S'MORE

Copyright Sara Nickleson 2010

This collage stuff is fun. Can't wait to paint these.

xo.s

SOME NEW WORK BY YOURS TRULY

Copyright Sara Nickleson, 2010.

I'm currently working on some digital collage that will likely become a series of paintings. Super excited.

xo.s

ROLAND TIANGCO'S DIRT POSTER

Parsons student Roland Tiangco's message to the 'information generation' is a clear one; that is, if you're willing to get it dirty. We're full of potential and there's much to be done. Go ahead, get on it.

I should talk.

Point is, this design is clever on so many levels. 

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xo.s

BARBARA KRUGER AT THE AGO

I would normally declare that I saw this on designboom first, but I can proudly say that my initial contact with this piece was in PERSON. I love living in Toronto.

From the boom:

"....a site-specific work by american artist barbara kruger is currently on display along the façade of the art gallery of ontario (AGO) in toronto. the public installation is located on the north facade of the frank gehry designed gallery as part of the contact photography festival. the piece was created by kruger in response to the festival’s theme ‘pervasive influence’. the work consists of a series of found images and statements that includes ‘shove it’, ‘love it’, ‘kiss it’, believe it’ and ‘shame it’. the project aims to explore ‘how photography informs and transforms human behavior, especially via the medium’s connections to mass media, advertising, consumerism, and propaganda.’ the installation will be on show until august 30, 2010"

These photos don't do it justice. I'd include some of mine, but they would do it even less. The lady's aim has always been impact, and impact she has. Kruger is an American Conceptual Artist known for the found black and white imagery she pairs with aggressive/generalized/short'n'sweet accusations on consumer culture, feminism and classicism. Her work leaves the viewer with the feeling of being in a power struggle with the artist, and it never ceases to amaze that Kruger is able to make us want to defend ourselves when we know she's right..... defend ourselves when we feel compelled to rebut that she doesn't 'know' us.... that the work of a single woman can accurately point fingers at SO many. However, let it be known that her work is not to put down, but to educate. To make us look more honestly at ourselves, one another, and the media we quietly consume. Tough love.

I'd like to write more but i'm off to work. check back?

xo.s

Ofr.

0fr. Film portraits: Cheri Messerli from Ofr. on Vimeo.

So, I love 'Scout Holiday'; easily one of the most understated and captivating sites I've seen (nay, frequent). Charming charming charming.
Stylist and jewelry designer Cheri Messerli is behind the blog, having relocated with husband and graphic designer David Rager (excavation by spoonfulls) from LA to Paris. Recently posted was the Ofr Paris City Guide that caught my attention, and just today Cheri displayed some lovely shots of her work in the Ofr front window in Paris.

What's Ofr? I wondered, and now you are too. It's actually sort of hard to say. From the site, it appears to be a gallery and beautiful bookstore, hosting pop-up shops all over the world. The space holds shows, which are well-documented on vimeo, promotes artists and musicians and puts out some BEAUTIFUL graphic work- from the Paris Guide (I'd pick it up, anyone planning to go- the photos are gorgeous and doubtless they have hand-picked best places to visit) to their series of postcards.

Above, some of the shop's offerings, as well as a closeup of Cheri and her work.  Isn't she lovely?

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xo.s

BRUCE MAU STUDIO: THE INCOMPLETE MANIFESTO

"Now that we can do anything, what will we do?"

"Written in 1998, the Incomplete Manifesto is an articulation of statements exemplifying Bruce Mau’s beliefs, strategies and motivations.

1. Allow events to change you.
You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.

2. Forget about good.
Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you'll never have real growth.

3. Process is more important than outcome.
When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.

4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child).
Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.

5. Go deep.
The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.

6. Capture accidents.
The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.

7. Study.
A studio is a place of study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit.

8. Drift.
Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.

9. Begin anywhere.
John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.

10. Everyone is a leader.
Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.

11. Harvest ideas.
Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas
to applications.

12. Keep moving.
The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.

13. Slow down.
Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.

14. Don’t be cool.
Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.

15. Ask stupid questions.
Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.

16. Collaborate.
The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.

17. ____________________.
Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas
of others.

18. Stay up late.
Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you're separated from the rest of the world.

19. Work the metaphor.
Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.

20. Be careful to take risks.
Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow. The work you produce today will create your future.

21. Repeat yourself.
If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.

22. Make your own tools.
Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even simple tools that are your own can yield entirely new avenues of exploration. Remember, tools amplify our capacities, so even a small tool can make a big difference.

23. Stand on someone’s shoulders.
You can travel farther carried on the accomplishments of those who came before you. And the view is so much better.

24. Avoid software.
The problem with software is that everyone has it.

25. Don’t clean your desk.
You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.

26. Don’t enter awards competitions.
Just don’t. It’s not good for you.

27. Read only left-hand pages.
Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our "noodle."

28. Make new words.
Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.

29. Think with your mind.
Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.

30. Organization = Liberty.
Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on budget. The myth of a split between "creatives" and "suits" is what Leonard Cohen calls a 'charming artifact of the past.'

31. Don’t borrow money.
Once again, Frank Gehry’s advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain creative control. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s surprising how hard it is to maintain this discipline, and how many have failed.

32. Listen carefully.
Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.

33. Take field trips.
The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.

34. Make mistakes faster.
This isn’t my idea – I borrowed it. I think it belongs to Andy Grove.

35. Imitate.
Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You'll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.

36. Scat.
When you forget the words, do what Ella did: make up something else ... but not words.

37. Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.

38. Explore the other edge.
Great liberty exists when we avoid trying to run with the technological pack. We can’t find the leading edge because it’s trampled underfoot. Try using old-tech equipment made obsolete by an economic cycle but still rich with potential.

39. Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms.
Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces – what Dr. Seuss calls "the waiting place." Hans Ulrich Obrist once organized a science and art conference with all of the infrastructure of a conference – the parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals – but with no actual conference. Apparently it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing collaborations.

40. Avoid fields.
Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.

41. Laugh.
People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I've become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.

42. Remember.
Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present. It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source, and, as such, a potential for growth itself.

43. Power to the people.
Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can't be free agents if we’re not free"

Bruce Mau is a visionary.

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xo.s

ps- shoutout to sam sam!

pps- why is blogger being whack? I hate borders on my images. Grrr.

INFOGRAPHIC MONEY CONCEPT

I just saw this on designboom and think it's brilliant.

"Tokyo-based designer Mac Funamizu wondered what would happen if we rethought how coins were designed with an infographic perspective. He remarks on the merits and drawbacks of round coins, and while he acknowledges their benefits, he wanted to see if they could be redesigned in a way that was more universally understood. This would benefit travelers and people not accustomed to a specific currency...... each coin (has) an infographic form that corresponds to a pie chart"

Absolutely, there are drawbacks. But Funamizu is sure to point out that he designs concepts on his blog simply to explore new ideas that he knows might not translate perfectly into a real-life market. He invites readers to leave their feedback and even take his idea further- perhaps even into production- if they contact him. He is a working industrial and graphic designer and he designs and posts concepts on his blog for his own enjoyment.

I love that there is someone willing to share their ideas without the expectation of monetary benefit. Some of the projects are copyrighted, but for the most part he invites people to make them happen if they feel inclined. Most people hoard their ideas in fear that someone else will make a profit; why not share them if you have no intention of producing and allow someone else to bring your thoughts to fruition?

And the coins are great. Helvetica, you're a paradigm.

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xo.s

INK CALENDAR BY OSCAR DIAZ

"The 'Ink Calendar' makes use of the timed pace of the ink spreading on the paper to indicate time. The ink is absorbed slowly, and the numbers in the calendar are 'printed' daily. One a day, they are filled with ink until the end of the month. The calendar enhances the perception of time passing and not only signaling it. The aim of the project is to address our senses, rather than the logical and conscious brain"

The ink colour is different for every month and is based on a spectrum that follows a temperature scale; each new page utilizes a colour that relates to our sensory perception of that particular month. 

Wild.

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xo.s

KHRISTIAN MENDOZA: TRANSPARENCY

This is self-promotional work by graphic designer/photographer Khristian Mendoza, citing the 'need for transparency' in design.  I like.

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xo.s

BLANKET MAGAZINE

Blanket is an online PDF magazine that uncovers art, design, and photography "from the talented people who create it"

From blanketmagazine.com:

"Blanket is run by Bec Brown and her talented team of Blanketeers who, each issue, inspire their readers with informative interviews, cheeky and humorous stories, and, of course, beautiful art, design and photography"

The issues are simple, mostly a picture book of images, and back issues are available to download on their site.  If you are an artist, photographer or designer, have a look at the 'contribute' tab- they make it super easy by letting you know the theme of the next issue in advance so you can get your work in, with simple instructions on how to be seen!

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xo.s

FABRICA EXQUISITE CLOCK

From exquisiteclock.org:

"Exquisite clock is an ongoing collection of time fragments- hours, minutes, and seconds that populate everyday life. The project consists of a participatory website that feeds data to different clocks as installations, designed products and urbanscreens.

Users are invited to upload images of numbers that can be found with different contexts surrounding them- objects, surfaces, bodies that form shapes of numbers.... all uploads then become part of an ever-growing internet database"

The platform then allows variations of screen clocks to be constructed, based on different themes. You can download the screensaver from the site, or just check it from time to time- it's always different.  Some of the numbers are tough to make out; I just spent a few minutes trying to figure out how on earth a certain configuration of peppers was supposed to look like a 4, but I was charmed nonetheless.  

This image is tough to see, but click for a better look.  I took the screenshot at exactly 11:57:39. See?

I seem to have a thing for clocks lately.

click click clock

xo.s