Warsaw, Poland
Our friend, the incredibly talented illustrator Stasys Eidrigevičius, turns 60 this week. Best wishes, and keep up with the phenomenal work! (Experience some of Stasys’ remarkably empathetic illustrations and graphic creations here, here, and here).
Stasys currently has an exhibition (Stasys and POLITYKA—drawings for the magazine Polityka from 1986-9 as well as posters) on exhibit at the Koszalin Town Art Museum; from 25-26 July an instillation of his is showing at the ECHIGO-TSUMARI ART TRIENNAL; two days ago (17 July) his works went on display at the Toyama Poster Triennal; and on 3 August, his exhibition Wall of Silence opens in Warsaw the Muzeum Powstania. (Thanks to Rene Wanner for the news and exhibiton details).
Lisbon, Portugal
I’ve found myself (re)attracted to visual collage of late—and Cristiana Couceiro does it exceptionally well. Admittedly, form seems to trump meaning (or coherence) in much of her illustrative work(?)… but there’s a time and place for being obtuse, right? Enjoy more here.
Southampton, New York
Herbert Matter (1907–1984) was a Swiss-born American photographer and graphic designer known for his pioneering use of photomontage in commercial art. His innovative and experimental work helped shape the vocabulary of 20th-century graphic design. Read an excellent biography (written in 1976) outlining his prolific career here. In addition to the images shown above, there’s an fine sampling at the AIGA Inspiration site (along with a tribute by Steven Heller and David R. Brown) here. Paul Rand (known to many in our field as somewhat of a curmudgeon) wrote the following poem about Herbert in 1977:
Herbert Matter is a magician.
To satisfy the needs of industry, that’s what you have to be.
Industry is a tough taskmaster.
Art is tougher.
Industry plus Art, almost impossible.
Some artists have done the impossible.
Herbert Matter, for example.
His work of ’32 could have been done in ’72 or even ’82.
It has that timeless, unerring quality one recognizes instinctively.
It speaks to all tongues, with one tongue.
It is uncomplicated, to the point, familiar, and yet unexpected.
Something brought to light, an image, a surprise, an analogy.
It is believable, as it is unbelievable.
It always has an idea, the one you almost thought of.
It may be formal or anecdotal, full of sentiment, but not sentimental.
It is commercial; it is contemplative.
It enhances the quality of life.
It is Art.
And that’s saying something… (found here).
1962 on the Italian Riviera—topless girls, big baguettes, family camping… life was good.
Nevada, 1948
It’s hot. Really hot. Thousands of years ago you would have been swimming in a lake, but climate changes dried it completely up and left behind a 159 square mile (412 square km) expanse of densely packed salt up to six feet deep. This bizarre landscape exists right outside the small casino town of Wendover, Nevada, 115 miles (185km) from Salt Lake City. The land is completely inhospitable to plants and is so flat that it’s almost perfectly aligned with the curvature of the Earth. Once a year men and women come from all over the planet to test their mechanical creations against this barren expanse of densely packed salt. This place is known as The Bonneville Salt Flats, also dubbed “The Fastest Place on Earth.”
One particularly hot morning, on Sept 13, 1948, a man known as Roland “Rollie” Free hopped on his Mobil Oil sponsored Vincent HRD Lightning, determined to break the world record of 136.18mph (219.16kmh). A record that had been unbroken for the past 11 years. His first attempt shattered the record with a speed of 148.6mph (239.15). Rollie wasn’t satisfied. Convinced his safety leathers were creating unnecessary drag, he stripped down to nothing but a pair of swim trunks and goggles. His trademark style of lying flat across the motorcycle instead of a traditional riding stance added to the insanity, hurtling Rollie to a record of 150.313mph (241.91kmh) and into the books for the next twenty years. It was a run that resulted not only in the record, but also in the creation of motorcycling’s most famous photo ever (the shot above of Free piloting the bike horizontally), taken from a speeding car racing alongside. —Sean Sullivan
Found at A Continuous Lean. (where you can find additional photos)… thanks to Gregor Brandt for the link.
Luxemburg, 04.07.2009 – 01.11.2009
Fabrica has been invited by the cultural space CarréRotondes in Luxemburg to present Colors of Money, an exhibition exploring the approaches, uses and understandings of money. Based on the 73rd issue of Colors Magazine (Money, winter 2007/2008), Colors of Money posits that “money is an illusion,” highlighting the myriad contradictions embodied in the all-embracing role money has come to play in modern society. Read more about the exhibition here.
London, U.K.
Since 2001, the Swiss-based not-for-profit organisation ACT Responsible (Advertising Community Together), has been collecting global advertising that “promotes responsible communication on sustainability, equitable development and social responsibility” in a bid to highlight how the creativity of advertising professionals can be used to address the world’s problems.
Among its 2,500 ads from more than 40 countries and 140 award-winning agencies is a striking collection of adverts that focus on environmental and social issues: from deforestation to recycling and conserving water to climate change.
Ads, from the top: Killing trees is killing people. for Friends of the Earth, France; Travelling fruits cause pollution. (Think global. Eat local.) for Bund/Friends of the Earth, Germany; A single tin of paint can pollute millions of liters of water. for WWF Spain; Forests for Life. for WWF Thailand; Save. for WWF Hungary.
Thanks to Lauren Trimble for the link to a collection of adverts at guardian.co.uk
Winnipeg, Canada
Circle’s latest Canadian Recording Artists stamps (that launched a week ago) have garnered a fair bit of early attention, and there’s been a steady stream of feedback from both near and far. Locally, I was interviewed on 3 July by Margaux Watt on the CBC radio afternoon show, and on 4 July the Winnipeg Free Press ran an article about the stamps’ design in the Business section (view a larger JPG of the article here or read the piece online here).
The Globe And Mail ran an in-depth story (online here), CTV gave the issue quite a bit of coverage as did Radio-Canada (highlighting that this is the first time that Canadians who perform in French are being lauded by Canada Post), and the stamps and related stories have appeared on numerous websites and blogs (including Bryan Adams’ website here) and philatelic collectors’ sites such as Stamp News International.
Canada Post and the featured artists all appear to be pleased. Stompin’ Tom says he’s “delighted, humbled and overwhelmed by the ‘stamp of approval;’” Édith Butler (whose great grandfather was a postmaster and who sent us photos of the stamp launch in Paquetville, NB—where her 92-year-old cousin was the first in line at the post office to buy a souvenir sheet) called the stamps “the greatest thing that ever happened to me;” a chuffed Bryan Adams responded “It is a wonderful honour to be amongst the great men and women who have graced our Canadian stamps… I am humbled by the recognition;” and Robert Charlebois stated: “I wish my parents would be alive to see this, because when I started 40 years ago, I never thought I would land on a stamp… I probably will send all my friends postcards with my own face on it, especially to my friends in Belgium and Switzerland—they’re going to faint, they won’t believe their eyes.”
