Works of imagination should be written in very plain language; the more purely imaginative they are the more necessary it is to be plain.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834)
Keep it simple. Plain. In black and white. And then, in keeping it plain, let the imagination flow. Boundaries are sometimes the best incentive to push your limits and thinking.
About Inky Lips Press
A Texas original, Inky Lips Letterpress is owned and operated by Casey McGarr; steeped in design and love for the smell of ink and the sound of a flatbed letterpress turning over and over. No other press in the Dallas area offers what Inky Lips Press can which is original work hand-carved and cranked out on flatbed letterpresses and spun on the Windmill. Inky Lips Press has been working hard at creating invitations, announcements and posters, but welcome any projects that will keep the dust off the type and the press in motion.
These guys run beautiful split font work. They will carve original lino blocks and they are some of the guys that do printing for the fabulous Hatch Show Prints. Check em out if you are wanting to do something letterpress and funky. Seems they have a handle on that.Hatch Show Print Book at Amazon>>
Blurbism has pictures of Hatch that send shivers down my spine>>
Ithaca Journal just sent me a note asking for a portrait (immediately) as they are running a "Local Creators" profile of me for tomorrow's paper. Then, I got this very flattering note from a student at Purdue doing a paper on an illustrator (their teacher told them to go to the Ispot to get them started). My thesis was a good starting point for her. What's happening. The water is moving!
You can click the article to see it a bit bigger>>
Big Tiki party at the Corning Museum of Glass tonight with King Kukulele, Tiki- style glassmaking with FireMonkey Glass (aka Marshall Hyde) and music by Fisherman's Vibraphonic Tiki Orchestra. For a cold day--but inconsequential weather, should be a fun time with a ton of folks. If you are local, its worth the trip.
I am up to my ears in very boring work...and hope to wrap it up. Must go to Corning and back for teeth..so Tiki is out. Twice is too much. And the snooze cruise needs to be finished. So, focus will be needed.
Light in Winter this weekend in Ithaca.At a glance schedule here>>. We may go see Cyro Baptista and Beat the Donkey outside of buying the full passes this year. Unfortunately, the event last year dragged and felt very much like the year before--so we may go a la carte with music and speeches. There is snow and everyone has passes (except me--I have the Pool of Dilemma) so skiing might be an option.
Gotta wrap up these odds and ends. More later>>
A little chat with a relative made me muse in the Pool of Dilemmas about the coulda, shoulda, wouldas. This person was griping that they never had the opportunity to express themselves, to develop themselves creatively. This is a person who spent their life making choices and spending their time developing social opportunities, spending personal and creative capital to be noticed to be invited to the right events to associate with the people they wanted and still want to be friends with. This is a person who uses any opportunity to be the center of attention and whenever the light is pointed on someone else, they throw up a mirror to make the reflection of the other person shine on themselves. You know what I think of this? Action. Action speak louder than the coulda, woulda, shouldas. If you want to express yourself, or to develop yourself--then do it. One word, one sketch, one diary entry at a time. Stop the talk. Start the work. Now. Stop talking about missed opportunities. Start making opportunities..even small ones.
Change is good. Continual change is better. You will have to take risks...even small risks to get the catherine wheel of change to start. With one small risk you can move to greater ones. Soon, you are leaning over the edge, peering into abyss and proceeding with happiness, not fear.
And oh, did I say you are never too old to start? This crap of how "we were never allowed " or "we were never encouraged" has a verb that is past tense. If you want to live in the past, do so...and live with the consequences. Age is no reason to not learn something new, try something new to get out of your box. Stop saying no one let you. You let you. The walls are as high as you want them cause guess what?--you make them (most of the time). If something seems impossible--just chunk it out or change your medium--just keep going. Action. Work begets progress.And progress begets change. Change begets opportunities, new ideas, new friends, new interests. New world. We all change with time (physically, that is). Can't we change emotionally and intellectually in a way that takes on the youth we have lost? I think we should all be "working out" with our brains as well as our brawn. But we all need to be personally responsible for that aspect of our growth. No One is going to do it. The only one is you. Own it but go for it.
Andrew Carnegie's axiom was "My Heart is in the work". So is mine.
Maopost.com / Chinese propaganda posters
They say about themselves:
Maopost is a site dedicated to China propaganda posters. Created by two enthusiastic collectors, Pierre Lavigne and Pierre Budestschu, it has recently been enhanced with a unique concept: the site commissions personalized oil paintings in which a real person's portrait is seamlessly incorporated into an otherwise faithful reproduction of a classic propaganda poster. Other projects, which endow the propaganda imagery with a humorous and creative twist, are in the pipeline.
Check out the section that is headlined " Your portrait oil painted like a Chinese propaganda poster">>
For as low as $169. bucks you can get your face painted into a preexisting oil painting rendered from propaganda poster art. They come in two sizes-- 24" x 15" for $169 and 32" x 21" for $269. You can select a background from an edited selection or if nothing there appeals to you, you can choose from the entire Mao Collection of 1500 plus posters!
Think of the fun you could have! Or better yet, think of this for a themed Annual Report (put your chairman's picture here?). You could really go nuts for less than $2,000. Or for the holidays? Your thinking?
Churning away on the paying work. May have a window of time to do the personal stuff (more Toughcats I think)--tonight as K has play practice until 9 and our poor baby boy has more ELAs tomorrow, which is a trial for him. Got seven logos proposals to the Music Boosters, a parent group at our school. I did these logos as a way to get out from being a member of the food service select (this is the way they raise money)- Makes me itch as there is a chance this little simple project, a bit of do gooding might boomerang. I could end up dazed and confused. We will wait and see. I got a little prickly (thank goodness I had time in the Pool of Dilemmas at the House of Health to work it out prior to picking up the phone. I should assume anything for a group is going to be problematic--and know this is not going to change when I raise my hand and volunteer. I am not going to hold my breath over this one.
I was thinking about the time we spent in California--and the 125 pictures I took each day. You know, that sharpens up what you see--regardless of whether it is a new environment or what we know and love. I was looking at the landscape (which was white and stark today)) and thinking about the way things look. I need to try to take at least 50 shots a day to see my known world a bit differently. At least, I need to try to do this.
Projector is going on now.
More later.
at work.
I think there is a stylistic link between what Leger does relative to the puritan spirit effigies and they way they are realized. The whimsey and looseness of Leger's women and the circus performers (with their naive placement of arms, legs etc) fits with the funny spirit heads, which in some cases are equally naive and disproportionate to that of Leger. Granted, what the brush can do against the chisle on stone is slightly different--but what with what some of the calligrapher cum gravestone designers can do...align nicely.I should try to fuse them together to see what happens. If I were Gary Kelley, I might take a leap and work them together. Gary is a fan of working art history into images/illustrations (for me, bring it on as I adore art history). It will take me a bit wider on where I have been going..but worth spending a few sketches to test the waters. Maybe a little looksee with the projector?
A few more hours needed on the second Memento Mori book. Love the new format (square--7.5" x 7.5" as it is a good shape and also its on the creamier, uncoated text paper with the good, rich blacks). I should be able to get it to Lulu by Thursday this week. Book Three began January 1 (-March 31)--so,the Hartford Texas trip noodles will be in this piece. Am giving it some thought to perhaps reconfigure the first volume to this square format so I have a stack of books when they are done.
Another idea: When we were at Art Basel Miami, there were some nice shops in the Miami Convention Center (Taschen book, Davidoff, the Cartier Foundation, and some other art book shops). One of the art book shops had mini bound portfolios with small editions of one color (black ink on cream paper) prints in a little casebound portfolio. When I say little, they were about 5" x 7"finished size. Perhaps I need to spend some time with Joe Seppi at Pioneer press to see if he can do that sort of thing. I am thinking a small portfolio of letterpress images (maybe on a luscious paper like a high rag content Rives either cream or tan?) or even some on black paper with white ink(or matte foil) as another way to get the work out. I have even thought it might be fun to try it out with a valentine?(that is letterpress imagery). Need to get rolling if that is going to happen.
Onward to a toughcat.
Later>>
Fox and Girl, 2007
22"x13"
available>>
Chris Conn Askew is a former tattoo artist who is coming to the fore with his illustration and personal art. There was a great article on him in Juxtapoz which inspired me to want to learn more. I love his storybooky topics that he twists using a very simple palette with strong design/line work with a simple color palette (much like tattooing). Its interesting his new work is so strongly in vertical rectangles (which is a framed shape that might morp from a tattoo arm or leg shape. His type is sublime. I would love to see some wine labels done by him...or even some exotica like absinthe advertising.
I am fascinated with these tattoo artists...either the working guys in the business and also those that stop the tattooing and segue to art. Mike Giantand Ed Hardy,Chris Conn Askew are top of mind--but I plan to do a bit more boning up on this as I love the structure of their work, the integration of color (often ancillary to the design), the line work, and the simplicity of the message. My work is evolving and this channel could give me insight with these elements. There is a cool magazine, Tattoo Artist Magazine might be a good reference in addition to the Taschen book(icon).
Off topic but exciting, Perseopolis, the graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi is a movie (art house)which has recieved a Golden Globe Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. The books were very good--perhaps because I am a girl as it addresses a ton of women's issues, viewpoints and attitudes--but particularly expressive in her simple and strict black and white illustration. Here are some clips>>
Cleaning up some projects for Monday. Going to start the Toughcat to be paired with our old pal, the choker. More later, I hope!
Great article on Shepard Fairey at Fecal Face.com. Take a look. As part of the commentary associated with the article, Fairey comments a bit on his clothing line association, the cost of goods and why they cannot afford to be made domestically:
"as far as corporations are concerned- where are the OBEY clothes being made?
Written by rdecute on 2007-08-14 19:18:57"
From: Shepard Fairey
Date: Mon Jul 28, 2003 9:40:38 PM US/Pacific
To: Marwan
Subject: Re: Obey clothing
Marwan,
I understand your concerns. When we first formed the Obey clothing company, I inquired about making the clothes domestically. The guys I work with explained that with the exception of certain items, clothing can not be manufactured domestically at a price the "streetwear" market will bear. Secondly, the U.S. makers who are more affordable, deliver a noticeably inferior product and pay their workers less relative to the cost of living in the U.S. than the people are paid in Asia relative to the cost of living there. Unfortunately, there are far fewer people who are willing to pay more for clothing to make sure it was made under humane conditions than there are who won't buy it if it costs more than the Gap's stuff. There is an incredibly low profit margin in clothing...20% if the brand is lucky. The store(retailer) however, has a standard mark-up of 100% or even more. For example, Obey wholesales its T-shirts for $9.50 but you rarely see them in the stores for less than $22. This is because the stores know what the consumer will pay and adds on a little extra. Retail rent is usually very expensive... so this policy is frustrating, but not hard to understand. The bottom line is that clothing is a very tough business overall; I do it as a platform for my graphics, not so much as an income source. Back to the labor conditions issue. My close friend Mike who is the clothing designer for Obey has spent a considerable amount of time with our manufacturers in China. The standard of living there is decidedly lower in general, but the factory conditions where the Obey stuff is made are very acceptable and people seemed more than happy to be working there. In fact, people came from hundreds of miles away because the pay is way better than what they could find in their town. Mike has actually spent the night in the factory many times to help make sure the production items were what he wanted. He describes the set-up as similar to college dorms with private bathrooms and lounge areas with T.V's. I feel it is irresponsible to generalize about all factories in China or India. Look at the breadth of working conditions in the U.S., is it not logical that there is a range of conditions in other countries as well? I am definitely anti-exploitation and I have been given enough reassurances to feel that I can have a clear conscience. Your own conscience has to guide you.
Take care.
-Shepard
at Castaways. Should be really fun. The Toughcats describe themselves as "We are a three piece band (resonator guitar, banjo/mandolin and drum kit with vocals) from the Fox Islands in Penobscot Bay, Maine". They are very tight and their drummer keeps the room warm with his high energy, silly behavior from rapping on drums to the full deal on a series of suitcases. NPR says"This trio uses vocal harmonies, uke, banjo, mandolin, suitcase and percussion to blend a mix of folk, rock, ragtime and bluegrass into their music. The track "043," off the 2006 album Piñata, features their brand of thumping percussion and energetic strings.
Along with making music, The Toughcats spend time in lobster fishing, carpentry, emergency medicine and other jobs. They have played live film scores for Bird Dog Productions and written music for Cecily Pingree's documentary film about designer Angela Adams. The Toughcats mix acting and movies into live performances, trying to always keep the audience on their toes."
NPR also has some mp3 files to listen to, too. The Phoenix is interesting too.
Pencil it in.
google makes me crazy!
I was googling and wikipedia searching for fun--some of my noteworthy relatives and ran into this lengthly discussion of my great, great paternal grandfather and mother (William Thaw and Eliza Burd Blair). I have always had bits and pieces of their story, the story of "the second wife" and the evil seed that sprang from the union with "that woman", Harry K. Thaw (murderer of Stanford White, husband to Evelyn Nesbit and all round kooky guy). Essentially, the OJ of the 1800s. Until my grandmother's last gasp, we were forbidden to have our pictures published (that includes weddings etc.) as an outcome of the press coverage of Harry's crime, trial and aftermath.
It all stems from Benjamin Thaw>>son of William Thaw and Eliza Burd Blair and brother to my great great grandmother, Mary Thaw (who married William Reed Thompson.--but the author fills in all the gaps.. Mary Thaw and William Reed Thompson had 5 daughters: Dorothea, Isabel, Helen, Mary and my grandmother, Jean. I met Mary and a tiny lady who lived at Sparkhill (on the Hudson)--never married and always slept with her two dogs, russian wolfhounds. All the daughters went to Vassar and proceeded to marry and settle either in Pittsburgh or on the East Coast. They spent their summers in Watch Hill, RI (at least my grandmother and Aunt Mary--for their entire lives). Their father, Mr Thompson died very young (when my grandmother was small). My grandmother was significantly younger than the other sisters (with a distance of over 8 years between her age and the next oldest). She had a sister in college when she was in elementary school.
so, friends and more particularly, relatives of mine...read on...this is goooooood stuff.
Photo is of William Thaw (paterfamilias).
Our mortality stitches yesterday, today and tomorrow into an understanding of a life. Our life and how we live it.
Ithaca Journal says (along with Jim Catalano):
#6 Overall
#1 Acoustic CD: "Chicken Chokers, “07” - "Chad Crumm and friends return to the studio for the first time since the 1980s and come out with this raucous collection of old-time tunes"
.....and, they are now on ITUNES! (along with a teensie little chicken done by yours truly!)(and lets not forget getting into 2 illustration shows!).
My client suggested we get going on the 2008 holiday card...NOW.
Given the struggle we had with getting the content right...he is right.
Why does it have to be so hard?
Imagine!
I opened my mailbox just after lunch with the regular "where is this?", "please do that", "think about this", "look at this", "call that person about this", and all the ancillary buy me, sell me, read me emails and there is this new name. I know this name as I have googled this person, Power Boothe, the Dean of the Hartford Art School! And Dean Boothe was writing me to ...imagine....welcoming me to Hartford. There's something new. A Master program paradigm for me. Now things are getting really exciting!
Boy howdy, this welcome is a novelty from an interesting person, no less. Trust the Tinklemans to migrate to a better place. I just didn't understand how much better.
Not to compare with Syracuse, but...the only exchange with the Dean were two. One, a cookie cutter welcome letter and two, the dissolution of the program letter. But I guess that is what tens of thousands of dollars gets you with SU. I wonder how many funding opportunities they miss by this sort of boneheadedness? Maybe if I had committed to funding a studio or lecture series or a building, I might have gotten an email. What do you think?
Higher bar with humanity at Hartford. Should be fun...and scary. Yipes!
Get ready. Get the tea brewing. Get snuggly. "The Complete Jane Austen" with Masterpiece Theatre on Sunday evenings-- With six books (four new, brand spanking NEW renderings--namely Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility!) From the schedule:
Jan. 13 Persuasion
Sally Hawkins appears as Anne Elliot, a woman destined for spinsterhood after a proposal eight years earlier. Then her spurned suitor reappears.
Jan 20 Northanger Abbey
In a medieval house that appeals to her most lurid fantasies, romance addict Catherine Moreland (Felicity Jones) begins a relationship with the younger son of the estate.
Jan 27 Mansfield Park
After being sent to live at Mansfield Park, Fanny Price (Billie Piper) navigates a labyrinth of intrigues and affairs among its occupants.
Feb 3 Miss Austen Regrets
Courtship she knew well; only the last act eluded her. A film biography that dramatizes Jane Austen’s lost loves.
Feb 10, 17 & 24 Pride and Prejudice
Colin Firth is Mr. Darcy and Jennifer Ehle is Elizabeth Bennet in the definitive adaptation of the most-loved of all Austen novels.
March 23 Emma
Kate Beckinsale stars in the title role as the tireless matchmaker who professes no interest in matrimony for herself, only for her orphaned protégée, Harriet Smith (Samantha Morton).
March 30 & April 6 Sense and Sensibility
Though poor, levelheaded Elinor Dashwood (Hattie Morahan) and her impulsive sister Marianne (Charity Wakefield) attract a trio of promising gentlemen.
Wa-Hoo!
Studio Number One
3780 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 210
Los Angeles, CA 90010
http://www.studionumber-one.com
Studio Number One (SNO) was founded on the belief that art does not just belong in museums and galleries, it should also be an integral part of the visual landscape. SNO creates bold, graphic media that stands out amid the urban clutter, beautifying the environment while stimulating the public with innovative design solutions.
ART DIRECTION
BOOK DESIGN
BRAND DEVELOPMENT
EDITORIAL
ENVIRONMENTAL
FASHION
IDENTITY
ILLUSTRATION
INTERACTIVE
PACKAGING
POSTERS
Guess who this is? Shepard Fairey! In my quest to wrap my head around what he is about--with the prompt from the Obey line of clothing (how is that managed? how does he justify (or does he need to? the porting of his art images to teeshirts and hoodies? Is it another licensing deal like Ed Hardy?).. His work in the stores reflect his print work with new shapes (probably not Fairey) but using his posters to promote his image and personal brand (framed in the store). In the hopping around, I found this critique of Fairey's work by Mark Vallen (sounds a bit like jealousy) which is interesting in his messaging...so if that is the case--now the plagarist is being plagarized by Obey the Purebreed etc.
There is nothing new about using old images as reference. Perhaps Shepard Fairey is a little close in with regard to how he uses those images, but somehow I think this helps in keeping his work as concentrated and good as it is. He could afford to tweak it a little further than he does (particularly in the nuclear image) in the layout--but overall, Fairey is taking the old image to a new place of his own propaganda.
I don't care what Vallen says. I think Fairey is a genius--repurposing images into other markets and using the funds and fame he garners into new arenas and ventures. This is a guy that is really carving out a broad swathe --from guerrilla art to art shows, to a design firm, a clothing line to promoting (and is funding/engaging) Swindle magazine to establishing a new gallery/exhibition space called Subliminal Projects, in the same space as Studio Number One. Subliminal Projects' Mission is stated:
"Subliminal Projects was created by artists Shepard Fairey and Blaze Blouin in 1995 as an artist collective, using skateboards as a fine art medium. By expanding beyond skateboards and apparel to include fine art prints, the group began drawing the attention of Aaron Rose, curator of Alleged Gallery in Ney York. As a result, Subliminal is one of the key groups responsible for cementing the relationship between the skateboard culture with the fine art world, working with the then-unknown artists such as Phil Frost, Thomas Campbell, Mike Mills, Dave Aaron, Shelter Serra and Mark Gonzales. By reintroducing Subliminal Projects to the current art scene, Shepard and Amanda Fairey continue to promote collaborations in the form of publications, art shows and events between artists of varying disciplines."
Look for his skateboards. They are great. I love the portraits and the vector-y swatches and flourishes. They are regal and very offical looking--with images of these guys with their baseball caps put on backwards. I initially thought they were dead gang members until I read who they were. There is that aura around them.
Juxtapoz has a great article on Fairey in their November 2007 issue.
Also, there are his books:
Obey: Supply & Demand: The Art of Shepard Fairey
E Pluribus Venom (pre-order)
