Vic Muniz

Vic Muniz is a Brazilian born artist who is currently based in N.Y. His work is strongly influenced by pop-art and he experiments with different media- from chocolate, to caviar, to rubbish- to make his images. Pretty cool. The final result is a photograph of the original images as the media he works with is often perishable, such as these"after Warhol" works made of chocolate and peanut butter. Is it wrong i think they look delicious? 

His "caviar monsters" are very cool and feature evil villains such as Frankenstein and Dracula- I like the effect of the little beads of caviar- this must have been an expensive medium to work with! Anyways, there's some cool images on his website made of lots of exciting things if you wanna check it out.

Spring is in the air! Yay for not having to wear three layers of merino anymore!

Anti-theft lunch-bags

Pretty Chair!

Ah! This lovely creation, called "the mobius" was designed by Franz Schrofer for a chair design competition and took out the top prize. Looks comfy too!

Penguin Books

I am (trying to) read a D.H Lawrence book at the moment, and what attracted me to it was its pretty old Penguin Cover. After a whole lot of different designs over the years, they've gone back and printed their classics in the old orange and cream stripe style-love it. You might've seen them in book stores at the moment. Good inspiration for our Bob project with layout etc too! Like the type too.

The small stakes

The small stakes are a design studio that makes very cool silkscreen posters for their favorite bands. Extremely sweet job! Pretty cool to check out for inspiration, or just to find your favorite bands'.

www.thesmallstakes.com

Music Vid's

There are some really cool low budget music videos around. Two rather interesting and creative ones are for Fraud in the 80's by Mates of State and Like it or Not  from Architecture in Helsinki. They both use collage-y crafty type stuff which I think is adorable. Perhaps Chloe would like them...

Fraud in the 80's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERW1UfLalw4

Like it or not: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZFBmkd_7ts&feature=channel

Rob Ryan

Rob Ryan is a very cool London based artist/designer/illustrator who works using amazingly intricate paper cut-outs and screen prints. His work is very sweet n cheerful, with lots of birds, flowers and cute wee messages awww.

I thought Han may be interested to know that he made a pretty crazy paper cut out dress pictured here as a commission for Vogue UK and has also done work for Vogue Japan. Edwin might find it interesting that he has collaborated with Paul Smith.

His official website's a bit weird and I can't get into it...perhaps it's just me..., but if you google him there's lots of info and images around about his specific projects etc. Some very cool stuff!

Hey Everyone! So I guess its my turn to edit the blog wohoo hope you are all having a fantastic holidays wherever you may be! 

One of my fave mags for inspiration (and just generally loverly to read with a cup of tea) is Frankie. Its an Aussie mag and has lots of Arty stuff (comes with a free poster each month of cute illustrations) plus a fab assortment of articles, music interviews, fashion and other bits. Hoorah. Check out the website or pick up an issue for $9 shall you require some holiday reading material.

 

www.frankie.com.au/

Someone else I found I liked tonight was Yoshi Tajima. does really cool designs epecially with faces and details of layering over top. If you are someone like me how likes to look into images and guess how they were made etc, you might like this guy.. :)

This is for anyone who is really interested in fashion design, I don't personally know too much about it but i found this website tonight and i thought it was quite cool.

Here's the link to Jean-Charles de Castelbajac's website:

http://www.jc-de-castelbajac.com/

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=8095651491706340690

I love the kermit the frog piece!! lol

I have just found this website too... TOTALLY obsessed with this illustrator and street designer Monsier Qui.

http://www.designtopnews.com/art-design/illustrations-and-street-art-by-monsieur-qui/

I love this stlye. The loose look of the designs by using water colours, yet mixed with the delicate, perfect precision of the drawing. I think this is what I was attracted to when I was looking at Georgie Hills works at The Physics Room. I'm thinking of looking into this sort of thing for my surfboard design...

Hope everyones weekend is going good :)

Mel

I was searching the net tonight and looking for bits and pieces i liked. im finding at the moment im really interested in illustrations and street art, in perticular really busy compositions. here ar a few of the images i liked....

Hey guys, very tired tonight and getting sick!! :( wondering what I could repost on the blog tonight for my second post..

Well some of you might find this helpful in the future or maybe wont be helpfull at all, but this is a cool website I've used for a very long time when I needed a really funky font or something specific for title pages etc..

It's called www.dafont.com and you can work your way round to getting these fonts for free if you have the time, hense why I only use it for titles and a small amount of text.

Hey guys,

Didn't get much of a chance to post something up yesterday, so you should expect two posts to be up today!! I made a visit to the Physics Room yesterday arvo, and they had some really neat works there by Georgie Hill. I thought the works were really delicate in appearance which is why I quite liked them. She works with watercolours and pencil and is quite impressive to look at closely...

Here's the link that explains more about them and lets you see the work for yourselves;

http://www.physicsroom.org.nz/gallery/2009/hill/

I grabed a leaflet that I was attracted to by the picture on the front on my way out too, there is a show opening at Coca on the 1st of September called "Approapriation" by Elizabeth Moyle. However there's nothing up on the Coca website just to find out a little more, so I'll post the flyer on the notice board in the design room.. :)

Not long til Holidays.... :D

Mel

Hey Guys

So it's Mels turn on the blog this week. We'll keep the editing running through the holidays so none misses out before end of year submission. I won't be in today unfortunately but will try and catch up about your Dylan compilations after our photography workshop tomorrow.

Aaron

TWR - Trans World Radio

TWR, goes to poverty stricken countries as well as developed countries to share the Gospel with them. What makes them unique is the fact that the same as the early churches in the middle ages they provide the gospel for illiterate people. In the middle ages it was frescoes literally depicting the gospel, now with TWR it is Radio's, depending on oral communication. The Radio it self is basically bomb proof working on a very simple wind up motor and also doubling as a torch, making sustainable and durable.

Oral cultures around the world communicate through stories, narratives, songs and proverbs. To reach these people groups, TWR developed narratives (like The Radio Bible) to imitate the way Jesus told His stories.

Trans World Radio (TWR) is the most far-reaching Christian radio network in the world. Programs in over 200 languages and dialects are aired from more than 2,000 outlets, including 14 international broadcasting locations, as well as local AM, shortwave, long wave and FM radio stations, direct-to-listener satellite broadcasts, cable audio systems and the Internet. Every day, TWR's broadcasts reach millions in over 160 countries.

To me it is very interesting seeing a modern version of spreading the gospel through a different medium.

Propaganda Posters

It's interesting to see the unity, bravery and victory being portrayed across all war or propaganda posters. They are all very similarly stylized incorporating the same imagery and colours. If you weren't part of the war you could not share in the glorious victory afterwards, this is a feeling also strongly portrayed by all.

They all share in the hand made quality, very similar to type being pressed on to a page indenting it slightly. The faded colours works very well, dating the image, making it feel delicate and precious, like something that should be preserved.

Propaganda Posters

ARTS AND LETTERS DAILY

A really interesting and current website, worth visiting every now and again is arts and letters daily. It focusses on aesthetics, philosophy, literature, art, history and criticism. It does very well to blend all of these topics together.

A topic I was looking at today was The New Atheists confrontational way of dealing with religion it is not advancing evolution as an intellectual cause. It simply creates bitterness.

This website has an international cult following, it is definitely worth checking out, There is something for everyone.

www.artsandlettersdaily.com

Walk Like An Egyptian

Just looking at the wonderful detail in Egyptian art and their frescoes. The similarities between the Egyptian and the frescoes of the middle ages are astonishing. The Egyptian images do appear very stylized compared to the ones done during the middle age that comes across as bad drawings. The small images or their form of writing I guess, does look very similar to symbols or keys found on maps. Interesting the whole reason behind the flourish of Christian iconography was to do with the majority of people at the time being illiterate, so the established churches went to great lenghts to depict the bible visually so that everyone can view and understand or the Bible.

Mozart's - THE MAGIC FLUTE

One of Mozart's most popular Operas is coming to Christchurch. It's showing at the Isaac Theatre Royal the 29 of September, 1, 3, 6, 8 and 10th of October. The prices are very reasonable, for C reserve tickets it's only $25. It's available through Ticketek.

The chances to be in the same city whilst a very popular Opera is in town is very scarce, so i'll encourage everyone to try and make it to this Opera. If it's your first one even better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2ODfuMMyss (Try this video on You Tube)

REALLY GOOD DOCUMENTARY DVD'S

Despite the narrator being prejudice in one of the documentaries it is still very interesting watching the different depictions of some of the most known religious themes in art. In doesn't purely focus on Christianity. The two worth getting out is:

Easter in Art and Judgement Day: Images of Heaven and Hell.

I'm looking into Stained Glass Windows and just wondering how they were made. Don't get me wrong I have looked at all the You Tube Videos on how to make fake stain glass windows, but it's more than wondering how they were made, I'm wondering if it is a trade that is busy slipping away.

While were on the topic of things slipping away, why is there such a small focus on architecture in the sense that most building is just a simple squares and thats it why is there no focus on the over all look, the small detail, like the roman colosseum. Just think if AMI Stadium thats getting up graded is transformed into an architectural marvel, celebrating christchurch and its history instead of just focussing on what is the cheapest and quickest way to build more seats.

Just commenting on the picture of Richard Branson, not sure if Aaron has mentioned but I'm actually related to Richard Branson.

THE BICYCLE THIEF

Starting of this week, I think its important to take some time off and relax with a nice movie. I highly recommend a film called 'The Bicycle Thief'. It's a low budget movie shot on location, the movie's focus is purely on plot and structure.

QUICK RUN DOWN OF FILM:

The scene is set in Italy just after WWII. After some luck the main character finally gets his brake on the condition that he owns a bicycle. His bicycle literally providing his bread and butter, gets stolen. The body of the film concentrates on the retrieval of the bicycle and the developing relationship between the main character and his son.

WHERE TO GET THIS AWESOME FILM!!!

There is a couple of previews on You Tube, but to get the real thing just head on down to ALICE in VIDEOLAND, it's under there top 100 movies of all time.

So I gather this is my last day of editing the blog, I hope you have all enjoyed the stuff I've put up and haven't found it too intense haha. I guess most of the stuff I've been looking at over the week has been about how what we do effects the scheme of things, something I may be able to explore in my work. Its awesome seeing how we all view things differently and bring different ideas to the blog and to the crits! Looking forward to seeing more personality test results!

Thanks! :-)

I thought I'd post some links to the 'End Poverty by 2015' campaign so you can see what I was trying to talk about in the critique. The campaign is structured into eight Millennium Development Goals which have been set up by the United Nations.

To view the goals see:

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2008highlevel/pdf/newsroom/MDG%20Overview%20FINAL.pdf

This is a link to an interview with Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, who was the deputy director for the Campaign in Africa, until he passed away after a car accident earlier this year. http://endpoverty2015.org/africanews/qa-threat-one-threat-all/26/nov/07 (this website has other stuff about the progress of the campaign).

After our interesting discussion in critique yesterday I have put the two links to the personality tests that I did for those keen to do them! It would be interesting to see how you go!

http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/mmdi-re/mmdi-re.htm

http://www.keirsey.com/sorter/register.aspx

For those interested in Architecture, the below link may be of interest. It's a talk called '17 Words of Architectual Inspiration' by Daniel Libeskind. It's quite interesting, he is a very passionate speaker. I can't say that I've heard architecture spoken about in this way before, it's intense haha

http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_libeskind_s_17_words_of_architectural_inspiration.html

Hi hope everyone's enjoying the weekend! Below is a link to a site called TearFund gift for life. Basically how it works is that people can buy gifts, such as seed, goats, chickens, health supplies, training for teachers etc and they get sent to those in need. I just thought I'd put it on the blog for those interested. :-)

http://www.giftforlife.co.nz/gift/

Hi Aaron, I tried googling your friend that has just given up his design career to become a missionary, but had trouble finding stuff. What was his name again?

Thanks

This week I've been looking at how people react in with strangers in public places etc and I watched some staged performances in train stations. These are quite funny, check out the links below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo (Train Station Freeze)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXqP8IQiQz4 (Train Station Freeze)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k (Train Station Sound of Music)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQKmKm4CTbk (Human Dominoes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MBBr-a2KnM (Human Mirror)

Enjoy!

Here is a link to a carbon footprint calculator! It's quite fun although the result may not be what you expected!

http://ecofoot.org/

Let me know what you think!

Below is a link to a talk by Olafur Eliasson. He talks a lot about light, space, artists responsibilities and other stuff along those lines. Check it out

http://www.ted.com/talks/olafur_eliasson_playing_with_space_and_light.html

This is a link to Barney Cox's article, "Why do we assume that online publishing is greener than print and paper?", which is from issue 70 of Eye Magazine. He discusses the differences between using online publishing and print and what's best for the environment. :-)

http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature.php?id=161&fid=731

Here's some interesting statistics:

• The richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of global household wealth
• The richest 1% of adults alone owned 40% of global assets in the year 2000
• The richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total. To be in the top 10% required $61,000 worth of assets.
• The bottom half of the world adult population owned barely 1% of global wealth
• Assets of $2,200 per adult placed a household in the top half of the world wealth distribution
• Assets of more than $500,000 places an adult in the top 1% - a group with 37 million members.

For more information: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-12/unu-pss120106.php

BRUCE MAU

Canadian designer, Bruce Mau is the creative designer of

Bruce Mau Design. Most of his work is themed around ideas of creating a good future for the design world, designers personal growth, the journey and process of their work, and enjoying yourself along the way. Below I've posted a link for you to read Mau's

"An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth", I definitely recommend reading it has some good points which I think many of us can relate to!

http://www.brucemaudesign.com/incomplete_manifesto.html

And for even more check out the YouTube video link below of selected interviews with him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnNJ_zMOan0

http://www.massivechange.com/

Hi everyone! Well, this week I thought I'd use the blog to look into stuff such as design and arts influence on society, how the outside world relates to art and design and some other random stuff I catch myself thinking about :-) To get the ball rolling I've been looking at the designer Bruce Mau and his Massive Change project, I'll put the link up so you can all see. I think he has some inspirational ideas!

New Editor

Hey Guys

Big thanks to Chloe for her work on the blog last week, and for organising the movie night on Monday, I hope we can do more of that during the term. The blog editor list is as follows...

Jo

Edwin

Mel

Sophie

Rachel

Rosalee

Ella

Han

Grace

So Jo, I've just made you an administrator of the blog so you can change any of the visual settings. Can't wait to see some new posts as well as comments from the rest of you (which was poorly missing from Chloe's posts). I hope everyone had a chance to check out Alice's show last night, if not it's open til Friday so pop into the Gallery.

Good luck Jo.

A

End of the Week!

Hey so this is my last day of editing. I hope we can all get to a film in the festival, just leave a comment on the blog for me to check or come talk to me if I'm around because I will be going to some! Hopefully you will check out some of the films I have suggested and go search for some yourself, the best selection I know in Christchurch is Alice In Videoland on High St, it has heaps and heaps of movies!! 

The website that you can check out is http://www.aliceinvideoland.co.nz/ it has all the movies listed on the site and I think you can even register online.

Happy watching pepeios.