Melbourne, Australia
Well, well, well… my crazy old friend Mimmo Cozzolino broke radio silence today with the launch of a wicked new website, here. I first met Mimmo in Sydney a decade ago (the 1999 Icograda/ICSID/IFI World Congress), bent elbows with him a few times in shadowy bars after that, and then crossed paths (in the same building) for a period of time during my stint as Designer in Residence in the Faculty of Art & Design at Monash University in Melbourne. Of course I’d known of Mimmo long before I first met him—by dent of his seminal historic work on the book Symbols of Australia (which I later drew from liberally in the feature piece I wrote on design in Oz for Communication Arts magazine a few years back, 2.5 MB PDF here).
My recommendation? Visit Mimmo’s new site for an eclectic and inspirational experience (and to better understand the select images above) and to see what can happen when a talented career designer switches over to art photographer.
Good to know you’re still kicking it, mate! Cheers!
Winnipeg, Canada
“The pupit is making a comeback,” with geez magazine’s launch of the Daringly Awkward Sermon Contest. The Contest “invites entries that explore the aspects of social change that make us squirm—things like privilege, right-wing relatives, the drunk stranger in the back pew, guilt feelings, or litter in the poor part of town. Constructing a more fair and compassionate world involves awkward people, pauses and topics, and we want to find the wisdom in the awkwardness.”
Maybe the key to social change and spiritual growth is found in stumbling, fumbling, oafish awkwardness? The geez pulpit is set up and awaits activists, anarchists, atheists and good old-fashioned Christians to step up and confront or comfort, pontificate or confess, urge or encourage.
Victoria, British Columbia
Anyone who knows Peggy Cady will have experienced how focused, inspiring, motivating, nurturing, and empowering this wonderful woman is—a shining light to those whose lives she enters and to the Canadian design community that she has become such an integral part of over the past decades (and has also lead—as GDC National President from 2004-2006). Well, Peggy’s fighting a new battle now, and friends and compadres from near and far are rallying in support. Join others in expressing your encouragement for her by literally or virtually “shaving your head” and submitting your bald image to a growing online gallery, Friends of Peggy.
Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba
Evelin Richter (a talented ceramist and my girlfriend) has been doing some interesting sculptural work of late—this is a recent piece of hers that seems particularly relevant to the stressful economic times being experienced around the globe. Warns Ev: “Be careful what you fill your head with… a fixation on numbers could crack a person up.”
Images: Prime Candidate; a figurative slab-built piece in stoneware, finished with various stains and low-fire glazes, assemblage with wire-rim glasses; 380mm x 320mm x 200mm.
Yes, it’s been a Dada kind of da-day…
Images above: Typical Vertical Mess as Depiction of the Dada Baargeld, 1920, by Johannes Theodor Baargeld (Alfred Emanuel Ferdinand Greunwald), German, 1892-1927; Kleine Dada soirée Haagsche K.K. [lithographic proof], January 1923(?), by Theo van Doesburg (Christian Emil Marie Küpper), Dutch, 1883-1931; ABCD (self-portrait, photomontage from 1923-24), Raoul Hausmann, Austrian, 1886-1971.
Winnipeg, Canada
As if the black ice and freezing fog en route to the office this morning were not disconcerting enough… it also seems I’ve been commuting with Der Führer! Anybody else need a ride (besides Adolf)?
Poster by Weimer Pursell, 1943 [Printed by the Government Printing Office for the Office of Price Administration, NARA Still Picture Branch (NWDNS-188-PP-42]. Find more World War ll propaganda posters here.
Tokyo, Japan
It’s been a very sad day… I have just learned that the great graphic sensei, Shigeo Fukuda, has passed on. Japan’s consummate visual communicator, Fukuda-San is known around the world as a playful prankster, a modern-day Escher, and an imaginative creator who “dramatically shattered cultural and linguistic barriers with his universally recognizable style.” Perhaps Alan Fletcher described him the best (in Masters of the 20th Century): “Shigeo Fukuda is a star in the design firmament—on second thought, maybe he’s more of a comet.” Fukuda-San—there’s no doubt that you’ll continue to light up our heaven…
Image: Shigeo Fukuda alongside his famous poster titled ‘Victory 1945,’ a bitingly satirical commentary on the senselessness of war.
Montreal, Québec
“What do you think went through this woman’s mind when she saw this on her way home from shopping? Did she say to herself, ‘Wow, what an indictment on consumer culture and the degree to which it is fueled by the military-industrial complex.’…What began as a form of activism rooted in a desire for more bike paths… eventually grew into an art project that, to a certain extent, continues today…” —Roadsworth (aka Peter Gibson), more here.
Talented, innovative, well-spoken—visit Roadsworth’s website here...
Winnipeg, Canada
Stress—it’s everywhere, it seems. Unknowns trigger worry. Fear fosters misgivings. Anxiety runs rampant. Angst rules. A nervous disquietude seems to gnaw at all and sundry—so, what’s a person to do? From an internal Circle document I stumbled across on my hard drive today (compiled by a remarkable administrator who worked with us a decade ago and who used to fill spare moments making “pro-activity lists”) here are a few tips for “How to cope with stress”—after all, laughter is the best medicine, right?
1. Jam tiny marshmallows up your nose and try to sneeze them out.
2. Pop some popcorn without putting the lid on.
3. When someone says “Have a nice day” tell them you have other plans.
4. Stare at people through the tines of a fork and pretend they’re in jail.
5. Dance naked in front of your pets.
6. Drive to work in reverse.
7. Make a list of things you’ve already done.
8. Fill out your tax form in Roman numerals.
9. Lie on your back and eat celery, using your navel as a salt dipper…
Images: details from works by Theodore Gericault, Edvard Munch (The Scream), and Roy Lichtenstein.
“Well maybe it does present more of a challenge this way, but I still think you should have let me wear my other hiking outfit.”
—Bill Ward, 1919-1998 (‘good girl’ cartoonist/illustrator)
