Agustin Coll

Mapache!

2012-02-29T09:49:00.004Z

Let me digress from architecture today and talk about this shocking news featured on a Spanish newspaper. Somewhere in vast Russia, a man tried to rape a raccoon. Yes, there's lots of strange people around. However, the poor animal, instead of letting himself enslaved, turned back against and ripped his penis off a bite. Hooray for raccoon!

Don't know much more about the story and how faithful it is to reality, since the main source of the article was The Sun... But while having a coffee at the Mary Ward Centre in Holborn with some fiends couldn't help but to visualise the feisty animal as some sort of Rodriguez-like character the sorts of Machete. Mapache is raccoon in Spanish.

I think the illustration would look cool as promotional poster for a gig.

Bauhaus Dessau

2012-02-27T09:45:00.006Z

Gesamtkuntwerk or synthesis of the arts was what the Bauhaus school was committed to. It’s probable that most of the people that took part in it would have objected against the idea of a Bauhaus style in architecture. Despite the name as ‘House of Construction’, during its 14 years of existence architecture played a minor role in the program and was only one more among painting, sculpture, the decorative arts, and crafts.

The story of the Bauhaus school as a building has three phases at the end of each it was forced to move to a new city. Starting at Weimar under the direction of architect Walter Gropius it next moved to Dessau where Hannes Mayer eventually succeeded to. The Bauhaus ended up as a private school in a former telephone factory in Berlin under the direction of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. It pretty much seems that since its creation during the liberal Weimar republic in 1919 it had been on the run, escaping from the criticism its overstated progressivist left-wing ideals arose. A fast growing party later to become the Nazi regime finally forced its leadership to shut it down in 1933.

It is the school buildings in Dessau designed by Gropius that became the image of the Bauhaus itself and also showpieces of Modernist architecture to which the school contributed decisively. Considering the Bauhaus as a short lived institution that had only 1250 students total and little practical output it’s surprising how influential it still is today.

This illustration is the third in succession of 6 postcards designed for Bauhaus: Art as Life competition at the Barbican.

Seagram Building

2012-02-23T10:12:00.006Z

ORNAMENT IS A CRIME.

So it reads one of the slogans that sum up the International Style, developed in the 1920s to bring industrialized mass-production techniques to architecture, and think of houses as 'machines for living'.

It is likely that if you look out the window you see a glass office building. Before the Seagram Building (1958), designed by German architect Mies van der Rohe, skyscrapers didn’t look like that, they weren’t ‘transparent’. Like the neighbouring Empire State or the Chrysler they were probably Art Deco or copying historic styles.

However, together with Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius, van der Rohe was to change that by championing a radical simplification of architecture. The structural elements of a building would make all the ornamentation in an attempt to establish a more honest conversation with the public.

I think that these architects were successful in conveying these ideals through their architecture; another very different thing is what corporations do in them.

Anyway, who cares? IT’S A BUILDING WEARING A SUIT!!

This illustration is the second in succession of 6 postcards designed for Bauhaus: Art as Life at the Barbican.

Unité d'Habitation Marseille

2012-02-20T10:25:00.005Z

Wow! A year off blogging. Oh well... I’ve been busy, I swear. Working on my first graphic novel which will be published this year! So hopefully now will have more time to upload stuff that is long overdue.

Let’s start with something I did last week! This illustration is part of a series of 6 postcards I submitted to Bauhaus: Art as Life, a competition at the Barbican. This one is inspired by the Unité d’Habitation Marseille by Le Corbusier. It is not really a Bauhaus architect, but his work pushes forward the Bauhaus principles of Modernist architecture and links it to Brutalism.

Christened as ‘Cité Radieuse’ this one is the first of a series of residential housing developments that he designed to ‘improve the living conditions for the residents of crowded cities’. This one in Marseille is a more realistic outcome to the urban megalomania of the ‘Ville Contemproraine’ planned for Central Paris. It comprises 337 apartments arranged over 12 stories and it is informally referred as ‘La Maison du Fada’. The madhouse.

Le Corbusier didn’t know that this ‘unité’ likes eating cars!

See the original building here.

Homie

2011-02-09T20:07:00.004Z

My website needed a serious update with all the things I've been doing since I put it up and still were in the drawer. While redesigning it I came up with this character who will be waiting for any guests at the index page and guiding them around the contents of the website, making their visit more enjoyable. Sort of like a house-looking Nestor. His name is Homie.

Would like to play around with him in the future, but for now he'll be working full time guiding people in and out the website. Again, I designed it with Dreamweaver, with all the knowledge I could gather in a one week workshop while studying at Camberwell College. That means no html, it's entirely built with design view so expect simplicity and bugs here and there...

You can see it HERE

Hope you like it!

Battersea Power Station

2011-02-03T21:46:00.009Z

Let's start with some fun facts... Did you know that Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect behind Battersea Power Station also designed the famous red telephone box and Bankside Power Station (aka Tate Modern)? And that his grandfather is responsible of St Giles Church in Camberwell? Yes, that church that sells booze in its crypt. Little it matters when one looks at the neglected ruin that is Battersea Station today... How could that happen to one of London's architecture myths?

This triptych is meant to satirize the decline of Battersea from a top-notch power station to a derelict site in its 53 years at London's service supplying electricity. Its demise was probably due to facilities becoming outdated and the overtaking of more efficient fuels (like nuclear power) rather than coal fire. However to me it looks like an early example of resources exhaustion due to let's call it progress. Will happen quite often in the future.

The set was produced for the solo exhibition I had last June at the Stables Gallery and makes the first original artwork in the architecture themed works. Continuing with the spirit of the Market Estate murals, I wanted to work on construction materials, in this case plywood sheets and experiment with textures. I'm really happy with the combination of wood streaks and acrylic paint so plan to take it further with more works.

Battersea Power Station Triptych

1955 - Acrylic and indian ink over waxed wood / 60.7 x 122 cm

1965 - Acrylic and indian ink over waxed wood / 60.7 x 122 cm

1985 - Acrylic and indian ink over waxed wood / 60.7 x 122 cm

Queen Victoria presents...

2011-01-27T22:58:00.005Z

Back to drawing crazed buildings. More than my new year resolution it's this decade resolution to make an illustrated book of London's building characters. Wouldn't mind to have it finished this year though...

After the successful Great Exhibition of 1851 Albert, the Prince Consort, who had been much involved, proposed the construction of a Great Hall for the enjoyment of the arts and sciences. However he died of typhoid before the work was finished and Queen Victoria, deeply affected, commissioned a monument that together with this Great Hall would form a national memorial to her beloved husband.

This is the story of the Royal Albert Hall and the Albert Memorial. Although it's moving I wanted to focus on the fun 'enjoyment of the arts' side of it. Hope you like it.

The Destroyed Room + The Blackjaw + Ulises Lima

2011-01-10T00:28:00.005Z

The new year has been here for only 10 days but it somehow feels we've been in it forever.

It's not that I have nostalgia for 2010 (I usually have it even for 4 hours ago), but I still have a lot of things from last year I want to post about. It's just am not a very good blogger.

I'll start with the poster I did during Christmas for The Destroyed Room who are soon touring Spain and wanted something for their next gig in Madrid. I was inspired from a picture I took many years ago of a demolished house in the Les Corts district in Barcelona. It's quite amazing the contrast between the high rise office buildings in Diagonal and the single story house bits in the streets behind. I believe they could be refurbished into great studios but instead they're being knocked down. Easy and cheap. Some are are a hundred years old...

Oblivion

2010-11-30T19:07:00.006Z

This post is to resume blog activity again after a couple of hectic months, I've got a few things I've been waiting to show around – not intentionally – so I'm glad to do it now finally.

First, the project I was working on this summer, an animated music video for The Heavenly Spheres who kindly offered me to pick up one of the songs of their upcoming album and get all creative with it. Oblivion was the chosen one.

For me this was a perfect excuse to get back to animating and trying out a few ideas I was playing with since the times I was doing traditional animation. That is doing something simple, a feasible one man job that wouldn't end up in countless days drawing 30 full animation seconds, considering that the track is more than 4 minutes long.

The idea was to do something atmospheric so more than basing on the lyrics I spent a few days focusing on the melody and tone and came up with the idea of the tree changing back in time through the seasons, making it dreamy like the song. The hand drawn animated bits were produced during my days in Formentera and then put it all together with After Effects once back in London. It was a great chance for me to getting into this software, it's truly truly easy to understand and use so thanks to those who designed it.

For now the only way you can watch the video is downloading it HERE at least until the band uploads it on you tube when the album hits out. Be patient and you'll enjoy a hi-res version of it. Hope you like it.

PS. Was lucky enough to enjoy The National play last night in the Brixton Academy. Really enjoyed it, thanks to my friends Josep and Marta who kindly invited me.

http://www.nme.com/news/the-national--5/54060

UPside

2010-09-21T14:48:00.004+01:00

Some of the Playroom collective artists have gathered to create UPside, a show that will feature some of our reasons to be cheerful.

The show is on at the Medcalf Gallery in the beautiful area of Clerkenwell til the 7th of November. For the lucky ones with a free evening there will be a private view from 6-9 pm with free drinks today.

My contribution to the show was illustrating the invite you can see, collectively with Arina Orlova, who designed the logo. One balmy afternoon in June at the terrace of the Medcalf we brainstormed ideas for a representative poster for the show.

It doesn't matter how bad things are, one should always try to look at the bright side of every situation. So, the day your house is turned upside down by a flood, just dance conga and celebrate survival. At least until things get worse.

National Theatre

2010-09-05T00:28:00.006+01:00

Sometimes it's better not to think twice before resuming blogging after a long period of blog idleness.

This illustration was triggered off by a competition by the National Theatre calling out for interpretations of the building's famous look.

The NT was the first brutalist building I was properly introduced to and although I love it, it was always difficult for me to humanize. On the deadline day came to my mind the statue of Laurence Olivier by Southbank and recycled some energy out of a late night storyboard commission to do this Shakespearean NT holding a model of the Globe Theatre.

I'm afraid the illustration didn't make it on time, just by a few minutes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_National_Theatre

Market Estate knocked down

2010-06-26T02:06:00.005+01:00

It's hard to believe that the Market Estate has been finally demolished. Everyone knew it but in the end it happened. No surprises. It's weird that place doesn't exist anymore; I think it is a good metaphor of our own way through life. We come, and for the time being we occupy a space and are, for better or worse, somewhat meaningful to those around us. However when we are gone, there is nothing left behind. And we will be eventually forgotten. Forgotten forever is what makes it painful.
Well, that was a good excuse to get melancholic but the Market Estate's story is another good example of how important is to enjoy life for the short time it lasts. Even if it's ugly and brutalist.

I really wanted to upload these sketches I did for the Treasure Hunt murals. It is easy to see how they changed in the process of transferring them on the wall while looking at the photos of the now gone murals.Here are some photos and videos of the demolition by Joshua Surtees and David Kelly.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/gallery/2010/jun/11/market-estate-art-demolition?picture=363599548

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5pijo5RJrg

Participating in the Market Estate Project was a wonderful opportunity; again thanks!

After Life

2010-06-08T23:09:00.004+01:00

Well, one post a month is better than none. Isn't it?

I wanted to upload one of the last illustrations I did for the After Life project that due to work overload issues wasn't shown on the Barbican's website.

After Life was a very fresh and original combination between opera, documentary and stage design; amazing work by Michel van der Aa. Also I had my first chance to see the Barbican's concert hall, I'm so grateful!

Here's the memory this illustration is based on; by Magda.

"I was trying to think of a memory and suddenly came across this one. I haven't thought about it for so long and that's why I'd like to take it with me - not to forget about it anymore.

I was 8 or 9, it was summer holidays. As usual me, my mum and her partner went on a road trip to some place in Europe, might've been Austria or Germany, somewhere in the lake district. At some point we found ourselves at some camping site overlooking the lake, rented a bungalow and went to the rocky beach. It reminded me of another summer holidays when my grandma took me to the lake and crayfishes were creeping all around. I started to talk to my mun how I want to tell my grandma all about this trip when we come back, especially as I knew she was unwell when we were leaving. And then my mum told me that I won't be able to tell my grandma anything because she passed away the same day we started our journey and she didn't want to tell me not to ruin my holidays. "

http://www.barbican.org.uk/afterlife/

Does karma exist?

2010-05-03T23:26:00.006+01:00

I don't know. I am actually quite skeptic but I'm about to become a believer. On the same day my bike was nicked I got a commission from The Barbican. Both things happened completely out of nowhere.

After having failed chasing the hoodie that grabbed my bike while I was sketching in Victoria Park I promised myself I'd leave London soon. However, shortly after I got home I saw the email from The Barbican. Why? They said it was the illustration about my dog they liked. Was it one last gift from Gomez? I don't know, but I'm immensely grateful.

My job is for Barbican website. I am illustrating memories posted by anonymous people for the promotion of an upcoming opera called After Life by Michel van der Aa. This one on the other hand, is actually my flatmate Yuki's memory. Hope you like it!

http://yukinishimura.com/

The Destroyed Room - Spanish Tour

2010-04-14T18:50:00.004+01:00

Again another huge gap between posts. However I resist to quit blogging, there are still good things to upload.

Specially this poster I did for the very recent The Destroyed Room tour across Spain. This time I didn't have much time to prepare, slightly more than two weeks before the first gig's date. I thought that would be good that people knew about about the gigs with enough time to slot it in their busy agendas so had to hurry up a bit in making it. They played in Andalucia also!

For this illustration I was inspired by this location just 5 min walk from my parent's home. It's the path leading to a bridge crossing over the FGC railways. I miss that place...

By the way, they will be the supporting band for the first ever Smudge gig in Spain. Don't miss out: BeCool Barcelona 26th May!

The Eastern Winds - Sketches

2010-03-30T01:13:00.005+01:00

I thought would be a shame not to publish some of the (I insist) almost 50 sketches I did for The Eastern Winds EP. Even though most of them are just little more than scribbles it takes a while to think of something worth making those loose lines.

The first ideas to play with at the very beginning were roads and relationships; deriving, at some moment, to rain, woods, time machines (when I took quite literal) and finally pencil sharpeners.

It's interesting to see how behind this apparently random brainstorming something was slowly taking shape. I'm happy to see we finally came up with the right covers.

The Eastern Winds

2010-03-27T11:28:00.004Z

Just two weeks after Gomez passed away we already have a new golden retriever puppy, this time slightly whiter which is good to differentiate him. Haven't decided his name yet but we're considering something related to The Addams Family.

Back on the Market Estate days I was also working on The Destroyed Room's new EP album cover. With few themes such as rain, roads, or a red pencil sharpener I almost did 50 sketches (one of them even with a DeLorean time machine). Finally the band decided The Eastern Winds should have two different covers so this is the final result.

Next July they'll be supporting band the The Get Up Kids gig in Barcelona. Congratulations!
http://www.myspace.com/thedestroyedroom

Gomez

2010-03-14T20:37:00.004Z

Our family dog Gomez passed away last Monday. He's been with us since 1997 so he's left a big void in our lives. He was always a lovely friendly pal, sometimes a bit lazy, but had a beautiful life; even a book could be written about all the funny anecdotes he's been through.

I wanted to make an homage illustration to him and his love for food. Like us, he enjoyed eating a lot so if he had been able to keep it in his mouth for more than two seconds I would call him a gourmet. I still remember one Christmas when we left a tray of foie alone on a low table. A few minutes after there was no trace of delicacy and Gomez laid flat on the floor for two days trying to digest his mischief.

There's a say in Spanish: you're weirder than a green dog

We will miss you.

Market Estate's Aftermath

2010-03-10T14:50:00.007Z

The Market Estate Project is over! By now the demolition crew should have replaced artists and bulldozers should be making way for the new blocks. I thought everything would be knocked down in single dramatic explosion but apparently it's a slower more painful process of damaging the inner structure til it's only a matter of poking it to the ground.

I went to the estate for the last time to pick up my stuff and was a bit struck by melancholy as it looked as desolate as it did one month ago when everything was just starting. Someone has already contributed to my murals with some clever writings and lots of dicks. Have to say I'm very surprised by the godly pyramid, doesn't look like a fool's graffiti! Everybody is welcome to contribute, this is public patrimony only for a limited time...

I have to say this project has been a wonderful experience. Thanks a lot to the guys in Tall Tales, they did the toughest task!

Juvenile delinquents

2010-02-27T00:15:00.005Z

It's been a tough week at Market Estate with snow, wind and the menace of this gang of local kids hovering the estate. It's reported that they gathering up to fight back us usurpers of their legitimate playground and vandalize the artwork before the site is completely fenced by Tuesday. So I've decided to take some photos of the murals at the current stage in case tomorrow they're just gone.

On the other hand, I've come to know some of the residents that bit by bit are moving out. There's even a family from Lugo. Was very surprised by this old Spanish lady that spoke perfect english, they're very rare!

70% chance of a sunny day when my flatmate Yuki came to help me today. She was right, thanks!

Sketching in Market Estate

2010-02-21T23:37:00.006Z

One week without posting already... How come if I've been in front of the computer beyond considered is healthy? Well, I've been busy trying to get along with Flash for this test for a game company.

Now I'm back on working on my treasure hunt for Market Estate Project. I've now completed the first stage of sketching and coating the walls prior to start painting. Here two photos showing the process! The second belongs to what I call the needle room, a dark storage room where a wasted character used to live, there are cans of beer, lids of dog food, fliers 'bout getting the house of your dreams and junkie needles (hence the name). Ah, lovely place to work! (Will be cleaned up for the event)

Legendary

2010-02-13T01:03:00.006Z

I've spent all day doing this illustration for Jotta's competition 'Legendary'. It's been a bit risky cos the deadline was today but I could start up from a sketch I did few days ago. I'm happy because I could finish it in one day although I'm afraid might have affected my health.

What's 'legendary' in this illustration is the confrontation between traditional and modern, religion and art, or even north and south. Round 1, FIGHT!

Vectors

2010-02-09T12:55:00.006Z

It's been a fun weekend wandering around London with my cousin and his girlfriend. To resume blog life I thought of uploading character design tests I did entirely in flash to practice vector drawing.

The girl (it's a girl) with the builder helmet is only drawn but the gap-toothed kid is made in pieces so it's animation ready. Vector drawing (as I see it) seems much less intuitive than in Photoshop, it feels like being an architect 'building' a drawing in Auto Cad. However, it has something knacky that reminded me of my Lego youth.

Fake!

2010-02-04T23:49:00.006Z

These are two fakes I did for the Market Estate's entry submission. The idea was to show how the murals would look on the real walls, so I just photoshoped the scribbles from my sketchbook over the photos. Because the site once was the Metropolitan Cattle Market, this characters are meant to be some sort of animal buildings (ox and sheep, respectively).

The Big Bad Estate

2010-02-03T02:14:00.005Z

Today I went to the Market Estate to allocate spots for the murals I'm working on and thought to upload some photos I took when went there for the first time. That was the last day before the proposals deadline and by the time I stepped out Caledonian Road station it was already dark so wandering around the gloomy corridors of the abandoned blocks was a bit nerve racking. Even though some strange noises and the urine stench I quite liked the place. Would never live there though...

www.marketestateproject.com

Friends (Colegas)

2010-01-31T11:29:00.004Z

It's taken me a while for this second post, been trying out few colors and layouts. These are a series of portraits I did for my Spanish friends this Christmas where I tried to get their gestures and personality. It was a way to experiment with character design combined with the paint texture. Also, this is probably my first self portrait attempt, a bit unsuccessful I'm afraid cos some have said it looks like Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men.

From the same guy who signed up on facebook decades after people did...

2010-01-27T23:04:00.000Z

It was absurdly hard but I blogged up finally. I'd like to post not only sketches but photos I take and no one gets to see. However, this will start with an illustration I did before Christmas about Hong Kong. It is meant to be part of a series inspired by cities I've been. This one comes from a photo I took in Kowloon.