There are a thousand ways to give advice, comfort someone or share a thought.
One of them is that of Alessandra Olanow, who with her illustrations speaks about different themes that concern each of us.

Born in Canada, she now lives and works in Brooklyn with her daughter Coco, the protagonist of many of her works, especially those that concern the everyday life of the mother-daughter relationship.
Her illustrations are simple in their features but much deeper in their meaning.
In the last few months, Alessandra Olanow has dedicated herself to telling small moments of a life lived during the lockdown, from moments of reflection to those spent working inside the bed, to the liters of coffee without which it would have been difficult to make a day productive, to the books read thanks to the extra time.

There were also illustrations paying homage to George Floyd and the demonstrations linked to the Black Lives Matter movement against racism.

Her works contain messages that may seem obvious, but they are the ones we devote the least time to. They are invitations to listen to us and to listen to others, to be happy starting from ourselves, to fight for what we believe in but also to allow ourselves a break when everything becomes too much.

We have selected some of her illustrations but you can find them all on her Instagram profile and on her website.

It is no coincidence that Milan, a city with strong ties to basketball, has been chosen as the third stage of Foot Locker Europe’s “Raise the Game” project, which aims to support and celebrate local communities through basketball and its culture and, more specifically, through the redevelopment of neighbourhood courts.
So, after Paris and Barcelona, the time has come for the Lombard capital, which today sees the inauguration of the new basketball court in Viale Lazio 25.
When Foot Locker Europe had to select a local artist to breathe new life into the basketball court, it was no coincidence that the choice fell on Davide Barco, an artist and illustrator who has made basketball and sport in general the subject of his work. 

For this project in particular, Davide Barco thought about the role that basketball plays in Milan, a city whose soul and history has always been enclosed in the centre, but which is also expanding its boundaries. The artist was lucky enough to work on one of the few courts in a fairly central area, just a few minutes from Porta Romana, and combine basketball with art, drawing inspiration from the magnificent decorations on the marble floors of the central nave of the Duomo. 

“I am excited about this project. To find the inspiration I thought ‘How wonderful and crazy can it be to play basketball in the cathedral of Milan?’ The court is inspired by the white marble tiles of the cathedral’s central nave, with a touch of red and blue to recall the colours of the NBA. So we will have the cathedral of basketball in Milan, with a floor directly inspired by the history of the city” – Davide Barco

For this project, Foot Locker involved basketball players, youth teams and fans, but also the DaMove Crew association, which through basketball seeks to trigger social change and create communities united by a passion for sport.  

See below the photos of the new court designed by Davide Barco and visit the project website to find out more! 

Saint Laurent Rive Droite paid tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat with a capsule collection inspired by the wonderful work and immortal legacy of the New York artist. 

As is customary for Anthony Vaccarello, Creative Director of the French fashion house, he has created, in addition to a hoodie, two T-shirts, a sleeveless jacket for the occasion a series of accessories such as a tote bag, top and cross-body bag, a backpack, two different iPhone covers, three books dedicated to Basquiat, two skimboards and a set of three collectible skateboards – which transcend their function to become works of art – characterized by Basquiat’s works.

In addition to the simple capsule collection, Saint Laurent Rive Droite boutiques in Paris and Los Angeles will display a silkscreen print, 18 original lithographs by the artist, many drawings, ceramic plates that belonged to Andy Warhorl and other objects. 

The Saint Laurent Rive Droite x Jean-Michel Basquiat capsule collection is already available online.

If there was a meeting point between illustration and poetry, that is where we would meet Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber. 

Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber are two Winnipeg artists, born in 1974 and 1975 respectively, who met at the University of Manitoba, Canada. It was during their studies that they founded the Royal Art Lodge, a sort of collective formed by young artists and officially disbanded in 2008. However, Michael and Niel have never been separated and still create small collaborative works of art that are successful both in the gallery world – their work can be found in the permanent collections of museums such as the National Gallery of Canada, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Centro De Arte Caja De Burgos in Spain, Takashi Murakami in Tokyo and many others – and on social media. Their Instagram profile @m_d_n_f_ is followed by 345,000 people who find themselves in their work. 

Their production consists of small works made with acrylic paint on wood and characterised by the combination of image and text. Sometimes we see only a coloured background with an animal, a flower or a house, in practice subjects that could mean anything if they were not always accompanied by short phrases that give meaning to the image. 

Sometimes sad and melancholic, other times sarcastic and bordering on black humour, Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber make illustrations not just for everyone, but for every kind of mood. We’ve selected just a few, but follow their Instagram profile to make sure you don’t miss any.