JUXTAPOZ ISSUE 168 / JANUARY 2015

JUXTAPOZ ISSUE 168 / JANUARY 2015
Issue 168 starts the year with a warm, painterly mood—an issue full of texture, soft surrealism, and artists who make the everyday feel enchanted. It opens in Studio Time with Paul Wackers, whose still-life–meets–abstract interiors glow with cozy disorder and plant-filled magic. The Report recaps Ryan McGinness & Juxtapoz Hyperreal, a collision of neon symbols, layered graphics, and museum-level pop experimentation.

Gregory Halpern’s Picture Book brings a dose of photographic Americana—sun-faded textures, strange landscapes, and quiet emotional weight—before the issue shifts to Fertile Ground in the Bay Area, a massive multi-museum event linking California's craft, counterculture, and contemporary art scenes. Fashion showcases designer Matija Cop’s sculptural, architectural garments—clothing as futuristic geometry.

Influences takes readers to SCOPE Art Fair with Daria Brit Greene, and then the artist features roll in:
• Dan Witz, the street artist known for his hyperreal “Mosh Pit” paintings and shadowy trompe l’oeil interventions.
• Lee Chen-Dao, blending fine art and digital mythmaking.
• Kazu—the legendary special-effects makeup artist—bringing meticulous realism and creature craft.
• Suzannah Sinclair, whose intimate, watercolor-and-pencil scenes feel like quiet confessions.
• Rachell Sumpter & Jacob Magraw, a duo whose works merge folk mysticism with dreamlike colour.
• Bill Saylor, all chaotic mark-making, monsters, and painterly grit.

The back of the issue explores Kansas City in Travel Insider, spotlights SVA’s storytelling program in In Session, reviews new books, and profiles experimental animator Jake Fried, whose ink-on-paper, one-minute universes evolve in hypnotic loops. A gift guide follows, then Sieben’s ode to “Snail Mail,” a love letter to the slowness of analog communication. Pop Life provides cultural snapshots. Finally, the Perspective piece focuses on Jony Ive, tying design thinking to broader creative life.

A gentle, imaginative January issue—rich with painters, storytellers, and artists who blur the line between reality and dream.