“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Tuesday February 17th — —

I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Tuesday February 17th — —

The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Tuesday February 17th — —

Slow → Search results for ‘the great discontent’

The Great Discontent 02

It must be a very good month for Ryan and Tina Essmaker, the married duo behind the inspirational project named The Great Discontent. Their platform was launched as a digital publication focussing on the darker side of creativity; the risks, the failures and the disappointments everyone who creates has to deal with, which they last year translated to a great tactile printed publication. Funded through Kickstarter, and in a collaboration with designer Frank Chimero, who assisted with editorial design and art direction, the first issue of the printed quarterly magazine saw light in the Summer of 2014 and was received very positive. At the beginning of this month the beautiful second issue was officially launched and some weeks later it was announced that the TGD debut was totally sold out, underlining that the step taken by Ryan and Tina to fully focus on their platform was a great decision. The second printed issue, with singer Sharon van Etten on the cover, revolves around the theme of hustle and implores the reader to reconsider the idea of making it —both how we do it and how we define it— which proves to be another perfect angle for the honest and revealing stories by The Great Discontent. [ Continue reading ]

The Great Discontent

The Great Discontent was launched as a digital publication focussing on the darker side of creativity; the risks, the failures and the disappointments everybody has to deal with, but one rarely reads about in publications. After almost three years Ryan and Tina Essmaker, the married duo behind TGD, quit their jobs and made the decision to materialize The Great Discontent as a printed publication. For the inaugural printed issue which was released last month, Ryan and Tina teamed up with designer Frank Chimero to assist with editorial design and art direction, and as with many impressive new publications, financing was found directly through their existing community via Kickstarter. After 30 days in February and March the funds were raised to create The Great Discontent, Issue One and now the beautiful magazine is here. In it one finds 17 interviews with interesting creatives like Aaron Draplin, Alastair Humphreys, James Victore, Anna Wolf, Lotta Nieminen, Debbie Millman, Matt Porterfield, Ryan Bingham, Tavi Gevinson and Roman Mars. [ Continue reading ]

Badlands by Ryan Lowry

Whether he's shooting on location for TIME magazine, portraying a creative mind - while discussing the difficulties of working in the field - for The Great Discontent or documenting a day in the life of a young Chicago rapper/gang member (which seems to be almost synonymous these days), the talented Chicago-based photographer Ryan Lowry finds the right frames in all situations. Next to his work on commissions, out of which the TGD cover shoot was our introduction to his work, Lowry also created several series of free work. We are particularly drawn to his series named 'Badlands' which reveals the diversity of his photographic eye. In his portrait photography Lowry uses a lot of light, exposing as many details of the subject as possible, yet within 'Badlands' the photographer leaves a lot of room for imagination. The moody black and white images portray the dessert from a very mysterious perspective - creating an almost moon-like appearance - in which light and dark are strongly juxtaposed, both in the landscapes as the few male figures dressed in white and dark in some of the photographs. The mystique of these images continue to fascinate us thoroughly and we look out to more work by the talented photographer. [ Continue reading ]