twenty2wo
magazine
issue_02
Welcome to the second issue of
twenty2wo magazine. This one came to-
gether a little slower than the first but I
am happy to get it finished and something
larger started. Everyday I get excited and
inspired by an ever growing list of amaz-
ing artists and designers that I want to
share with others. A thanks goes to Erin
Loechner, editor of Design for Mankind,
for connecting me with three of the cre-
ators featured on the following pages.

The image on the cover is after Ameri-

can painter Kenneth Noland, perhaps the
greatest colorist since Matisse. Noland’s
work in colorful abstracts vibrate with a
wave of quiet energy. The works have a
meditative quality to them that reveals it-
self immediately but is deep enough to
focus on extensively.

Once again this issue is filled with in-
spired individuals who create beautiful
visual art for the commercial, academic
and personal worlds. Please enjoy and
be inspired.

Adam Beneke
editor twenty2wo
http://mag.twenty2wo.com/

©2008 by twenty2wo magazine

all artworks presented in this issue are used with
permission and our subject to full ownership and
copyright of their respective artists.


Francis Vallejo deserves a hand for his hard work as he enters his final year at Ringling
College of Art. With his artwork at a crossroads his portfolio covers a range of styles and
media. “I’m admittedly scared of not exploring all the visual possibilities
before I become boxed into one technique. So my work runs the gamut
of styles and visual languages.” Beginning school for computer animation led him
to leave the major after not having enough hands on drawing. “I’ve actually all but
given up digital work to focus on the more personally pleasing tactile feel
of traditional media.” Excited by the opportunities available in contemporary illustration
Vallejo’s work has been leaning towards editorial assignments and picture books. With a
comic due out at the end of the year and four gallery shows on the horizon Francis Vallejo
is one motivated young artist.
http://francisvallejo.com/



Daniel Everett Photography
http://www.daniel-everett.com/

Daniel is currently a MFA candidate in pho-

tography at The School of the Art Institute of
Chicago. His work with architectural subjects
is solemn at times depicting empty places.
The images here are from an ongoing series
called Disconnect.


 Rachael Amen
Number Eight & tigerluxe
Rachael Amen spends her days in Pennsylvania with her husband
and five moody cats. In addition to creating whimsical illustrated
portraits as Number Eight she also curates vintage goods in her
online shop tigerluxe. She was kind enough to tell us about her
work and how her interest in art came about.

I was raised by a painter and a photographer, so creativity

has always been an everyday part of my life. I also had a grand-
mother who was always making me try new things in terms of
medium and craft. I kind of grew up and remain feeling like I need
to create something every day. I’m not much of a fine artist. I
think that since both of my parents are artists and graduated with
masters in arts programs they kind of steered me into a career that
“pays.” I chose teaching, it was not me. So I’m a partly schooled
artist. The focus of my schooling was photography which I minored
in. Now I’ve decided that I don’t care if it “pays” or not...it’s just
what I love to do and is a tremendous source of joy for me. I do
paint and really enjoy it...but mostly I love to draw. I’ve been draw-
ing since I could hold a crayon I suppose. I also really like how
illustration can either be a blatant play on a theme or a very subtle
hint of a story. I really enjoy portraits of imaginary people. Mostly
women since the men I draw end up looking very thick in the eye-
brow. I also enjoy creatures. I think I tend to be a bit morbid with
a strange sense of humor and tend to laugh at things other people
don’t. -Rachael

http://numbereight.etsy.com
http://flickr.com/photos/tigerluxe/
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Samantha Card
I’m originally from Salt Lake
City but am currently living in
Oregon, going to school in Port-
land. I will finish up my Masters
in Art Therapy Counseling this
year at Marylhurst University.
I will be working with incarcer-
ated teen girls this year, provid-
ing both individual and group
art therapy services. I’m excited
to be able to bring the healing
power of creative expression
to others. Hopefully art may
become a positive influence for
meaningful growth and self-
awareness for these girls in the
same way it’s done for me.
www.canyouhearme.etsy.com
Embodiment Series

In these paintings, I wanted

to convey what it is that truly
makes women beautiful. In a
world that values women solely
for their curves, I’ve tried to
express the real power inherit
in such curves not in the way
our society prizes them, but
because, deep within the lines
of a woman’s body are hidden
personal struggle, triumph, and
real life experiences.

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Guy Archard
Empty landscapes in photography have always enamored me. The stillness speaks volumes in each im-
age. Guy Archard is a photographer with the ability to capture those moments. His work searches for the
ephemera of place and records it beautifully. The following are a few words from Guy Archard on his work.
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This body of work is concerned with the
everyday banality of places and objects.
My aim is to make viewers reconsider the
aesthetic value of things that are modest
in their visual appeal, yet in one moment
can become objects of reverie and fasci-
nation.
It is this sudden shift in perspective that
I am interested in pursuing. By capturing
the transient properties of places, I hope
to demonstrate their provisional changes
from the unexceptional to the extraordi-
nary in a fleeting moment.
The photographs appear as uncanny re-
semblances of the real world, each with
its own ethereal, almost celestial, atmo-
sphere. Through this process I am striv-
ing to question one’s assumptions of the
apparently banal by showing the ordinary
as both beautiful and mysterious.
All of the images are based upon reality,
and I employ no digital manipulation, yet
they appear to sit somewhere in between
the real and the fantastical. There is often
an assumption of validity when consider-
ing the photographic image, and I feel this
is the core debate my work engages with.
The pictures are made in such a way
that scale, perspective, and points of
reference to the “real” are difficult to
grasp. As a result, they appear as if they
could well be photographs of dioramas
or film sets. This unsettles the viewer
as there appears to be a discrepancy
between illusion and reality - the ob-
jectivity of the camera is brought into
question, and the viewer looks at the
everyday with a new found curiosity.
http://www.guyarchard.com/
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 Illustration work from Kylan Larson

Kylan Larson’s intricately detailed ink drawings and their often times
architectural subject matter led me to become an instant fan. Having
grown up surrounded by architects, both parents and his grandparents,
its no wonder his work tends to examine the built environment. Having
moved to Irvine, CA from Chicago right before high school Kylan was left
with a huge loss of cultural influences. Drawing to him was a chance to
create the surrounding that he really wanted to be in. Recently his work
has begun to take him in different directions, that he says are varied
and still difficult to put into words. The way I see it he shouldn’t have to
search too hard for the words as his images continue to speak for him.
http://www.kylanlarson.com/
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Alli Coate
There is a certain delicateness in Alli Coate’s work that
reveals her many talents. She says it best that she is
trying to show a fresh view of the world. Here are a few
words from Alli. http://allicoate.com/

I have only recently started to see the common

threads that run through the things I make and the
ways I think. My last four years of RISD have been
full of making, every day working through a new as-
signment, using all my energy to produce ideas and
finished works. I’ve felt that I’ve hardly had time to step
back and look at where I’ve been and where I’m go-
ing. Lately, though, things are coming clear. I’ve real-
ized that what I’m really interested in is helping people
to re-see. It’s in our nature to become accustomed
to things. The wonderful aspects of life that deserve
so much attention and should give us so much joy
become stale or simply overlooked. With what I’ve
learned about visual communication and making, I’ve
been trying to show a fresh way of seeing the world.
Through my art, I’d like to communicate an excitement
about the things in life that are wonderful or funny or
strange but have been overlooked. I’d like to make the
simple things precious. It’s a very simple idea, but I
believe it’s worthwhile.


Kim Høltermand

Kim Høltermand is a photographer from Denmark working mainly

with architecture photography. Desolate and empty places are some
of Kim’s favorite locations and often Kim travels to these remote
locations when all people have left. Using a strict linear grid and the
two pre-dominant palette: greenish/cyan and grayish/pink helps Kim
create moody, lonely and hauntingly beautiful imagery.

http://www.holtermand.dk/
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 Adam Smith
I am an illustrator/artist living in London and studying for an MA at Central St. Martins. Influenced by history
and literature, as well as a melancholic imagination but not disposition. I work in a variety of media from
model making and diorama’s to pen and ink. I try to create images that illustrate a subject but are also sug-
gestive and open to the viewers own imagination. http://www.adamilex.com/
The Mask Of Anarchy: A Set of 7 prints inspired by the second stanza of the poem ‘The Mask Of Anarchy’
by Percy Bysshe Shelley:
I Met Murder on the Way-
He had the Face of Castlereagh-
Very smoothe he looked, yet grim;
Seven Bloodhounds followed him.

Screen prints, taken from original pen and ink drawings.

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ISOLATION
A series of 5 individual landscapes forming a larger panoramic image. Inspired by the book Riddley Walker
by Russell Holban, and the landscape surrounding the Dungeness Nuclear power station in Kent, England.
The images deal with the idea of apocalypse, desolation and the insignificance of human structures within this
context.

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Chechnya:

A series of 8 images taken

from 100 ink paintings deal-
ing with the ongoing war
in Chechnya. These show
both a personal and factual
reaction.

Ink on paper.

45
The ULTRAVELVET COLLECTION : Meredith Rose and Eric Aston
have created a large body of work dubbed The Ultravelvet Collection. The work is an ex-
plosion of saturated color and double exposures delivered on medium format film. Printed
on glass in large sizes the images glow within the space. “Pieces from The Ultravelvet
Collection dissolve walls and create a place of purity, power, and imagination. By cleans-
ing and awakening the flow of energy in a room, spaces and the people within are smitten
with style and dazzled with distinction. In addition the photos embark on meditative art.
They are created to make people stop and appreciate the beauty in life.” I recently got
to talk to Meredith about the work and the exciting results that shooting with a Holga can
give you. She also sent over some bios of her and Eric.
http://www.ultravelvetcollection.com
Eric Aston-
Born and raised in Cincinnati Ohio, from
an early age young Eric held an unde-
niable interest in the art of storytelling.
Using his father’s handheld camcorder,
Eric would religiously write and shoot
mini-films featuring quirky characters
and plots that held the rest of the family
amused and amazed. Upon receiving
his bachelors in advertising from Miami
University in Oxford Ohio, Eric eventu-
ally rehashed his infatuation with film
and entertainment, namely screenwrit-
ing and directing, by making the move
to sunny Los Angeles in 2004. It was
a course taken in graphic design that
enhanced Eric’s perspective on story-
telling, presenting the idea that a story
could be portrayed through a still photo
along with color correction and image
enhancement. Like wildfire, his new
passion for design flooded the creative
gates as he designed day and night,
creating mock movie posters, album
covers, and advertisements. His skill
eventually led him to a full time position
with one of the largest wide format digi-
tal printers in downtown LA. Eric left the
position in 2008 on a hunch that some-
thing very fresh, new, and indepen-
dently powerful was about to emerge
from his imagination. With an ultimate
desire to make a strong impression on
the art world, the Ultravelvet Collection
was born.

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Meredith Rose-
born and raised in Connecticut discovered her fondness for photog-
raphy at an early age. She followed and frolicked with her father on
family excursions taking photos with a manual Cannon camera. Appre-
ciating the beauty of a still moment in time, Meredith continued to con-
stantly carry a camera in hand. Off to Boston and then New York, Mer-
edith spent her spare elective courses in the dark room while studying
business at New York University. After college, her first career moves
into the corporate world were working with luxury fashion retailers and
independent film producers. In 2006, with a craving for change and
curiosity to be in close company of the film industry Meredith moved to
Los Angeles. With a few years of experience in online entertainment
sales with the likes of LA Times and NY Magazine, ultimately the desire
of art and independence wouldn’t let up. In 2008, Meredith let go of the
corporate conglomerates and took on the Ultravelvet Collection as a full
time project.
49
Thomas Kalak’s great new book is a collection of beautiful photos and a unique look
at a place in our world. Full of photos of odd objects in Thailand the book is made
by Rupa Publishing. Kalak was even kind enough to send me a copy. Thank you
Thomas. http://www.thomaskalak.com/ http://www.rupapublishing.com/

Bamboo scaffolding, knotted aerial lines, hand painted

From the back cover...
signs or converted plastic bags: The objects photographed in Thailand by
Thomas Kalak, the photographer from Munich, are sometimes unusual, both
funny and peculiar, and often mind-boggling. Far from the world of cliches,
Kalak finds motifs that complement and enhance the famous image of the
country and simultaneously document the unshakable cheer of the Thai peo-
ple as true masters of improvisation.
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thank you!
twenty2wo magazine is always open for art work submissions or
other contributions. Contact us by email at info@twenty2wo.com
with any submissions, questions, or just say hello.