Kozyndan are a married couple who collaborate on their art pieces and illustrations seamlessly. Their work is imaginative, perverse, musical, funny, sexual, surreal, and incredibly complex; specializing in panoramic drawings of city scenes infused with a contemporary embodiment of magical realism and a somber color palette, each piece is unexpected and exciting. Kozy and Dan were kind enough to share some of the inside scoop with SG readers about the "ear muffs", the bunnyfish, and why the duo don't run out of artistic energy.



SUSIE GHAHREMANI: Tell me about your background; how did you meet? How did you begin collaborating?

KOZY: We live in Santa Monica, CA and we met while we were both studying illustration at Cal State University, Fullerton.

DAN: Somehow we lucked out and rolled into an art and illustration career within 2 weeks of graduating and have just been going where ever our work takes us ever since. We met in a beginning painting class. I spent the semester sexually harassing her (hah hah) but we became close friends anyway.  Eventually we got out of the relationships we were in and started dating.  We've been pretty inseparable ever since.



K: We didn't start collaborating though until we'd been living together for about a year. I was doing a drawing of our apartment on a long piece of paper for a class book making project.  Dan liked the drawing so much he decided he wanted to scan it in and color it in Photoshop. I saw that it was starting to look really good, so I came in and helped him finish it. We liked the results so much we decided to do more of them.

D: Before we finished college, we were showing as kozyndan and getting little notices about our site on online art/ design forums.

SG: Tell me an anecdote about one of your works.

D: One time, we were asked by COLORS magazine to do an illustration of an orgy at a sex club.  Being that kozy and I are not strictly monogamous, we were probably a good choice!  We called up some friends that got us in touch with the owner of the largest sex club in LA.  We got a tour of the club during the week and talked with the owner for a long time, and then came back on a Saturday night to really get a feel for the real orgy experience.  We had thought we would just be there anonymously, exploring and observing and maybe participating if so inclined.  Unfortunately the owner got up to do her regular speech in front of everyone and announced our presence there and pointed us out to everyone, asking them to feel free to come up and tell us anything they wanted to about swinging and their experiences in the club.

A few minutes later, I felt a huge pair of breasts drop down on either side of my head, one on each side.  I looked up to find a buxom blonde woman telling me "I call that the 'ear muffs'!"  Needless to say it was an interesting night.



SG: Ha! What inspires your work; what influences you?

K: Lots of things: traveling, music, and nature. Our interactions with  eachother. A lot of inspiration comes from one another.

D: In the end, art is not the main priority in our life.  Being together, meeting interesting people, traveling the world, good food, good sex, good music - those drive our life. The artistic process is just part of the cycle of our life. We experience things and then process it through our artwork and put it out there in hopes of making a decent living so we can continue to travel and experience and learn.

SG: How do you overcome feeling drained of inspiration or out of ideas?

D: I think usually, since there are two of us interacting creatively, bouncing ideas off one another, being inspired by one another, modifying each other's ideas, that we don't run into that problem. We usually have a huge backlog of ideas we need to tackle.

SG: What's your favorite texture?

D: That's tough... our kitty's fur?

K: That's a good one, Dan!  Yeah, Ami-chan's fur. I LOVE that cat!



SG: What's your guilty pleasure?

D: Justin Timberlake

K: I don't feel guilty about anything I like! It's good stuff!

SG: What's next for you and your work?

D: Oh man. Busy, busy somehow.  We'll be in the UK for a big group show at a museum, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts, called Spank the Monkey. People like Takashi Murakami, Barry McGee, Banksy, Ryan McGuinness, Os Gemeos, Shepard Fairey, Miss Van, Aya Takano, and many others... plus little ole' us! Not sure how we got in that company, but we'll be presenting two of our panoramic prints at about 13 feet long each - one older one, and one new one created for the show. Then we'll begin work on our next solo show in LA that opens in January.

K: Also, we'll be spending some time playing with our bunnyfish!



See more from kozyndan by visiting their website, plus the show in the UK will be up until January 2007. This interview was conducted by boygirlpartay, painter, crafter, proprietor of boygirlparty.com.

Junko Mizuno is one of Japan's most interesting and hard-working contemporary manga illustrators. Her incredible collection of graphic novels are a testament to her mastership of comic work; her unique style is instantly recognizable, a wonderful combination of adorable, psychedelic, feminine, alluring and dark character-based imagery.

Some of her knockout titles include wonderfully twisted fairy tales such as Hell Babies, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and Princess Mermaid published by Viz, and most recently, her graphic novel Pure Trance published by Last Gasp.



Despite her busy schedule designing everything from toys to stationery, she agreed to an exclusive interview here at SuicideGirls. In fact, she's enthusiastic about SuicideGirls, and says she not only loves the site, but occasionally references SG models for her figure drawings! We love you too, Junko Mizuno. Read on..


SUSIE GHAHREMANI: Tell me a little about your artistic background.

JUNKO MIZUNO: I've been drawing as long as I can remember. I started drawing comics and illustrations and collecting them into books/magazines when I was around 4 or 5 years old. I used to force my sister to read them.
That's how I trained myself in art. I've never had any formal art
education. Now I live in Tokyo, drawing illustrations for many
different media: designing toys, making stories for my comics, etc.


Photo Location

SG: What inspires your work? Who are some of your favorite artists?

JM: Everything in the world inspires me!

I have too many favorite artists to list them all. Aubrey Beardsley, Eric Stanton, Kazuo Umezu, Hideshi Hino, Niki De Saint Phalle, Henry J. Darger to name a few.

SG: Tell me about your favorite piece you've done; what makes it your favorite and why?

JM: My favorite piece is always the latest one. This image is a part of the piece I'm working on right now. It's my favorite for now.



SG: How do you overcome feeling drained of inspiration or out of ideas?

JM: Luckily, I've never been out of ideas so far but sometimes, I do get stuck -- especially when I'm thinking how to execute the ideas in my head.

The things I do to change my mood are... walking around, shopping around, drinking and talking with my friends, or cleaning up my room. If all of these don't work at all, I just go to bed and sleep.

SG: What's your favorite texture?

JM: Whenever I get tired, I feel like touching something furry.


Photo Location

SG: What is your guilty pleasure?

JM: Oversleeping.

SG: What's next for you and your work?

JM: I just made some concepts for a web game called "Die Bunny".
I'm so excited because it's my first time getting involved in making a game. It's still in development but they already have a webpage. I really can't wait to play it!

Also, I'm designing some new vinyl toys, working on my 10th anniversary
collection book, planning two group shows in US next year etc. All my new projects are announced on my website.
Please visit www.MIZUNO-JUNKO.com.

Sarah Neuburger, the artist behind The Small Object, can turn surfaces as unsuspecting as fingerprints and clothespins into quirky, collectable characters. Her handmade gifts are charming and rather kawaii, despite her Southern roots. From stationery to rubber stamps, she's adorned her collection with her unique characters, and most of her products are (you guessed it) small, therefore all the more precious and keepsake-worthy.



Sarah/The Small Object sat down for a little Q&A with SuicideGirls to share the background and inspiration behind her charming work.

SG: Tell me a little about your background.

TSO: I find great pleasure in being born in a town called Normal, IL because I wonder endlessly why someone would name a town Normal. I didn't actually live in Normal, I was just born there. Right now I live in Columbia, SC which is where I've been for the past couple of years. I went to graduate school at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and lived in Brooklyn and Jersey City for about six years before I moved back down to Columbia. I opened my online shop about a year and a half ago which allowed me to send parcels of my work out all over.

SG: What materials do you work with? What is your objective regarding your work?

TSO: While I was in college I spent a summer doing a work exchange program at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, which is located in Gatlinburg, TN. It was an amazing summer filled with classes like experimental cloisonné and small-scale furniture design while spending the evenings silkscreening and listening to bluegrass music and drinking homemade Panther Piss in the woods.

But the best part was learning so many different techniques and skills with such a varied mix of experience levels. Having been raised by a mother who labored days over articulately flowered Barbie doll birthday cake dresses and sewed our own stuffed animals and Jams shorts, I was very much into making things--all sorts of things. Things you hang on the wall, things you fire, things you draw, things you cut and solder, things you saw and nail, everything.



I want to make things for our everyday--whether they be useful recipe cards or a collage for your bedroom. Which is also why I chose SVA since you didn't have to chose an artistic discipline, you just made stuff and you got a studio space to do that in for a couple years. So while I used to make mural size drawings, my stuff has gotten smaller but the materials run the gamut. I like learning new things so this year was making things like the stuff I made with hand carved stamps + iron-on transfers while sourcing out new products that I can have made from my own designs
like my rubber stamps.

SG: What inspires or influences your work?

TSO: Geez, what doesn't influence my work? Sometimes I think that this is all my head thinks about.. whatever I come into contact with: the children's books I read to my niece and nephew or drawings we make together, or magazines or photos on Flickr or an ad campaign I see at a bus stop. Its everywhere.



SG: What do you do when you feel drained of inspiration or out of ideas?

TSO: Usually, I make something I used to do all the time when I was younger which sometimes turns into something new now. If I'm really out of ideas, I'll make myself some new pants, from a pattern, and zone out. Right now, I can cut and sew a pair in about 30 minutes. Not having to think about how to make them is incredibly relaxing to me, I started using this pattern about 10 years ago so I could probably cut it out in my sleep now. It's all I wear. Ever.

SG: What's your favorite texture?

TSO: To eat: crunchy outside, soft inside. To draw: flat and smooth. To feel: soft and chilly.

SG: What are some of your guilty pleasures?

TSO: Martha Stewart and ruffles.

SG: What's next for The Small Object?

TSO: The holidays are coming, so I'm working on lots of stuff for my shop. I want to do some drawings with watercolor and make some street maps. I've fallen hardcore for maps this past year. I will do a couple of craft shows but mainly just look forward to some cooler temperatures and driving to see some snow.


This interview was conducted by boygirlpartay, a painter and fellow crafter generally interested in all things small.

Heidi Kenney (a.k.a. My Paper Crane) is a master of turning the mundane into handmade, personified toys. From rolls of toilet paper to a stack of pancakes, her colorful world of animated objects is compelling, funny and inspiring. Based in PA and working full time creating her plush creatures as well as raising a family, Heidi was kind enough to trade a few emails with me in the interim. Enjoy the interview!


Photo Location

SG: Tell me a little bit about your work, the scale and materials you work with, and your background.

HK: I grew up in Maryland, and am currently living right over the border in PA. I have no formal training when it comes to art. I just make things I love. I work mostly with fabric. Most things I sew are around 5 inches tall, but occasionally I whip out the big stuff. (So far the largest being a tree about 5 feet tall.) I make things that make me happy, which sometimes means dabbling in many mediums.

SG: What inspires your work?

HK: My kids influenece my work a lot. Being that I make a lot of toys, it's nice to be surrounded by kids who can appreciate them and love them for what they are. Sometimes adults will see the stuff I make and say, "Oh, thats cute, but what do you do with it?" With kids, there is never the thought of "what would i do with this?" They seem to get that its something to just have, something that makes you happy.


Photo Location

SG: How do you cope with feeling drained of inspiration or out of ideas?

HK: Sometimes I will swtich gears and work on something completly different like cooking or spinning yarn. Otherwise I just put it all away and get out of the house. If I dont feel inspired, I just try not to make anything...again with the "keeping it fun."

SG: What's your favorite texture?

HK: Right now it's nubbly, soft + nubbly.


Photo Location

SG: What's your guilty pleasure?

HK: Thrift shopping! I am a bit of a yardsale flea market junkie. We continue to outgrow our houses due to my thrifting obsession.

SG: What projects and directions do you have in the works for the future?

HK: I am part of a plush show called Stuffed on Sept 10th in Baltimore MD, and I also have my first solo show coming up in Feb. of next year at Art Star in Philly. In general, I just plan to continue making stuff.

Visit Heidi online at mypapercrane.com!


This interview was conducted by boygirlpartay, a painter and proprietor of boygirlparty.com. She too outgrows houses due to her thrifting obsession; moving was always difficult with 14 typewriters.

Richard Colman, one of the artists featured in the latest issue of Art Prostitute, has a wonderful collection of playful and mysterious work. His lines are sharp; his juxtaposition of people, pattern, animals and blood read like foreign fairy tales. His figures are iconic (like those on a deck of cards) but are also wonderfully awkward and contemporary.


Photo Location

Meet him tonight at the Art Prostitute 08 Release Party in Los Angeles, pick up a poster, or browse more of his work here.

Matt Cipov uses minimal color washes and ink to create images that in areas look sketchy and textured but have linework so refined it looks practically vector-based. While there's much to see on his enigmatic website, particularly in the area labeled Field Studies, I still get the impression that this is a person with stacks and stacks of unimaginable sketchbooks anyone should be so lucky to see.


Photo Location

ArtOpp partners up with a different artist every month to create limited edition products; buy a product and get entered in the sweepstakes to win an original piece by the artist of the month. A percentage of profits are donated to charity. A charity other than the artist of the month, that is.

This month, check out the awesome t-shirt and painting by Matt Stallings. Those in the San Diego area can also catch Matt's original work at Voice 1156 Gallery. The art show ends on August 25th, and the arty sweepstakes at ArtOpp end on September 1st.


Photo Location

Naoshi is an artist and illustrator from Japan whose unusual medium is called "sunae", which is basically a craft in which colored sand is sprinkled on sticky paper. Visit her charming tutorial on how to make sunae and see some of her whimsical creations on her site.


Photo Location

Continuing the subject of how stuff from above looks cool, Alex Maclean is a photographer collecting images of the world from above. His portfolio site is completely crammed with interesting, powerful images from a bird's eye view.


Photo Location

Tiny Showcase is basically a genius idea. Two Rhode Islanders came up with a well-designed and easy to navigate site to showcase tiny works (usually around 5x6") sold in limited edition runs of archival, lush giclée prints. The print run is 100 per piece, $20 each, and a portion of the proceeds go to a charity of the artist's choice.

Boasting an impressive roster of contemporary artists and adding a new print to the collection every week, Tiny Showcase makes purchasing art an affordable and spirited process. Sign up for the mailing list to catch the prints in time to buy; they almost always sell out right quick.


Photo Location: Artwork by Loren Maxwell Holyoke

Deth P. Sun is an awesome Oakland-based painter with a very distinct visual flair for cat-like characters armed with knives and sashes, standing on clouds and in trees, ready to fight.


Photo Location

Visitors to Paris (and the rest of the world, especially if you have a keen eye) can catch an unusual type of graffiti perpetrated by French street artist Space Invader. His pseudonym isn't the only thing borrowed from the old school arcade game by Taito. He plasters mosaic tiles to the sides of buildings, streets, and monuments to create a somewhat permanent, pixelated version of characters from the game in a real world context.


Photo Location


Photo Location: Spot the invasion!

While there is some established yet obscure point system to this self-proclaimed "reality game", his message is universal to street artists and, on the subject of graffiti, is as articulate as it gets. I met him many years ago in France and asked him about why he chose Space Invaders as his icon; he replied, "because I invade space."

See footage and photos of the invasions, maps of cities at which you can spot invasions (allegedly there are a bunch plastered discreetly throughout the Louvre, and one on the Hollywood sign), catch Space Invader art exhibitions, buy some merch, and more on his site.


Photo Location: Invasion on the Williamsburg Bridge

Portland's Motel Gallery dishes up fresh, unexpected shows by young and up-and-coming artists. This month's show "Keep Trying" features painter and printmaker, Ryan Jacob Smith. His collection reads almost like scrapbook, rich and textured with tender imagery: his anatomical, veiny linework; cameo-style silhouettes; cryptic text; butterflies and muted colors.


Image Location

Motel Gallery is located on NW Couch St, between 5th and 6th Ave. The show runs through July 29th. All the work can be seen and purchased here.

Camilla Engman is one of my favorite contemporary artists. She lives in Sweden with her cute dog Morran and keeps a charming website with a shop, blog, and of course, a stunning portfolio.


Photo Location


Photo Location

Gunpowder guru Cai Guo-Qiang does more with fireworks than blow off a digit once in awhile drunk at the beach on Independence Day.

Some of his prolific body of work uses performance of fireworks to create a documentary product: a photograph, a painting, a video, an installation.


Photo Location

In an interview on the subject of his art using the medium of explosives, he states,

Photo Location

Cai Guo-Qiang's site specific work Cai On The Rooftop is currently installed at the Metropolitan Museum's Roof Garden in New York. Clear Sky Black Cloud (pictured below) is being performed every noon, Tuesday through Sunday until October 29th, weather permitting.


Photo Location

Check out Cai Guo-Qiang on Season 3 of PBS's series art:21 (Video excerpts here)

And, how to not make art here .