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Exploring the world of old paper...
2007-06-12 07:01:00
This is the tagline for a wonderful site created by Marty Weil entitled simply "Ephemera." As someone who was bitten by the collecting bug at an early age (first stamps & baseball cards, then eventually everything) I truly enjoyed digging around this well researched and illustrated blog. Each entry is presented with enough background info to give the visually interesting a proper context. Though, "paper" only hints at the content featured, which ranges from booklets & publications to advertising pieces to photos & postcards and more. Oh, and did I mention the vintage dairy patch collection?
More About: World , The World , Paper , Exploring

Alesha Sivartha: Visionary Typographer
2007-06-09 23:30:00
Though it may not have been his intention, Dr. Alesha Sivartha's masterpiece of mysticism and typography, The Book of Life: The Spiritual and Physical Constitution of Man, is truly a work of art. While difficult to follow at first, the often densely worded drawings and diagrams created in the late 1800s do eventually begin to make sense—if only on a per-page basis. Nevertheless, rarely have form and function been so perfectly melded, ala Edward Tufte—though way before his time. Sivartha, a.k.a. Arthur Merton, MD, was allegedly the illegitimate son of the Rajah Ram Mohun Roy, a prominent Indian scholar and reformer. While little is known about his life or why he chose to dedicate it to mapping out the physical and spiritual nature of our higher brain functions, his apparent relation to the Raja may have been the impetus. An online version of the book maintained by the author's great-great-grandson, complete with his own interpretations, is located here.
More About: Visionary , Typo

Vitamin D
2007-06-09 23:02:00
Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing is a wonderful survey of a medium whose relevance in the broader context of contemporary art has finally been established. Over a hundred international artists working in a variety of styles and mediums are profiled here with little fluff and plenty of full-size (the book is 11.6" x 10.2") color images. My personal stand-outs include William Kentridge, Raymond Pettibon, Ellen Gallagher, Simon Evans and Tacita Dean. Any surprise that they all incorporate words into their work?
More About: Vitamin , Vitamin D

They Called Her Styrene
2007-06-09 22:42:00
This tome of Ed Ruscha's word drawings should satisfy both lovers of contemporary art and designers alike. They Called Her Styrene collects almost 600 'word' artworks created by Ruscha since the early 1960s onward, which he executed in a variety of mediums including pastel, graphite, acrylic, gunpowder and even vegetable and fruit juices. While some pieces are as deadpan as the image on the book's cover, others are stunning renderings of three-dimensional ribbon-like words. Shaped like a good sized brick, you're sure to have enough room for this must-own monograph on your coffee table.
More About: Tyre , Rene

Type Selector
2007-06-09 22:03:00
It took me long enough to write about this most "handy" tool. The Type Selector, created by Michael Wörgötter, is the Pantone swatchbook equivalent to typography. The 226 specimens, which are grouped as Serif, Slab Serif, Sans Serif, Script, Black Letter and Display, fan out allowing you to compare multiple faces at once. It's quite solid, in fact, and will stand up on its own allowing you to keep your selections sticking up for easy reference. I'd call this the most useful design tool of 2006. Good on ya, Michael!
More About: Elector

More Signs!
2007-05-16 18:06:00
Alas, I've gotten caught up on the past 4 or so years of sign pictures laying around my hard drive. Feast your eyes on about 140 new gems of hand-painted and hand-made goodness.
More About: Signs

Kleenex's Log Jam
2007-04-18 22:15:00
This is good stuff. If you're as annoyed as I am at those stupid "Let it out" ads, check out what the jammers at Greenpeace's Kleercut site are doing to spoil Kimberly-Clark's tear-jerking, pseudo-sentimental TV spots and get the message out that Kleenex Tissues are made with "100 per cent virgin fibre and contains no recycled fibre." Well, what they don't say is that this virgin fibre comes from clear-cutting ancient forest including North America's Boreal forest.

Tales From a Forgotten City
2007-04-02 18:26:00
If you haven't already, pick up a copy of New Orleans, Mon Amour; the collected memoirs of Andre Codrescu--Transylvanian ex-pat, LSU English professor, Exquisite Corpse editor and occasional NPR comentator--about his beloved adopted city. Good stuff.
More About: Tales , City , Forgotten

While we're on the subject of labels...
2007-02-14 17:40:00
I probably posted this a while back, and it's also listed in the Interesting Links section, but there's a whole mess of rockabilly label art over at the Rockin' Country Style Label Shots website. While many of the label designs verge on boring sans-serif type with little or no graphics, there are a few well worth the dig. Dig?
More About: Labels , Subject

More Jamaican Label Art
2007-02-14 17:14:00
This is getting ridiculous. Ian of Jamaincan Label Art informs me of another site dedicated to Jamaican 45rpm label art, the Dance Crasher website. In addition to labels, Dance Crasher hosts a plethora of reggae ephemera to gaze. It seems the UK is replete with these precious discs. And it looks like I'm gonna have to hook up the ol' scanner and get to work if I hope to contend...

Missing Mac OS Preferences?
2007-02-13 21:20:00
Does your Mac have this setting? I wish mine did so that I could deactivate it. Apparently, Apple thinks I'm a dumbass and won't just let me do what I need to do without warning me each and every time I try to change a file extension...
More About: Missing , Refer , Missi

Truly Dreadful Stuff
2007-02-07 17:23:00
So, I'm sitting here in my vinyl (ivory?) tower thinking I've got the corner on the 45 RPM label art web site market, when Jamaican Label Art hits my screen boasting "over 1603 label scans, 954 details, 111 sleeves, 3320 files in total." While they're not actual size scans (I still have the corner on that market), they do include a number of nice detailed closeups of over-printing colors and type treatments. There's even a submission form where you can add your own to the collection. Well, I bow in humble submission...
More About: Stuff

The True Price of Freedom
2007-02-06 16:26:00
Is anyone else as struck with TERROR as I am from the recent news that Turner Broadcasting System and the ad agency they hired to execute their marketing campaign have settled with the city of Boston and various state and federal agencies for $2 Million bucks?!? I never thought I'd be on the side defending marketers and advertisers, but this has gone way too far. It's the same "pedal - forward - as - fast - as - you - can - through - the - big - pile - of - shit - you - made" response that created the current situation in Iraq. Can no one admit when they've overreacted?
More About: Freedom , Price , True

Visionary Places
2007-02-02 22:25:00
Drive on down the road to the website for director Michael McNamara's 8-part documentary series entitled "Shrines and Homemade Holy Places ," which features visionary artists and the spaces they are moved to create.
More About: Visionary