CyberBaby Toy Shop by Melanie Martinez
Introducing “CyberBaby Toy Shop by Melanie Martinez,” a very special digital collection of her own vintage stuffed animals. This project was created to share Melanie’s passion for vintage toys, giving her beloved animals everlasting life, while building a bridge between her universe and the metaverse. Enter the “CyberBaby Toy Shop” of animated digital art pieces of various animals outfitted for a futuristic nursery with an enchanting sinister twist.
Melanie says, “Vintage stuffed animals have been there for me for over ten years, carrying the energy of ghosts who once loved them. These fluffy handmade creatures were all created purely to invoke joy in people’s lives. I dedicate these animations to other like-minded, vintage toy nerds who share the same affinity!”
howiseedatworld – Dropping 1/25
howiseedatworld is a CGI artist and motion designer who challenges our perceptions of reality, time and space with his mind-bending digital artwork. howiseedatworld’s artwork is rich with symbolism and story-telling. It is painstakingly detailed with a strong sense of artistic mise-en-place, every component and detail is exactly where it should be and plays an important role in the overall artwork.
This medium is certainly not for the faint of hearted. The artwork itself is stunning, yet the processes of reaching the end result is equally impressive. howiseedatworld’s creations require an intense level of focus, planning and hours of dedication — Each 3D environment presented by howiseedatworld is built from scratch from ground up, with any misstep or change requiring many additional hours, even days.
Museum of Donuts
These are not your typical donuts. Feast your eyes upon desert according to howiseedatworld. A delicious assortment of creations filled with tasty textures and mesmerizing audiovisuals.
Walter Iooss Jr. – Dropping 1/26
Widely considered the world’s most influential sports photographer and dubbed as “the Rembrandt of sports photography” due to his use of light and shadow, color, and composition, Walter Iooss Jr.’s images transcend the fame of his subjects and have come to represent modern sports culture. But the secret to his success is a carefully crafted rapport with his subjects. As a result, his work has forever changed the definition of what a “good sports photograph” should be.
Born to a family of sports fans in Texas in 1943, Iooss discovered photography aged 15 when his father gave him a camera. Within a year, he had begun photographing professional football games, and at just 17, he got his first assignment for Sports Illustrated. By 20, he was shooting the magazine’s covers.
Iooss’s images have appeared on over 300 covers of Sports Illustrated—more than any other photographer in the world. In a career spanning more than 60 years, he has worked with almost every athlete at the top of their game, including Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Pele, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Phelps, Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, and Kobe Bryant.
Iooss has photographed every single one of the first 52 Super Bowls; published a book on the 18 months he spent following US athletes as they prepared for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles called Shooting for the Gold; created a New York Times bestselling photo essay, Rare Air, with Michael Jordan; and shot campaigns for the likes of Nike, Adidas, Coca-Cola, and more.
In more recent years, his pictures have been the subject of several gallery shows and a solo artist auction at Christie’s New York in 2020 called Athlete: Photographs by Walter Iooss, Jr. The exhibitions include Athlete: The Sports Illustrated Photography of Walter Iooss at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. in 2009; Sport: Iooss and Leifer at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles in 2009; and LEGENDS: The Sports Photography of Walter Iooss at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in Connecticut in 2019-2020.
In 2018, Iooss was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame.
Sporting Life: The Diaries of Walter Iooss Jr.
I’ve kept a record of my life and photography in diaries since 1978. They’ve proven invaluable as a tool when looking back for information and as a creative outlet that has complimented my photography. They’ve even made some pictures better in the context of my doodles, life, and the times—whether personal notations or headlines from newspapers and magazines.
-Walter Iooss Jr.January 2022
Melanie Martinez – Dropping 1/27
Melanie Martinez’s creative drive and talents have always distinguished her from other musicians. Her compelling music and visual art have created a rabid global fanbase with over 10.5 million followers on Instagram, 13.1 million subscribers on YouTube, 9.3 billion global streams, and 3.5 billion official YouTube views. After releasing her 2X Platinum-certified 2015 debut album, Cry Baby—which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s alternative albums chart and has amassed over 4.5 billion streams worldwide —she conceived and directed a video for each song on the album. These mini-movies traced the traumas and insecurities experienced by the album’s character, Cry Baby. As of 2020, every song on Cry Baby is RIAA certified Gold or Platinum.
Melanie’s sophomore album and film, K-12, is another ambitious triumph with debuts at #3 on the Billboard 200 Chart, #1 on the Billboard Alternative Album Chart, #1 on the Billboard Soundtrack Chart, and a nomination for “Top Soundtrack” at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards. K-12‘s music is a vibrant and singular melting pot of low-key hip-hop, soulful pop and indie-leaning electro. K-12‘s universe is an expansion of the one introduced in Cry Baby. Using lyrics rich with metaphor, songs address the struggle to find a place to belong—including within friendships, the physical world and romantically—even when fitting into society feels like an uphill battle. Since releasing her K-12 album, Melanie has released 13 music videos from the project which have now garnered 400 million views collectively. To accompany the album, Martinez also wrote, directed, and co-wardrobe designed a 90-minute movie (also called K-12) that incorporates the album’s music and mirrors the themes and characters introduced. The movie focuses on Cry Baby (portrayed by Martinez) and a class of students who find themselves trapped in a horror house-like residential school. As they experience the usual grade school rites of passage—a lunchroom food fight, the embarrassment of gym class, a romance with nefarious intentions, courses taught by checked-out teachers— they have to figure out a way to escape. Along with receiving over 92 million official YouTube views, K-12 was also the 6th highest grossing film in US cinemas on release day, September 3, 2019, with screenings in over 400 cinemas in 32 countries.
Melanie is currently completing her 2nd film screenplay, developing her 2nd fragrance, and working in the studio on her 3rd album.
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