Brooklyn-based illustrator Josh Cochran chronicled a day of walking around in New York City with his signature bright, dense, and conceptual drawings in Inside and Out: New York, a large accordion fold book depicting both the exteriors and interiors of signature buildings, bodegas, and corner shops scattered throughout the metropolis on each side of the page. Published internationally by Templar/Big Picture Press in London and Candlewick Press in the Somerville, Mass., this book is targeted at kids, with a page listing key objects that they can try to find scattered throughout the book, but mature enough to keep the adult eye intrigued and continue to flip over the page.
“I tried to walk around the neighborhoods to get the overall mood down,” says Cochran of his approach. “There [are] a lot of details that I wanted to put in, like little bits of trash everywhere, rooftop gardens, the textures of the brick buildings, and AC units in the windows.”
The extended page opens up over six and a half feet, with more than 80 objects in the entire spread, including more obvious buildings such as the Empire State Building, and Guggenheim Museum, but also includes the city’s gems, such as Nathan’s. Doubling as a poster and book, you can pull out the pages from the perforated edge and use it as wall art, or keep it intact to reference later.
Cochran teaches at the School of Visual Arts and occasionally fills in as an art director for The New York Times op-ed page. An urbanite from the start, growing up in Taiwan and Los Angeles, Cochran revels in the way city dwellers compact their belongings with inventive methods in tiny spaces. “There is something really great about all these different individuals stuck together and figuring out how to live and adapt to their surroundings,” he says.
Credit: ARCHITECT Staff
