I was pleasantly surprised to see that from the 23rd of October to the 5th of December this year the Zach Feuer Gallery in New York had a retrospective exhibition of works by the Pop artist, teacher and nun Sister Mary Corita.
One of my all time favorite image makers who sadly passed away in 1986 spent 30 years practicing as a nun at the Immaculate Heart Convent in Los Angeles where she also had an art studio and used her time to create screen prints and serigraphs.
Her work features a beautiful mix of type and image usually in bright or fluorescent colours. Newspaper photos, chopped up slogans and quotes, advertising images, jingles and hand rendered type all came together to illustrate political and world issues she felt strongly about with a great sense of playfulness and freedom
It has been said that she is “responsible in part for advancing the silk screen process as fine art”. I can only hope one day to see them with my own eyes. Maybe next time…
Alex Geoffrey
Posted on Thursday, 10th of December 2009 Permalink
Stephen Powers is a New York based artists who during his youth wrote graffiti under the name ESPO (Exterior Surface Painting Outreach). Powers work has always blurred the lines between graffiti and graphic design by producing murals influenced by advertising and sign writing, his public work often appearing to be legitimate billboards.
Today Stephen’s work is as intelligent and engaging as ever. For his latest project ‘A Love letter For You’ Stephen Powers has traveled back to his home town of West Philadelphia, this time with the funding and backing from the local authorities, to paint a series of murals on the rooftops where graffiti once stood visible from the elevated train lines. Sadly the original 1980s graffiti went unnoticed by the public and were all painted brown sometime during the mid nineties. Powers feels that the original more ‘traditional’ graffiti was alienating and that by creating work which is understandable and readable by all it will ultimately result in a greater acceptance from the general public.
The ‘A Love letter For You’ project is still in production. For the latest murals, info and pictures straight from the rooftops of West Philidelphia check out the blog here
Alex Geoffrey
Posted on Tuesday, 20th of October 2009 Permalink
While leafing through The New Yorker or The Economist over the past few months I’ve stopped to admire advertisements for IBM’s Conversations for a Smarter Planet. It’s a series of ads that tries to position Big Blue at the forefront of technological thinking, albeit through some quite retro design.
With the Swiss typography, white space and Rand-inspired iconographic illustration, these ads have more to do with IBM ads from fifty years ago, perhaps evoking a time when IBM were thought more progressive than they are now. They might be talking about the future but their design evokes the 1960s.
David Rainbird
Posted on Sunday, 27th of September 2009 Permalink
I recently came across this online. It’s a website dedicated to simplifying various film posters. Although you may not recognise a lot of them, it doesn’t take away from the pleasure of seeing these things translated so beautifully into basic geometric forms. If only everything in life could get the same treatment.
Alex Geoffrey
Posted on Thursday, 24th of September 2009 Permalink
This lovely piece was produced by Oliver Harrison at St Martin’s School of Art in 1988. Yup – that’s 21 years ago and seven years before Adobe released After Effects. It was adapted in 1989 for a Royal Mail ‘Letters of Love’ commercial for Valentine’s day and won a clutch of awards. The song is Amore Baciami (Kiss me, my love) by Lidia Martorana.
I used to have it on a dusty old VHS and have rued the day that I lost it, but mercifully it’s appeared on YouTube. Hopefully we’ll see more of Harrison’s early work online soon. Inspirational stuff then and now.
David Rainbird
Posted on Thursday, 23rd of July 2009 Permalink
Farrow has recently reprinted a limited run of the Haçidenda 15th Birthday poster, which they first produced in 1997. This was sadly the last birthday that the Haçidenda celebrated before shutting its door in the summer of the same year.
This beautiful poster design has been screen-printed on “Campaign MG Poster Paper (120 GSM) with Pantone 810, black, cool grey 9 and reflective ink”. You can see the printing process used to reproduce the poster here. It’s a shame they don’t capture the smell of the print!
John Alexander
Posted on Friday, 19th of December 2008 Permalink
Here’s a really nice Levi’s advertisement that I spotted down on Old Street. The ad is made up of different styles of real 501 jeans cut into the shape of butterflies. Check it out before it flies away!
John Alexander
Posted on Wednesday, 8th of October 2008 Permalink
In conjunction with the Street Art exhibition at the Tate Modern, various works
have appeared in the area surrounding the Fibre studio.
Artists from Spain, Italy, France and Brazil were all showing works at the gallery
and in the nearby streets. Some placed legally, some appear to have been done
without permission. Either way, the message would seem to be the same:
Street art’s ok so long as the perpetrator’s not from Britain.
In a decision I support, the gallery purposefully excluded Banksy in an attempt
to draw attention to other just as accomplished artists and aspects of the art
form. Just a shame I think not to celebrate some more of our own emerging
and already established talent.
A sneaky peek at Director Guy Ritchie’s two minute blockbuster for the new Nike Total 90 football boot. You can see the full version on ITV before Manchester United’s Champions League tie with Barcelona tonight. Influenced by Prodigy’s Smack my Bitch Up perchance?
Vikesh Bhatt
Posted on Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 Permalink
I spotted this on the way to work on Monday, it was put up the night before, a pretty cool horticulral adidas poster just under the bridge by Kingsland road London, unfortunately made with plastic plants but worth a look.
Vikesh Bhatt
Posted on Thursday, 24th of April 2008 Permalink
