Productive Procrastination

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

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.

logos I like

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.