Isabelle Hayeur

I found the lighting of these photographs interesting and very sterile feeling.

Ashley Wood

Similar to Templesmith, Wood mixes digital photos of oil paintings and digital text and graphics. I don't know that this is a specific medium I would use since I am not a painter.

Ben Templesmith

Ben Templesmith's work is compelling in the way it mixes clearly digital images with hand drawn images. I am a huge fan of mixed media and these works are a great example of that.

Stelarc

Stelarc to me is one of the most interesting of artists embracing digital technology. He embraces it to the point of body modification. Mixing the analog body and robotic additions.
He also has prosthetics implanted into his skin, an ear inserted under the skin of his forearm is one example.
There are many other projects that Stelarc has worked on than connect the analog world to the digital.

Edward Burtynsky

I am very inspired by Burtynsky, because of the way he captures space and large scale images. Where I like to take many landscape pictures, he takes images of man's destructive tendencies and makes works of art. His use of framing brings out the geometry in many of his images.

3rd Event - The Kernville Museum

I went to the Kernville Museum in Kernville (Imagine that!). I wanted to see what artifacts and photographs that might influence where I would camp that night and the price was right, free admission. Most of the artifacts were from the gold miners, but there was one section of the museum dedicated to Native American art and history in the area. There were baskets, photographs of glyphs (rock paintings), and various other artifacts such as shells, obsidian and carved stone figurines.
I enjoyed the museum and it's vary assorted collection, because of the different aspects of art and design that transcend generations showing the need to create is always there.

Art Event - Subhumans at Soma

The band Subhumans was one of the early 80's punk bands from England that broke up around '86-'87. At the age of 17 I thought I would never see this band play live and that their entry into punk history was complete. 21 years later, I see an ad for a show, do some research and find out that it is the original band. I have to go, even though it is in the middle of the week and I have to drive 60+ miles to see it.

The art of the music is one thing, but the art that goes with the punk records is another. There were cds, records, posters, stickers and buttons. The underground art was a mix of appropriated images, original art, and some digital design.

The show was a delight.

Art Event - Wicked the Musical at the Pantages

One of the events I went to was Wicked the Musical at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles. The show was much more than I expected. The set design was pretty amazing. While watching the show, I kept thinking about all of the design elements, sound, set, lighting, props, the script, music and costumes. I am not sure the traveling show would be set up the same, it seems that the permanant shows would have a more stable set.

I would recommend the show to anyone. It has almost every element of design that one can think of all wrapped up into one show.

Book intro

Working on the first few pages of the book. I think I have the Idea down a little bit more. Not sure about the typeface just yet.

Book Test Page

Oliver Herring

Where do you find people who will spit food coloring all over their face. The process that Herring uses captures a moment of vulnerability in personal trust and space. The images of the food dye on the skin changes over time and in the comparison of a fresh image (liquid) and moments later (faded and drier) the duration of the process can be seen. The emotion is high, but to what kind is unknown, is this guy mad, puzzled or is he just a statue posing for a picture. The organic blend of colors interestingly, bring out the blue of the man's eyes.

Reza Abedini and Saed Meshki

Both artists make use of negative space. Meshki's text is very stark against minimal backgrounds if any. Text is clearly his subject. Abedini blends his text into the objects, forcing emotions, by spacing, overlapping, crowding letters. Both artists blend form and function of the text and enhance the feelings of the words graphically.

Arturo Herrera

He photographs his finger paintings, sketches and other small images and adds a random factor to the development of the photos by dropping the roll of film into water(hot, cold, iced). I find the process interesting and the resulting images are quite random. As far as his thoughts on the images communicating, I cannot say that I communicate with these images as I just see them as random multi-processed forms. They could be great elements for textures or collage.

Tom Scott

Sand Photos: He captures some natural and unnatural photos of patterns made from sand, rocks and water. I use the word unnatural for the photos where he obviously placed rocks in a particular manner to "finish" the photograph. He does a great job of bringing the random beauty of natures forces to the photographed artwork. Natural patterns are everywhere, one just has to slow down and look at them, not necessarily for them. Rain, wind, sand, snow, dirt, water, fire etcetera all create random images to be interpreted or interpolated. They eyes can usually see what the brain wants them to see and every once in a while you get a pleasant surprise.

Sarah Moon

This video was full of nonstop chatter about her photo shoots and how her creativity never stops, looking through the camera and becoming one with it. She was always wondering if the shot would come out or not. Continually shooting over and over, catching the lighting, matching patterns of foreground and background, the compositions are endless. Contrasting and blending everyday objects and people. To keep shooting a subject over and over making compromises with each shot finding a look.

HEVETICA - Stefan Sagmeister

Sagmeister seems to feel that the text should reflect the writing and be as creative as the writing to get the meaning or message out unifying both the visual aesthetics and written word. The type should come from the concept of the work to be a seamless blend to convey the feelings of the concept.

Droppin' Caps in the Gettysburg Address

HELVETICA

I watched the whole movie last night, thought I digest what I saw and write about it today. I thought it was interesting how even though there are the 2 basic camps of the lovers and the haters and within each group the reasons for or against range from the simple to complex. Some even equate it with good and evil. It is so common that its part of the (system, establishment, ruling elite) or on the AOL side (So easy to use know wonder its number one!). It is the pinnacle of sans serif and the epitome of excessive font use.

To add my own opinion about the font. I think it is great for clarity of reading, over used and in political vernacular a necessary evil. Just like canisters in the kitchen or tools in the art box, it has its place. Too much of anything is just as bad as being deprived of the essentials. Moderation is always key.

I don't think someone could make a film with such opposing points of view about any other font, at least not for an hour and 20 minutes.

Thoughts on David Carson

Just watched a short clip on David Carson. I like the way he had ignored the rules of layout and used the power of typography to convey the real feelings of what he really thought. To me the real innovation was that he wasn't purposely trying to dismantle the "system" but inadvertently by just doing it the way he wanted. Enter the period of Grunge layout, a post punk approach to type and layout. Every word can convey a feeling and type can help communicate that feeling. I believe that part of his creative method is using the emotions of fonts to connect the reader to the emotions (or lack thereof) of the text.

Word! Word!

Web Pollution continues with more writings and ramblings. More disconnected thoughts and random mind trash to follow.