this year’s holiday cards were far more time intensive than last year’s, but the final product was worth it. see them all on flickr.
the unhappy meal: redesigned
15 December, 2008 – 17h53
in perfect juxtaposition to the artwork of my previous post, i bring you the new packaging of mcdonald’s.
with the redesign, boxer creative was hoping to “change the way the world feels about eating mcdonald’s food”. sorry guys, until there’s soy protein on the menu, there’s no changing the way this vegetarian sees the chain.
m. mararian’s inky dreadfuls
14 December, 2008 – 9h50
i am drawn to michael mararian’s work, naturally, as it resembles both technically and conceptually some of my earlier work as an art student. self-described as “an artist whose career has been built on the disillusionment of perfect american values and time honored tradition of the joy of childhood and the assumptions of the happiness it brings to all,” m. mararian’s thoughts on his art and his reasons for creating resonate with me no less than the work itself.
“some subscribe to the notion that artists create work to help delve into themselves - to ‘fight their demons’ so to speak.
i would agree with that statement but i think ultimately it would be a detriment to the artist if he or she actually achieved those goals. what if an artist fought their demon and won? what would their art look like after that? i would argue that it’s probably best to not progress as an artist in fear that all resolutions will hinder the creative struggle which ultimately delivers the viable and meaningful fruits of labor.”
national [novel] writing month.
25 November, 2008 – 23h37
unofficially, i decided to partake in the whole nanowrimo thing. unofficially, i say, because i had no desire to sign up on their site. i decided to do this strictly as a personal experiment, and, having finally reached the fifty thousand word goal, my assessment is as follows.
fifty thousand is a lot of words. c’est tout. it’s not a lot of writing, it’s not even a lot of meaning. i’ve told better stories in ten thousand words. more coherent, more thoughtful, and overall more beautiful and telling of the human condition than this fifty thousand word experiment. i also learned far more about myself in writing shorter stories than in spending a couple of hours a day writing an average of two thousand words. the problem with nanowrimo is, when it comes down to it, it’s entirely about word count, and whatever that word count is becomes the value of the project.
but i do like what i’ve written. there are several good beginnings, perhaps even a few plot lines that are cohesive enough to carry through one hundred and seventy five pages, likely more. the characters ended up being very wes anderson meets jonathan safron foer meets charlotte brontë, etc. upon reflection, i think the suppression of my voice is probably this piece’s greatest accomplishment, especially with the third person limited omniscience jumping from one character to the next. everything is about the art, and nothing is recognizable as the artist. unless of course, you happen to know me, and then all sorts of references can be made.
from a process standpoint, the word count was frustrating, but the writing was therapeutic. i managed to keep up with my day job, including a chaotic launch last week, while also making more progress on my paintings this month than in the past few. there’s twelve, they’re huge, and they’re better than anything i’ve done before. i’m blogging more, designing more, becoming more involved in the political and social scenes of seattle. i look forward to continuing on writing projects, though for the process not the product.
speaking of (red).
25 November, 2008 – 18h06
product(red) meets starbucks meets the kinetic typography trend. it’s a cliché overload, if you ask me. a well executed cliché overload that will undoubtedly make more in its first hour than i do in a year. hmph.
(red).
25 November, 2008 – 0h06
i am generally unimpressed with the whole (product)red thing. it’s a brand whose meaning was lost in its execution; a supposedly charitable project that receives more criticism than praise. take mark rosenman, for example, who describes product(red) as an “example of the corporate world aligning its operations with its central purpose of increasing shareholder profit, except this time it is being cloaked in the patina of philanthropy.”
but then converse jumped on the opportunity with their project 1hund(red), in which one hundred artists design one hundred pairs of shoes. with artists like camilla engman and jeremyville on board, it seems inevitable that i will partake.
sam flores.
24 November, 2008 – 13h43
in a recent interview with juxtapoz, artist sam flores does a beautiful and unpretentious job of talking about his art, his inspiration and his process.
“seeing wasted talent makes me sad; people having so much talent and opportunity and just letting it go, spending half their life doing nothing and talking about what they’re going to do but never actually doing it.”
“i see people going through life every day with their heads down and blinders on, and they’re just unaware of anything in life. i think that’s one thing i portray in my work, how people can go through a world so beautiful and not see any of it or be so shut off from it.”
love for everyone!
19 November, 2008 – 8h59
last saturday was a day for protesting, as cities across the country joined together to rally against california’s passing of proposition eight. here in seattle, we were part of the estimated six thousand who marched from volunteer park to westlake center with very few naysayers along the way.
to quote king county executive ron sims, “if you are going to talk about immorality: talk about hunger. that is immoral. talk about war. that is immoral. but do not tell me that when two people love each other that is immoral.”
art acquisitions.
17 November, 2008 – 1h32
we’ve added several new lovelies from various artsy crafters [or is it crafty artists?] to our collection.
there’s theresa the owl pillow from coure
and the death bee [of invader zim] from the thorn and rose.
we visited the plush you show at schmancy and picked up both ivan by jenny harada
and ‘branch for two’ by arianna marinelli.
avocado with fruit salsa and sweet corn cake.
14 November, 2008 – 16h19
i’m sticking with my new sunday tradition, though this post is nearly a week late. last weekend, i tried out two new recipes, grilled avocado with strawberry-mango salsa and sweet corn cake. the corn cake was a little off in consistency, though tasty enough that i’ll give it another try. these sides accompanied a tasty quesadilla filled with black beans, cilantro, yellow tomatoes, onions, garlic, corn and pepper jack.
