“Don’t Worry – Be Curious!” is one of the most wonderful titles of an art exhibition I’ve ever come across. Art has many shapes and forms and purposes (or sometimes none) and at its best it has the ability to open our eyes and see to the world differently. Sometimes that means being made aware of pain and injustice that we have previously ignored, and sometimes it means seeing beauty and possibility in our daily grind. (more…)

By Brockett Horne

Image: Chris Jordan’s Plastic Bottles, 2007 (detail)

This summer, I’m pondering the enormous weight of numbers:
426,000 cell phones retired every day
9 million American children with no health insurance
12000 plastic bags are used every minute
400,000 plastic water bottles tossed every minute
$60 to fill up my Honda with gas! Ouch!

Artist Chris Jordan presents compelling images that overwhelm with the magnitude of collective consumption. His haunting photographs depict, through repetition, our incomprehensible mass imprint on the world. His images really function as infographics, and illustrate statistical data through the lens of the camera just as effectively as a chart or graph. (more…)

Eye Saw

Last week, 40 international graffiti artists and lots of enthusiastic amateurs proved that a little paint and color really can cheer up the dreariest place. (more…)

Money is associated with many things, but beauty is not usually one of them. However, in his fascinating project “Neutral Currency”, artist Peter Simensky transforms ordinary, dog-eared bills from unstable currencies into gorgeous hand-assembled collages that are printed into limited edition series. The kaleidoscopic mish-mash of pastel-colored faces and national symbols create a provocative imagery that is rich with meaning. The design of each bill is based around a theme such as “revolution”, “visionaries”, “nature vs. industry”, and others. (more…)

Lumen Eclipse is an outdoor media arts project located in Harvard Square, MA. Works produced by local, national, and international artists are displayed on two large screens in the square, thereby encouraging public interaction with motion-based art. The project also exists online. At lumeneclipse.com, visitors can view artworks, read artist interviews, and learn about upcoming events. Updated monthly, the exhibitions feature original works that celebrate creative motion through animation, video, film, and motion graphics.

Lumen Eclipse is currently reviewing pre-produced work from established and emerging visual artists looking to showcase their work in a public forum. There is also an artist-in-residence program that comes with a stipend of $2,000. More information about these opportunities can be found here.

via coolhunting

Last weekend at the Orange County Museum of Art, a friendly and well-meaning volunteer docent inquired whether I was writing a school report, and proceeded to introduce some of the pieces on display in the current ‘Imaging + Imagining California’ exhibit. Alighting on a piece by John McCracken called Dream (Chartreuse Green), 1988-92—a leaning, gleaming, fiberglass plank—she gamely explained that even though it might not look like it, it was, in fact, art.

What struck me about the exchange, other than the delightful thought that I might look like an undergrad, was her perceived necessity to prove the importance of a Minimalist art object to someone she thought was a student of art. She wasn’t far off base: her concern echoed the theme of many discussions I had with my Illustration students in the Media, Art and Design program at the University of Westminster in London. Even after nearly half a century’s worth of art movements and theory that have proven the staying power of conceptual work, these budding designers were skeptical about the value of work that needed to be seen in the context of history to be fully understood. This skepticism was part of an overall reluctance (only at first, of course; they were smart kids) to see history and theory as an important component of their work as designers.

But what’s the possibility of producing meaningful design work without understanding art and design history? Pretty much none. (more…)

An exhibition of work by Artemio Rodríguez. Featuring prints, illustrated books, skateboard decks, short animated films

Last Friday, I attended the grand re-opening of La Mano Press, an artist-run printmaking collective in the arts district of downtown Los Angeles. The night featured the travelling print exhibition, ‘Graphic Reality: Mexican Printmaking Today,’ curated by La Mano frontman Artemio Rodriguez, as well as a selection of prints, illustrations, skateboard decks and short films by Rodriguez himself collected under the name ‘Print Bites.’ Best of all was the unveiling of the customized 1968 Impala dubbed ‘Muerto Rider,’ emblazoned with black and white woodcut-style graphics and the bearing the rallying cry ‘We are the defenders of the Cheeseburger’ along the side door.

Muerto Rider Translation: Dead Rider. A customized 1968 Impala

‘Graphic Reality’ debuted at the International Print Center New York’s (IPCNY) gallery space in Chelsea last November. Rodriguez claims that the criteria for artist participation were both medium—all of the artists are primarily printmakers, not conceptual artists dabbling in the method—and age. Bringing together a relatively young group of artists (born between 1962 and 1981) gives the collected work a fresh, unified generational context, while also setting into relief the anachronism of young artists deliberately choosing to produce work in such highly traditional methods. For example, LA native Rogelio Gutierrez, the youngest exhibitor, creates litho portraits with stone instead of metal whenever possible. Jiving with the intentions of a studio dedicated to spreading awareness of traditional printmaking, the exhibition focused on themes of continuity and historical awareness through method, despite the highly varied personal inquiries of each piece of work. (more…)

I just read a great interview with illustrator/animator Kao Lee Thao.

Kao mentions that the one theme that resonates in her work is the swirl, ‘…the swirl is a symbol of proportional perfection but what I’m drawn to more is the visual appearance of having no beginning or end is could easily travel on forever. A swirl has an underlying energy that dissipates from the central origin and reaches out to the viewer.

Check out Kao Lee Thao’s swirls as she gets ready to launch her personal website soon at www.innerswirl.com.

The New York Times writes about Andy Warhol’s grave located in quiet Bethel Park, PA. Imagining the design of memorial marker for any famous artist seems like a worthy conceptual activity (or at least a feature in MAD Magazine), but something about Warhol’s work itself seems to almost demand he be given an parodic (at worst) or referential (at best) headstone. Although Warhol did arrange for his grave to be maintained, if he designed his own headstone, it’s certainly unlike his other work. Fans, however, evolve and build upon the headstone, by adding items such as soup cans and (inexplicably) pocket change. More on his grave here

Ottawa-based graphic artist Eric Chan marries technology to groovy colorscapes that bring the world of the yellow submarine into the here-and-now. Chan uses generative programs of his own creation to output compositions that are chock full of movement, which is no surprise since music serves as inspiration. Chan manages to combine elements of street art, Japanese prints and graphic design to create eye candy that translates quite well into function – if his designs for a Harvey Nics’ line of belts is anything to go by!

via mocoloco.com