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Our friend and soon-to-be-collaborator Mike Leavitt just wrapped up his excellent show, “Art Army Royalty,” at New York City’s Jonathan LeVine Gallery. To say it was a success would be a mild understatement, as Leavitt sold almost all of the 20-some original pieces he created for the occasion and received tons of press from the notoriously fickle and difficult-to-impress New York media community. One piece of noteworthy love was his placement atop New York Magazine’s infamous “Approval Matrix,” which each month designates different tangents of popular culture into four categories: despicable and highbrow, despicable and lowbrow, brilliant and highbrow and brilliant and lowbrow. (The second-to-last — top right — houses Mike and his Chuck Close action figure.) Congrats, Mike. I’m vicariously checking off appearing on the Approval Matrix from my bucket list. Wait, is that allowed?
Spain-born, London-based graphic designer Genis Carreras — that’s right, dude’s name is one letter short of spelling “genius” — recently published a neat journal called “Philographics,” which attempts to explain various philosophical perspectives through painstakingly simple (ahem, minimal) designs and a paragraph of descriptive text. I think there’s something refreshing about this concept, although the overuse of minimal-this and minimal-that online these days makes me yawn. (That Carreras is attempting to educate rather than simply drive pageviews might be the key to my appreciation.) Check out the entire set on Behance.
Ice cream sundae? Think again. This image is one of photographer Jasmin Schuller‘s “Sweet Meats,” a series of photographs that tricks the brain into thinking you’re looking at something delicious when in reality what you’re lusting after is actually very, very disgusting. Artistically, we dig it. The affect it’s having on my stomach so close to lunch time? Not so much. Check out more Sweet Meats after the break. (iGNANT via Today & Tomorrow) To be honest, I’m pretty sick of the whole “hipster as punching bag” trope in popular culture. It’s played out. Regurgitated. The same five things said over and over again to describe a sub-genre of twentysomethings that for the most part minds its own business. Yes, the pabst-filled playgrounds of Williamsburg and Portland are packed with them. We know this. So, people, don’t spend your free time there if you’re offended, and certainly don’t move there. Generally, I think we collectively (read: the entire Internet and most of the world) need to take a step back and remember what our mothers once said: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” All ranting aside, I kinda adore this video by two muppets called Glove and Boots, which traces the evolution of the hipster. I like that it doesn’t depend on redundancies and instead provides a fresh, albeit half-baked, perspective: the hipster didn’t just rise from the ashes of a pack of Parliaments, it evolved over time — starting with the caveman and finalizing itself somewhere around the yuppie. Check it out. –Quincy (via Laughing Squid) Social Media Propaganda Posters by Aaron Wood
Posted:
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
in Art, Design, Facebook, People, pop culture, posters, Stuff, The Internet
The other day Jason and I were walking back to the Jailbreak offices when we came across one of those chalkboard sidewalk signs that cafes and restaurants are so fond of these days. Living and working in Brooklyn we tend to pay nary attention to them, as they’re usually just advertisements for happy hour or $1 oysters, both things that we’re certainly interested in, but already know about because we Yelp everything before leaving our desks. Long story short, this sidewalk advert, which was in front of an unnamed “lounge” on Union St., was emblazoned from top to bottom with the colorful logos of various social media companies. It was ridiculous. Overdone. Completely unnecessary. All I want is an iced coffee and maybe a blueberry scone. I don’t need to interact with you on any website, let along multiple ones. We shared an exhausted glance, and as Jason asked, “What the hell is Gowalla?” I couldn’t help but feeling like all of this social media stuff seems at times like nothing more than 21st century propaganda. *** Timely then are these great social media propaganda posters by a guy called Aaron Wood. They’re available for $7.50 a pop on his Etsy page. Check out the entire set after the break.
Herman Miller and Japanese “botanic artist” Makoto Azuma have collaborated on the AstroTurf Chair, a spin on the former’s iconic Aeron chair, which is unique in its standing as one of only a few chairs to be included in the Museum of Modern Art’s Permanent Collection. According to Colossal, in the coming weeks the chair will be displayed at Miller’s recently opened Tokyo store. (Colossal via @JailbreakJason)
Los Angeles-based photographer Lorena Turner is a self-described “social scientist with a camera.” Her series Made in China is an examination of consumerism in the United States. Turner purchases products, dusts them for fingerprints and then photographs the object under a black light to try and tell a story about its creation. Above are a tape measure, two rubik’s cubes and the back of a clock. Here’s why:
It goes without saying that we love this project. I remember visiting our factories in China for the first time and being amazed by the number of people that are responsible for making just one of our products. I realized then that even though I’m in this business of producing, I’d never considered what goes into the creation of the things I buy. It’s an interesting dichotomy, and one that has certainly changed my views on consumerism, commercialism and my own personal desire to own “stuff.” I’ve contemplated adopting a minimalist lifestyle, but for the time being I’ve simply settled on getting rid of something I own everything I buy something new. And that feels good so far. Check out the rest of Made in China here. Spike Jonze directs another installment of The Continuingly Ill Adventures of the Beastie Boys, which find Action Figure versions of Ad-Rock, MCA and Mike D fighting off a gaggle of (probably Eastern European) bad guys, with a little assistance from a Yeti and the singer Santigold. The Inception/Team America-inspired short acts as video support of the Beasties’ song, “Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win” off their excellent album, Hot Sauce Committee Part II. Also awesome is their insistence on calling the plastic Beasties “action figures” and not “toys.” We’ve been known to do that, too. Thanks, Mike Dolan!
We’re digging these toy soldiers NYC-based artist Steve Nishimoto dressed up with skateboards instead of guns. Check out the other two after the break. (Mike Dolan via Jeremy Brautman via Dangerous Minds) Indie darling Sufjan Stevens directed this weird stop-motion video for his song “Get Real, Get Right” from the album The Age of Adz. Original artwork by Royal Robertson. Check it out. (via The World’s Best Ever)
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