Feb 01
Jul 10
‘YEKPARE’ (monolithic) from nerdworking on Vimeo.
Nerdworking are an Turkish collective working out based in Istanbul. They ‘Yekpare’ using large-scale video projection to narrate the 8500 year story of Istanbul.
‘The story embraces symbols from Pagans to Roman Empire, from Byzantine Empire to Latin Empire, and finally from Ottoman Empire to Istanbul at the present day.’
For more info on Yekpare and the Nerdworking collective, pay them a visit.
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(Via FormFiftyFive – Design inspiration from around the world.)
Jul 03
Tags: alphabet, illustration, letter, munic, ray moore
Jun 19
Meredith Dittmar: “
Artist Meredith Dittmar
In an interview with Fecal Face
Selected works sell from NYC’s Jonathan Levine gallery, and you can check out larger images after the jump and see more in the gallery below.
(Via Cool Hunting.)
Jun 19
17th Biennale of Sydney identity: “
Barnbrook in London has produced a modular identity (and a rather lovely looking catalogue) for the 17th Biennale of Sydney which is currently running in the Australian city until August 1. The contemporary art festival, which is subtitled Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age, will showcase (in seven venues) over 440 works of art by no fewer than 166 artists and collaborators from 36 different countries.
The biennale’s subtitle was inspired by American experimental film maker, anthropologist and musicologist Harry Everett Smith (1923-1991) who released a box set of historic recordings entitled Anthology of American Folk Music in 1952.
In turn, Barnbrook took inspiration from Everett Smith’s work to develop a modular identity system for the festival comprising a myriad typefaces shapes, patterns and illustrations that can be combined, the studio tells us, ‘to create unlikely juxtapositions that individually reference the history of print and typography and which create an unmistakably contemporary voice.’
The identity is based around a modular system of blocks, designed to be flexible in order to work across a multitude of applications, from the cover of the festival’s catalogue (cover and spreads shown above), to the festival’s website, bags, T-shirts, posters and signage. The modular blocks are uniform in shape to allow easy tessellation and there are two layers.
A primary layer block contains textual information and illustrations drawn from old scientific reference books, stills from Smith’s films, astrological manuscripts and mathematical text books…
The secondary layer blocks form abstract shapes…
and patterns based on geometry and halftone printing techniques…
The various elements are designed to be put together thus:
All designs can be applied in monotone (black), duotone (red and black) or tritone (black, red and white).
‘The typography is deliberately awkward,’ the studio tells us. ‘Forced justification, bad kerning and strange combinations of typefaces are inspired by letterpress, early/mid-twentieth century print, and specifically reference Smith’s American Folk Music sleeve notes. The challenge was to create a system that doesn’t appear formulaic and predictable but has a unified voice – a celebration of diversity and unity.’
Here are some shots of the identity applied across signage, banners, posters and other items:
To find out more about the 17th Biennale of Sydney – and to see how the identity works online / on-screen – visit biennaleofsydney.com.au/
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(Via CR Blog.)
Dec 14
Get Creative With Collage: Trends and Inspiration:
Collage is the combination of pieces of diverse materials and media, such as newspaper, magazines, package labels, fabric, paint and photographs, into one composition. The term itself derives from the French ‘coller,’ meaning ‘glue.’ It was coined by both Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso at the beginning of the 20th century, when collage became a distinct part of modern art.
Collage promises to be an important creative outlet for many years to come because it allows artists to explore and experiment with creating truly new, exciting and often unexpected results. This article showcases the pioneers of the collage movement, current trends and examples, contemporary proponents of collage and a wealth of resources. Please feel free to use the comments area to suggest other collages or artists you like.
You may be interested in the article Pop Art Is Alive: Classics and Modern Artworks that presents 75 outstanding examples of classic and modern pop art.
Pioneers
Pablo Picasso
Early in 1912, Picasso created ‘Still Life with Chair Caning’ (above) by attaching a piece of oilcloth with a caning pattern to an oval-shaped painting. It is said to be the first ‘modern’ collage; however, the claim is not definitive, because George Braque was developing a technique using papier collé in the same year.
George Braque
Georges Braque developed paper collage (papier collé) using shreds of mixed media to produce the effect of actual paint, layered on the canvas with paint later being added. He first used this technique in his 1912 painting, Fruitdish and Glass (above).
Kurt Schwitters
A collage by German Dada and surrealist artist Kurt Schwitters entitled ‘Das Undbild’ from 1919. Schwitters was famous for his collages, called ‘Merz Pictures,’ in which he attempted to make coherent artistic sense of the world around him using fragments of found objects.
Eduardo Paolozzi
Paolozzi is regarded as the father of pop art in Britain. This piece, ‘I Was a Rich Man’s Plaything’ from 1947, is considered the earliest standard-bearer of pop art. It was created from different pieces of commercially printed paper stuck to a single piece of card.
Henri Matisse
Late in his career, Matisse began to work increasingly with cut paper. He used sheets of paper washed over with gouache colors and then cut out his shapes and stuck them together, as shown above in a collage entitled ‘The Snail’ from 1953.
Robert Rauschenberg
Most famous for his ‘Combines’ series of collages (1954 to 1962), Rauschenberg extended the conventions of collage and found objects and incorporated trash and interesting urban debris, such as bottles, clocks, radios, clothing, wire and newspaper, into his work.
Richard Hamilton
Created in 1956 for the catalog of an exhibition in London, ‘Just What Is It that Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?’ was the first work of pop art (or indeed collage) to achieve iconic status. It consists of images taken mainly from American magazines and advertisements.
Romare Bearden
Bearden truly embraced the collage technique, because the layered, fragmented form allowed him to freely combine ideas, shapes and cultural references in a modern and accessible way. ‘The Calabash’ (above) of 1970 is perhaps his most famous collage.
Current Trends
Now let’s take a closer look at current trends and examples. As you browse through the collages in this showcase, you may notice these trends:
Vintage
The use of vintage images, advertisements and materials is perhaps the biggest trend in collages today. Many collage artists take inspiration from vintage art because of its unique style and beauty.
Mixed media
Mixed media is simply the use of other media, such as paint, in a collage. Common media include pencil drawings, paints, pastels, charcoals and markers.
Advertising and slogans
Not surprisingly, slogans, branding and advertising play a major part in many of the collages featured here. Consumer culture has become a major force since its appearance in collages in the late 1940s.
Retro
Retro iconography and imagery have experienced a resurgence in collage, because their style is so distinctive from today’s culture and art.
Urban
‘Found collage’ relies heavily on urban wall art, such as torn posters, ads, paint, markers and signs. It is growing in popularity, partly because of artists such as Nick Riggio, who creates urban collage paintings.
Creative Collages
Tutorials
Here is a selection of the best tutorials on creating outstanding collages.
- Mixed Media
Use a combination of acrylic paints, brushes, gel and various scraps of paper and images. - Digital Collage
An in-depth tutorial from Teodoru Badiu on making his piece entitled ‘Atlas.’ - Fabric Collage
A simple way to use old fabrics to create a unique work of art.
Dedicated Blogs
And now, a round-up of the best collage blogs:
- Not For Paper
- Collage Lab
- Daily Collage Project
- A Collage A Day
- Daily Collage
- Collage Clearing House
- Scrapiteria
Flickr Groups
And some Flickr groups dedicated to mixed media and digital- and paper-based collage:
- Collage Crazy
- All Collages
- Creative Collage
- Collage Kids
- Collage A Day
- Paper Collage
- I Make Collages
- Digital Collages
- Innovative Collage
- Photos and Digital Collages
- Vintage Collage Art
- Vintage Paper Collage
- Retro Collage
- Photoshop Collages
- Your Collage
- Collage Jerks
- Collage Brut
- Urban Collage
- Shape Collage
- Photoshop Collages
(Via Smashing Magazine » Fonts.)
Oct 21
Aug 26
Jul 18
‘I am interested in creating a dialogue regarding the use of recycled materials and ecologically minded art making practices. My work is comprised of recycled wood. These forms are then surfaced with a combination of overlaid recycled wood pieces and acrylic pigmented grout’
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