We love the new book The Unknown Portraits (Magic Pony, 2009) by husband and wife artist team Kozyndan for more than a few reasons. Originating from a found photo album unearthed in a Venice Beach thrift shop, Kozyndan were inspired to create imagined personae documenting the essence of these lost photographs. The Unknown Portraits explores the modern obsession with personal documentation in a simultaneously intimate and anonymous manner, making for a collection we will proudly display in the center of our coffee tables for quite a while.


Find out exactly why anonymous portraits based on found photographs really make us smile:


(1) The Unknown Portrait Project is both funny and touching, gathering discarded photos of unknown strangers and attaching meaningful stories to their lives and faces through the power of art and storytelling.

(2) This 150-page book of “imagined personae” proves, once again, that kozyndan can really, really draw.

(3) The Unknown Portraits’ extremely pared down text allows the delicacy, humor, and beauty of the graphite drawings to speak for themselves.

(4) America-Japanese, husband and wife team kozyndan are simply inspiring.

(5) It has a soft lavender cover. And seriously, who doesn’t love lavender and soft?


See a few of our favorite drawings from The Unknown Portraits below and grab more info on the book at www.magic-pony.com

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