Beautiful Losers
Monday, February 1, 2010Beautiful Losers, an exhibit, book and most recently a documentary, follows the work of several artists, rooted in subcultures like skateboarding, hip hop, punk, and graffiti, who helped power a movement and generation of culturally significant art. Some of my favorite artists like Shepard Fairey, Geoff McFetridge, and Barry McGee are prominently featured. A highly recommended rental – watch the trailer below.
Beautiful Losers film trailer from beautifullosersfilm on Vimeo.
Designing Obama
Thursday, January 28, 2010I remember during Obama’s run for presidency documenting and collecting all of the art inspired by and supporting his campaign. It was fascinating to watch; from Shepard Fairey and Scott Hansen to Chuck Anderson and Cody Hudson, the list of artists that fought for change through their craft is long and deep. Realizing the significance of this grassroots movement, the Obama camp is putting together a book called Designing Obama which documents how art helped fuel his campaign.
Designing Obama from mas / menos on Vimeo.
John Solimine: Spike Press
Friday, December 11, 2009
The summer of 2008 my wife and I drove cross country from Philadelphia to San Francisco. Along the way we made many stops to see friends of family, and one of them was in Chicago, a city neither of us had been to before and one that we both fell in love with almost immediately. Coincidentally, the Chicago Jazz fest was going on the few days that we were there and was only a few minutes away from the hotel we were staying at. A free event, we wandered the festival grounds during the day and decided to come back at night to watch Ornette Coleman perform (even more coincidentally I found a copy of Coleman’s seminal record Free Jazz in Denver a few days later). It was a great performance, and all around just good vibes. Our stay in Chicago left an impression on both of us, and as a memento of our time there we bought that year’s Chicago Jazz Fest poster illustrated by local artist John Solimine (pictured above). It’s a cool silk screened print, hand signed and numbered, although we didn’t realize until we got it how bright the yellows were going to be. They are almost like a highlighter yellow, and I don’t know if this was intended or a miscalculation at the printer.
Anyways, I stumbled upon his follow-up for this years Jazz Fest and I’m really feeling it. Great use of gradients and strong type. If you like this there’s a lot of other really nice work on Solimine’s website Spike Press that you should check out.
Stefan Glerum
Monday, November 2, 2009I first heard of Stefan Glerum’s work from his painfully honest series of illustrations depicting the pitfalls of record collecting entitled Crate Digging Don’t Do It. I stumbled upon his site today and was pleasantly surprised to find a bunch of new work, a lot of it related to the world of records and DJing. His style reminds me a bit of Gary Larson’s Far Side work, with a little more detail and depth. I especially love his pencil drawings, but his work with color is nice as well. You can check out more of his work here.
The Wu-Note Project
Monday, September 14, 2009
Wu-Tang album covers are amongst some of the most classic in hip hop, but Logan Walters is giving them a run for their money with his Wu-Note Project. Reid Miles was the Art Director for Blue Note from 1956 to 1965 and is responsible for some of the most timeless cover designs to grace any record sleeve. Often using half tones, sharp geometric shapes, Swiss inspired design aesthetics and big, bold typography, Miles’ impact on design is immense. As an homage to Reid, Logan has decided to recreate all of the seminal Wu-Tang album covers with a Blue Note flavor. Bobby Digital and Liquid Swords are two of my favorites, but I must say Walters has done a great job capturing the bold simplicity of Blue Note design. I’ve included some examples of classic Blue Note album covers for those that aren’t too familiar with them, followed by some of Walters’ work. He continues to release new covers on his flickr page as he completes them so be sure to check that periodically.
Alphabet Prints
Saturday, September 12, 2009
The alphabet poster I had up in my room growing up wasn’t half as cool as these. Today, it doesn’t seem to be a kid thing anymore as I’ve noticed a sudden spike in popularity amongst graphic designers finding creative ways to interpret their ABCs. Here are a bunch that I’ve found over the past year that have caught my eye. I really love Petit Collage’s interpretation, so much in fact that I”ve been tempted on many occasions to preemptively buy it for my first child. They have three color ways: a neutral, and a pink or blue option. Here are some more cool prints.
by Alex Lucas
by Decoy Lab
by Letterfest
Soulstrut // Waxidermy // Ear Fuzz // Soul SIdes // Mixtape Riot // Paris DJs // Voodoo Funk // With Comb & Razor // Analog Africa // Brazilian Nuggets // Funky 16 Corners // Musica Del Alma // Breath of Life // Music for Robots // Flux Blog // Like A Throttle // Good Records // Dust & Grooves // Soul Spectrum // Monone's Library // Superfly // Home of the Groove // Loronix // Daptone // Numero Group // Truth & Soul // Ubiquity // Soundway // The Fader //
Grain Edit // Kitsune Noir // The Dieline // Typographics // Typophile // We Made This // Ace Jet // Steven Harrington // Damien Correll // Mike Perry // Chuck Anderson // Nate Duval // Chloe Aftel // Alex Lucas // Adrian Johnson // ISO50 // Burlesque of North America // You Work For Them // FPO // Tim Gough // Frank Chimero // Petit Collage // Wayne Pate // Si Scott // The Heads of State // Aesthetic Apparatus // The Small Stakes // Invisible Creature // Lab Partners SF // Micah Smith
