The Double Visions Interview Part 2: The artist - James Hines

Illustrator and graphic designer James Hines designed the cover artwork for Munch Munch's debut LP Double Visions. His colourful, inventive and humorous works - made by collaging found images together - are used as posters, flyers and record covers frequently.

Read part 1 of The Double Visions Interview, I spoke to Richard from Munch Munch on how they chose their cover artwork and the reactions they have been getting in response to it.

In part 2 of The Double Visions Interview, I speak to James about how he got started, the sometimes difficult creative process of designing album artwork and where he sees himself in the future.

The Double Visions Interview Part 1: The band - Munch Munch

Double Visions cover artwork designed by illustrator James Hines

The kaleidoscopic pop group, Munch Munch's first full length record, Double Visions was released on Upset the Rhythm - the collectively run, London label with a DIY ethic - towards the end of last year to great reviews. Drowned in Sound described it as 'an engagingly haphazard concoction of ideas that bewilders, confuses and occasionally astounds at every twist and turn.' But I can leave you to make your own mind up about the sounds as I'm not pretending to be any sort of music critic.

The final artwork for Double Visions was designed and created by illustrator James Hines - more from him in The Double Visions Interview part 2: The artist - and last summer I was asked to photograph the band head-shots for the inside cover of the then unnamed record; having grown up with Richard from the band, I was only to happy to help. 

I left James and the rest of Munch Munch to do what they wanted with the final images; based on their previous e.p. artwork and videos - in particular a demo cover designed by Alex Ostrowski and individually decorated by friends of the band - I was pretty sure that the photographs wouldn't be used in any standard form.

Once the record was out I spoke to Richard about the process of getting the right artwork for the record cover - inside and out - and the reactions they've been getting in response to it.

Money, Money, Money: Nikolai Ishchuk on Big Bucks

'Is there anybody here not concerned about money?' Nikolai Ishchuk asks his audience - the select crowd who gathered at Diemar/Noble gallery last Tuesday night to here him talk about his larger than life series of photographs Big Bucks.

'I want you to think about what money is, it is not a thing, it doesn't need to have any physical form, it also doesn't have any practical application, if you put it in soil nothing is going to grow out of it. So money is concept that is a symbol, and like any symbol it abstracts and represents something - but what is it that it stands for?'

Friday Favourites from Phaidon.com: Venice Biennale

Sometimes you see a set of photos and they just can't communicate what it was like to actually be there. 

This is just one of those such cases; Cloudscapes, an installation at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2010 is a collaboration between the Japanese practice of architect Tetsuo Kondo and Stuttgart based climate engineering firm Transsolar.

See the full gallery and read more about this project on Phaidon.com

Tetsuo Kondo's personal photographer manages to communicate the atmosphere of the installation through his images even better, see my favourite on the LookSeeNow + AllyAsh Tumblr.

Image source Phaidon.com