Some of my artwork will be showcased at the Geek-Art, Manga Tribute Art Show which will be held at the Palais des Expositions Brussels, Belgium. 

The exhibit will be on display from March 8-10

The day you ask? Why it’s Monday. This weeks’ star of the obsession sessions is no other than my good bud Tameem Youness. In his own words “Tameem Youness is not a very common name in Egypt, which gives me hardtime ordering food for example. I am 31, have twins and love sarcasm”. I met Tameem back in fall of ’99 at the College of Fine Arts in Cairo. Outspoken, charismatic, and full of energy, Tameem and myself became friends and have maintained that friendship ever since. The only way I can describe him really, is he’s a modern day Davinci with a wicked sense of humour. Tameem has so many creative outputs, it’s simply ridiculous. Animation, Art Direction, Design, Illustration, Music, Funny Videos, Mini webshows, Stand-up and more, chances are name a creative activity and Tameem probably dabbled in it, and did a pretty damn good job doing so. Over the past couple years, Tameem has become a Youtube celebrity with his witty videos that poke fun at everyday Egyptian life situations. Currently Tameem works as an Art Director at JWT Cairo.

I: What’s the earliest memory of a creative activity you did?

T: I think it was an alarm I made for my room when i was 6. It beeps and the light blinks when the door opens.

I: If you weren’t doing what you do right now, what would you be doing?

T: Electronics or something software related maybe, film making? music…

I: Inspiration, who? what? where?

T:  I must say I was very lucky to grow up with inspiration everywhere, starting with my mom who is an extraordinary undercover artist, my brother Ahmed Hafez who works in the same field now and taught me almost everything, college/friends and colleagues, people like Mahmoud Hamdy, Sherif Samy, Ibrahim Islam, Ibraheem Youssef, Mohamed Foad, Yahya, The Great Ahmed Hefnawy, Ali Ali, Hamdalla, and many others. International figures like Mohamed Ali, Michael Jackson, David Droga are on top of the list. Places like London and Tokyo although I’ve never been to the latter, but it really inspires me.

I: Share any of piece your work, recent or old and talk about it.

T: This is the campaign we did at JWT for Nestlé IceCream “Maxibon” and Well, The idea came as a last resort. We came up with six other ones and then this finally hit me. Kids eat any junk they encounter, they’re mostly frustrated and always daydream about eating their problems up.

Then the idea that whoever can eat this monstrosity of an ice cream sandwich, would be able to gobble up anything in his/her way. Since, according to the way these kids think “I can’t change my life, but I can eat a big ass ice cream and forget about everything.”

Above all, we thought, c’omon, we’re selling ice-cream here! so let’s be less smart ass about it and let’s do something stupid! Presenting the idea to the client was anything but smooth, but we finally convinced them. And our work paid off, because it proved that creativity indeed sells, maybe a bit too much in their case considering they ran out of stock in the market.

The best thing about this campaign, is that it empowered people to take ownership of the brand, they embraced and loved the brand, creating parodies and singing along, instead of the brand trying to act cool and relevant to them. Even ”Ensa homoom el donya ya sahby” “forget the worries of the world my friend” the line in the song featured in the ad, became a golden quote in Egyptian local folklorish music.

I: Name 5 websites that you check often.

LikeCool
Yay Every Day!
Twitter
Youtube
Facebook

Monday morning, time to get inspired by someone who does it differently, meet installation artist Brian Kersbergen AKA ROYALSTEEZ. I met Brian in the countryside town of Breda, The Netherlands. We were part of a joint exhibit titled “Profilers” at gallery KOP. We had dinner together and enjoyed a couple cool chats, asides from being a very interesting and inspiring individual, I admire the way Brian thinks and views the world. Brian always manages to challenge our perceptions on what we deem as appropriate or acceptable. Which I think is much needed in this day and age of political correctness.

I: What’s the earliest memory of a creative activity you did?

R: At the age of 7 I regularly went to school dressing myself up as a clown. After my teacher start complaining that the other kids in class had problems concentrating on their work my mom hide her makeup.

I: If you weren’t doing what you do right now, what would you be doing?

R: I guess a salesman. I am very good in selling stuff you really don’t need. Or a teacher. Witch is almost the same. (PS. I really wanted to be a pig because they can have a 30 minute long orgasm, but in your question you did not say ‘anything you like’ and I guess wanting to be an animal would be kinda silly so…)

I: Inspiration, who? what? where?

R: Dogs are a big source of inspiration. As well the philosophical side of dog-anthropology as well the political side. And chess. When I play chess I make notes of the moves of my opponent. Thousands of pages filled with strategies. I use these to figure stuff out. Sometimes I read the notes of a game I’ve played years ago and I get very emotional. Like I just read a persons life story… very heavy. And sometimes I hear music too. And when I hear this music I start to draw with my eyes closed. I try to manifest the tones on paper. Strangely all the drawing I have made look like eggplants. This must mean something I haven’t figure out yet.

I: Share any of piece your work, recent or old and talk about it.

R: I have a strange fascination with the swasafix. And after making this piece I wanted to destroy it. I changed my mind a thousand times, everyday. The swasafix is pure fear; it’s an image of terrible pain. It even hurts to pronounce its name. And yet the symbol has conquered my memory, it lives in my head, even if it remains taboo. The swasafix is everywhere, haunting the specter of history; and yet it’s unmentionable, irreproducible, wrapped in a blanket of silence. I’m not trying to offend anyone. I don’t want to raise a new conflict or create some publicity; I would just like that image to become a territory for negotiation or a test of our psychoses.

I: Name 5 websites that you check often.

Cake Farts (NSFW)
Daily Puppy
vrolijketuinier
E! online
& My Bank Account.

It’s my pleasure this week to introduce you to a dear friend of mine, Leeay Aikawa. I met Leeay at the Ontario College of Art & Design in 2005 and she has been inspiring me ever since. The great thing about knowing her for quite a while is seeing how she actively pursues challenging herself and evolving her work. She has the qualities that make any creative person exceptional, she’s extremely curious and motivated to constantly explore new areas. Born in Toyama, and having lived in Japan for a good chunk of her life so far, she has been in Canada for a couple years now and already doing work for the NewYorker, Globe and mail and others.

I: What’s the earliest memory of a creative activity you did?

L: Play with my friend Ayako at the park in Tokyo.  I played as a wife, she played as my husband….something like that.  We made every part of the park and wooden outdoor play equipment(how do i call in English?) as part of our house and furnitures.  We imitated our own parents quite well. Funny memory.

I: If you weren’t doing what you do right now, what would you be doing?

L: Fashion Designer or Psychologist, or working for film!

I: Inspiration, who? what? where?

L: Tough question…..But Travelling inspires me.  And then the people I meet, story I hear and moments I go through in life.  Many places inspire me but when it comes to digital collage, I really like to be somewhere I can sit, ideally with tablet.  A lot of fashion designers inspire me too.  I believe collage/illustration has a trend as well somewhat and I can learn a lot about it from fashion industry.

I: Share any of piece your work, recent or old and talk about it.

Attached image: Lady Cosmogony. There are many thoughts involved but mainly I thought it would be so cool to see a fashion show in space one day.  They would tickle my heart.  My coworker Mayuko named this piece.

5. Name 5 websites that you check often.

npr

fashionista

weather network

ffffound

style.com(if you haven’t seen Tommy Ton looks yet, check now, they tickle my heart!)