Archive for the ‘Features & Interviews’ Category
The ALT1977 series, by Bay Area illustrator Alex Varanese, recasts some of today’s most ubiquitous consumer technologies as the stars of imaginary magazine ads from the year 1977. When he’s not traveling in time Varanese does freelance and commission work for the likes of Nike, Fortune, CBS and Playboy, amongst others. He’s got several other equally wonderful galleries of work up on his website as well as some retrotastic free iphone wallpaper downloads. And there’s plenty of orange too. More after the jump.
New York based creative Jason Freeny has a unique specialty. He creates anatomical drawings of fictional characters. Freeny seems to be partial to dissecting toys and edible treats that bank on their cuteness. His work is summed up quite artfully in his online bio:
As to that last sentence, here’s hoping that one day Jason and the Jailbreak Collective can do a little product collaboration! In the meantime, there are a some buyable items available on his site. There are plenty more anatomies after the break, including gummy bears, Dunnies, Domos, Lego Men and a whole bunch of other unusual suspects.
While doing some online research on the relationship between drug use and creativity, I came across this story on a website called Cowboy Books. I’d actually read about this experiment years ago in my Psych 101 textbook. I remember finding it absolutely fascinating at the time but I’d totally forgotten about it since. The general premise is quite simple: A doctor (in the employ of the US government, of course) dosed an artist with acid. The artist was given an “activity box” full of crayons and pencils. Over the course of his trip the artist drew nine different portraits of the doctor and, along the way, reported on his psychological state as his trip and his portraits progressed. As you can see from the drawing on the left above, the artist is highly skilled, technically speaking. And as you can see from the drawing on the right, the acid has an absolutely remarkable effect on his work, leading him to pure abstraction. Click through to see the full experiment in chronological order.
You may have noticed our new tagline at the top of the page: “Infotainment for Creatives”. The Jailbreak is evolving and expanding in scope. More and more, we’ve come to realize that the glue that holds the Jailbreak community together is not just “art” or “products.” It’s “creativity,” which, of course, comes in various forms. Our intention is to focus on professional creativity – in particular, those industries and niches where the Creatives typically go uncelebrated and remain behind the scenes. In our real lives, here in Brooklyn, we have the good fortune of being surrounded by an enormous and vital community filled with Creatives of all stripes. Some write, some draw, some make costumes , some animate, some teach… The list goes on and on and on. Even though we all do different things and work in different fields, we all find ourselves in the same larger scene, which often leads to unexpected thoughts, ideas and inspirations coming our way. Just by being exposed to each other we make each other better. Our aim with the blog is to try to replicate that community’s energy here. We’ll be experimenting over the coming months as we try to figure out how to best achieve that goal but one thing we know we’ll be doing is looking all around for examples of professional Creatives with top-notch skills so we can feature their work and their stories on our pages because it seems like a good way for us to start getting to know each other. So here goes… The illustration above is by Mark Summers, a Canadian illustrator who specializes in a style called scratchboard which is feels instantly familiar because of its use on money and in newspapers. Summers is obviously a master of the technique. He’s done covers for Time, corporate work for Eddie Bauer and Parker brothers, and book covers for classics by Dickens, among other things.
We discovered Mark’s work on Behance. In addition to a fairly extensive gallery of his work, there is contact info and a brief bio that are all worth checking out. After the jump, we’ve posted a selection of his works from that site as well as a little “How To” explaining his scratchboard technique. It seems that Mr. Summers shares our love of caricaturing historical personalities …
“Humunga” Dog ‘Stache — Think Geek ($9.99) For what it’s worth, I think Tom Selleck has the most impressive famous moustache ever, followed closely by Hulk Hogan, Salvador Dali, and Sasha Baron Cohen in character as Borat. In terms of non-celebrity moustaches, some of the guys from the world beard and moustache championships should probably be considered. Besides being a popular lifestyle accoutrement, the moustache is also utilized always and often by product designers looking to create something fun and recognizable. Look below for 16 products — from handkerchiefs to mugs to pencils and snow globes — inspired by the iconic moustache. Think we’ve missed a great moustache product? Drop us a line and let us know. Discuss: Who do you think wears the best moustache? Grenade Salt and Pepper Shakers (Thatbo — $15.00) Weapons are some of the most universally recognizable objects in existence which makes their signature shapes perfect for adaptation by product designers looking to mass produce an item with instinctive appeal. While guns, grenades and such are generally associated with war and violence, that same fact makes their transformation into innocuous gift items ideal. It’s a quick and dirty recipe for edgy designs. Included below are 22 different Weapons of Mass Production, from gun fans to lightsaber chopsticks and samurai sword umbrellas. Check ‘em out, and please feel free to write us if we’ve missed any gems.
Above: Ice Invaders (Fred; $7.99) There has been a pervading trend at the last few major gift fairs (in both New York and Hong Kong) and that, my friends, is silicone ice cube trays. The material lends itself enviably to the product, as it can be easily molded into anything you can dream up. So with a burgeoning fad in mind (and in the spirit of summer’s imminent arrival), we’ve compiled a list of 21 of the hippest ice cube trays available. While the good folks at Fred have the market cornered pretty well, there’s always room for new ideas. If you have one, please leave a comment below. Who knows? We might just end up making it (with some profit and credit going your way of course). *There’s also a bonus World Cup-inspired tray at the end, so make sure you scroll the whole way!
They just don’t make lunchboxes like they used to — and it’s a shame because the vintage ones (and their accompanying thermoses, too) are brilliant reminders of popular culture during the era from which they came. Look into the vault (read: Google) and find a lunchbox, presumably from the 1950s, showing James Arness, gun drawn and atop a horse, from Gunsmoke. The 1960s are represented by The Munsters, The Beatles and Planet of the Apes; the 70s have The Dukes of Hazard and Welcome Back, Kotter; the 80s Pac-Man and Return of the Jedi; the 90s Dumb and Dumber; and the 2000s Wall-E and Kill Bill. And those were just some of the ones I was able to find cataloged in various places online.
Ahead of the exhibit, Leavitt was kind enough to sit down with the Jailbreak for a lengthy interview. Inside he discusses his early departure from Pratt Institute in New York City, the origins of his brilliant Art Army series, and whether or not JonBenĂ©t Ramsey is yet fair game for edgy artistic immortalization. Leavitt is a unique breed of artist. Thus far more concerned with continuing to hand-make each of his pieces than, say, mass market them for global consumption. His work is accessible and draws on historical characters that have impacted the way he views the world — from his accurate yet caricatured sculptures of Andy Warhol and Banksy, to his series of satirical Wedding Cake Toppers that poke fun at people like John and Yoko and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. All in all, Leavitt is primed for a major breakout. His work and execution (in both concept and finished product) are too impressive and relevant not to be considered on par with some of the most popular contemporary visual artists working today. If nothing else, his pieces depict those same artists. So it’s a win-win for him either way. Please click through to read the interview in its entirety. * * * Jailbreak Collective: What was the first piece you ever sculpted? Mike Leavitt: It was, haha, myself. That was me. I did myself in a performance art costume I used to wear. When I was still in college, and a few years after that, I was a push-button performer. I would go out as a robot with VCR buttons on my chest, or a CD-player, with play, stop, faster, slower, and I would just do music, poetry and singing all based on people out in the street pushing my buttons to control me; whether they wanted me louder or quieter or whatever.
Seeing our Little Giants in production was one of the more eye-opening experiences I’ve ever had. We have collectively become so passive in our consumption of products that we fail to understand and appreciate the human touch that goes into making the things we buy. I’m as guilty of this as anyone else, but it’s like we imagine some magical robot in a distant land (read: China) that has a massive red button that someone presses and BAM! a toy appears. The truth couldn’t be further from reality. Once we’ve done all the hard work, of actually conceiving, sculpting and decorating each character, the sample travels to our factory in China. It is examined and dissected and finally a tool is made that will efficiently and expertly mass produce the product. This process can take weeks and sometimes months, and is perhaps the most important (and expensive) behind-the-scenes step in the manufacturing line. Next, the tooling machine is stuffed with PVC (one of the most-used plastics in the world), and a person must be present to pull a lever and turn the melted plastic into an immaculate and colorless version of the character — right down to Frida’s mustache and Picasso’s signature forehead lines. But still, the sculptures don’t pop out in one solid piece; some of them must then be assembled, if their faces were molded separately from their heads, for example. The rest of the process can include 50 to 100 steps, depending on the intricacy of paint decoration. While some toys are adorned with decals, the Little Giants are painted, one-by-one, by a person in our factory. It was crazy to see because literally each eye is placed under a machine and dotted in black or red or fuchsia or whatever color we choose. So yes, there is technology at work here, as a computer has programed it to do so, but if it weren’t for the tireless efforts of real, live human beings, our products could never exist. After the factory has repeated the above steps, in this case to produce give-or-take 25,000 pieces, they must be sent to another location to be tested for various safety regulations. During the interim, the packaging, which we weren’t able to see, is printed and assembled and each piece is placed inside. Finally some four-to-six months later, the figures are driven to the docks in Hong Kong and placed on a boat. Three weeks later they arrive in Los Angeles, and barring any customs issues, they are then sent to our warehouse in Texas. Then you, the customer, presses a magical button on a computer screen and five days later an Einstein figure is sitting on your desk. It’s as simple as that. Check out tons of photos below. -Quincy
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