Award-winning illustrator James Jean is dreamy. His art is an OxyContin cloud in a clear winter sky. The fluid lines, vibrant color and fantastic subject matter combine melancholia and poetry. Fashion designer Miuccia Prada was so inspired by Jean’s work that she used his art on dresses for her Spring/Summer 2008 collection and has displayed his pieces in her flagship stores across the world. This winter Jean returns to personal projects, culminating in his first solo show on January 10 at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York.

GIANT: Do you work from home or a studio?
James Jean: The studio is part of my home. I have a door I use to shut away distractions such as pets and women.

What’s your typical day like?
JJ: I start around 10 [am], work like hell until 10 [pm]. I’ve worked longer, but I’m trying to have more fun and some social time.

What made you aware that you needed some downtime?
JJ: The long fingernails and jars of urine tipped me off. Your work can be wistful.

What’s the happiest you’ve ever been?
JJ: I’m even-keeled; one guy actually said I always seem sedated. I don’t have highs or lows. I’m focused—like a laser beam.

How do you work?
JJ: I plan everything out and have a sketch to work from, but there’s also a lot of improvisation. The last 20 percent of a painting is the most important. This involves destroying what’s there and coming up with some new idea or element that creates that final feeling of magic.

And now, you’ll be seeing his work on the shoulders of all the fashionistas supporting the economy with their retail addiction. Fairey was chosen to reinvigorate the brand of Saks Fifth Avenue, bringing his bold Constructivist designs to their Spring campaign.

Forgive me but I have decided that Mr. Fairey makes way too much money and I’m not sure if I can read anything else about him for a minute.

FIFTY24SF Gallery in San Francisco ends the year with an amazing show from Jeremy Fish and Miss Van. The double-bill is the big sell for most, but I disagree. Miss Van’s popularity never made sense to me. I mean, the work is cool and all but I get it—what’s next? Jeremy Fish on the other hand, I can’t get enough of.

His work is a fine blend of dark and light, both poppy and macabre. His paintings have a ski lodge quirk with a fantastic bend, incorporating a natural woodsy feel to compose his surreal subject matter. This exhibit is ”Ghosts of the Barbary Coast,” a meditation on the “hoodlums and harlots” who ventured all the way to San Fran during the California Gold Rush.

While you’re there, if you have the time, Miss Van’s “Still a Little Magic” is on display in the lower level gallery…

Rita de Alencar curated a sick calendar for ‘09 featuring the young legend Wangechi Mutu, as well as David Ellis, Bjorn Copeland, Nico Vascellari, Jota Castro, Alighiero Boetti and others. The calendar will be part of a five-year project pushing emerging artists, each year’s proceeds benefiting a new charity. This year’s cause is the African Medical and Research Foundation and artis. The calendar—essentially a way to buy prints from ill artists for cheap—is printed as a limited edition run of 800, and is selling for $50. Go here to buy.

I love popping bubbles. Mary saves me all the shipping bubbles from her incoming packages. Amanda enjoys when I pop them off one by one as she’s designing POV. I can’t help it, it’s just fun. If that BubbleWrap app on my iPhone was any damn good, I would literally never stop popping. 

Anyway, take a look at my new toy. It is my new reason to treasure waking up each morning. Buy it here.

Our Creative Director, Graham Rounthwaite, put me on to a fan page that has collected all things Ellen. From her luxe books and gallery exhibits to every piece of editorial and advertising work she’s ever shot, it’s all right here.

All that sweet shit aside, the dudes sure know how to work an angle. The two are giants in marketing their brand with a smile. I mean, they are everywhere. Featured in the lounge of this year’s Scope Miami art fair, the duo represent the difference between the more high-end blue chip galleries listed at Art Basel Miami Beach and the more experimental, cutting-edge galleries of Scope.

In 2006, the Miami natives presented the awesome Skywalkers parade  (below) across South Beach, taking all the silicone girls and hairy Speedo dudes by surprise. This year’s installation is giant bouncy house and recreation area—with picnic tables, concession stands, and places to chill—all candy-colored and pretty. Should be a fun exhibit! Be sure to wear matching socks… 

Just in time for the holidays! The Ray Caesar Art Collection features 178 pages of the artist’s work, including sketches, studies and illustrations. Of specific interest are Caesar’s essays, describing his process. The work—sometimes dark and perverse, at times bright and fantastic—is meticulously detailed, obviously created with painstaking care, bringing peers such as Mark Ryden and Marion Peck—both noteable hyperrealist painters—to mind. Yet, it is surprising to most that Caesar is actually a digital artist, manipulating his images to create the illusion of texture and materiality. But the subjects are actually “sculpted” on his computer screen, pushed and pulled into shape using a mouse. The model becomes 3D and a skeleton is added, which allows his models the ability to move and pose, as well as absorb light and create shadow. The final steps are a coat of color, then a layer of texture. Caesar saves images of textures—wood surfaces, a close-up of skin, cloth, flower petals, etc.—to use in his work, to lend the digital image some warmth and realness. He says, “I collect textures the way some people collect little silver spoons, and I have a story about each texture in my collection.”

The book goes for $54, but is also available in a super luxe edition for those collectors in the audience. The $625 version features a signed copy of the book, only this time with a black linen hard cover, as well as a beautiful print of one the featured works and 6 collector’s cards. Go here to choose. 

In the style of antiquated Victorian portraits, Travis Louie paints the shadowy friends inside his head. While they are indeed a strange lot, they seem cool enough. 

“Strange Neighbors” is up through January 3rd at the Fuse Gallery in NYC.