Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian politician (1889-1964)
And here’s another wise quotable from the great man…
Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people.
Image: a Russian stamp honouring Nehru, issued 25 years after his death.
Stuttgart, Germany
Heinz Edelmann, the multifaceted graphic designer and illustrator who created the comically hallucinogenic landscape of Pepperland as art director for the 1968 animated Beatles film “Yellow Submarine,” died on Tuesday of this week in Stuttgart, Germany. He was 75…. A highly successful advertising and editorial illustrator in Germany, England and the Netherlands, Mr. Edelmann was known for combining Impressionist and Expressionist sensibilities leavened with wit, humor and irony. He developed a distinct graphic style that influenced many artists in Europe and the United States…
Read the full tribute written by Steven Heller for The New York Times here. See some of Mr. Edelmann’s works on Milton Glaser’s Container List here and here.
Images: the mod-psychedelic look of the 1968 Beatles movie “Yellow Submarine;” posters for West Deutscher Rundfunk (radio) from 1982 and 1983.
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.
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.
Pinawa, Manitoba
I’ve spent the past few days with Evelin and my entire Peters family at the Wilderness Edge resort (in Pinawa, on the Winnipeg River) participating in a get-away weekend in honour of my 89-year-old father, our patriarch John Jacob Peters. With my brother Phil and his clan here from Germany, this provided the first opportunity in several years for us all to be together in one place.
Highlights of the weekend have been an incredible audio-visual presentation my brother Jim assembled from hundreds of old family photographs he had scanned, a well-written life-history presented by Doreen, Dad’s wife (who also took care of all weekend arrangements—thanks!), a musical tribute by brother Phil et al, and the open sharing and good fellowship that takes place when a geographically dispersed family comes together for some quality time. The weather cooperated (for the most part) for the outdoor activities (a hay ride, canoeing, biking, swimming, evening camp-fires) and it seems a good time was had by all. Life is good…
Family photos (from those that surfaced on the weekend): the ship Dad came to Canada on from Russia in 1925; a hand-coloured “John the lumberjack” on Vancouver Island (serving as a Conscientious Objector during World War II); our family stuffed into a Heinkel Kabine (Frankfurt, 1957); brother Jim and I, 1958; Dad enjoying the mountain view (Swiss Alps, c. 1978); and an informal family photo here in Pinawa yesterday.
Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba
I’ve had the pleasure and privilege during the past year of collaborating on a variety of sculptural pieces (and in the process, re-discovering a long-lost sense of tactility) with the talented (and smart, and lovely :-) ceramist Evelin Richter. This is one of our latest completed co-productions, The Vamp. You can see more sculptural works at Ev’s website: www.whatclayart.com
The Vamp: Voluptuous coil-built stoneware sculpture, wood-fired to ∆ 12 (vitrified, unglazed—the coloration is natural ash and flashing), mounted on a cast iron pedestal base, with woodstove-tarnished nickel ball-chain skirt; 280mm x 280mm x 630mm high.
Here’s lookin’ at you (and your social justice legacy) Herb…
Above: a sampling of the remarkable editorial cartoons of Herbert Lawrence Block, commonly known as Herblock (October 13, 1909 – October 7, 2001). Lots more good stuff left us by Herblock here.
