I was lucky to be asked to participate in the Manifest Equality show in LA earlier this month. The whole show was surrounding the idea of equality and equal rights for all. This was my piece for the show, “100 Faces”.
I still have a few posters left you can find them here
Speaking of posters. Shepard Fairey (who has created a number of things including his recent and wildly successful poster for Obama) is at it again and in a way hasn’t strayed far from the hope and change theme. This poster celebrates the Dalai Lama who is a tireless champion for peace and human rights. Currently exiled from Tibet in the face of repression from the government of China (the energies of which might be better spent keeping lead out of toys and formaldehyde out of milk than keeping the Dalai Lama out of Tibet) the Dalai Lama has become a fascinating public figure and a worthy subject for a poster entitled Compassion. Obviously I’m not the only one who thinks so since the 500 prints Shepard made sold out in a matter of hours.
Not sure how much exposure these got in print ads around the UK or at the event, but these posters by Tavis Coburn for last months BAFTA awards (British Academy of Film & Television Actors) are awfully nice. One for each Best Picture nomination. Kay as long as we’re on the subject, why do books turned movie always say Now A Major Motion Picture? Major? As opposed to what? God.
But these posters are sweet. Thanks Slashfilm and BlackBook.
Bill Mauldin’s cartooning career took him through World War II, the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam, winning him two Pulitzer Prizes and a Purple Heart along the way.
A selection of his work has been screen printed onto t-shirts to raise money for The Soldiers Project, which focuses on giving free psychological treatment to soldiers going to and coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Oh, and if you want to know what I imagine my dad to have looked like around 1940, I refer you to the cowlick and smirk above.
i love love love these sweet illustrations that natalie did of her kitties, inspired by the super awesome pet illustrations of andrew bannecker. i may have to follow suit; my kitties, millie and june, deserve their likenesses in such an adorable manner.
speaking of my kitties, because i have a (slightly crazy) tendency to sing variations of “hey jude” to june (i’m sure you can guess how i got there) and love the beatles, bill sent me a link to this awesome beatles flowchart from love all this. fantastic.
I remember back in junior high school when it was cool to write and draw on your shoes I just don’t remember seeing anything this cool. Charlotte Mann typically draws on people’s walls with her magic markers which would have gotten you suspended in jr. high but which is apparently the next big interior design trend…. You heard it here first.
Diego Rivera did some wonderful frescoes but I didn’t truly fall in love with his work until I had the opportunity to see a show of his amazing sketches at the San Francisco Art Institute (where he happens to have left one of his frescoes). There is something about a raw look at an artist’s creative process – before all the filtering for an audience happens – that is really marvelous to behold.
So it is with illustrator James Jean. Flipping through his online portfolio is like attending an extravagant concert listening to highly produced love songs. It’s breath taking work. Yet there is something about shuffling through his “SKETCH” section that is somehow more satisfying. Like sitting up close in a small acoustic setting where you can see the musician sweat and see that the heartache in the song is real.
Each of James’ sketch books is dated and described simply by its color or a letter. Immersion begins (as it should) with a handsome photo of the actual book showing the patina it acquired during its tenure. The experience proceeds with subject matter that is often less fanciful than his formal portfolio. Figure studies, people on the bus, writings… but I love the lose, gestural quality of the work and the thought. I imagine when he did these sketches he wasn’t thinking about me (in the abstract) at all. He was focused on the moment and how to represent it.
I am left to wonder why designers (so far as they differ from artists) are conditioned away from showing process in this way – favoring instead the polished end result. Limiting ourselves to a small number of samples within that criteria. Shying away even from polished work that wasn’t actually produced. Not only do I have piles of sketch books but endless folders and files full of work that was never published, printed or launched. By keeping all this work hidden away we deny everyone the chance to be an archaeologist of our creative legacy. Even more troubling is the idea that perhaps we miss the opportunity to let others fall in love with our work.