Friday, April 27, 2012

A Dynamic Duo - London Pictures


an intro to Gilbert & George

THE SINGING SCULPTURE IMPRESSES ALL DAY circa 1970


Yesterday I was lucky enough to view Gilbert & George's new series, London Pictures, in NY at the Sonnabend Gallery.  I say lucky not just because I got to experience the work, but also to meet and chat with the "artist". I refer to the 2 men as one artist as they are a collaborative team and are amongst Britain's most important artists. 292 originals in this series, a "townscape" of London and commentary of our urban society - all taken (literally) from sandwich boards/newspapers headlines displayed on the streets of London over a 6 year period.

Click on the gallery above for more on this exhibit and the meaning (and better shots). Click here for more on Gilbert and George. Carol, Phlaxy and Anne, thanks for great company!














                        WARNING - THIS VIDEO BELOW HAS EXPLICIT IMAGERY


Friday, April 13, 2012

The Artistic Type

 I love fonts. I am inspired by the different emotions a certain typeface can evoke. I love the drama, the whimsy, the playfulness of some and the sophistication of others. Steve Jobs was enamored with calligraphy and typeface as well and his study of this art played well into his style and product design at Apple. While I certainly have not yet achieved his type of success, I can relate to his interest in the subject.
In his own words, the quote below is Steve Jobs discussing a calligraphy class he took at Reed College after he dropped out:

"I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes a great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating."
(From Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography, page 41.)


I think it is pretty cool to design a new typeface and I admire the talent of graphic artists who can create a brand new view of the alphabet. (For fun and to view some new fonts, click here.) 





Additionally, I get intrigued by various art forms using letters and fonts. So, when I came across some recent work of Jérôme Corgier, a Parisian graphic artist (who recently won the Communication Arts award for his design of the New York Times Style Magazine Cover - see above), I was drawn to the work. 



 Jérôme creates a 3 dimensional type in the form of a paper sculpture.  Mixing letters from Latin and Arabic alphabets, making paper cut outs of the same - with color - he blurs the line between art and function. The letters still have meaning but the meaning is different now, the form flows into a type of art. I can't decide if I really like it but I am interested in it. Want to see more?