white noise in a white room

STOP COMING HERE

2011-11-21T15:52:00.000-05:00

You should be going here:

www.enoogs.tumblr.com

MANBABY

2011-09-27T09:00:00.001-04:00

Inspired by all of the genius work at www.manbabies.com I have created this.

Morning Disc Logo

2011-04-10T11:13:00.002-04:00

Made this better. Reduced the colors and improved the contrast (black/white balance) I think.

Laura & Danny Wedding Invitation

2011-04-08T12:40:00.000-04:00

Laura and Danny wanted their wedding invitation to be hand-drawn and evoke the Sailor Jerry-style of tattoos. She is Italian and he is Colombian, so they wanted the colors of their respective countries flags to be represented in the design as well. All of the type was hand-drawn. The body copy is based on Courier and their names are based on Snell Roundhand. Courier was the choice because they are both writers and wanted the font to look like a typewriter produced it.

All of the lettering and drawings were created specifically for this invite, ink on paper, and scanned in where they were colored digitally and the aged paper background was added.

The invitations were printed by Rolling Press, in Brooklyn, NY on 130# Chorus Art Silk Cover (55% Recycled, Elemental Chlorine Free, FSC Certified), and were printed digitally with non-toxic inks, using wind power.

Zachary David Neugeboren

2011-02-19T08:28:00.000-05:00

This little man came shouting into the world nearly two weeks ago, on February 8 at 1:55AM. He weighed 6lbs, 13 oz and was 21" long. At the pediatrician yesterday he weighed in at 7lbs, 2oz, which is awesome. We think he's perfect.

Zack 20 minutes after he came out. A bit puffy, but beautiful, no?

My gorgeous wife later that morning.

And here he is at 9 days old, alert and looking slightly different. Good-looking kid.

Montauk Shores (unofficial) Logo

2011-01-13T00:19:00.004-05:00

Took it upon myself to create a logo for the trailer park at the end of Ditch Plains Road in Montauk where my In-Laws have a trailer. We go there as much as we can in the warm months and sometimes in the Winter as well. Went with a nautical theme with the flag and rope for the letters, and have a surfboard and fishing rod crossing as an added sigil. This is a draft, I am going to keep working with a few of the elements. Need to make a simpler, flat 2-color version as well.

http://montaukshoresresort.com/

At the very least I’ll be printing up a few teeshirts and sweatshirts, at the most, the folks in the trailer park will like it and we’ll print a few more.

Fashion Monsters are finished!

2010-12-07T12:03:00.000-05:00

Finally finished this project that began over drinks in July or August, was shot at the beginning of September (or was it the very end of August) and languished in post-production (read: ME) for the last three months. It is done and I think it looks great. Beautiful shots, beautiful model, beautiful clothes, and some seriously cute and creepy monsters.

About the project:

Fashion Monster was a project conceived with photographer Dustin Cohen to combine his photographs and my "monster" illustrations. We set out to create a noir feel, knowing that the monsters would upend that with their absurd placement and bright colors. Shot on location around lower Manhattan at the beginning of Fall, the light was great and the team Dustin put together created wonderful images for me to work with.

Eli Neugeboren | Art Direction, Retouching, Illustration
Dustin Cohen | Photography
Angelique Velez | Hair & Makeup
Matthew Simonelli | Styling
Andrew Hanenberg | Photo Assistant, Stunt Driver
Winfield Foster | Photo Assistant
Casey Levine & Monique Perreault | Producers, Kids With Candy

All clothes | Edelweiss by Sarah
model | Mirielle represented by APM

see it on Behance

Morning Disc Designs

2010-12-02T11:51:00.000-05:00

One of my pickup ultimate friends, Emmanuelle put out an open call for tee-shirt designs to represent our unique early-morning game. The game, started in 1997, originally met on Wednesday mornings at 6:45AM and ending promptly at 8AM when we would all go out for breakfast together, during the daylight savings months. There are pickup games on weeknights but those aren't possible after the time change. The game has morphed over the last few years, and an influx of loyal participants, into a Tuesday to Friday game that starts at about 7:15AM and now lasts sometimes until 9AM. Starting last year some of the participants have begun playing at more mellow tournaments together as "The Magnificent 7AM", representing our group quite well.

I love designing logos, and I really love designing logos for ultimate, so I designed these:

The Future of Print

2010-10-28T11:00:00.000-04:00

So many articles being published titled, "The Future of Print" or proclamations being made that, "PRINT IS DEAD!" These seem to only lead to reactions of one of two extremes - rigid defense that print is not going anywhere or demands for everyone to get with it and scrap the presses and move to digital-only models.

Does anyone consider the future of ALL printed stuff? In every "the future of print?" article I read, book people only think about books, magazine people only about magazines, newspapers only about newspapers. The business models are obviously different, but the method of production and distribution and consumption are the same. People can't see the forest for the pulped trees.

doodles from APHA conference

2010-10-18T16:40:00.001-04:00

(tried posting this from the train yesterday and it just wasn't happening)

Here are some doodles drawn in my sketchbook during the lectures and panels while I was at the APHA conference in Washington DC this weekend. The lectures and discussions mostly focused on letterpress and bookarts.

It was interesting to attend a conference like this as an academic, while still feeling like a working professional. The way I think and feel about Printing (not printmaking) is in the context of making magazines, running jobs for design clients, and preparing my students to do the same. The idea that most of the folks at the conference seemed to have is one of printing in the context of rare books and fine arts and, in some cases, craft. Letterpress printing as a niche craft carried out by antiquarian enthusiasts trying to keep a dead technology alive. In the world of living technologies for printing; digital offset, web presses, etc., the technologies give way to newer methods out of necessity and cost-effectiveness.

I don't see why both cannot legitimately exist and coexist, there always being the right tool for the right job. I do wonder why so much bookart is designed so poorly. By labeling it as Art it becomes like the kids work on the fridge, the process justifies any slapdash techniques or terrible end-product because of the precious nature of it's Art/craft context.

I think I'll need to expand this a bit more later.

This is "TMI" - monogram for Internet abbreviations.

My first initial, natch.

Monograms for JLN, ECN and a few miscellaneous ones.

Stacking monograms.

The repeat pattern is almost done

2010-10-14T11:54:00.002-04:00

Happy 60th Anniversary to the Peanuts

2010-09-30T10:06:00.001-04:00

The Peanuts comic strip was a big part of my childhood and it is now 60 years old! The collected strips were published by my Pop's publisher, Holt Rheinhart & Winston (as it was then) and his editor, Don Hutter, always sent him back home with a few books for us. I saw something about the 60th anniversary yesterday and immediately drew this. Nothing too special or interpretive here, but just looking at it makes me smile.

Bunnybear splodeyface

2010-08-26T10:47:00.000-04:00

new bunnybear:
Splodeyface

drawn in Illustrator, from a pencil sketch I scanned

Beginnings of a repeat pattern

2010-08-16T23:36:00.001-04:00

Making a new background for my twitter page, and this is the start. I think I want to keep adding large and small details to make it more kaleidoscopic. I saw this today and feel like I should bite some of this style, too. I like how there's something lozenge-like about how these fit together in this pattern. Maybe I can work some sort of Akira/Kaneda imagery into the background as well.

Drawing From the News

2010-08-04T16:23:00.000-04:00

Striking factory worker in today's Times:

It is definitely not a great drawing, but it's an ok drawing. Drawn in a 9x12 moleskine, using a koh-i-nor mechanical pencil with HB lead only. It just feels good to be doing some freehand work and that it looks somewhat like the original source.
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2010/08/04/business/jp-paycuts.html

In the year 2000

2010-07-27T23:50:00.000-04:00

If television and phone service 50 years ago had been equivalent to AT&T wireless and Time Warner Cable today, tv and phones would have NEVER HAPPENED.

Accepting spotty service in an emerging technology is one thing. Accepting the occasional bug in a beta version of a software is another. But these are things that purport to be everyday reliable services that are quite the opposite. The immediacy and volume of information available is both daunting and incredible at the same time, and I think it may be exactly those factors that allow us to forgive the shortcomings.

This is definitely not exclusive to those two service providers. I have heard (and experienced) bad service, bad customer service, bad hardware, bad software, false promises, etc. from other companies, these are just the two that I'm dealing with currently, and it frustrates me and makes me sad. I have to spend the money either way ... I don't HAVE to, but to live in the environment and lifestyle (creative professional, freelancer, educator, NYC) I need these services. The fact of the matter is that there are NO good options, and all we have is a choice of lesser evils, shitty or shittier goods and services.

Even more depressing: there is no solution, because there is no alternative. Promise the moon and deliver the upper atmosphere? Crappy metaphor for a crappy situation.

http://tinyurl.com/32k2r9j

Pitcher sketch

2010-07-19T19:36:00.000-04:00

Drew this today for a project I'm working on: adapting one of my father's stories into a graphic novel. Been planning (procrastinating) this for about five years and very excited that I have finally stopped being so lazy and have started working on it.

Location:Sackett St,Brooklyn,United States

another one on the way

2010-07-14T17:30:00.000-04:00

Partway done with another one. I'll call it a bunnybear but really this is going to be a giant salamander dragon...

A New BunnyBear (Hope)

2010-07-13T16:51:00.000-04:00

Not chapter four, or rather, chapter IV, just a new bunnybear.

Burton-Ize

2010-05-05T13:18:00.000-04:00

The final project I am giving my Digital Imaging students at City Tech is to "Burton-Ize" a self-portrait. We are teaching to a "Core Text" at City Tech this semester and the Core Text is Tim Burton. They chose Burton because of the coinciding show at MoMA and the release of his version of Alice in Wonderland. Visually I figured this would be something both challenging and fun for the students to do as they yearn for the freedom of Summer vacation.

So much fun that I did a quick one of myself this morning:

The assignment can be found at the wordpress site I have been keeping for the class:
http://adv1260.wordpress.com/
Oh, and this here is the original:

Doodle

2010-04-14T10:41:00.000-04:00

Drew a student in the class I was observing

Pen used: sakura microperm 01

More new pens

2010-04-07T17:57:00.000-04:00

Got a set of faber-castell big brush pens, too. I feel like I'm channeling klaus janson.

Trapper Keeper Doodle Drawing

2010-04-07T11:53:00.000-04:00

I know I'm about three-four years behind the whole hand-lettering hooha, but I have been doing this kind of stuff forever and I never stopped, I just never shared either. Now I'm sharing.

Part of the excitement is that I bought a new rapidograph. I have had a love affair with these amazing technical pens since I first discovered them when I was 8 or 9 years old. A hebrew school friend of my older brother used them and I could not believer the clarity of line he got with them. Back then I could never keep my pens, the original koh-i-nor clean or stop them from getting clogged, and then the amazing Rotring came out with it's fancy no-clog ink cartridges! Huzzah. I bought my new one last week after visiting Pearl on Canal and a place on Court Street with no luck. The guy behind the counter at WC Art & Graphic Supply on Jay Street, across from the City Tech building, said that rapidographs area dying breed, and are now collector's items. Might have to start buying up a supply for the future. I prefer .25 since anything smaller really does clog too much and the nib is too fragile, and anything else is too thick for my preference. All I could get was a .30 this time. Might have to hit ebay or something.

I love getting new pens.

M.A.D.

2010-04-05T18:35:00.000-04:00

Sketched this while procrastinating other things. Jessica Hische I am not, but what the hey. Sometimes I just stare off into space and think about mushroom clouds and the end of the world as we know it.

Clouds & Explosions

2010-03-22T15:00:00.004-04:00

First in what will become a series of drawings based on clouds and explosions. First is full drawing, followed by detail.

Logo: muted managment

2010-03-19T11:04:00.000-04:00

Muted Management is a dj mangement/booking company. Their philosophy is music first, we take care of the business.

I was partial to the grey-on-grey but we added some color. Went with orange for splash and blue for info. Type is flama light tracked out to 300.

New Cloud Drawing

2010-03-10T18:15:00.000-05:00

Second in my new series of cloud drawings. Lots and lots of cross-hatching. Attempting to create a sense of depth by varying the scale and tone of the cross-hatching.

Cyclops

2010-03-08T10:01:00.000-05:00

Saw this truck on 33rd & Broadway. Love the X-Factor era cyclops and how they framed it on the truck. The bonus was the girl sticking her head out of the truck's window right as I snapped the shot. I think she was in there eating something.

Location:Sackett St,Brooklyn,United States

Cloud Drawing

2010-03-05T11:19:00.000-05:00

New cloud drawing I made this week. Is it done? Dunno but I feel like it could use more density and detail, which would add depth to it. Will repost if I keep working on it.

Logo: MyStorageBill.com

2010-03-01T09:43:00.000-05:00

Made a logo for a startup billing management company that deals exclusively with self-storage centers.

Here are some of the earlier versions, as it came along:

And the first attempts. Client didn't like the "old shool" finance look of castle/pyramid and thought the lock sent the wrong message.

WD-40

2010-02-27T12:18:00.001-05:00

Drew a can of WD-40. Finished product looks like freshman drawing class still life assignment. I am pleased enough with it. Cloud drawing coming next, you can see part of it poking out from behind the moleskine. Feels good to know that I can still render objects from life with some facility.

Location:Sackett St,Brooklyn,United States

Could I be worse at updating this?

2010-02-26T17:15:00.001-05:00

Yes. Of course I could. But seriously, once a month is terrible, even if I'm the only one looking at this. Got some drawings and other things coming soon. I am currently listening to the Very Best of The Jam and drawing a can of WD-40 and also some clouds. Alternating between two drawings and then stopping to make a crappy entry on my blog is an apt metaphor the scattered and disjointed state of my brain these days. I'm not sure if it is a side effect of being a freelancer for nearly 9 months now, or my more recent reëntry* into academia, but boy do I lack the ability to concentrate for extended periods of time. The mental fortitude, the brain muscles that I use to work on a drawing for four hours straight without stopping are woefully flabby. Let's hope a combination of muscle memory and concentration calisthenics will help get this part of myself back into shape.

One thing I have definitely noticed as I get further into my first semester as a full-time faculty member is how completely disjointed the life is. There is the lesson planning, the actual classes - remembering all the names and different sitations, the grading, the material, the committees, the tenure paperwork that you have to begin immediately, the human resources stuff, the union stuff, and on and on. I like to think of myself as a decently organized person and I am definitely challenged by the splintered nature of all of this material. Office jobs come with their share of work and problems, but hey, you go to the office, you sit at a desk, you heat up your lunch, you go home. NOT COMPLAINING. I love it. Just feeling challenged to raise the bar on my organization and cataloging skills.

And in an effort to remain all over the place, I'm going to go back to drawing now.

*I am borrowing the New Yorker's type style of putting an umlaut over any situation where a double-e results in two syllables. I.e. feed would not get one but reëmergence would. I think I've also noticed they give the letter "i" an umlaut if it has a double syllable, as in naïve. Quirky, and I like it.
**Images courtesy of google searching, "many arrows"

Swiss Miss + Michael Bierut = Creative Morning

2010-02-03T19:22:00.000-05:00

2010/01 Michael Bierut from CreativeMornings on Vimeo.

This talk happened several weeks ago, yet unlike many things these days it will remain relevant for weeks, months and years to come. This creative personality has the particular advantage of being positioned at a powerful company with a host of excellent clients, but even still his comments on the client/designer process seem prescient and basic to every professional relationship you may have.

He broke his lecture (his lesson) down into simple, bullet-pointed aphorisms that you can take with you and use to help curate and influence your own professional creative lives, and he expressed them with clean well-kerned Keynote slides, easy banter, and a humble yet authoritative voice. He has the authority of his stature backing up his simple advice, and it rang true for myself, and perhaps others in the wrought iron lilypad room at Galapagos. The simplicity of his message is also it's power, I think. It is not so groundbreaking, like telling someone to break up with an abusive boyfriend or girlfriend, but as in those cases, there are always excuses to stay with the abuser, as there are always excuses to stay with a bad client; the money is good, the project is almost done, there may be more work down the road, etc.

Since this lecture I have begun my adventure as a full-time educator, teaching in the Advertising Design and Graphic Arts Department at City Tech (CUNY's New York City College of Technology) and I will do my best to translate Bierut's advice to my students during my time as a professor, and as a colleague. Experience and accomplishment lend themselves towards being more selective, but throwing that out and making excuses for taking on bad jobs and bad clients only justifies more of the same.

Drawing From the News

2010-01-14T17:09:00.000-05:00

This guy was on the front of the Metropolitan section of the January 10 Sunday Times.

And here's some Les Savy Fav lyrics that pretty much sum up my mood today:

"Who here finds this world distracting? Who here finds this world a bore? Who here thinks we’re all play acting, and that the show’s piss poor. I for one am dazzled, I don’t care if I’m dazzled blind. Wrapped in rapture captured by every little thing I find."

I'm on Behance now

2009-12-29T12:57:00.002-05:00

I have trouble drawing feet

2009-12-28T18:13:00.000-05:00

Most people who draw people will tell you there is a certain trouble area that they can never get quite right. For me that area is feet. Whether it is the angle in relation to the lower leg, the apparent weight or sometimes just the overall size, I always have to draw and redraw the feet. Here is the latest example of my failure:

Location:Sackett St,Brooklyn,United States

Recent phone pics

2009-12-22T11:03:00.000-05:00

Here are a few things I've found interesting lately, so I snapped a phonepic of them.

The delivery bikes outside of sal's pizzerria on court st in Carroll gardens. They wait with eager anticipation of the steaming pies and brown bags full of garlic knots they will distribute to the neighborhood.

My in-laws back in the olden days. They are still as cool as they look here, all these years later.

Jenni on the union st drawbridge overthe gowanus canal, during the recent blizzard. She's getting her gene Kelly on!

Next morning, the backyard at char no. 4.

Cruise ship anchored off the red hook waterfront, a study in expectations.

What? There's a store down the block that sells troubles for a buck fiddy. Mo money mo problems.

Location:Sackett St,Brooklyn,United States

A Finer Line

2009-12-17T10:35:00.000-05:00

Why is this referred to as "trick photography" and not retouching? 20/20 has spent a good amount of time putting together a report on what is essentially false advertising - an altered (photoshopped, retouched, whatever) picture standing in for a lesser reality. The are calling it trick photography, which implies that we as viewers are being tricked? Why is this language so different than the language they use when reporting on the retouching of female models? Is it somehow offensive to our cultural sensibilities to think that we could be tricked by a fashion photo, but acceptable and understandable that we would be tricked by an architectural one? Does it say something about what we think we want? What are the cultural politics of desire that are at work here that we would differentiate so completely between two acts that are the same: altering a photograph.

The net result is also the same - the alteration is used to enhance and entice, to put forth an ideal version of what really exists, whether that is a fashion model or a Bahamian resort. The closest they come to conflating the argument with the fashion retouching brouhaha is the weight loss advertisements, but with those they focus more on the fact that the images were stolen.

The caption for the video segment reads, "From hotel to weight-loss ads, photos altered for perfect results." 20/20's thesis for this type of photo alteration is "buyer beware", rather than responsible advertising or labeling of altered photos.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/2020/beware-trick-photography-staple-online-ads/story?id=9215461

Temporary splash page on my site

2009-12-15T19:28:00.002-05:00

I am feeling ambitious and want to redesign my website before the new year. I want it to be as uncluttered and uncomplicated as possible, with direct links to galleries of work and possible a feed from this blog as well. (Not with the terribly ugly dotblogspot template.) Above is the placeholder I threw together today, using the logo I designed for myself earlier this year.

I lifted the negative space "E" from this logo for Ed's Electric logo designed by Siah Design, which is actually a guy named Josiah Jost, and he lives in Alberta. I think I saw this on designboom or some other site like that. I would worry about this theft, but this is just a recent incarnation, as can be seen on this flickr link. Let's call it "inspiration" not theft, the foundation of graphic design!

ID magazine has fallen

2009-12-15T15:30:00.001-05:00

According to reports ID magazine is the next to fold. The oldest design magazine in the United States will be no more after they ship the February issue (I think). Having worked in print for the last 9 (nearly 10) years, it is a bizarre thing to see all of these seemingly staunch icons falling one by one to the economic tide.

On the flip side of that, there seem to be some new things in print, like the San Fransisco Panorama, from McSweeny's. Printed in 4-colors in broadsheet tabloid format, it looks like a pretty impressive specimen. Even the advertisements seem to be custom-made for this particular publication. Who knows if this is a viable effort in the long-term, but it is nice to see people putting new and interesting things out there in the physical world.

(image via notcot)

Organizational frenzy

2009-12-14T13:14:00.000-05:00

I have a ton of file folders, some that I've had with me for a few months, some for ten years or more. I put everything in these folders: cards from galleries, doodles on napkins, pictures I've torn out of newspapers that I want to use as source material for a drawing, etc. Today I sifted through these and came up with a new filing system. Time will tell if I actually stick to this, but for now I like it.

"draw from this"
"scan this"
"write about this"
"design inspiration" should be "steal from this"
"drawings" I really need flat files
"old ideas"
"articles"
"city tech" hopefully this one will grow
"Montauk shores" designing a logo and tee shirt print for this

Location:Sackett St,Brooklyn,United States

Trying hard not to be pithy

2009-12-13T23:10:00.000-05:00

In an effort to post more frequently I am going to experiment with more extemporaneous writing. If I can figure out how to tweet 10 or so times a day then I would hope that I can come up with something salient and if not meaningful, maybe in some way poignant.

I saw these roots down the block from my apartment, where I walk daily, yet I had not noticed them before. These are the kind of gnarly bits of wood that just ask you to pick out faces. So stare a little.

Metamorphosis

2009-12-10T18:40:00.001-05:00

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a giant insect."

The opening line to Kafka's iconic story, "the Metamorphasis" is staring down at me from a 'sub-talk' advertisent on the A train this evening. The simplicity of this opening still awes me a bit.

Austin Monthly

2009-12-01T21:46:00.002-05:00

Got to do this awesome bit of photoshoppy type-play goodness thanks to the new art director at Austin Monthly, Liz MacFarlane. She is my former desk-mate at Spin Magazine, and a super talented designer, I can't wait to see what she's going to do now that she's got the rudder of a ship.
Here's the source image I used. I got all my type direction from Liz, using available letters to make new ones. I tried my best to keep some of the small details like the pipe connectors between the neon letters. The photographer provided the sky shot that I used in the background as well. (I'll post that credit when I can get it from Liz.)

Wrinkled skin

2009-11-25T09:39:00.002-05:00

Wrinkled skin blown up to show individual pixels. It all comes together and looks like the Gobi Desert from an aerial view. Click to see it larger, with the pixel divisions.

Old Invites

2009-11-24T09:34:00.003-05:00

Fun with photoshop and pictures of me and Jenni! I love making these ridiculous things.

Open GL in CS4

2009-11-24T09:30:00.004-05:00

This is what Photoshop CS4 does when openGL is turned on in CS4. When you zoom in it shows the actual pixels, which is nice. Really allows the user to understand how color correction affects the image at the pixel-level.

This is a screengrab of skin on the chest of a middle-aged white woman I'm currently retouching.

The gaping maw of the NYC pavement

2009-11-23T23:38:00.000-05:00

Fun with self-portraits

2009-11-18T16:39:00.002-05:00

New invite for our holiday party. Nice to just have fun with being the client and the creative at the same time.

Photos of food on my phone

2009-11-12T23:39:00.002-05:00

Pastries from the Montauk Bake Shop

Shake Shack burger at Citi Field

Pizza toppings at home

Baklava at Neptune Bakery in Hell's Kitchen

Bacon egg n cheese at home

Grilling steaks & asparagus at home

Finished steaks

Giant meat plate at Redbones in Boston

Black & tan at the clubhouse at Montauk Shores

Grilled shrimp, etc. In Montauk

Beach-caught striped bass spicy tartare in Montauk

Baked clams in Montauk

$8 burger at Peter Luger's

Schlaag & chocolate coin at Peter Luger's

The beginnings of chili

Empanada Mama in Hell's Kitchen on Rum & Blackbird tasting tour

Scallops on my birthday!

Coffee Crisp in Saskatoon, SK

Deepdish pizza from peqot's in Chicago

Chicago style hot dog & beef sammy

Amazing sandwich at Xoco in Chicago

Best apple pie ever, made NY jenni

Pizzas at home

Coffee machine in Atlantic City, NJ

Bahn Mi in Chinatown

Jaques Torres chipotle hot chocolate

Empanadas on Randalls Island

Curried chicken salad at home

Fish en papillote, with squash

Prime Meats egg sandwich in Brooklyn

Beet salad, Brussels sprouts, fried egg & bacon at home

Productive Procrastination

2009-11-10T10:06:00.003-05:00

I need to create a syllabus for an imaginary course that I know nothing about, so I'm currently procrastinating. My current project is going back to the oldest emails in my gmail and paring the inbox down, maybe sort things a bit by names, family, etc. eventually. One interesting thing that is happening is I'm finding loads of old links I sent myself for inspirational purposes. I'm going to list the better ones, the ones that are still live, here.

In no particular order, other than the chronological order I discovered and linked myself, edited for shitty sites that no one wants to see, of course:

http://www.subtotal.nu/en/ Strange art portal. Looks like they've gotten popular in the last five years.
http://athleticsnyc.com/about Ditto for these fellas. Don't they look all grown up and hipsterfull with their tattoos and thick-framed glasses?
http://www.carolinedesign.com/ Designer I met at Iain's 30th bday, friend of Manoj's. She's been busy.
http://www.jibhunt.com/ Clothing label - looks like mostly sweatshirts and windbreakers; not a very helpful site, but I do like the style.
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/submit/print.html Still encouraging myself to submit something to McSweeney's... still haven't submitted anything. Still love their output, even paid $6 for the iphone app.
http://www.egocrew.com/12huevosfritos/english/home.htm Spanish design firm, cool little egg-themed intro.
http://www.yugop.com/ Flash-based projects - I would term these 'experimental web art'. Art being used loosely here, in the colloquial sense where anything 'fun' or hard to classify gets labeled 'art'.
http://www.dietlphoto.com/ Sent to me in December 2005, when it was brand-spanking new. Haven't seen this kid since I left Santy Barbie.
http://oink.me.uk/ I think this may have been some sort of illegal downloading site, that has obviously met with some... difficulties.
http://www.vinylpulse.com/2006/05/jason_sho_green.html Not sure what I liked about this one.
http://www.megawordsmagazine.com/news.php?page=2 Typical design portal, with the same stuff that shows up on every other design portal within about three days of each other. Oh look! Someone cut out maps of NYC!!! zOMGZZ!!11!! a teacup with a teabag design on it!!!
http://registry.whitecolumns.org/admin/artist/signup.php Here's another one motivating myself to make some art and get it out into the world... still not happening.
Not a link, but at one point I emailed myself the word, "tabloitation". I guess I was trying to come up with a new word for what the tabloids do to people.
http://paleo-future.blogspot.com/2007/05/disneys-magic-highway-usa-1958.html Headline says it all, "A look into the future that never was." Meta-nostalgia at it's finest.
http://www.makimaki.nl/ Cute! Dutch.
http://www.jrosen.org/
http://www.foxnathan.com/
http://www.johannagoodman.com/
http://www.jeffreydecoster.com/
A quartet of illustrators...
http://naomileibowitz.com/projects/rray/index.html Disturbing montage of Rachel Ray sounds.
http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/ Just like it says: strange maps.
http://www.ritterillustration.net/
http://www.aestheticapparatus.com/
Couple of illustrators that Spin used.
http://www.posemaniacs.com/pose/thirtysecond.html Great tool for quick poses, figure drawing, etc.
http://www.royalmint.com/newdesigns/designsRevealed.aspx New coins! Micro & Macro.
http://www.horhaus.com/
http://cameronstewart.blogspot.com/
http://www.deanhaspiel.com/
http://www.brianwood.com/
Four talented folks.
http://ryandavidjones.blogspot.com/ This guy has crazy digi chops. He rocks it.

Aw screw it. I now need to procrastinate finishing this project and actually get some work done. Got all the way up to July of 2008; inbox is down under 7000 emails, and under 500 unread emails. Hooray productivity.

Ryan McGinness

2009-11-09T09:09:00.006-05:00

I remember meeting this guy at an opening at Rare when it was back on 14th Street, probably around 1997 or 1998. I think he was handing out matchbooks or stickers with his puking guy icon and the word, "art" on it. Maybe. Memory is a funny thing. I think he was working at PopSmear Magazine at the time, and we spoke on the phone a few times. He put me on his mailing list, so I have some cool early postcards from him, including a metallic foil invite to the book party for "Flatness is God" that happened at B Bar. The party was fun, and I bought a book, which was originally published by Soft Skull Press (now defunct.)

I remember one phone conversation we had, where I was trying to garner some sage advice from him, and he was telling me about this book project he was working on, that is was pretty intense, and how I shouldn't get so caught up worrying about making gallery art, or getting into the galleries, etc. I was extremely impressed and inspired by the first book, and have a growing library of his publications, a few prints, and at least one tee shirt. Most recently found the issue of Arkitip he was in for half-off at the Staple clearance space down on Ludlow. I passed up buying the Peter Saville issue, which was a lot cheaper, because I wanted/needed the McGinness one.

His show earlier this year at Deitch Projects filled me full of wonder and laughter; how cool is it that he gets to make work that is so much FUN and that I find meaningful as well. I have the press release and some notes I made about that show and maybe someday I'll get around to writing something more substantial about it, but I am certainly happy to have the Arkitip catalog for it.

Was reminded all of this when SwissMiss posted a video of him working and talking about his work on her blog. The video is from Upper Playground, SF-based art/design/fashion collective, or whatever they would like to be called.

SwissMiss writes:
Ryan McGinness is interested in creating a new vocabulary for everyday symbols and icons through context and composition. Using layering, repetition, and juxtaposition, his complex pieces construct worlds within worlds. With his massively intricate silk-screened paintings, sculptures, and installations, hes able to blur the division between design, pop culture, and fine art. Ryan McGinnesss artwork has appeared in numerous books, magazines, and exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe.

Wineglass with really long stem

2009-11-06T16:41:00.003-05:00

New doodle. I wonder if the stem is so long because I had the paper at an elongated angle? Makes me want to mess around with anamorphosis.
http://tinyurl.com/yh8lopk

-- Posted from my iPhone

Because Diran's on his way

2009-10-21T17:33:00.002-04:00

Foot on the pedal - never ever false metal
Engine running hotter than a boiling kettle
My job's ain't a job - it's a damn good time
City to city - I'm running my rhymes
On location - touring around the nation
Beastie Boys always on vacation
Itchy trigger finger but a stable turntable
I do what I do best because I'm willing and able
Ain't no faking - your money I'm taking
Going coast to coast - watching all the girlies shaking
While you're at the job working nine to five
The Beastie Boys at the Garden - cold kickin' it live

(bridge) No sleep 'til -

Another plane, another train
Another bottle in the brain
Another girl - another fight
Another drive all night
Our manager's crazy - he always smokes dust
He's got his own room at the back of the bus
Tour around the world - you rock around the clock
Plane to hotel - girls on the jock
We're thrashing hotels like it's going out of style
Getting paid along the way cause it's worth your while
Four on the floor - Adrock's out the door
M.C.A.'s in the back because he's skeezin' with a whore
We got a safe in the trunk with money in a stack
With dice in the front and Brooklyn's in the back

(repeat bridge)

(repeat chorus)

Ain't seen the light since we started this band
M.C.A. - get on the mic my man
Born and bred Brooklyn - U.S.A.
They call me Adam Yauch - but I'm M.C.A.
Like a lemon to a lime - a lime to a lemon
I sip the def ale with all the fly women
Got limos, arena, TV shows
Autograph pictures and classy hoes
Step off homes - get out of my way
Taxing little girlies from here to L.A.
Waking up before I get to sleep
Cause I'll be rocking this party eight days a week

No sleep till brooklyn ....

Pics of Airplanes

2009-10-06T16:57:00.004-04:00

I am drawn to airplanes, whether it's in life, or in art. They contain within them the potential for such a wide gamut of experience: reunion, new beginnings, violence, and so much more. Where are they going, who are they meeting, are they going home, going on an adventure, visiting relatives they resent, seeing a long lost love?

Saw a post for a new book from Josef Hoflehner on www.notcot.org: http://www.rachelhulin.com/blog/2009/10/on-the-docket-planes-and-lips.html

I took these pictures in Chicago last week.

This last one is especially cool because it was taken from our architectural boat tour of the Chicago River. The tour guide had just pointed out this building as the Boeing building, and I noticed a plane... I wonder if its a Boeing plane?

Cliche and it's opposite: something new

2009-09-30T14:04:00.001-04:00

"The cliches line up outside the dust jacket an are whisked in pairs to a table down in the front ..."

Adam Gopnik in the September 28, 2009 issue of the New Yorker on Dan Brown's prose in his new novel, "The Lost Symbol".

Chicago Art Institute, or: the part where I get inspired

2009-09-30T13:12:00.000-04:00

*This should've been posted a while ago, but I can't finish it on my supid iPhone. So here it is in part, I'll add to t while it's live.

Jen & I were in Chicago for a few days following my cousin Jesse's wedding in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Staying with another cousin, Ben & his wife Michelle's amazing apartment in the Lakeview section of town, a great launching pad to see the city. We walked to Wrigley last night for the Cubs game vs the Pirates and managed to get three 200-level tickets together for $30! Wrigley is a dainty little park compared to the gigantor-sized new ballparks in NYC, but it is full of character and charm, and the fans were great.

The best attraction we saw while there was without a doubt the Art Institute of Chicago: the permanent collection, the special exhibits and the new (to me) Millenium Wing were all amazing, and I was totally wowed the entire time I was there.

Special exhibit of Cy Twombley's recent work was the first thing we looked at, and it impressed. I can't say that I've seen much of his contemporary work, but I have always been a fan of his seminal works; graffito, drips, scratches, and blobs of paint composed on large white canvases that have a visceral impact on the viewer, bringing you into the physical act of creation with Twombley, and into his mind through the lexicon of marks and words he includes onthe canvases. The new works were at once more contemplative with their overall composition and Ross Bleckner-like floral visions, and perhaps more literally poetic with his use of direct quotes from Rilke and others scratched onto the canvases in large and small marks, both full legible and childishly scrambled.

Heading across the hallway was the photo and video recent aquisitions, containing a powerful set of works by the German artist, zzzTkzzz tktktktk. Passages from death row convicts' final statements were hand written onto celluloid and looped from projector to ceiling in a large triangle and projected nonsensically on adjacent walls. The statements could be read on the extended film itself or projected through on the ground by an overhead light, but not on the wall. Knowing the original authors are all dead, does this act as a further cage or are they somehow freed by this piece, and given further life in the work. (The curator's statement on the wall was dissapointing, mentioning the artist's Internet searches, etc.)

*Now it's nearly a week later, and I really should have finished writing this while it was all fresh in my mind. The Richter room was a real treat for me to take in, and it included four new untitled drawings. The drawings, according to the wall info, were started as a memorial to the 9/11 attacks, which is interesting given his usual tendency to avoid a rigid political stance. My first perusal of the drawings gave me the impression that they were studies for his abstract squeegeed paintings, but the text said that they contained their abundance of vertical marks to remind of the towers, the horizontal scratches standing in for the violence.

Evolution of Cream-Filled Pastries (probable)

2009-09-25T10:57:00.001-04:00

Before & After

2009-09-11T15:27:00.000-04:00

The last time I was in the Windows on the World restaurant was in the summer of 2001, maybe it was August. I was there with my cousin, Jesse, who lived on Chambers & Church at the time, and a few other friends. We went because they had a swing dancing night and good strong cocktails, not to mention a killer view. This may have also been my first time up there, but I'm not so sure about that.

We arrived in our own grand fashion, the boys, Jesse, Iain, Gary, Jason, all liked to make a grand entrance and follow it up with a lot of loud chatter and iain's trademark hand-grenade laugh. Cocktails were ordered, and drank, and ordered again. At some point we all gravitated towards he north-east facing windows.

A unique quality of the room were it's floor-to-ceiling windows, which provided that unrivaled view. The windows were framed by metal stanchions which were just wide enough to allow one person to occupy it comfortably. We each took up a position in one of these slots, and I leaned forward and let m head rest against the window, arms free. A bit more of the normal back and forth, until Jason, who, at the time, was working on a series of disaster-themed glitter 'paintings' asked everyone, "Ok, how long do you guys think these towers will be standing?"

Most of us said things like, "'Til after we're all gone," or similar. One person, and it might've been Jason, said they thought they'd be down in our lifetime. Morbid, and we all harangued the pessimist.

Adding to the surreality of our night, as we were coming out of the elevator, in the open-air lobby/Path station we were passed by a fully nude homeless man, who was shouting something that cracked us all up. In retrospect it all seems like something Ingmar Bergman would put in a film as a phenomenalogical symbol.

One year later I was in Santa Barbara. I woke up on east coast time that day, and went down to the beach with another displaced new yorker, to throw the frisbee and reflect a bit. As I was walking towardz the sand, a dolphin jumped clear out of he water three times in a row. More signs

Now it's eight years since the attacks. I finishe my master's degree, came back to the east coast, got married, got a few jobs, saw many peoplecome and go, and watched this city move on and heal up, while never forgetting.

In my work, there is always a before and an after, and the after is always supposed to be better than the before. It takes hard work and frustration and sometimes a relative amount of pain to get there, bit it is finite.

Thinking back on that night at the top of the world, it seems so completely different from now.

This is so meta it hurts

2009-09-10T10:05:00.003-04:00

New Amsterdammit!

2009-09-09T11:36:00.003-04:00

Here's a great logo for "Taste Nieuw Amsterdam"; a new twist on restaurant week here in New York City. The original painting, "The Milkmaid", by Johannes Vermeer was hanging over the kitchen sink in the house I lived in from the time I was born until I was about 8 or so, so I think it has added emotional/nostalgia power over me. Additionally, I am drawn to and love anything that plays with the classic NYC motifs, such as the greek-styled iconic blue coffee, or the water towers that sit like urban garden gnomes, or giant wooden gargoyles atop our buildings. Some of these things can be overused, or played-out, if you will, or appear downright cheesy when handled by amateurs, like the tired use of subway car numbers and letters.

(One critical comment, however: I am really not a fan of the treatment of the word, "Nieuw". Ok, you're taking the dutch spelling and still including the english spelling, but it looks terrible that way. They should have done it with sans-serif caps, or perhaps use the blue already in the design, and alternate letter color. They way it is now just doesn't look thoughtful next to the rest of the logo.)

Photos from Montauk

2009-09-04T17:39:00.001-04:00

Some nice overlooked corners of Montauk, NY.

There is a lot of character, and a lot of texture out here at The End. Old-timers and long-timers complain about the newbies out here; Surf Lodge and their ilk. It will take a lot more than some Japanese tourists and a couple of douchey popped-collar surfers to change the character of this fishing village with a Hamptons problem.

My first surfcasting keeper

2009-09-03T09:33:00.000-04:00

Had to post this here, too, even after facebooking & tweeting it already. Got up at the ass-crack of dawn this morning to go surfcasting with my father-in-law on the beach by the Montauk Shores trailer park, down Ditch Plains Road. After only 5-10 casts I landed this 36", 16.5 lb striped bass! It took about five minutes to reel it in, and I was pretty excited when I hauled it out of the surf onto the beach.

Can't wait to get it cleaned and fileted, so I can make some spicy tartar, maybe crudo or ceviche, and definitely grill some as well. We'll be eating this for the next few days, along with fresh clams that Chris is going to scratch up later today.

I am officially hooked on surfcasting.

old stuff: Cracked Out Snowmen

2009-09-02T10:14:00.003-04:00

These were proposed illustrations for the Spin corporate holiday card a few years ago. Didn't get approved for some reason.

My Online Persona

2009-08-19T12:02:00.003-04:00

This is my online persona, according to some nice folks at MIT and their data-mining algorithms.
http://personas.media.mit.edu/personasWeb
http://personas.media.mit.edu/

Pretty cool, but I still like the pirate name website.

Prince's Purple Rain

2009-06-24T10:17:00.005-04:00

I remember listening to this album constantly when it came out. I had the 45" of "When Doves Cry" and my sister had the LP, and we'd listen to it at our house and her best friend, Jennifer Wentzel's house. I would sing, "this is what it sounds like, when dogs dieeeee!!!" I didn't know what "Darling Nikki" was about, but I wanted to. Spin just published a huge feature package marking the 25th anniversary of the release of the movie and album, and they got a bunch of bands to cover the album. Best part for me? I got to do the photo-illustration for the cover under art direction from Devin Pedzwater.

This first sketch is something I threw together that didn't get used. I had done a few different ink versions before I scanned this and colored it in photoshop. It got me very comfortable with the image, which helped when I made the final.
This is the final version, as it looks on newsstands.
And this is the original photo, by ASP.

There's a lot going on in this picture

2009-06-16T16:37:00.002-04:00

Salt Lick BBQ: Driftwood, TX

2009-06-16T15:17:00.003-04:00

Can't really add anything to this. That's 2000 words worth of pictures right there.

new self-brand

2009-06-10T16:34:00.004-04:00

I lifted it from an electric company's logo, but I still like it.

After Effects of my after effects class

2009-06-10T15:53:00.003-04:00

the Retouching Arts

2009-06-09T16:40:00.006-04:00

(photo by Kevin Van Aelst, no permission. Great example of clever and well-done retouching. Filthy filthy lies!)

Communication Arts has an article by Kate Chase, published last December that just came to my attention. Given the generally negative and inflammatory way retouching has been portrayed in the press (OH MY GOD LOOK WHAT THEY DID!!!), it is nice to see a more measured and reflective look at the biz. (photo pilfered from CommArts website)

She talks about the Wild family and their retouching lineage, and how they changed from the late 1800s with the first airbrushes, all the way to the advent and proliferation of Photoshop.

"It’s been debated over the last few years if the term photo-retoucher is still applicable to describe today’s modern digital artist. For me, it’s still the perfect description, because all others fall short in comparison to what’s been thrown out as a replacement. ... The dedicated and sophisticated retoucher continually proves that it’s the educated artist in this niche who is sought after and retained to surpass expectations. It seems everyone is still looking for the name of a good 'airbrush' artist."

Angry Wade's Running Team, redux II

2009-06-05T17:07:00.003-04:00

Here's the mockup from the printer!

dipping my toes into the AfterEffects pool

2009-06-05T12:06:00.002-04:00

This is so terrible, but I'm pretty damn excited about the class I'm taking (at SVA) and what I will hopefully be able to do after the 8 weeks of class, and beyond. Adobe After Effects is a pretty powerful engine, I think I learned how to start it up and put on the directionals last night.

logos I like

2009-06-05T11:35:00.003-04:00

These are some of the logos that I spent a lot of time drawing and redrawing all day long during classes at JFK Jr High in Florence, MA. I think they influenced me and the way I approach logos and type as much as all of the cover titles on the comics I love. Do bands still go out of their way to have an iconographic logotype? I should probably know since I work at a music magazine. I'm gonna poke around on the interwebs and see if I can find some contemporary ones that I like. These were the bands that I loved as well, and it was only a few years ago that I found out that Raymond Pettibon was responsible for the uber-iconic Black Flag logo, because his brother was in or managed Rollins' band back then. I think he did some of their cover art as well.

Not shown - Bauhaus. I think I was in my third year of art school before my Russian buddy informed me that the Bauhaus was actually a collective of designers, etc. from Europe who basically birthed modern design, and that Peter Murphy and the gang just completely ripped off their logo. Ah well.

Also not shown, but worth mentioning - the Aerosmith winged-A, AC/DC, Anthrax, Def Lepard, anything at all whatsoever by Peter Saville (well documented lately), KISS, Metallica, Misfits (unfortuanetly co-opted and now completely played out), Ramones, Stones, and on and on.

Rant: You Kids Get Off My Lawn!!!

2009-06-02T17:33:00.004-04:00

The beginnings of a full-scale rant, in their raw form, an email back to a friend after a pretty innocuous comment from him. Couldn't really tell if he was being sarcastic or not, but the gray area allowed me to grow my rant.

From: Diran Lyons
To: Eli Noogabooga
Subject: ?

You really hate Girltalk? He's a legend in the remix world...reminds me a bit of Ethank.

From: Eli Noogabooga
To: Diran Lyons
Subject: ?

When did we communicate about Girltalk? I don't like him, but maybe I'm just an old man, railing against the yoot. He's one step further removed from cd-DJs, and even further removed from LP DJs, who really do show talent sometimes, in their mixing, etc. Girl talk as a studio artist is fine, he mashes up, he mixes and remixes, he creates a new composition from found pieces. Fine. But Girltalk getting $xx,000 to 'play' a Thursday night promo gig thrown by Canon and the magazine I work for? Fucking ridiculous. And, yes, full disclosure, I think I am a bit jealous.

My problem with Ethan's work (ed's note: ran a band's fansite before gradschool, continued doing so and as far as I could tell the only thing he changed for art grad school was the way he talked about this site. The Emperor's New Clothes theorum, as it were,) was mostly one of classification; what he was doing was mostly social engineering and social networking. His argument was that he was creating 'happenings', but most of the time it was just social networking that he was passing off as happenings. I think because of his SD background he saw himself fitting into the continuum of some of the seminal artists of that genre that are associated with that school. I think he also subscribed to the Jevbratt school of thought wherein Code = Art. This gets into a tricky area for me because its a bit of the tail wagging the dog; similar to printmakers, paper-makers, and ceramicists, the process becomes the focus of the art and the experience of the art, rather, the prescribed experience of the art by the artist, rather than a more laissez-faire attitude about viewer/user experience and appreciation really being up to them.

It is my belief that prescribing meaning is a slippery slope to a fascist and monistic attitude and posture, and that it should not be necessary to know all context specific to a piece of work for it to be understood and thus 'good'. (An argument for using language like 'good' or 'bad' in terms of art is too big to have here, so let's just assume its ok to judge ;)) I think we have had a lot of discussions about the relative value and merit of art that is text-dependant, where the Text is what drives the work, sometimes propping up the most flimsy facade.

To bring this full circle, Ethan's work is, I think, interesting, and has value, and is not merely style, but substantive. Whether or not it is art, and from there, whether or not it is 'good' art, is an altogether different discussion, but I don't think it is art, rather it is craft, technical skill, and from there, it is most definitely not good art. Girl Talk's remixes might be art, but definitely not good art, as they are 100% style, and are merely pastiche. He is a visual decoupagist, not even on the level of a true collage artist. That he is valued in the more public realm of popular music, commands money, etc. does not solidify him as an Artist, rather as an entertainer. He is a huckster selling snake oil, and he is louder than the other slimy hucksters clambering for the same bit of soap box in the town square.

look at this fucking hipster

2009-05-28T16:10:00.003-04:00

Had to leave the Spin stationary info on there, since it is mostly inspired by people I have met here or seen at our loverly events. Looking forward to a great one tonight, Girltalk... whoo! That guy sucks. Inspired by this site, as well:
http://www.latfh.com/

He does, he really really does.

2009-05-28T16:03:00.001-04:00

Stole this image. Sorry, original author. I love it so.

Angry Wade's Running Team, redux

2009-05-27T16:23:00.002-04:00

Redone did it again, after showing it around. Should be getting the shirts pretty soon, I hope! For now, mad props to Bri, my favorite bartender in the world, and Angry Wade's, because they had cold taps, even during the blackout of aught-three.

This is totally my thing

2009-05-21T12:56:00.002-04:00

I mean, I wish it was mine. Gotta make some of these.

Logo for Angry Wade's Running Team

2009-05-07T09:12:00.001-04:00

Not finished, but I think it's almost there.

More stuff from Spin

2009-05-04T13:25:00.003-04:00

This was the AD's initial idea for the illustration - DVD morphing into imageThis one is what ended up running. I was happy with how I managed to make the type seem carved into the collumns, and the shadows/highlights seemed to all work well in the end.

Devil Horns

2009-05-04T12:31:00.002-04:00

Whipped this up lickety-split for one of the AD's at Spin a few months back. It didn't make it into the magazine. I pretty much copied someone else's illustration, but, hell, I'm still happy with how it came out.

Ultimate Team Logos

2009-04-27T21:38:00.002-04:00

What's wrong with this picture

2009-04-20T15:11:00.002-04:00

The legacy of idiocy: GWB's 'cultural' influence can still be seen on small-town diner menus from coast to coast. Huzzah.

Always Eating: Logo Ideas

2009-04-15T16:17:00.003-04:00

My friend Aaron has a blog about food called, "Always Eating". I realized while clicking on some of the settings tabs on this blog that he's using a default theme for his icon and branding. Something clicked, and I immediately got a couple of ideas for logos and type treatments for this. I think the combination of 'A' and 'E' together just lends itself well to graphic treatments. Above are the early results. Will post finals when they are finished.

Glaze

2009-04-15T13:42:00.003-04:00

Identity for a possible retouching/imaging company.

YO! Whose stuff is this?!?

2009-04-13T14:56:00.002-04:00

I am totally and completely intrigued at the thought process behind naming your company something like, "All Mine". Its not as if the company specializes in something that you'd really like to be "all yours", either. They specialize in junk. Garbage. If I opened a company that specialized in, say, really awesomely tasty artisanal meats and cheeses, maybe I would think about calling it "All Mine" before settling on something like, "Eli's Fine Meats & Cheeses".

Drawing from the news: Grieving Sports Fans

2009-04-13T09:39:00.004-04:00

I call this "Grieve for Eli" since she's got the #10 jersey on. Drawn from a photo taken just after the Giants were knocked out of the playoffs this year.

Bee drawing

2009-04-09T09:03:00.002-04:00

Drawing of a dead bee. Momento Buzz Mori.

old stuff: 1 Window

2009-04-09T09:00:00.003-04:00

A drawing (ink and highlighter) on top of a print of a scan of another drawing. Going for density and obfuscation.

old stuff: NERDCORE logo

2009-04-09T08:53:00.003-04:00

Another thing I found that I made on the computer, but for some reason all I have is one printout, which I scanned.

old stuff: Makrolab

2009-04-09T08:47:00.003-04:00

Going through some old papers I found this vector rendering I did of Marko's Makrolab. Unfortunately I can't find the original file, so I had to scan a tiny printout, the only thing I have left. Might redraw it in AI if I have the inclination.

Memphasis

2009-04-02T10:35:00.002-04:00

If I were a rapper from the South, I would definitely call myself, "Memphasis."

Don't put the Mem-PHA-sis on the wrong sylLAble
I spit these rhymes to put food on the table
Teleologically gifted with insights galore
I have breakfast in Vilnius and lunch in Lahore

splodeytransformer

2009-03-31T09:34:00.001-04:00

2009-03-24T23:43:00.004-04:00

Drew on a printout of a distressed scan of another drawing. There's definitely some Lebbeus Woods influence coming into this, and maybe a bit of sumié landscape painting as well.

Phone camera pictures

2009-03-23T13:15:00.006-04:00

Here's a bunch of pictures I've taken on my phone while out and about.

This fuschia dimebag was sitting in the dirty snow on the way to the subway one morning. All sorts of metaphors mixing here.This artfully découpaged freezer door was sitting on a pile of trash (gasp!) on Lispenard street. Tattered newspaper page listing 9/11 victims blowing in the wind, next to pinups and sports heros.
(Straight) Gay Straws. Back behind the bar at Walker's on Varick.
This rock out at Ditch Plains in Montauk looked like it had a nice, wet head of hair on it.
Someone taped a dead roach to the fire hydrant with packing tape. Begged to be recorded.
"Supporting graffiti" I just liked the lines in this view: the real lines of the walls and the construction as well as the cast shadows. The graffiti really popped, too.
Dead chickadee on Smith and Baltic, in front of the elementary school there. Poor little bird.

Hittin the big time

2009-03-18T17:13:00.002-04:00

My rant was accepted for digital print on the Huffington Post!

Criminalizing Retouching

2009-03-10T17:06:00.008-04:00

http://tinyurl.com/bs3ovh
A video op-ed piece appeared on the NYTimes.com (Op-Video: Sex, Lies and Photoshop: Why magazines should let readers know if images have been retouched, March 10, 2009) about whether to legislate or even criminalize retouching of images. Jesse Epstein mentions potential legislation in France where the Department of Health would mandate what images could be published, and how. The piece is voiced in terms of public service and right-to-know, but this is such a dangerous and slippery slope. If, by law, we are not allowed to retouch images for advertising, are we then not allowed to retouch wedding images? What about the kids in high school who had acne whose class pictures always had that dizzy glow to them as a result of the photo company helping them out a bit?

As someone who makes his living as a retoucher, I am in favor of full disclosure of retouching practices, and believe that there should be more public awareness of same. I sympathize with young women and their insecurities, and the need to identify with something, whether positive or negative, for example, and then try to model themselves after it. I have no problem telling anyone I meet that 100% of the images they see in print have been retouched. Sometimes that just means that the levels and colors have been altered and sometimes it is 20-30 rounds result in what I like to call "frankenstein's monster images" like the Lucky cover used as an example in the editorial.

The question Epstein does not ask is this: What would this knowing do for us? If, on the table of contents page, where they credit the clothes, stylist, and photographer of the cover shot, they also showed the four unretouched images, would that solve this problem? Would criminalizing this behavior so that all we would be allowed to publish are photos as-is, solve the problem? Should we mandate that only models who conform to national medians of height, weight, and ethnic makeup be allowed to be photographed? And what about celebrities? On the same day, Kelly Clarkson was on Good Morning America performing to promote her new album, and when they showed the cover she said something along the lines of, "I don't really look that good, they photoshopped me..." Is that enough? If celebrities had to issue disclaimers each time their image was photoshopped...

Retouching is not a new phenomenon. Since images were able to be reproduced with photographic techniques, they have been altered; from hand-tinted daguerrotypes to hand-tinting negatives to the common-until-now 'airbrushing'. Photoshop is now a verb as well as an adjective that refers to manipulation of images. Should the red-eye fixing tools be removed from picasa.com and iphoto?

We should certainly be wary, whenever we manipulate images, of the potential for abuse. There is an excellent case study of this type of excess aiding fascistic tendencies called, "The Commisar Vanishes" by David King. It documents instances in Stalin's Soviet empire where people were systematically removed from official images as they were eliminated, each new image becoming the new true fact. Thus images that are lies can become accepted as facts.

It seems like an oversimplification to conflate these two sets of images and intentions. Epstein seems more intent on discovering true images than exposing false images. My question is this: what is a True image? Is it a court portrait from antiquity, where the artist had to flatter the patron or face the blade? Is it an online-dating profile picture taken from a flattering angle with blemishes removed? Is it an AP news photo where the photographer has artfully composed the image in-camera, to capture a moment, and has edited out unwanted information? There's a big difference between eliminating a zit and eliminating a person, and we should be wary of giving power to others to make such distinctions - and to base laws upon the distinctions they make, and so determine what information is or isn't good for us.

More Doodle-splody

2009-03-10T16:59:00.003-04:00

Drawing from the news

2009-03-10T16:26:00.005-04:00

Kids throwing stones.