Great New Artists

I have to admit something: I’m a fan of Tay Zonday. I can’t figure out really what the big deal with him is except that his voice is so wierd! Alright so that’s not exactly a review but still…it’s true.

The actual musical value of the songs he…creates?…doesn’t carry a lot of weight on the side of great musical talents of the 21st century they’re obviously words written around canned music either from a synthesizer’s pre-recorded music or from the internet I vote for the synth myself since he is rather a good keyboard player. But when he does stop with the crazy music he is quite intelligent and I’ve often wondered why he’s not doing voice-overs for movie trailers yet. 

January has been a successful month so far here so I thought I would do a little time-out housekeeping-type post for all my lovely readers.

So far 2009 has seen a lot of new artists from YouTube and other sites on the internet but I thought it would be in keeping with my more academic nature if February took a slightly different track. I feel it is neccessary to understand old art in order to truly appreciate new art so the month of Feb will be dedicated to some of those old favorites with short descriptions of why they were so great.

Hopefully the rest of 2009 will get back to my roots here at Great New Artists and find some more great painters &ct. making great new art for everyone. Since the summer is usually pretty heavy with this kind of thing floating around we’ll keep our eyes peeled for that around that time.

Julia Nunes is one of very few indie musicians on YouTube that I can just listen to but if you watch her video for “Maybe I Will” you will probably agree that her videos are pretty cool.

The great thing about her is that she makes me want a ukelele which I was forced to learn to play when I was younger because my dad said I couldn’t have a guitar unless I did. But I digress, Julia Nunes has a great sense of what sounds good and chooses some great songs to cover and also writes amazing originals and was a featured performer on YouTube Live.

In keeping with the tradition of counting down and looking back which seems to transcend generations and religions every year round about this time I decided to write about some of the best new artists I found this past year.

Valsartdiary I actually found out about her a while ago before 2008 started but her style is classic.

Katarina Sokolova one of the best digital painters I have ever seen.

Kawaii Goods.com great little shop full of pink stuff.

Graffiti Paris is a book not a person or organization but it still counts as one of the best art related things I found this year.

Of course there have been a lot more great things this year than just these but it’ll be more fun if I don’t tell you what else to like

What happens when two brothers decide to challenge each other to communicate only via video blogs for a whole year? A record company….?

That’s right Hank Green from the vlogbrothers YouTube channel has started a record company. Small and independent is an understatement when describing this label but if you’re into exploring new music and discovering what kind of music has been floating around on YouTube lately then you should definitely check out DFTBA records.

There’s a video about how this label got started here. Their first artist is Hank Green whose first album will be shipped in late December 2008 with Chameleon Circuit coming in January of 2009 and other artists from YouTube to come like hexachordal, songsfromahat, davedays and charlieissocoollike.

So check some of these guys out and in case you wanted my opinion of them never fear I will be reviewing some of them in the coming days.

My main goal for this blog is to focus on more posts about music because there’s some great stuff going on there. Also indie filmmakers will be featured more because I don’t think they got nearly the attention they deserved from me in 2008. I will also be a lot more dilligent with my posts (I promise!).

Starting tomorrow posts will be posted on a regular schedule throughout 2009 becasue there are two things I don’t want this blog to be: a copy of coolhunting.com and a flash in the pan, throwaway blog (’cause that would be sad ;( ).

I’m planning some exciting things which I will also keep you guys updated on mostly to do with YouTube and you should expect to see some more YouTube related posts as it has become quite the thing to do with me.

BTW: I designed the above new graphic for the blog, how do you like it?

The NoHo Scene Festival is happening on October 5^th this year from 11am until 5pm featuring art, music, theatre, dance, acting, art workshops and screenings. I’m assuming this happens in LA or Hollywood or somewhere else I can’t get to by then. You have to wonder about their slogan though, if it really is more fun than you can fit in a day why don’t they make it longer?

The artists village part of the festival will feature exhibits by Danz Art & Deb Ash, Vera Arutyunyan, Thom Bierdz, Ralph Berko, D.V.L. Productions, Fine Art Fire, Felicite Imam’s Fine Art Prints & Cards, Ruggiero Photography and many more

On its website Scion Space states that it is “Dedicated to fostering independent artistic expression,” and it plans to do that by hosting The Art of Music exhibit which begins on September 6 and runs through the 27 in Culver City, CA. If it weren’t for time, money and distance I would be there in a heartbeat, it combines three of my favorite things art, music and cars.

I never thought I’d live to see a car company host an art exhibit but apparently this has been going on for quite some time and the website lists an impressive number of past shows. Why am I just now hearing about this?

Great New Artists is looking for new artists from all genres to participate in this blog. You can be an artist from any discipline including film (even actors), music, visual arts, writing or anything else you can think of to be profile subjects. Whether you have had your big break or no one has seen your art outside of your hamster’s cage we want to see your work.

Great New Artists is a blog which desires to showcase the new and exciting works of the contemporary art scene all over the world. I know you guys are doing some amazing work out there that no one has thought of before so show it off!

Just contact me, Whitney at missfishdesigns@yahoo.com or on MySpace or on The Outer Post just make sure you send a small sample of your work (this can be an attachment or a website address in the message) and include Great New Artists in the subject line.

I can’t wait to hear from you all!

XOXOXO