Untitled (Black Blocks), by Todd St. John

Happy New Year to my 20x200 collector pals! It's been a while, hasn't it? I must confess: I didn't exactly pine for my weekday morning newsletter deadlines, but it's certainly true that I've missed the art, the writing about the art, the all-around 20x200 hustle and yes, of course, you collector people too. Thanks for all the "When are you coming back? You are coming back aren't you?" emails - we love to feel loved and yes we are back.

Today's edition, Untitled (Black Blocks), is an original drawing created exclusively for 20x200 by art + design renaissance fella Todd St. John. The prints are created using archival pigment inks on 100% cotton rag paper and are available in three sizes - it's up to you to decide just how much woodgrain goodness you need in your life. (If you ask me, I say: Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.)

As previously mentioned, I have a bit of a preoccupation with woodgrain, but Todd's interest far outpaces my own. Explore his site and you'll see that he's done all kinds of clever things with woodgrain: rugs, magazine racks, installations, skateboard decks. It's woodgrain heaven!

He also makes cool things out of actual wood, as evidenced in this awesome video, Circle Squared, recently commissioned by T, the uber-hip New York Times Magazine style supplement.

Todd's one of those people who sits comfortably at the nexus of art + design, which is quite a feat as that's normally quite a precarious perch to occupy. There's a tendency to want to put someone in the design box or the art box, to which Todd says: "I'll take your box and make art out of it!" Or put art in it, or design a fabulous ad-campaign around it.*

Apart from artful design (or is it art by design?) what I find appealing about Todd's work is his consistently inventive exploration of the various intersections of humans, nature and machines. (If I had a crack design staff at my beck and call, I'd include a cool Venn diagram here, a la VSL. Alas, I do not.)

Todd contains the uncontainable with humor, insight and originality. His work is playful without being twee, and cool without being cold. He puts precise edges on the undulating curves of nature. He squares circles the way normal people cross their t's and dot their i's. I always feel a little smarter and cooler for getting what he's up to, but the truth is that his whole approach makes some high-minded ideas easy to get.

So yes, in case you were wondering, I am a fan and I am most pleased to have an edition from Mr. St. John here on 20x200. Speaking of fandom, tomorrow I will bring you an edition from a photographer who's got fans world wide, via the web. Until then, I bid you adieu.

*Ed note: Todd himself is more of a soft spoken guy, not prone to such bold proclamations. I can't say I've ever actually seen him use an exclamation point in writing, nor utter a sentence where one might transcribe it with ! at its end, but this is how the work speaks to me, a person who is in fact prone to both proclamations and exclamation points.