Design & Politics

There has been much talk about Obama, not just for his political views, but for the design of his campaign. (Yes, designers are taking over the world.) See the online article at Newsweek.com

Inspired Typpgraphy

FONTLEF PHOTOLO is a new blog about letters and typography. Via All*Over*Print.

The Year in Color

Love this calendar by Jonathan Davie.

Gallery Girl/Hope Gangloff

Next, I headed north to the Gagosian gallery. On my way I was distracted, captured by Hope Gangloff’s large-scale illustrative painting in the window of the Inglett Gallery. The works are like casual snapshots with extreme attention to detail presented in a hip, fresh, new light. I am particularly fascinated with Gangloff’s line work, each hair is drawn separately.

The Sagmeister Phenomenon

The graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister is now a kind of phenomenon. In recent months, he’s released a second book, mounted a solo exhibition at the renowned gallery Deitch Projects, and made a splash at Art Basel. And these are just the latest achievements in a career brimming with landmark design solutions and attendant accolades.

All of which has been well-earned. His work is often breathtakingly ambitious in its understanding of what design can be. It takes a certain kind of ingenuity and clarity of vision to intuit that this profession can mean typography carved into human flesh, or charts and graphics rendered huge and inflatable, or hanging out the side of the Empire State Building.

What’s more, his work also possesses a unique sense of whimsy that’s typically scarce in graphic design. Whether it’s a wall bricked with hundreds of bananas or a two actual school buses stacked one on top of the other, there’s a healthy amount of pure mirth present in most of his solutions — you rarely get the idea that he’s weary of his assignments, or that he’s doing anything less than having the time of his life. Indeed, one of the things that makes it so genuinely engaging is that Sagmeister seems to possesses an indefatigable willingness to act upon his playful ideas, to go to whatever lengths necessary to turn them into reality. Contrast that alacrity with the resignation of those of us who, if we can’t conjure up a solution in software or within ten feet of our desks, rule out anything more ambitious entirely. (Guilty as charged.) Via Subtraction 7.0.

Gallery Girl/Paula Scher

A couple of weekends ago, I went a few galleries in Chelsea. I started with Paula Scher’s Recent Paintings exhibition at the Maya Stendhal Gallery. It was slated to close on January 26; luckily for perpetually late admirers the exhibition has been extended for two more weeks. Scher, a designer of rock star proportions is a partner at Pentagram and is best known for her vibrant posters for the Public Theater and the Citibank logo. Similarly, to those typography-chocked Public posters, Scher’s giant map paintings are completely composed of hand drawn type. The maps, however, do not depict any place. This is Scher’s first solo show as a fine artist and every piece in it is sold. Clearly, less is more.

Carry All

Love these bags from Mike & Chris.

I'm Not There

I have yet to see I'm Not There. Luckily, there's still a chance. It's playing at the Film Forum.

I'm Back

Sorry I've been MIA. I missed all of February! I've reorganized some things and I'm back on track.

New Gucci

These are killers; they look more like an architectural marvel than something you should walk in. (In fact, that's most likely the intent of the ad; so why does it make us want them more?) If only we couldn't feel our feet...(Via Zesty Perspective)