Sheldon Cotler is a NYC based artist whom I share office space with. He use to run Cotler Design, and also did editorial design at Time Life before that.
Riba is a cool looking 3D animated film. I like that it has a nice sepia tone look to it instead of the typical primary colors we so often see in animation. Check out the websoute for he film:
Poslish Poster features quite a few cool posters - but I love this page of Japanese film posters.
I discovered Mizna Wada via a website on gocco, a screen-printing system has been used in japan. Her own website is well worth checking out:
Special thanks to Peggy for helping me find this jem!
"Typography is the art of mechanically producing letters, numbers, symbols, and shapes through an understanding of the basic elements, principles, and attributes of design."
- Martin Solomon
Martin Solomon WAS typography. Yet for a giant in the field he was always very humble. He never let his talents go to his head, and part of his charm was that he was a very modest man.
I never had Martin as a teacher back when I went to Parsons (1983-87) but I knew from all of my friends that he was one of best in the field. Martin Solomon taught typography the old fashion way by making his students trace and render every single letter of a classic typeface. In an era of color xerox machines this struck us kids as very odd - but it's the one real way to learn typography. In addition to being a great type teacher he also wrote several good books on typography and did some great design work along the way.
There will be a service for him planned by the Type Directors Club scheduled for Wednesday evening, 10 May 2006 in the FIT Amphitheater.
Here is an official bio from a conference in 2002:
Graphic designer, artist, and educator Martin Solomon studied Communication design at New York University and Pratt Institute. During his first professional years he worked at advertising agencies BBDO and Doyle Dane Bernbach. He is the author of The Art of Typography; his area of major contribution to the contemporary graphic design industry. The typographical logos he designed for Hyundai, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco, Fisher Price, and Volvo Automobiles are recognized worldwide. Nowadays, he is the director of Martin Solomon Company, a business he founded in 1961 and is dedicated to teaching, exhibiting his work and participating in conferences around the world.
Going through my personal library I recently re-discovered a 1961 book titled "Design for You" by Ethel Jane Beitler and Bill C. Lockhart. My copy of this text book is from 1965, so the book must have had some readership back in the 60s. What's interesting to me is how general the book is in range, it gives an overview of the entire field of design from cover to cover, with the first few chapters on basic concepts followed by chapters on specific subjects like typography and poster design.
I don't think a book like this would do well today because it's so general, yet the concepts in the book still hold up today - because good design is good design - it doesn't matter if it's for a shower curtain print or a website HTML page layout. One of the problems I see today is that how to books are so specialized, that many people aren't aware of the general principals of design - however I would argue that knowing these today with websites, PowerPoint, and desktop publishing these concepts are even more important than in 1961.
Here are some scans from the book:
On Sunday I dropped into the Cinders Gallery and they had a nice show featuring Nikki McClure. Her work on display were created by a paper cutting technique, mostly featuring portraits as the subject matter. The works were like small jems both in quality and in scale, a perfect match to the scale of the Cinders Gallery. Her show runs until April 9th and is well worth checking out if you are wandering around Havemeyer:
Cinders Gallery
103 Havemeyer Street
Between Grand and Hope
Wed.-Fri. 2pm to 9pm
A cool showcase of sustainable contemporary design for the home is coming to Williamsburg, Brooklyn:
HauteGREEN will take place in Williamsburg, Brooklyn May 20-22, 2006, during the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. HauteGREEN 2006 will be curated by design writer Aric Chen, design entrepreneur and Treehugger founder Graham Hill, and design publicist/marketing consultant Kimberly Oliver. Designers living and working anywhere in the world are invited to submit their work for consideration.
HauteGREEN 2006
www.hautegreen.com
This is quite cool as it's nice to see a design even in the 'burg!
For info on the fair itself go to:
Emerging Artists: No Room to Grow
New York's preeminence as a creative capital could soon be in jeopardy, as emerging artists—an essential component of the city’s cultural sector—are being priced out of the city.
According to a recent Freelancer's Union report, the city's creative sector—comprised of artists, photographers, designers, composers and writers—is facing increasing economic uncertainty related to a lack of stable employment. Over 40 percent report making less than $35,000 last year, half have little to no personal savings, and over a third lack proper health insurance. Ninety percent cited "unstable income" as the major disadvantage of their chosen profession.
All these factors, the study suggests, means that the city’s creative class—including its emerging artists—may leave New York in favor of cities with a "lower cost of living and developing creative centers."
Being a fanboy at heart I was very happy to spot this robot themed street art on Bedford Avenue last weekend. Seeing thing like this make me happy that I live in Williamsburg! The street art was done to promote a gallery show which looks like fun:
The robots are sold at Cinders Gallery in Williamsburg:
www.cindersgallery.com
... and on September 8th 2006 Rrobots will be at the Mccaig-Welles Gallery in Williamsburg:
www.mccaigwelles.com
Photographed on April 30, 2006 with my handy (but dated low tech) Treo Cellphone Camera.
There's a new show coming up at the Cinders Gallery called "Everything Went Slanted" which features work by an artist called "Sto" (sample of artwork above). The opening will be Friday May 19th, from 7pm - 11pm. And the gallery is located at:
Cinders Gallery
103 Havemeyer st. store#2 (btwn Hope and Grand)
Brooklyn, NY 11211
The artist ws standing by her work so I got her card, which linked to her website. Her name is Kristy Lynn, and her work is well worth checking out. I hope she has a proper exhibit of her work in the near future, but until then you can go to her portfolio website:
Here are some samples of her work (I hope she has a show in Williamsburg, as I'd love to see her artwork upclose):
I just got this announcement rom the Stay Gold Gallery - it's a film screening and installation on street art:
OPEN AIR
Stay Gold Gallery is pleased to present the DVD release of Open Air, a documentary produced by Alyssa Natches and Lou Auguste about contemporary street artists, which will be presented in conjunction with an exhibition of new works by Michael De Feo, Faile, Skewville, Dan Witz, and Tiki Jay-One, all of whom are featured in the film. The opening reception will be held Friday, June 23rd, and the exhibition will continue through July 9th.
Alyssa and Lou were driven to produce Open Air out of their desire to achieve greater public understanding of an art form that is inherently wrought with contradictions. The fundamental disagreement between those that think of street art as vandalism and those who see it as a valid art form has become only more clouded as street art has grown to encompass much more than just spray-painted graffiti. The artists featured in the film demonstrate the range of forms that street art can take: from concrete castings and wood constructions to stencils and wheat pastings.
These artists also challenge the assumption that they are always working in opposition to the law. In fact, contemporary street artists are increasingly casting themselves in roles more akin to peoples advocate than public nuisance. As the film reveals, many seek to recapture the use of public space from big businesses whose quest for advertising opportunities has increasingly encroached on what was once publicly owned. On the other hand, much of this work that is placed deliberately in the public domain is still used unabashedly for the purpose of self-promotion.
Stay Gold Gallery
451 Grand Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718.599.7778
Gallery Hours
Fri. 1-4pm
Sat. & Sun. 12-5pm
This just in from Kristy Lynn:
Sorry for the last-minute news (I'm so bad about that!), but just wanted to let you know: I am going to hang some work at AG Gallery for their Salon de Expace event, starting tonight June 30th in Williamsburg, Brooklyn! This show will remain on view for the next 10 days, and they are open every day, so please check it out if you can!
AG Gallery
103 N.3rd Street (btwn Berry and Wythe Ave.)
Brooklyn, NY11211
718-599-3044
http://www.aboutglamour.net
Top Right: Idol/ Idle, oil, wax, mixed media on canvas, 9" x 12"
I just found this interesting article in the New York Times:
Yale Students Imagine the Future of Red Hook
A new show in the coalition’s gritty exhibition site tries to reimagine the future of Red Hook, taking account of the area’s waterfront location, on Upper New York Bay, and of trends in urban planning and architectural design. It is on view on weekends through Aug. 20 as part of the coalition’s summer show, “Food for ... a Feast for the Eyes.” The Red Hook exhibition arose from a spring-semester studio class at the Yale School of Architecture that was organized around the theme of urbanism, but unlike other academic exercises, it focused on more than the merely theoretical.
At first glance it sounds like a good idea, but looking at the two drawings made me have second thoughts. There was something very cold and science fiction like about the drawings shown in the article. To me that doesn't capture the warm human quality of Brooklyn. But then I think this touches a larger problem - the Yale architecture students don't like in Brooklyn, of course they don't understand the community. In fact what's odd is that there are plenty of art schools in New York City that might be better suited for the project. I'd love to see what students at Pratt which is located in Brooklyn would come up with as opposed to those stark drawings from Yale.
Of course this speaks to a larger issue, the fact that even the best of plans for Brooklyn are science fiction unless there is real money at work. The sad reality that I see in Williamsburg is that developers get a small plot of land and in trying to generate the greatest return put up the tallest and most ugly of buildings. What's sad is that while there are many laws governing real estate, good taste or what might fit into the community never seem to fit into the picture.
In the 60s Pop Art was all the rage, now in Williamsburg we have the "Poop Art" movement:
Suri Cruise’s Baby Poop Bronzed for Charity
"Bronzed baby shoes are out, and bronzed baby poop is in, for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes as they celebrate baby’s “first poop”. The commemoration of baby Suri Cruise’s first poop strives to be the evidence of her existence for a public yet to see photos of the superstar couple’s four month old infant. Suri Cruise’s commissioned bronzed baby poop goes on display August 30th at Capla Kesting Fine Art in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg gallery district and will be offered on eBay with the proceeds to benefit the March Of Dimes."
Show Dates - August 30 -September 9
Reception with the artist: Friday, September 8th 6-9pm
Capla Kesting Fine Art is located at:
121 Roebling St, 7-8 - Brooklyn, NY 11211
phone: 917-650-3760
Bedford Ave L Train at the corner of North 5th and Roebling.
Gallery Hours: Thursday - Saturday from 1:00 to 6:00 pm or by appointment.
...I just checked their eBay auction, there are already two bids and the starting price is $10.
My friends Barry Hoggard and James Wagner too have put together this upcoming show which is opening next Friday:
Dangling Between The Real Thing And The Sign In The Window
Dam, Stuhltrager
Williamsburg / Greenpoint
38 Marcy Avenue
718-387-9818
October 13 - November 13, 2006
Opening: Friday, October 13, 7:00PM - 9:00PM
"The art world of today appears to be dangling between the real thing and the superficial. Barry Hoggard and James Wagner, the curators of this show, have invited a small diverse group of artists whose work is about what they think and feel, and whose artistic vision is not bent toward what they think the market wants this month or this year. This approach was rewarded in their experience working with Susan Dessel during the months she was creating the work installed weeks ago in the gallery's rear garden, when the pair become keenly aware of the difference between what the artist does and what is accomplished by someone who is only concerned with the surface of things."
Also check out Barry's killer website ArtCal.net!
It's funny I know this building is a bit of a street art landmark, but I think I'm seeing more high end street art now in the Bowery/Soho area than in the last few years:
Last Hurrah for Street Art, as Canvas Goes Condo
"It was as if someone had told devotees of Picasso’s “Demoiselles d’Avignon” or Matisse’s “Dance” that the Museum of Modern Art had changed hands and would soon be shut down for residential redevelopment, with all the art inside to vanish as part of the deal.
In this case the art is not hanging inside the building but is splashed all over the walls outside, in spray paint, wheat paste, rubber, plastic, metal, cardboard and various other unidentifiable substances, a story-high gallery of graffiti and street art that seems to have grown almost organically (and mostly unimpeded by the authorities) over the last two decades.
Depending on your point of view, the hulking 19th-century brick building at 11 Spring Street in NoLIta, a former stable and carriage house, was either a stunning eyesore or one of the most famous canvases and lodestars in the world for urban artists. When those of the latter view heard recently that the building had been sold and would soon be gutted and converted into condominiums, they considered it the end of an era. Bearing their cameras, they began showing up at the building over the last few weeks in a kind of mournful procession."
My old friend Cindy Yoon and her sister have just opened up a very cool website which features customizable hip looking wall art for kids. They have an amazing range of cute character designs (YoonKids) which feature a wide range of themes from a singer in a gurl band to a Tae Kwon Do champ. Once you select your character you can change the hair and skin tone to personalize the artwork. Then just press a button and wallah!, custom decor for your child's bedroom arrives in a few weeks.
The site also features 'Yoonies' which are a line of cute animal themed characters, and some very nice looking silhouette designs that have a nice sense of style. Boys need not despair as an additional line of character is currently being designed. The prices for the custom decor are very affordable, and best of all a portion of YoonKids’ profits will be donated to the
nation’s largest children’s literacy organization — Reading Is Fundamental (RIF).
The website is at YoonKids.com.
My friend Resa Blatman is taking part in the Saatchi Showdown, please vote for her (and give her a 10):
I went to this event last year and it was quite the enjoyable scene:
Too Art for TV, Too
Second Annual Exhibition for New York's Animation Industry
Stay Gold Gallery
Friday, May 4th - May 25th 2007
Opening Reception: Friday, May 4th, 7pm-10pm
Special DJ guest: Mikael "DJ Ronny Monstrous" Jorgensen
"Stay Gold Gallery is pleased to present Too Art for TV, Too, the Second Annual Exhibition for New York's Animation Industry. 35 artists, by way of toys, comics, prints, and paintings, liberate the skills otherwise "owned" by their television networks bosses.
In January of 2006, Too Art for TV opened as the first of this annual event. Drawing in an excited, elbow-to- elbow crowd of artists, illustrators, filmmakers, animators, and gallery goers, Too Art for TV unquestionably demonstrated the wide spread appeal of animation inspired art.
Animation artists are experts in monsters, robots, villains, and the changing genres of pop influence. They are the lusty consumers of graphic novels, toys, video games, art books, and the many incarnations of obsessive geek culture. Their careers make them excellent drafts-people, skilled at drawing and well adapted to the latest design technologies. Loaded with influences and abilities, their works when combined create an umbrella movement for pop surrealism, geek-core, graffiti, low-brow and the finer arts.
Stay Gold gallery has always had a place in my heart because it's the closest gallery to my apartment which is on the wrong side of the BQE. I'll be sad to see Stay Gold move:
"Stay Gold Gallery would like to to announce that after 4 1/2 years we will be moving from our space at 451 Grand Street. We are currently negotiating a new space and fully plan on continuing our mission to nurture up-and-coming ART and MUSIC ! We will be taking a small break to build and will re-surface in the fall. We will also be accepting submissions for outdoor sculpture. Please send email submissions ONLY to the address below.
Our current show, "Too Art for TV, Too," (May 4th, 2007- May 25th, 2007) will be the last at the current space, and we will be moving out May 31st. This weekend, May 26th and 27th, be sure to stop by our sidewalk sale. MUSIC, FOOD & DRINKS! 12-5pm both days. We would like to thank everyone who has come to our openings, and especially those who have bought artwork. Please continue to check our website and read our updates. We will let you know when we have news. See you at the opening of our new space!"
It's always fun for me to discover a bit of Williamsburg where I least expect it! This weekend I was covering the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Arts 2007 Art Festival and I came across this amazing animation of a couple finding love on the L train. So of course I had to ask the folks behind the desk where they were from and it was my beloved hood. The name of their website is Love Bound Train which is well worth checking out (even if it's still being put together what I saw was quite cute). I was also blown away by all the little goodies on their table:
Here are some samples of the neat things they're selling on their site:
Shown above is a nice animated collage music video by my friend Theresa J.
This is a new video from my old friend Theresa J. Everything on the video is her - the lyrics, the music, the singing, and the video. She did a nice job with the lighting which is always hard to pull off with video (as opposed to good old fashioned film stock).
I love this short film by Angel Yau, it's a wonderful gem of a self portrait.
I love the design on these opening titles for the Dick Cavett Show from the late 60s.
Found via tvdays.com.
Christmas is over but this animated video by Angel Yau is a wonderful self portrait. The film has some very crude production values but that's very much it's charm, it's one of the few short films that ever made me want to cry.
I came across the cute looking stationery set above while looking April 2008 offerings from Dark Horse:
"As a kid, Red Tango founder Cynthia Petrovic drew animals and made cartoons and flip books. As an adult she progressed from portraiture to animation, and joined the ranks of TV animators at Warner Brothers. After many years of honing her skills, Cynthia decided to create a line of products featuring her wacky, retro artwork. Now we’re delighted to team with her to add a journal and stationery set to her line."
If you ever see street art with a tag (like unplate shown above) just go to Flickr and do a tag search on the artist's name. I'm always amazed at how much I discover...
Photographed December 30th, 2007.
What a great idea! Design Police is a website that allows graphic designers to print out labels so they can critique examples of bad design that they see in public.
Found via Waxy.org: Links.
The other day WOXY Vintage was playing the old 80s not-quite-a-hit-song Monster by B-52s front-man Fred Schneider. So on a lark I dug up the music video which I haven't seen in eons — and looking through the video I got a nice surprise: There are few shots featuring none other than 80s art great Keith Haring!
It brought to mind that in the 80s that it was pretty common to have a fun guest star to a cameo - and this wouldn't just be some like Leonard Nimoy, but also fine artists like Andy Warhol (note this is the uncensored version of the music video):
By the way the blond lady at the start of the video is none other than Dianne Brill who was a fixture of the 80s club scene in NYC.
Tar and Feather is an erotic photographic art book published in a limited edition by talented locals Ned and Aya Rosen which is well worth checking out. I've been following Ned and Aya for a few years now on Flickr and I've always loved the power of their work.
I've always loved the intimate scale of Cinders Gallery (located at 103 Havemeyer St.), it's like a little candy store of art delights. Right now there's an enjoyable installation titled Unsung which is by George Ferrandi and John Orth and runs until December 28th.
I always tend to think of Spoonbill & Sugartown as more of an arts bookstore, but as small as it is there's a section in the back (near the inside mall entrance) which has nothing but children's books. It's a small selection, but all the classics are there. If you had a kid I wouldn't say that it was "destination worthy" because of it, but on the other hand it makes the place a bit more friendly than most places on the Bedford strip which are aimed more at twentysomething hipsters.
This page contains an archive of all entries posted to The Williamsburg Nerd in the The Arts category. They are listed from oldest to newest.
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