Philip Kennedy

Stories by Philip Kennedy

Philip Kennedy is a twenty-something designer and writer from Ireland. He enjoys living in new cities, watching old episodes of Seinfeld and working on fun projects with exciting people. His favorite film will always be Back to the Future.

‘Antarctica in a Bag’ by François Delfosse

Antarctica in a Bag by François Delfosse

These photos by the Belgium architect François Delfosse are beautiful. He says that the images were taken in a “glacier cave just North of the South Pole”, before adding that they are “viewed from the inside of a plastic bag”.

As images, they’re really stunning and I love the playful reaction they get. If they really were photos of a glacier cave we’d probably be in awe of their beauty, yet because they’re plastic bags it feels odd to think of them as beautiful. I don’t care, I think they are truly gorgeous.

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Philip Kennedy

January 9, 2012 - See more posts by Philip

‘A Minor Place’ – A Series by Colin Martin

Colin Martin's Facade

Colin Martin's The Lesson (2008)

Colin Martin's A Minor Place (2008)

Eagle-eyed readers may have spotted that I have a soft spot for images of mundane landscapes. I’m particularly fond of photorealist paintings of these kind of landscapes and I think that’s why I’m really drawn to these paintings by Irish artist Colin Martin.

The images come from a series of work called A Minor Place and they focus on the architecture and environments of leisure. They are empty, vacant spaces and yet they feel unthreatening. For Martin, the staring point for this work came from the architect Robert Venturi. Venturi believes that these types of spaces are non-hierarchal and anti-judgmental. Because of this, buildings designed for leisure can surpasses High Modernism in their ability to create spaces that give their inhabitants what they want as opposed to what they need. It’s a fascinating theory in regards to architecture and space but really it’s the pure aesthetics of Martin’s work that draws me in. You can view the complete set of works from this series online here.

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Philip Kennedy

January 6, 2012 - See more posts by Philip

The aerial photography of Alex S. MacLean

Back when I was a kid I really wanted to be pilot and despite never letting that dream stick around long enough I still occasionally find myself daydreaming about aviation and the chance of seeing the world from a completely different angle. That’s the reason why I love the work of renowned aerial photographer Alex MacLean. He captures stunning images of the world below him and shows all the quirks, beauty and splender that exists within both the natural and manmade landscape of the planet.

MacLean has flown all across America and to many other parts of the world in his Cessna 182, each time taking incredible photos. The images above come from his book Las Vegas/Venice: Endangered Myths. It’s a book which deals with the similarities that exist between the two cities – highlighting their dependancy on water, their extreme physical environments and their status as major tourist attractions. It sounds like a fascinating collection of images and many of them can be viewed on MacLean’s site here.

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Philip Kennedy

January 4, 2012 - See more posts by Philip

The Illustrated Cities of Sam Brewster

London by Sam Brewster

Long Beach, California by Sam Brewster

Reno, Nevada by Sam Brewster

Sam Brewster is an illustrator currently living and working in East London. Since graduating two years ago he’s worked with a number of impressive clients including the likes of the BBC, WIRED and The Times. Not only that, but he also produces and directs films with his writer friend Sam Halfpenny under the name Sam & Sam. All around he seems like a talented guy!

The pictures above come from the excellent sounding Beer Advocate Magazine; a publication which Sam has been creating work for over the last few months. The images above are of London, Long Beach, and Reno and they’re only a handful of the cities which Sam has drawn – make sure to check out the rest of them on his site by clicking here. I really love the colors he uses; they really add a faded, picture postcard quality to his work – perfect for the cities he draws.

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Philip Kennedy

January 3, 2012 - See more posts by Philip

‘All We Ever Wanted Was Everything’ by MGMT, Directed by Oneedo

Despite enjoying the odd MGMT song from time-to-time, I must admit I’m not their biggest fan, and so, I’m a little late in sharing this great video they released last month. It’s directed by Onnedo (aka: Ned Wenlock) who you might remember we posted about back in May when he created an amazing video for the band Danger Beach. His video for All We Ever Wanted Was Everything is of a similar vein but this time he has created an unfolding universe where images paste over one another to create a richly-textured world full of busy streets and smoggy factories. It’s a truly wonderful piece of animation.

The track itself is a cover of the old Bauhaus song which was featured on the band’s Late Night Tales compilation. If you’re interested in reading about Wenlock’s process in designing the video then check out his blog. He’s written an interesting post about the process that went into creating the animation.

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Philip Kennedy

January 2, 2012 - See more posts by Philip