One of my favorite Design studios, Doublenaut, is a Toronto based graphic design and illustration firm run by the duo of Andrew and Matt McCraken. Their body of work consists of mainly concert poster and music packaging design. What makes their work so enthralling is the distinct and modern style that is so simple, striking, and extremely graphic. The imagery is always symbolic and is usually inspired by song lyrics or song titles from the musicians who employ them. Doublenaut’s work is highly sophisticated with the use of clean typography that is well organized in grid fashion or the use of abstract, organic shapes and a minimal, monochromatic color scheme. What intrigues me, is the simplicity and graphic nature of each composition. The posters are never to busy, your eyes can breath easily and navigate through each piece with incredible ease.

The studio’s use of halftone images, flat vector shapes, symmetrical layouts, and a limited earth tone color palette is very reminiscent of 1970′s or retro design. Not to mention they also carry a folk like quality that is soothing and bold at the same time,  (this could be from their limited use of colors). They also incorporate the use of silhouettes and profiles of people or animals that remind me very much of Milton Glaser’s poster work from the 1960′s 70′s and even 80′s. What gives these posters a more personal or physical feeling is the distressing technique they apply to the solid shapes and typography. Distressing and muting down colors, creates complex visuals to simple layouts and adds a certain character that would not be achieved if this technique weren’t applied.

There is a reason the duo Doublenaut have a lengthy and dedicated clientele,  which includes the likes of Massive Attack, The Flaming Lips, Mogwai, and Broken Social Scene. Besides poster and music packaging, Doublenaut also screen prints t-shirts and among other things greeting cards and stationary. Overall their designs achieve a sophisticated and refined, yet gritty and a very simple, graphic quality that is easy and beautiful on the eyes. You can check out their website and blog at www.doublenaut.com for more beautiful posters and T-shirts. Check them out on twitter and facebook. While you are there, check out their online store and if you are lucky you may get your hands on some left over concert posters. Although there is a reason many of them are sold out.

It’s just sitting there in the alley. Joshua coaxes it into the back of the van. Takes it to the studio and sets it down in the corner. Is it going to be one of those instant attractions or are they going to have to get to know each other slowly?

In an age of short lived dalliances with disposable furniture, Pfenning entreats customers to “resist the temptation to purchase ‘disposable’ furniture”. Over the course of the next few days, weeks, even months, Pfenning will set aside time in his busy furniture atelier to strip back the armchair that he found in the alley and fully rebuild it. The end result finds favor with a market of furniture collectors holding an appreciation for both the artistry and quality of his work.

Art theorists frame Pfenning as a ‘recontextualizer’ who disrupts the commercial production life cycle. Reinventing furniture into objects that are often stylistically self referential while incorporating modernist details, Pfenning creates a visual and theoretical contrast between modernist functional art and the mass produced object.

An upholsterer by trade, Pfenning completed an 8 year apprenticeship in Nebraska before setting up shop in California. His company Proper Furniture is based around designing, building and reupholstering furniture with an aim to reduce waste and recycle. Where possible Pfenning uses low impact, environmentally conscious materials. While Pfenning acknowledges that there is an extant theoretical framework, he sees his role and product differently.

“Though the results are sometimes artistic, I don’t call myself and artist. I’m a craftsman. I have some philosophies about consumerism and those ideas are present in my work, but that expression doesn’t make the work art. “

Pfenning received Platinum, Gold and an Honorable Mention in the 2009 Upholstery Journal Awards, as well as winning Ebay’s 2009 Creative Reuse Competition. This year one of his custom beds was featured at the 2010 Dwell on Design Show.

Proper Furniture

http://www.properfurniture.net/

Darrel Rees is an illustrator who founded Heart Agency in London in 1994 and Heart USA Inc. New York in 2001. He is a member of the Society of Publication Designers in New York and D&AD in the UK. His long and very active career illustrating for magazines and newspapers has garnered him a lengthy list of clients that include: EMI Records, The London Stock Exchange, The New Yorker, Penguin, United Press, Business Week, The Washington Post, Random House, and many other corporate powerhouses. By no means is he a new artist in the commercial world, however his body of work is somewhat contemporary with an emphasis on social commentary and the news. But style wise, his imagery invokes a nostalgia for the past with dated images infused with current themes to produce wonderfully crafted compositions. What makes his handmade work so compelling is the fact that he was trained as a Graphic Designer and turned those skills into a lucrative illustration career.

According to his bio, he is “strongly influenced by the Dada Movement” and old greats such as John Heartfield and Raul Haussman which is very apparent in most of his work. Anyone who has studied the Dada movement that came out of Europe during the early to mid 1900′s can see the influence in Darrel Rees’s work. Hand rendered layouts of photos, typographic elements, and various scraps of magazines and newspaper clippings all beautifully constructed to suit whatever article or editorial assignment thrown his way. Even though it is sometimes difficult to determine what era his work comes from, he does use contemporary elements such as images of computers and various technical gadgetry. To say that his work is modern visually, in a way, would be a far cry from reality. They look as if they are straight out of the past, but it is contemporary in the sense that his work reflects current events in the news, science, and politics.

His use of color, (lots of muted monochromatic tones) is beautifully crafted and a step above what the Dada artists could ever accomplish. Not only do the colors grab my attention, but his use of textured half tone patterns and distressed paper cut outs suck me right in and I instinctively find myself reaching out to touch and stroke the Monitor to feel the grittiness of his work. In a world saturated with vector illustrations and 3D computer generated graphics, it is a breath of fresh air to see two dimensional, hand made compositions that are simple and aesthetically appealing. Designers and Illustrators from the UK seem to always have great style in their simplicity, placement, and acute attention to detail.

Now lets get back to Heart Agency. “Heart has maintained a selective and focused roster of artists and has established itself through intelligent promotion with a strong design Aesthetic.” The work is very sophisticated and alive, with each artist constantly pushing the others to step up their game. “These close relationships (between each artist) have created a particular dynamic, where both encouragement and critique are highly valued.” They are trend setters in the commercial art world and will continue to stun and amaze me every time I receive a new promotional packet. I’m sure you all know where to find them on the “intraweb” but in case you don’t you can find them at www.heartagency.com. You can sit for hours looking at each artists portfolio but I’m warning you, you will be enthralled with the variety and caliber of their work. It just might steal your heart and soul, like I said, they have mine for good. In all honesty, I could have showcased many of the great artists Heart manages, but I feel it is only right to give the founder of this reputable agency some recognition (even though he doesn’t need it).

I’ve followed Arth Daniels work for more than a couple years now and what first intrigued me about his work (besides the fact that he can paint in such a photo-realistic style), was the strange nature and facial expressions of each subject. The “I’m going to shove this painting in your face then down your throat” approach that conveys so much raw energy. Life’s great energy captured in random and unexpected moments, just like candid photos capture reality in it’s true nature, Arth Daniels earlier oil paintings do the same. I’ve posted a couple of these paintings so that you can see this interesting transition to a new body of work. According to Arth Daniels “My interest in photo-realist elements of portraiture would probably spawn from my need to be honest and realistic about the practice…that.. and a love for messing with people’s perception.”

His new work does exactly just that, it messes with your perception. Giant skulls with huge protruding eyes and various pieces of flesh with massive grins and twisted expressions piled on the canvas like a giant collage. Large teeth, thick wire framed glasses and the use of tape to bind the face (a reoccurring element used in many of his pieces) providing more contortion and non natural forced poses. In interviews Arth has said that his inspiration comes from fine, traditional, street art, film and special effects, which I think perfectly sums up this new body of work. Dare I say that I see some Basquiat as well as James Rosenquist influences in these paintings? There is something to be said about the bright colors, soft smooth paint strokes, and the harsh and glistening light source apparent in each composition. This style beautifully enhances each subjects expression and really gives life to the content.

There is great humor in this work especially when looked at for long periods of time. I enjoy this new direction because it doesn’t require the viewer to delve deep and search for meaning or relevance to any one emotion. To me, it is all about conveying people and the nature of our reactions and outward expressions in a unique and different way. Especially when constricted by various objects. In regards to creating art, Arth Daniels sees painting “as a study and a way of learning, it’s not necessarily a way of making a comment..well, for now anyway.” Sometimes the best kind of work comes out of this notion, not having one specific idea in mind to share, but simple interests you have that are worth exploring or examining.

Arth Daniels is currently represented by Stolenspace Gallery in London. He has exhibited all across the UK in galleries and museums, including The National Portrait Gallery (UK). You can check out his website at www.arthdaniels.com for more paintings and for those who want to know the artist on a more personal level, go see his blog at http://arthdaniels.blogspot.com. One of his paintings entitled “There” was used for the EP cover of UK musician and rapper DELS entitled “Shapeshift” which is scheduled to come out towards the end of August 2010. The typography used is typical of British design, simple, modern, and clean. With the painting it makes a great album cover.

Paul’s paintings are much better experienced in person, the gears and cogs all actually operate, turn and give life to the scenes. So not only are the illustrations painted intricately, with Pauls unique style emploring distressed blues, yellows and reds, but they turn and move and interact. What caught my eye most, besides the obviously awesome moving gear systems, was the general story telling that came through the pieces. Turning the handle erupts a distinct and gratifying sound as it spins long chains of different sized gears, and it also illustrates with motion the activities in the scenes.

Central characters have inhabited Paul’s works over time, the indian, the many eyed lady and the masked burgler have been running through Paul’s imaginary world for years. Only recently had he brought the illustrations to new life with the interactive element.

This show, the Death of Big Head, was a tribute to the immutable bossman, the man upstairs who’s always watching the clock. Paul’s a working guy, he told me about how he had thought about the process of the geared paintings when he was working as a carpetlayer. But it wasn’t for a couple years that he could actually realize his vision when he came upon a new job, this time working with wood as a cabinet builder. It was then, utilizing his new woodworking skills, that he could finally start putting these amazing paintings together.

I asked him about the gears, I had to know, did he hand draw those? Or did he have to find some gear patterns to follow. He admitted the latter, and I wasn’t suprised. It’s a very difficult thing to make gears work, and he found out too that it’s not a simple task. He had initially tried to hand draw and cut out some gears, but, they would lock up and not work. Sometimes he had to turn the handle sixty times before finding the gear tooth combination that locked up.

More than just interesting illustrations, Paul’s art is visually and carnaly appealing, and the sheer mass of the works give them a life all of their own. The unique creativity and style of Paul Chatem’s art is no less than genious.

View The Video Render

I became familiar with Martin Venezky’s work when I was living in New York, I had the pleasure of meeting him at Verve Records when he came in to show his portfolio and recent book publishing’s. He was always sending us prints of his posters that we desperately fought over to keep and frame for ourselves. (Sadly I always came out empty handed.) During our conversations, and my many questions, I learned new methods of approaching design issues that I still value and try to utilize with every new project thrown my way. The most inspiring message he conveyed to me was his outrageous attention to detail in every piece created and the various relationships each object or image creates when applied so specifically. Not to mention, the all out hands on approach. Cutting and pasting real images to your layouts. Which he spends hours doing.

He illustrates this concept not only in his beautiful and graphic poster designs but in his book designs as well. Most notably, the book entitled Snapshot Chronicles: Inventing the American Photo album. There are spreads of tiny squares of images, textures and bits of old photos that were tediously arranged to create a perfect visual balance and breathable structure.

Part of Martin’s philosophy on creating good design and in reference to his methodical style (random yet structured, just like the design of the world) is summed up in a quote from his website. “There is joy in the intense, harmonic, ragged, mysterious teetering messiness of all things that stop and start, merge and part, clash and concede. That is what gives us APPETITE. And that is what people want.” Like I said, much of his work is created with a hands on approach. For example, he might type on an old school typewriter, cut out each individual letter and glue it down in its proper place. Most of his work is done this way, a collage of data and visual elements that are mapped out and planned. For him, every little detail, every letter or symbol is not random in placement but is put there with a preconceived notion. However, the outcome creates a mash up of stimuli that the viewer can understand in their own way. It may look slightly chaotic, but Martin would not agree or see his work in that nature.

There is balance and flow that becomes apparent the longer you view his work. There are many interviews out there where he explains his processes and reasoning behind his style and approach. I would not give it the proper justice it deserves, so I can only present to you some samples of his work that will hopefully give your mind a new means of inspiration and that lovely creative burst that is imperative as artists to keep us trudging along.

Martin Venezky is a not only the owner of the firm Appetite Engineers but he is a professor of graduate and undergraduate design studies at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. In the past, he has been a professor of design at The Rhode Island School of Design as well as the California Institute of the Arts. Check out his website at www.appetiteengineers.com if you havn’t already. A great interview with Martin from 2005 can be found at
http://www.underconsideration.com/speakup/interviews/venezky.html

It is artists like Gregory Jacobsen who excite me about the direction modern painting is headed. He has cast his net and pulled me in kicking and screaming. Gregory Jacobsen is a Chicago based Painter, poet and musician.

His paintings are traditional in the way of portraiture, landscapes and still lifes however, they contain piles of human deformities, body parts, oozing fluids, and organic matter like fruits, vegetables and slabs of meat.

The paintings are like cute and cuddly fairy tales, with a color palette that stresses girly pinks and purples with various earth tone shades. The characters  and scenes illustrate a world of darkness and disgust however with the bright colors and soft painterly style, everything seems content to be in its place. There is happiness amongst the odd. Although the themes can be somewhat disturbing, each painting is very inviting and has a calming subtlety that requires no analysis or question.

The world of these paintings is just that, a separate realm where everything is the way it is with no reason or rhyme. One might be able to try and understand or analyze each painting, but to do that would seem just plain wrong and unrewarding.  But the artist himself has a great way with words, especially the names of each painting, as well as describing himself. In his own words, “Fatty Jubbo, a godawful little wretch. Smelly too! How stunning I looked invariably castrated stupid and numb! Some people say I am like a fashionable hairpiece on the edge of a toilet, an immobilized mustache, jelly doughnut!”

I recommend you check out his portfolio and his blog which can be found at www.gregoryjacobsen.com. He also fronts a music project that is more performance art and noise than anything, it’s an extension of his painting and drawing in a physical form. The band is called Lovely Little Girls and you might be able to find old performances on youtube which I highly suggest watching. It is performance art with vaudeville influences, strange masks, odd nose pieces, and musical mayhem.

Gregory Jacobsen has had numerous group exhibitions and solo exhibitions from Chicago and New York City to Berlin and Paris. He is participating in a Group show at the Grand Central Art Center in Santa Anna CA entitled “Suggestivism” in 2011.

For starters, his work is a Graphic Designer’s wet dream. That is, if you strive for complete typographical control, exquisite technical detail, illusive “out of the box” problem solving, and that overall “wow” factor in your work, then you are like me and hope to one day achieve this. Jonathan Han however, is already on the path to greatness and he just graduated from SVA in New York City in 2009. I first met Jonathan Han when I was working under the Art Direction of Hollis King at Verve Records in New York. This past year, in walks this reserved and quiet kid fresh out of Art school on a mission to find work, (although from what I remember he was highly sought after by many prestigious firms.) He was hired to work on an Ella Fitzgerald box set entitled “Twelve Nights in Hollywood.”  As the project progressed and the first print outs came in, I knew from first glance that his eye for detail and information mapping was beyond impressive. Mr. King and I would look at each other and say, “this kid has got it, he’s going places.”  Needless to say, he nailed the job.

He brought in his portfolio from school and one piece of work entitled “My Mega Graphic” stuck out in my mind so vividly that I can remember it almost fully in detail. I can not begin to sum it up in it’s proper context so I will pull a quote directly from Jonathan’s website regarding this piece of design. “My Mega Graphic is a data visualization reflection of my life thus far. The left and right panels work together to show the information derived from the abstract and exact (left and right corresponding) reality of my life. The intensity of my thoughts, the activities that I spent the most time on, my life journey from start to finish is being divulged through a timeline, the fluctuations of my moods and more.” This quote, illustrates the depths Jonathan is willing to go to achieve a visual and meaningful masterpiece.

Johnathan, does it all, from Editorials, Identity design, posters, experimental works, but most importantly, he is an information designer.

The information design he has accomplished thus far is very personal, again, in his words, he is inspired to interpret the “intense processes and routine like behavior of my mind.” “People get to see the kind of person I am through the complexity of data visualization.” I do not think he would disagree with me saying he strives for absolute perfection in his elaborate maps of data visualization. The compositions are packed with detail, form, and fluidity and yet they are highly accessible to any new viewer.

To get sucked in to his beautiful work is one thing, but to actually know and understand how each element has its place and why, is mind boggling. He is a builder of design and interpretation, every little element has it’s place for a reason and it works. His use of modern typography and vector symbols combined with superb color and image transparency make him a design inspiration for all in the industry. I’m interested to see what lies in Jonathan’s future. It was a task trying to contact him as he works like a fiend, long and hard hours at R/GA, New York, as a Junior Designer and part of the Brand Design team. He has interned at The Office of Paul Sahre in New York and was published twice for the New York Times and once for New York Magazine.

Exhibitions have included:

2009 Malofiej Information Design Conference (Spain)

2009 Malofiej Information Design Conference (Amsterdam)

2009 SVA Advertising and Graphic Design Portfolio Exhibition

2008 Seoul International Design Biennial

His Accolades include:

Rhodes Family Award for Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design 2009

Henry Wolf Scholarship of Excellence

School of Visual Arts Departmental Scholarship of Excellence

It is no surprise that he was placed on the Dean’s list for every school semester while attending SVA.

If you are in search of inspiration please visit his website at www.iamjonathanhan.com