Every once in a while an artist stands out from the crowd. He/she brings something to the creative sphere which begs for the stories behind the beauty. Therefore, this blog will present a series of interviews which try to unveil the roots of creativity. Enjoy.

• Full name: Guy Sargent
• Age: 43
• Country: England
• Profession: Photographer
• Website: portfolio at re-title.com

Let’s start with an image which is strikingly beautiful.

Yes, this image was taken in Venice and is simply called ‘Venice in fog’ (2007). It is currently on show in the 2009 ‘Summer Exhibition’ at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

A man of few words, let’s dive into some random questions. What are the 3 key words or themes which you want to express through your art?

Time, Peace and Contemplation.

If not an artist, what job would you have?

Carpenter.

What should every beginning artist definitely (not) do?

Don’t believe in other peoples opinions or thoughts – go your own way, trust yourself!

How long does it take to create one piece of art?

A lifetime or one second, this cannot be defined.

Is there anything bizarre or weird which helps you to be creative? e.g. mud baths?

Driving hundreds of miles staring into space …

If you had to choose: color or form?

Form.

Which art tools would you take with you when moving to the moon?

A stick to draw in the dust, you could cover the surface in drawings and they would never blow away! Imagine that…

Favourite book?

The Little Book Of Inner Space by Stafford Whiteaker.

Who’s been a great inspiration to you and your work?

Diego Velazquez

More info about Guy Sargent can be found here.

The Huffington Post reports on a new poster by Shepard Fairey, created it in support of Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma. Fairey got really known with the poster he created for the Obama Campaign just like some other artists did (a.o. ISO/Scott Hansen with a print which is sadly not to the standard of the work he is most known for – see our review of his work). Fairey’s creation has made its way around the world on almost every media, from posters to coffee mugs and t-shirts and was later followed by a victory poster also worth mentioning.  This poster for Burma follows his typical style: vectors and a color palette which is dominated by black, white/yellow and red. It’s amazing how he has produced such an immense body of work with this main focus on form instead of color which is probably to be traced back to his stencil background. The first time I heard of him was in Computer Arts magazine which posted something about influential viral artists and the Obey Giant stencil/sticker he produced (which I thought to be rather simplistic and non-wow).

As for the new poster, it is nothing spectacularly new but still a great piece of art. On his site, Fairey offers a free download of the print for people to support the democracy fight in Burma. Here below you can find his designs for George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984 which I bumped into at the bookstore about a year ago. It must be said his guerilla style is excellent for literature like this.

I found this Flickr set of an art show in Basel where Fairey was present and which shows his creations in large mural format. I should see if this is coming to Brussels any time soon.

I can’t resist. My daily visit to CNN.com made me read their article on the enormous amount of conspiracy theories about the moon landings being faked by the US government.  If you’re looking for a few hours (days) of conspiracy entertainment you can dig up Bill Kaysing’s book “We Never Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle“. Or you can watch the movie which was inspired by him, called “Capricorn One” (fun detail: stars the younger version of well-known actor Elliott Gould known from the Ocean’s series and Friends).

Or you could watch this documentary which aired on Fox channel in 2001, also initiated by Bill Kaysing, in which the video footage of NASA is scrutinized for inconsistencies. Rippling flags by non-existent wind on the moon, light where there should be shadow, different shadow lengths, etc.

Kaysing died in 2005 but sparked the interest of Bart Sibrel who took it on to continue the mission of uncovering the truth about the moon landings and directed a documentary called “A funny thing happened on the way to the moon“.

Who hasn’t heard of 72-year-old second-man-on-the-moon Buzz Aldrin punching Sibrel when the latter calls him a liar and some other non-flattering names?

After that you could read NASA’s official rebuttal of all of the above in their special press release in 2001. You could also look into the allegation that Stanley Kubrick, hot off “2001: A Space Odyssey“, was hired by the US government to shoot al the moon landing scenes. And if after this you still have time, find a good overview of everything on this topic at Wikipedia.

Or you could just sit back and watch the new digitally enhanced version of this legendary moment where mankind unveiled some of the mystery surrounding the universe.