I was pleasantly surprised to see that from the 23rd of October to the 5th of December this year the Zach Feuer Gallery in New York had a retrospective exhibition of works by the Pop artist, teacher and nun Sister Mary Corita.
One of my all time favorite image makers who sadly passed away in 1986 spent 30 years practicing as a nun at the Immaculate Heart Convent in Los Angeles where she also had an art studio and used her time to create screen prints and serigraphs.
Her work features a beautiful mix of type and image usually in bright or fluorescent colours. Newspaper photos, chopped up slogans and quotes, advertising images, jingles and hand rendered type all came together to illustrate political and world issues she felt strongly about with a great sense of playfulness and freedom
It has been said that she is “responsible in part for advancing the silk screen process as fine art”. I can only hope one day to see them with my own eyes. Maybe next time…
Alex Geoffrey
Posted on Thursday, 10th of December 2009 Permalink
Stephen Powers is a New York based artists who during his youth wrote graffiti under the name ESPO (Exterior Surface Painting Outreach). Powers work has always blurred the lines between graffiti and graphic design by producing murals influenced by advertising and sign writing, his public work often appearing to be legitimate billboards.
Today Stephen’s work is as intelligent and engaging as ever. For his latest project ‘A Love letter For You’ Stephen Powers has traveled back to his home town of West Philadelphia, this time with the funding and backing from the local authorities, to paint a series of murals on the rooftops where graffiti once stood visible from the elevated train lines. Sadly the original 1980s graffiti went unnoticed by the public and were all painted brown sometime during the mid nineties. Powers feels that the original more ‘traditional’ graffiti was alienating and that by creating work which is understandable and readable by all it will ultimately result in a greater acceptance from the general public.
The ‘A Love letter For You’ project is still in production. For the latest murals, info and pictures straight from the rooftops of West Philidelphia check out the blog here
Alex Geoffrey
Posted on Tuesday, 20th of October 2009 Permalink
I recently spotted this online. Its a wedding invite which has been designed by the groom who is also a graphic designer called Matthew Dorfman. It reminded very much of the letter press invite that Nathan did for his wedding earlier this year which was type set and printed from real wood type blocks, a collaboration with letterpress practitioner Kelvyn Laurence-Smith.
Alex Geoffrey
Posted on Tuesday, 8th of September 2009 Permalink
In the world of vernacular typography Eric Tabuchi is a big game hunter. Since 2004 he’s been stalking some very big letters – on the backs of trucks. His twovolumes boast some fine specimens caught on safari over several thousand miles. His objective eye has also bagged some other more stationary subjects such as French countryside skateparks and concrete shelters. (via the awesome Truck & Type)
David Rainbird
Posted on Thursday, 13th of August 2009 Permalink
Thanks to all those who came down and battled it out in Fibre’s “Type Case Tiddlywinks” competition, at last weekends V&A Village Fete.
The atmosphere was tense, the players were focused and ready for gaming, some of the gamers were not ready to be defeated, but in the end there could only be two winners.
Friday night saw a calm and collected Sharmeen take the prize of a full wooden alphabet with a winking great score of 172. Frank stole the star prize of a whole set of wooden numbers on the Saturday, after managing to skillfully wink his way to record breaking score of 213!!
Catch some of highlights of this years competition here!
John Alexander
Posted on Monday, 27th of July 2009 Permalink
This lovely piece was produced by Oliver Harrison at St Martin’s School of Art in 1988. Yup – that’s 21 years ago and seven years before Adobe released After Effects. It was adapted in 1989 for a Royal Mail ‘Letters of Love’ commercial for Valentine’s day and won a clutch of awards. The song is Amore Baciami (Kiss me, my love) by Lidia Martorana.
I used to have it on a dusty old VHS and have rued the day that I lost it, but mercifully it’s appeared on YouTube. Hopefully we’ll see more of Harrison’s early work online soon. Inspirational stuff then and now.
David Rainbird
Posted on Thursday, 23rd of July 2009 Permalink
Join Fibre at the Victoria and Albert Museum Village Fete this Friday. Fibre is an annual regular at the V&A Village Fete, where designers and the museum crowd collide over fizzy pop and fruitcake.
This year Fibre’s typographers have devised a fiendish use for their old furniture – Type case Tiddlywinks. For just ten new pence you can have five pops in this game of skill and judgement*. Aim your wink at the Upper Case for a chance to win the star prize, or at the Lower Case for a tasty treat.
* Let’s face it, it’s random.
David Rainbird
Posted on Wednesday, 22nd of July 2009 Permalink
Heres a lovely flickr collection of vintage tape inserts. The collection features inserts from Dixons, Phillips, BASF. If your into 70’s and 80’s material check out the full collection here, brace yourself for some brave typography and colour combos.
Vikesh Bhatt
Posted on Monday, 16th of February 2009 Permalink
Farrow has recently reprinted a limited run of the Haçidenda 15th Birthday poster, which they first produced in 1997. This was sadly the last birthday that the Haçidenda celebrated before shutting its door in the summer of the same year.
This beautiful poster design has been screen-printed on “Campaign MG Poster Paper (120 GSM) with Pantone 810, black, cool grey 9 and reflective ink”. You can see the printing process used to reproduce the poster here. It’s a shame they don’t capture the smell of the print!
John Alexander
Posted on Friday, 19th of December 2008 Permalink
In conjunction with the Street Art exhibition at the Tate Modern, various works
have appeared in the area surrounding the Fibre studio.
Artists from Spain, Italy, France and Brazil were all showing works at the gallery
and in the nearby streets. Some placed legally, some appear to have been done
without permission. Either way, the message would seem to be the same:
Street art’s ok so long as the perpetrator’s not from Britain.
In a decision I support, the gallery purposefully excluded Banksy in an attempt
to draw attention to other just as accomplished artists and aspects of the art
form. Just a shame I think not to celebrate some more of our own emerging
and already established talent.
