same time digital cameras make life a lot easier. Photography as an art is possibly better than ever. There are so many great photographers out there, so many magazines and ‘zines, so much on the internet—it’s almost too much. Some of my favourite photographers are just people from flickr. (You can find Dan on flickr here)

Sad: What’s do you think is missing from Vancouver’s art scene right now?

DE: There’s a shortage of studio space in Vancouver. I think the city is also lacking galleries that are willing to display interesting photography.

Sad: What drew you to working with Sad Mag?

DE: The photography scene in Vancouver is fairly close minded, many galleries just seem to focus on fine art work, which usually isn’t very innovative. Sad Mag is a good way to get your work out there, discover local artists, and find out what’s going on around the city.

Sad: Who are some of your favourite visual artists?

DE: Some of my favourite photographers are Jeff Wall, Stephen Shore, Matthew Genitempo, Tokihiro Sato, there are too many to list. My favourite artists are William Schaff, Eric Fischl, Martin Creed, and whoever did the Roxy Music Covers.

Sad:  Summer has escaped us. What are you looking forward to this season in the arts?

DE: I’m looking forward to the Where the Wild Things Are movie and The Malcolmson Collection, which is a bunch of 19th- and early 20th-century photographs to be shown at The Presentation House [Gallery in North Vancouver].

Sad:  What’s next from Dan Elstone?

DE: I have a couple series which I’ve been putting together, both of them tentatively named. I hope to complete those by next summer, although they’ll never really be complete. I’ll tell you later.

——BG

Check out Daniel Elstone’s online portfolio here.
Keep coming back to sadmag.ca for interviews, blog posts and sneak peaks at our Winter Issue.

Sad Magazine launched to an enthusiastic crowd on Thursday, September 17 at the ANZA club. We received the following communique from our friend Lindsay in the aftermath:

Additional evidence that the sad mag launch was awesome was discovered only when I got home and into a well lit room:

• + there were a bunch of sad faces drawn all over my arms in permanent marker
• + I was wearing a home made dirty dancing pin that said ‘no one puts baby in a corner’ in sharpie
• + there was a 4 foot trail of fishing line and ribbon trailing behind me, attached to one of my boots

We had a great time!

Sounds like a fantastic time was had by all! Thank you to everyone who attended our event, cramming the ANZA club well beyond capacity, and helping us to raise money for this exciting project. 

Thanks especially to:

• + Paul Beja, our event planner, for creating the best balloon trees of our lives, as well as the volunteers who helped us to set up the party.
• + The volunteers who managed the bar and the front door in every manner of dressed and barely dressed.
• + The eternally fabulous Isolde N. Barron and her support crew, for blowing our heads off with a performance of “Baby, I’m a star!” Baby, you are a star.
• + Our DJs Jef Lepard, Ryan and Rohit, who kept us dancing all night long. 
• + And, of course, the very talented contributors who dedicated their best work to our first issue. 

Enjoy our peek-a-boo slideshow above for folks who couldn’t make it, or those who want to relive the magic.

This week in my blog about Vancouver artists, I bring you Kristina Fiedrich. She graciously accepted our offer to illustrate our debut cover and is one of our featured contributors of in the first issue

When I first met Kristina at Vancouver’s Oddball, she was dressed in a feather headdress and had lips like glossy cherries.

I was captivated, and thought, ‘who is this girl? And why are we not friends yet?’ When I asked mutual friends about her, I discovered that Kristina is so much more than girl with great stems—she is a brilliant artist.

I had the pleasure of collaborating with her on our cover, while getting to know Kristina more and understand her work better.

For the blog, we talked Sad Mag, illustration, and how her hometown Kamloops just doesn’t do it for her.

Sad Mag: Tell me how you ended up in Vancouver from Kamloops?

Kristina Fiedrich:Via the Coquihalla Highway.

Sad: Does Kamloops and the interior still influence your work today?

KF: I don’t feel that growing up in Kamloops has ever had any bearing on my work. In fact, there is only one place in the Thompson Okanagan that ever influenced me, and that’s Salmon Arm; not the town itself, but the fact that my grandmother lived there. I grew up idolizing my grandmother, and the memories I have from our time together have really stuck with me. I sometimes use imagery from those moments to express a sense of curiosity, openness, fragility, and disconnect.

Sad: Tell me about your collaboration with me. Did you take your references from my photo or the subject Isolde?

KF: In this case, I think the photograph and the subject are one and the same—that speaks to the talent of the photographer. [Brandon: I gush!] When I saw the photograph, I thought, “Oh my god, I’m going to ruin this man’s work.” Having met Isolde once, or at least been in her presence, I had an idea of how I wanted to make the cover look, without seeing the other half of the collaboration. Working more-or-less blindly appealed to me and the freedom you—as the photographer—and Sad Mag gave me, was at once exciting and effing terrifying. I haven’t, as of yet, seen the finished piece. I’m waiting with bated breath for the results.

Sad: What do you think of drawing in the art world today?

KF: I think it’s really exciting; the possibilities for creativity are endless. I’d like to think that we are part of a generation of artists and creatives who believe that anything goes. Drawing is a medium that has never gone out of style, or dropped out of favour, it just doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. Over the last few years, there is a resurgence of interest in art shows, graphic design, fashion illustration, digital media and museum retrospectives. There is such a variety achieved with drawing: the mark-making, the tools, the surfaces… all you have to do is pick up Vitamin D, and it’s all right there. Drawing is beautiful.

Sad: Who are some of your favourite visual artists?

KF:Kiki Smith, Marcel Dzama, Egon Schiele, Marlene Dumas, Amy Cutler, Paul Klee, Ai Yamaguchi, Yoshitomo Nara, Michael Sowa, Jo Ann Callis, Henry Darger, Peter Doig.

Sad: Any show or gallery that you enjoyed going to in the past summer?

KF: Well, if i were a shameless self-promoter, I would say my favorite show was my own (Back to the Drawing Board, On The Rise Artist Artist Collective). But, to be fair, I also enjoyed Karin Bubas’ show With Friends Like These… at the Charles H. Scott Gallery, and seeing Cai Guo-Qiang’s piece Inopportune: Stage One at the SAM.

Sad: Summer has escaped us. What are you highlights of the summer? If not one thing you regret missing this summer? Or something that you feel was lacking from your summer?

KF: Some highlights from the summer: my first FUSE event at the VAG (May 2009). I was blown away by the turnout and the performances. Why haven’t I gone to this event before? I also went to the Decemberists concert at the Vogue Theatre. Some regrets from this summer: not getting enough work done. I had this Big Plan to get all kinds of art work finished. Where does the time go?

Sad: What are some things you are looking forward to this season? Movies, books, art shows?

KF:I haven’t been watching many movies lately, but I did happen across an advert for a movie starring Adam Goldberg called (Untitled). That’s so PoMo, I just have to see it. I’m reading Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception, in an attempt to make myself smarter. So far I think it’s having the opposite effect. I also bought Art Now Volume 3, and it promises a “cutting edge collection of today’s most exciting artists.” I’m expecting to be in Volume 5…6 at the latest. As for art shows, I’m looking forward to seeing Anna Plesset’s new show Headlines at the Jeffrey Boone Gallery, and attending the Cheaper Show.

Sad: What are you working on?

KF: I’m working on a couple pieces for friends, as well as a new portfolio of work for my upcoming application to Emily Carr’s MAA program. I’m also working on growing out my hair.

Come to our launch tomorrow and say hello to Kristina. She is a visual force to reckon and a beauty.

-Brandon

My first insight into the visual team of Sad Mag‘s first issue is Laura Nguyen. Laura spent a morning in Molo’s Design studio in Gastown and photographed the team working away. Her photos can be found accompanying Stacey McLachlan’s interview with the Molo group in issue one of the magazine. Her clean and simple aesthetic makes her one of Vancouver’s up-and-coming food photographers. She is also and amazing cook, and can score you the best Vietnamese food in the city. I urge you to check out her commercial portfolio online: www.lnphoto.ca

Laura photographed some web exclusive photos for sadmag.ca and I sat down with her and chatted about her work, Sad Mag and how her summer went.

Sad Mag: Why do you photograph still life?

Laura Nguyen:I shoot still life because the combination works. I enjoy making ordinary objects beautiful. My mind just sees and understands how to manipulate and shoot still life more than any other subject. Plus, it’s fun!

Sad: What drew you to Sad Mag?

LN: Sad Mag is the perfect showcase for introducing the new crop of amazing artists and writers the city has to offer. There are so many talented people here that need an outlet like Sad Mag to introduce themselves and their work.

Sad: What do you think of food photography today?

LN:That it is taking over the world. It definitely has grown and gained popularity with the success of things like food blogs and flickr. It also has become a separate category of photography itself, not just merged in with commercial photography. Visually it has evolved from mostly simple clean high key images to having more variety with bold, sexy colours or moody, contrast lighting.

Sad: Who are some of your favourite visual artists?

LN: I admit I usually don’t pay as much attention to the artist as the art itself. However I do follow the works of John Kernick, Matt Armendariz, Lara Ferroni, and Tracy Kusiewicz.

Sad: Any show or gallery that you enjoyed going to in the past summer?

LN:I will shamefully admit I didn’t attend any shows this summer. [Brandon: No shame, Laura, no shame.)

Sad: Summer has escaped us. Highlights of the summer summer? If not one thing you regret missing this summer? Or something that you feel was lacking from your summer?

LN: My summer was pretty fantastic. Highlights being my first completed new years resolution ever which was to create my new website (it took 8 months but it still counts!) and learning how to swim. The water and I didn’t start off great together but seriously, now I think it’s the best thing ever.

Follow Laura on Flickr and check out her new work.

-Brandon

Sad Mag is launching its first printed issue in one week! The proofs look fantastic, the colors floated off the page, and the CMYK looked stark. The magazine is going to be a beauty to hold in your hand. Vancouver’s Rhino Press did a fantastic job. And did we mention that is is printed on FSC-certified paper? It is printed on sustainable forest paper. Good for the environment, good for us. Good for you.

The founders of Sad Mag are going to be posting on sadmag.ca at least once a week. Being the creative director of Sad Mag, my blog will be bringing you visual art, inspirations, sneak peeks into the design of the magazine, and interviews with Vancouver’s raw visual talent.

Stay tuned this week for interviews with two of our photographers and our cover artist!

-Brandon