Chalk Mural Project: Google Campus at BBDO

After doing some chalk illustration at the office for a media pitch, we landed another gig--this time with Google, to illustrate a chalk wall at BBDO NY's all new Digital Lab space. The occasion was a "Google Campus" event at BBDO as well as the opening of this digital lab space.

The idea was to showcase some of Google's product offerings, like Google Latitude, YouTube, etc.

It was a pretty compressed time frame - we had one night to do it. So we went there after work, and pretty much pulled an all-nighter...

First, the set-up:


Pete's hard work:


The entire thing, in progress:


Gettin' closer...


...and.... we're DONE!

Reference: 40 Logos designed with Helvetica

Here's a great post by Web Designer Depot about logo design with Helvetica. Great branding really CAN be created with simple, basic fonts.

lunch bag art from one cool dad

today i stumbled upon the Lunch Bag Art blog on tumblr.com.... totally COOL lunch bags drawn by a totally cool dad. Geez, these lunch bags are WAY better than the yellow Care Bears lunchbox I used, back in the day...



Imagine putting in your request every day for a new design... how fun...

corporate website references

For a couple projects I am currently working on, here are a couple resources with compiled lists of well-designed corporate websites:

Trackerz.com:



and this blog posting is a bit dated at this point, but hey, the designs are not too awful (yet):

Rubiqube.com

history in the making: election 2008

on the eve of the most historical election of my lifetime thus far,
a tribute to Barack Obama:



I am ready to believe again. Let's get out there and vote.

museum inventory

an inventory of all the amazing art/design museums, galleries and events I've visited over the years, tracking where I've been and where I want to go.

Amsterdam
Foam Fotografiemuseum
"Henri Cartier-Bresson: A Retrospective," 23 December 2005 - 2 April 2006
Van Gogh Museum

Barcelona
Museu del Temple Expiatori de La Sagrada Familia
Museu Picasso

Berlin
Kunstgewerbemuseum
Decorative Arts, September 2009
Museum für Fotografie
Helmut Newton Photography, September 2009

Boston
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Museum of Fine Arts
"Gauguin Tahiti," 29 February 2004 - 20 June 20 2004

Boulder, CO
Leanin' Tree Museum of Western Art

Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago

London
OXO Tower Gallery
Saatchi Gallery
Tate Modern
Victoria & Albert Museum

Los Angeles, CA
LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
"Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913–2008,"
26 October 2008 - 1 March 2009

Miami
Art Basel Miami Beach 2005
Lowe Art Museum - University of Miami
"Classic Posters of the Belle Epoque," February 5 - April 3, 2005
The Wolfsonian-FIU

New York
Brooklyn Museum of Art
"© Murakami," April 5–July 13, 2008
The Cloisters
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
"Design for the Other 90%," May 4–September 23, 2007
Gagosian Gallery
"Warhol from the Sonnabend Collection," January 20–March 7, 2009
Guggenheim Museum
"Richard Prince: Spiritual America," September 28, 2007 - January 9, 2008
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Morgan Library & Museum
Museum of Modern Art
"VanGogh and the Colors of the Night," September 21, 2008–January 5, 2009
Whitney Museum of American Art

Paris
Musée d'Orsay
Musée du Louvre
Musée Rodin

Prague
Mucha Museum

San Antonio
San Antonio Museum of Art

San Francisco
SFMOMA

Washington D.C.

the culture of museum "member previews"

Yesterday, I experienced another New York "first" -- that of the art museum Member Preview. Now, of course I know that Member Previews happen in art museums all around the world, in metropolitan cities everywhere, but I suspect that the phenomenon of the "New York City Art Museum Member Preview" is unique and very distinctly "New York."

As a member of the MoMA, I had been getting several emails and regular mailed invites to the exciting new exhibit "Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night."



One of the benefits of membership is that you get to view the exhibits before the galleries are open to the general public, about 5 days prior. This concept was very appealing to me -- the very idea of "member preview" conjured up visions of a peaceful, serene viewing experience, with members strolling through the exhibit, murmuring their appreciation for the artwork to each other, while silently congratulating their fellow members for having the smarts to join the museum and BEAT OUT the masses of hungry pedestrian artgoers who would have to see Starry Night in "general viewing."

As the security guard pointed the way to the Van Gogh gallery, my anticipation mounted as I thought about how pleasant it would be to enjoy these masterpieces all by myself -- or at least, with a few other savvy members.

Apparently, thousands of other MoMA members had the same idea.

As I turned the corner to the exhibit entrance, I was met with a massive, coiling line of pseudo highbrow art aficionados, Brooklyn hipsters, amorous young couples, frenzied parents with turbocharged baby strollers, and distinguished old gentlemen with tweed jackets. So much for having a little QT with Vincent.

And so I patiently wormed my way to the VERY end of the line, ignored the father behind me who kept pushing the baby stroller onto my heels, drowned out the MoMA staff who kept shouting "this way to the end of the line! Members and Members' Guests ONLY!" and waited my turn to shove my way into the exhibit.

It still ended up being a very interesting exhibit, despite the hordes of people. In actuality, Member Preview was probably even MORE crowded than the more regulated general admission hours, which have timed entries.

Luckily for me, the OTHER benefit of membership is that I can go back and catch Vincent on other, less-frenzied days, from now til January. I just might have to create my OWN Member Preview on some quiet, off peak Tuesday morning.

cool creative in chattanooga

After an almost 2-month long hiatus (sorry!), I'm now back on blogging, and it's nice to be back. This is a post I've been meaning to write for months, but just hadn't gotten around to scanning in the artwork until recently when I got a pretty decent new Epson color photo printer/scanner/copier-in-one. So now I'm back from my weddings, travels, career quandaries, etc and updating again. (And yes, I'm back to reading all of your blogs too AND commenting..)

A few months ago, during my trip to Chattanooga, TN that was part-work and part-visiting one of my best friends from high school, I was browsing in a cute little gift boutique, Blue Skies, when I found these funky greeting cards:






These cards are designed by Anahata Katkin, a collage artist who has been creating cool art journals since she was in 3rd grade. Together with her mom, they started a greeting card company, PaPaYa!, which is now sold in 7 countries all around the world. I like the collage-y style of the cards, where some have a kind of ethnic feel - asian or indian-inspired patterns, and then a use of lace, glitter, and cloth texture. Funky. She has a blog, too, which had some really cool images and inspiration.

In a drastic departure from that girly style of collage art, while in Tennessee, I also happened upon Hatch Show Print, an old print shop that has churned out cool rock posters for some time.



Now I actually already mentioned this place in a previous post, but at the time I didn't get a chance to scan these "postcards" which I stupidly bought for $2 each:




As you can see, these "postcards" are really just cut up pieces of posters and test prints that ended up on the cutting room floor, swept up, printed on the back, labeled "postcards," organized in a turning postcard rack at the front counter, and snatched up by people like me, who'd pay for art room scraps. All in the name of art. Oh well, I still think they're cool. The letters printed on during the letterpress process create a kind of impression in the card stock, and then each layer of paint that is applied adds a bit of texture to the stock as well. Cool effects you can't exactly recreate in Illustrator or Photoshop. (Well, at least I don't know how to just yet.).

And there you have it, my tribute to creative inspiration in Tennessee.