Archive for the ‘Who’ Category
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.
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 … Nerdcore Rap? It’s new to us too but with lyrics like these, it’s pretty hard not to like: Misplaced the Ambien (first world problem)Left a participle dangling (first world problem) You’re scheduling your root canal (first world problem) Your grad schooling had no rationale (first world problem) You didn’t like your appetizer (first world problem) Your yacht got capsized (a first world problem) Nice to see some critical thought/humor wrapped up in such an appealing package. And don’t overlook the artist’s name: MC Frontalot. Pitch perfect. Full lyrics after the break.
Artist Shepard Fairey has collaborated with STRANGEco to release his first vinyl figure in over a decade. The figure, Mr. Spray, is is based on an original character created by Fairey in 2004 as a street-art appropriation of an advertising character design from the 1950s. Like many artists these days, Fairey, who has always made a point of making sure his art is accessible to the masses, is using the product as an alternative yet equally viable medium for his work. Mr. Spray is being released in four limited edition color variants: red, black, gold and silver. The first two, which are limited to 350 pieces each, are available now for pre-order ($84.00) through STRANGEco’s online shop. The gold and silver versions (shown below, limited to 200 and 100 pieces) are OBEY and STRANGEco special editions. The former’s pricing and release info are forthcoming, while the silver version will be available at Comic-Con 2010 in San Diego (July 22-25) and also through Strangeco.com. 
Shed Simove — author, performer, novelty gifts entrepreneur and all around Ideas Man — has just released the iNotePad, which really needs no further explanation. My fondness for Shed is less about what he makes than how he publicizes himself and each of his products. He seems to embody each creation, becoming like an actor, immersed in whatever he’s trying to sell. He’s impressive in his self-deprecation and shameless in his salesmanship. In the case of the iNotePad, which is being released through his brand Nice Pear™, Shed has transformed himself into both Jonathan Ive (Apple’s principal designer) — for a spoof of Ive’s now infamous iPad commercial (above) — and Steve Jobs. The latter finds Shed actually (and legally) giving himself a new name, HANS JOBS, an homage of sorts to Apple’s head honcho. Included below are some photos detailing the video’s creation, a few images of the iNotePad, and a copy of Shed’s legal name change form. The video is hilarious and well-conceived, so check it out!
The May 2010 issue of Interview Magazine contains an in-depth article about street-turned-gallery artist KAWS. The interview was conducted by Spidey himself, Tobey Maguire, who is a frequent collector (and friend) of the Williamsburg, Brooklyn-based artist’s work. Most interesting to us were the bits where KAWS revealed himself, when talking about his extensive and expensive toy creations, to be someone who does not differentiate product from art or art from product. Here’s the best quote:
KAWS = Product Artist? Very fascinating insight into arguably one of the 10 most influential American artists working today. Click through to read a portion of their conversation. Otherwise head over to Interview to read it in it’s entirety.
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 JonBenét 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.
Our real-life friend, Kerin Rose, has been making splash after splash in the fashion world of late with her eccentric eye-wear and accessory line, A-Morir. We think you need to know about her because her work is daring, original and way outside-the-box. She’s obviously pushing some creative boundaries with her concepts and, in so doing, she’s blurring the lines between low brow and high brow. Obviously, that kind of stuff is right up our alley, but we’re definitely not the only ones who are digging what Kerin’s got going on. So far, her hand-crafted shades have been rocked by Rihanna, Snoop Dogg, Mariah Carey, Katy Perry and Fergie, to name a few. (We can name drop for a friend, right?)
Envelop is an online platform, physically based near Antwerp, Belgium, that provides illustrators with the resources to design, promote, and sell one-of-a-kind textiles for pillows, aprons, place mats, napkins and other household items. While they allow anyone to participate, the company’s curators, Serge and Sofie, hand-select the best of the best to share with their growing customer base. On an environmental level, the amount of product in stock is kept to a minimum, with designs only printed upon request. Another bonus is that most of the products are owned by fewer than five other people in the world, adding a bit of exclusivity to these already unique pieces of Product Art. After browsing through their entire collection of nearly 500 items, we found this series of retro-inspired technology pillow covers by Glasgow, Scotland-based illustrator Christine Berrie to be our favorite. Each design is printed in Belgium, and available to purchase in three sizes for $25.00–$40.00. Discover one more that caught our eye after the jump.
Clock as Product Art? Sounds pretty good to us. Blog Kitsune Noir, in conjunction with design + furniture studio Furni, has just released its first entree in a hereto-forth monthly collaborative clock series called Neverend. The inaugural effort was designed by Brooklyn-based artist Dan Funderburgh, who took the classic Bavarian cuckoo clock and strapped on some dynamite, adding a contemporary and incendiary edge to an old-school staple. The artwork is laser-etched onto “a 3/8” thick piece of high quality Russian birch plywood…creat[ing] a bold graphic interpretation of the quintessential wall clock.” Available in black and natural ($198.00), the clock is limited to 88 pieces in each colorway. It measures 16″ x 19″ and is being sold exclusively via Furni’s online store. See them large below. [Kitsune Noir] |
