Studio Visit: Sculptor Matt Kinney

From his live/work space in Beacon, NY, the carpenter and artist creates wooden pieces that brilliantly trick the eye

by Janine M. Stankus In the sun-splayed parlor of his partially renovated 1850s home, Matt Kinney’s artwork mingles with tools of his craft. Paint buckets, sliced and with wood medallions at their mouths, lean beneath a bench strewn with chisels, rasps and mallets. In the corner, a burled axe gleams, nearly swallowed against the swirling camouflage of a matching maple stump. Kinney, a carpenter, creates …

Jean Jullien’s “US”

The French illustrator's latest work, from the humorous to the sinister, on view at London's Kemistry Gallery

French-born, London-based illustrator and Cool Hunting favorite, Jean Jullien has returned to London’s Kemistry Gallery with new exhibition “US.” Like much of Jullien’s work, the title itself is humorous and has a double meaning, seemingly referring to both the United States (some of the work was produced while the artist was living in New York) and to us—his subjects, his viewers. Jullien excels at finding …

“Pop-Up Op-Art: Vasarely” by Philippe UG

Paper engineer Philippe UG pays homage to the grandfather of optical illusion art in his newest book

Victor Vasarely is widely recognized as the grandfather of Op-Art, the short-lived but highly impactful movement that brought optical illusion to the canvas and sculpture. Seemingly contemporary because of its computational element and use of high-contrast color, Vasarely arguably conceived of the Op-Art style in the 1930s, revealing his prescient aesthetic perspective. Though the process itself was clearly complicated, the resulting pieces are totally engaging, …