That Big Black Guy's List: Art Design Images & Photography

CULTATION 
{KUL-TAY-SHUN}

1) A community of creatives.
2) The process of which culture runs in a community.
3) The act of sharing creative works from any art form for the purpose of  continuous inspiration.

MISSION:
Our missions are simple, the first being to push the boundaries of creativity. Where does creativity come from? Where is it going? How can we express this? All questions we will find the answers to as we go along.

The second mission is to push the culture. How do we contribute to this? We create. Whether we are holding a paintbrush, strumming a guitar, singing into a microphone, holding a camera, or something as simple as an idea, we are artists and the creators of our culture.

The third mission is to cultivate the creative process by providing an environment in which inspiration is infinite; art inspiring art. It is our belief that creativity can be found everywhere and in everyone. Our final mission is to show that to the world.

"In Cultation's first ever Showcase, we sit down with Visual Artist/Painter Sharon Bourke to discuss her art and creativity."

Work in Progress: New series underway of portraits of couples that first met on the internet. Given the pace of urban life and the digital necessity of our social media driven society, connecting online is truly the new normal. I am working with writer Gina Tron who is conducting interviews and writing up a a short essay for each couple I photograph. Our goal is to publish a photography book of the project pairing the photos with Gina's essays. If you or someone you know started their love online, feel free to get in touch.

Designboom tipped us off to a monumental feat of ingenuity, will, and resourcefulness by Jesse Krimes, a 31-year-old artist from Philadelphia who stealthily made a 39-panel mural piece by piece using contraband prison sheets, hair gel, plastic spoons, and New York Times clippings while serving a 70-month jail sentence that ended last September.

Krimes was sent to federal prison in 2009 for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, the year after he graduated with a B.A. in studio art from Millersville University of Pennsylvania. He spent his first year awaiting sentencing in a 22-hour-per-day lockdown in his cell, banned from venturing outside for fresh air or sunlight. To cope with the isolation and the shock of being a nonviolent drug offender in a medium security prison surrounded by Aryan Nations leaders, Russian mobsters, and other violent criminals, he started making art. Fellow inmates commissioned portraits to send to loved ones on the outside, paying him in jailhouse currency (books of stamps). Soon he began teaching art classes to other inmates, who converted the old piano room into a de facto art studio.

Krimes said that carving out a singular identity as resident artist kept him out of trouble in an atmosphere charged with gang violence and allowed him to make a cross-section of allies amid racial divides. “They called me ‘the independent,’ ” Krimes told me in a phone interview. “Artwork facilitated conversation. And it humanized me to some of the guards. They saw me not as an inmate but as a person.”"

In 2008, David LaFerriere decided to surprise his kids at school, drawing on the sandwich bags he packed in their lunches.

Russian photographer Murad Osmann continues to be led around the world by his girlfriend Nataly Zakharova in his ongoing Follow Me project. With her back facing the camera, Zakharova eagerly holds the hand of her photographer boyfriend, guiding him through various locales across the globe. The traveling duo manage to creatively display a variety of exotic and culturally rich landscapes and architecture through their clever set of images.

Since we first featured Osmann's captivating series, the project has gone to take on a life of its own. What started as a series of images on Instagram between the traveling photographer and his beloved partner has turned into a movement, inspiring others to follow suit. Osmann even partnered up with Google for a short video, which can be viewed at the bottom of this post, about how the project started and what it means to him.