The Manifest Equality show kicks off this week in LA and will run from March 3rd through the 7th. I was invited to exhibit in the show after having exhibited in the Manifest Hope show during the Democratic National Convention. Manifest Equality’s focus is encouraging the equalization of civil rights for the gay community. It’s an issue I have strong feelings about. It’s my opinion, and you can call this liberal or whatever you like that under the constitution as citizens, so long as we are not breaking the law we should have equal rights to pursue happiness however we see fit. If there is any one group in this country, a supposed ‘free’ country who does not have those equal rights, then it is a threat to the rights of all the people and any other group could be singled out to have their rights revoked. This falls outside of the moral spectrum and lives in the realm of the private life. Sexuality and the expression of sexuality as well as the pursuit of relationships should be the right of every free person under a democratic state.
The original posters I created focused on a particular part of the male anatomy that I see as the central problem in the gay rights equation. The minute this bit of anatomy rears it’s head (yes, a pun is intended) is the minute everyone ruffles and loses their nerve. I am a married hetrosexual man who was raised in a very small town in Nebraska in a conservative household, but I have never understood this. I am not bothered by this part of the anatomy or what people choose to do with it. So I decided to put that right out front and make people have to face it head on (again, pun intended) and spend a moment thinking why it makes people so uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the posters (which I went to the trouble of having 100 screen printed and shipped to LA) were rejected on the grounds of being ‘too graphic’ and controversial for display.
Needless to say, I was very disappointed and lashed out by sending some angry emails Shepard Fairey and Ron English’s way. It was a snap judgement that I should have considered before jumping to and Fairey wasn’t very happy with my email. In retrospect, I know there is a time and place for everything. After speaking at length with the show organizer Yosi Sergant, I realized this just wasn’t the right place to be hanging a giant red, white and blue prick. Shepard Fairey remarked that I should ‘take it to the streets’ and maybe he is right. My point was that I felt some of the work should be provocative and angry in tone if this really is a ‘civil rights issue’. I think as a nation we have grown far too apathetic and just ‘accept’ a lot of the laws handed down to us by our government. Our government works for us. We do not work for them. If you want change in this country, you have to get out there knock on the Whitehouse door and say, ‘we the American public, want this to change now!’
So, I revised my work and created a new poster, which you can see at the top of this post that will now be exhibited at the show. It turned out alright, but I still think it lacks the teeth of the original posters which were really created to provoke the issue as a political one that begs a public outcry. I decided not to attend the show after losing out on my investment in printing the posters, but I do wish all the artists exhibiting the very best of luck, and I will be hoping the show is a huge success. It will be interesting to see the rest of the artists work from the show once images begin to hit the web. If you are in LA, the show opens Wednesday from 11am until 6pm at 1341 Vine Street. If you can be there, I wouldn’t miss this one. It should be a thought provoking event, and might I suggest standing outside and waiving one of my posters in the air?
My old friends at Agency Net have burned even more midnight oil than usual to launch a new and spectacular version of their website that now also features a view of their Manhattan office. I was there a year back or so working on the last version of Own Your C and just had the time of my life. They were responsible for co-concepting, designing and developing both versions of Own Your C. It’s a tough thing to materialize something from a concept thrown at you by and ad agency but they managed to do it brilliantly every time we called them. I can’t say enough good things about them and their staff. I made some real friends there and the owner and founder, Rich is one of the more inspiring and motivated people I have met in my life. They pour their hearts into every project they take on and take their work extremely serious scrutinizing every last detail. I wish desperately that I will have the opportunity to work with them again in the future. They are wonderful people from top to bottom (NYC all the way down to Fort Lauderdale). Hey Agencynet, give me a ring. I miss you.
Oil painter Gglennray Tutor paints mind-numbing trompe l’oeil landscapes that are so meticulous in detail it’s almost hart to imagine they could be accomplished by the human hand. There are so many things at work here, light, form, dimension and pop culture.
Danish artist Anders Clausen is currently exhibiting an interesting set of collage works at Hotel about the influence of operations systems and interfaces. He is particularly interested in the notion of scrolling which I can easily identify with and would imagine you can too considering the fact you are currently reading a blog.
Artist Jon Todd takes eastern and latin cultural influences and throws them in a blender ending with a mishmash of references that evoke a sense of familiarity while managing to still seem exotic. Anecdotal sidebar: I have dressed as a luchador 2 years in a row for Halloween.
Breed London is representing some extremely talented individuals from the design and illustration industry. The roster includes people like Si Scott, Steve Wilson, James Joyce and MASA to name a few.
Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight is currently hosting an exhibition that brought the memories flooding back. The theme of the show is He-Man, the toy cult phenomenon that so many young boys became devoutly engaged in. I was way into He-Man as a child and had practically every character in my toybox. I even used to make my own custom He-Men by taking them apart, making new costumes and weapons with plastic soda bottles. I would even melt new parts onto my He-Men toys by heating them in the microwave (sounds toxic now). Anyway, as you can see the show is featuring the work of several artists, all of whom interpreted a beloved part of their childhood in a different and unique way.
Rob Ford has relaunched an entirely new version of the Favourite Website Awards. The newest version focuses on the latest nominee and reduces some of the visual clutter from the last iteration of the site. The site itself is good enough to make FWA only it can’t because that would be some kind of crazy paradox in the internet space time continuum that could result in a butterfly effect.
Brazilian Art Director Vinicius Costa has updated with a slick new website full of even slicker work. He is currently in the employ of 1st Avenue Machine and specializes in visual effects.
I stumbled across the unusual and highly individualized stylistic fashion illustrations of Laura Laine this morning. She definitely has a point of view and each of her illustrations serves as an individual piece of art.
Berlin-based André Gottschalk has a strong body of both design and illustration work. Rarely do you see someone so equally rounded at both disciplines as both sides of the spectrum in his portfolio are worth looking into. He is definitely someone to keep an eye on.
New York design studio Project Projects has updated with a new site and newly added projects to their roster of projects. Rob Giampietro has also recently joined as principle. The work looks amazing and 2010 will no doubt be a great year for them.
Richmond, Virginia- based design studio Serious & Ly don’t just just have a clever name, they have an equally clever portfolio of work with some especially considered web design.
Sorry for the copy and pasting but sometimes it just doesn’t make sense to rewrite something that the creative author obviously spent so much time putting together. Better left to their own words on this one. Amazing little video:
“1923 is one of two new animation loops directed by Max Hattler, inspired by the work of French outsider artist Augustin Lesage. 1923 is based on Lesage’s painting ‘A symbolic Composition of the Spiritual World’ from 1923.
The second loop, 1925, is based on Lesage’s painting ‘A symbolic Composition of the Spiritual World’ from 1925. It will be available soon.
The films were created during 5 days in February 2010 with animators and CG artists at The Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark.”
Credits:
Director: Max Hattler
Technical Director: David René Christensen
Sound: Blake Overgaard
Previz/Layout: Thorvaldur Gunnarsson
Modelling: Thorvaldur Gunnarsson, Arnold Bagasha, Blake Overgaard
Animation: Casper Michelsen, Mikkel Vedel, Thorvaldur Gunnarsson, Blake Overgaard, Arnold Bagasha
Produced by maxhattler.com & The Animation Workshop
More here:
animwork.dk maxhattler.com
Counter-Objects is the sister store to Counter-Print and features some equally thoughtfully curated art and design goodies that I am sure a lot of us would love to get our hands on. There are some posters available from some my favorite designers and illustrators that I didn’t even realize were still in circulation. I discovered the site via a link back to Changethethought and for that I thank them very much.
The music for this short film was made entirely from sounds recorded from a collection of antique cameras. The imagery is comprised of over six thousand still photos shot and edited together via stop motion animation.
It’s been a very long while since I last dropped in on the work of former Designers Republic member Martin Fewell. He has since been busy working on all sorts of new projects for his Manchester-based studio Yolo and you can view the results of his labor via a long scroll at his blog-style portfolio site
03/15 MEXICAN DRUG WAR The FBI has vowed to help Mexican officials in an escalating violent war with rival drug cartels that claimed the lives of 2 American employees of the consulate in the Cuidad Juarez. Both were murdered after leaving a consulate social event. On Sunday, The State Department authorized the temporary departure of dependents of U.S. government personnel from the consulates in Ciudad Juarez along with five other northern border Mexican cities.
03/12 FIVERR The website Fiverr asks, in a very broad way, what would you do for 5 dollars? Or better yet, what could you get done for 5 dollars?
03/10 COREY HAIM DIES 80’s movie star Corey Haim passed at the age of 38 at a hospital in Burbank, California. Some reports have suggested the cause of death may have been an overdose as Haim struggled with drug addiction for years following his success.
02/27 ICEBERG ADRIFT A massive iceberg has struck Antarctica dislodging a gigantic block of ice measuring 48 miles (78 kilometers) long and about 24 miles (39 kilometers) wide and holds roughly the equivalent of a fifth of the world’s annual total water usage. Holy crap.
02/27 CHILEAN EARTHQUAKE A powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake has struck Chile with a death toll so far standing at 82.
