Author: Iris

For the inaugural Booooooom Illustration Awards powered by Format, we have selected 5 winners, one in each of the following categories: Editorial, Personal, Product & Packaging, Advertising & Promotion, Student. Now we are pleased to introduce to you the winner of the Product & Packaging category, Cen Jun. Jun Cen is a New York-based illustrator from Guangzhou, China. He is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art and holds an MFA in Illustration Practice. His clients include The New Yorker, The New York Times, A24, The Washington Post, Apple, and more. A huge thank you to Format for…

As the year 2024 winds down, it’s the perfect time to reflect on artists who have created interesting works. Among them is Fariba Safai, an artist whose work draws deeply from her own story, a narrative shaped by duality, migration, and resilience. Born in Tehran during the upheaval of the Iranian Revolution, Safai’s early years were marked by profound cultural and political change. Her family’s eventual move to California brought her to a very different world—one where the natural beauty of her surroundings became a sanctuary and an enduring source of inspiration. Safai’s art is a reflection of her journey,…

DETROIT – Food has always played a vital role in nurturing and sustaining community. This is an important part of cultural heritage: the way food is prepared, served and shared is often communal and ritualistic. Food tells us stories – whether personal, historical or social. Food culture is an art form. The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic WorldCurrently on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts, the work transforms meals into narrative experiences, demonstrating how food not only connects people to their roots, but also to each other. The exhibition showcases nearly 230 works from 30 public…

Seattle — in edge becomes center At the Frye Museum of Art, Mary Ann Peters invokes suppressed mass murders and forgotten histories of the diaspora. This is the first solo museum exhibition for the second-generation Lebanese-American artist, showcasing her series of paintings This trembling turf (2016-21), as well as site-specific installations. The drawings—dense sketches in white ink on black clay panels, each titled with the series title followed by a unique subtitle—depict in some cases bizarre landscape abstractions (for example, those subtitled “ “Shallows” and “Depths”), while others depict strange landscape abstractions. , such as “(surge)” and “(burst)”, imply related…

Hanukkah lights, Italy (19th century) (Photo from Jewish Museum)What do we celebrate on Hanukkah? After a quick mention of the miraculous temple oil jars that burned for eight days, many sources will tell you it is about the incredible victory of the Maccabees in the face of persecution by the Assyrians (Syrian Greeks) who were ruling at the time Fight for Jewish religious freedom. The land of Judah. The centerpiece of the festival is the menorah, an eight-branched candlestick that we light each night, adding one candle each day, until it is fully burned on the eighth and final night.…

Women’s History Museum transforms fashion from the past into contemporary art. That’s why I was not surprised when Mattie Barringer and Amanda McGowan—founders of the art collective and clothing line with a community boutique in New York—suggested that they may have met in a past life. Together, they joked “maybe we met in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.” That infamous 1911 disaster in Greenwich Village took the lives of 146 garment workers—123 of them women, and many, adolescents, some as young as 14. The workshop produced shirtwaists, Edwardian-style women’s blouses that were, by then, going out of style. The fire’s…

art marketArun KakkarCyberattacks, major lawsuits, bananas – there’s no doubt that 2024 is an eventful year for the auction market. At the top end, the combined price of the 100 most expensive lots sold at auction in 2024 totaled just under $1.8 billion, compared with $2.4 billion in 2023 and $4.1 billion in 2022. This year’s main selling season also presents an uneven picture: During New York’s big auction week in November, Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips auction houses totaled $1.3 billion – a 40% drop from the previous year. But these top-line numbers obscure a more nuanced picture of the…

It’s no secret that 2024 will be a challenging year for the global art market. Asia is not immune. Across the continent, people described sentiment as slightly subdued due to high interest rates, inflation and geopolitical tensions. Despite the market downturn, the region has remained resilient and there are many reasons to remain optimistic. January got off to a slow start, but March’s excitement was high at Art Basel Hong Kong, which remains the region’s most important fair. Shanghai’s annual art season also caused a stir last month. The representation of Asian artists in global art fairs and institutions in…

As the year 2024 draws to a close, we reflect on the artists who have produced interesting works. Among them is Romanian artist Alexandra Jicol, whose creations are both emotive and thoughtful. Jicol’s childhood in Bucharest, shaped by political oppression and limited freedoms, offered a duality that still influences her work today. Spending her time between the serenity of the mountains and the vibrancy of the city, she cultivated a unique perspective on life. Her early exposure to storytelling and visual media, thanks to her mother’s work in Romanian television, gave her the foundation to develop her distinctive voice as…

As the year 2024 winds down, it’s a fitting time to reflect on the artists who have created interesting works. One such artist is Dutch sculptor Caroline Kampfraath, whose installations are redefining how we interact with complex themes and layered narratives. Her work, widely exhibited on international stages, captivates audiences with its surreal, thought-provoking nature. Kampfraath begins each piece with an open-ended question: what material best serves the story she wants to tell? Resin, wool, bronze, lead, and glass are just some of the elements she incorporates, often juxtaposing these unlikely materials in ways that create striking contrasts. The result…