Most evenings there's a constant struggle in my house between the socially, artistically and culturally worthy broadcasts that TV was made for and the entertainment vacuum that my beloved wife choses her evening viewing from (Hollyoaks, I'm looking in your direction here). The only reprieve is by means of a secret rite, that can be performed once a century when the Moon is in the eighth house of Aquarius OR when my wife has found a new book series featuring the exploits of a bunch of teenage, single parent, vegetarian vampires. I'd scoff some more, but seeing as the latest book allowed me to engage with 'The Art of Seeing' featuring David Hockney (clearly there was no football on that night) I was grateful to the maudlin, cretinous nonsense that was corrupting the brain of the lady to my left.
We have discussed before about how many designers start off as artists who are then forced into searching for a practical application of their talents. I have no problem with the choices that I made here, but the sad fact is that somewhere along the line, the pursuit of art history and artists in general takes a back seat whilst you fight to understand the latest layout software, retouching tools and code structures. I used to love visiting galleries, reading art books, learning about the social context of art movements and getting my head around the implications of what art has influenced. Well, when I say 'love' I really mean 'forced to love through necessity by my college at the time' but that doesn't really have the same ring to it. In my college days the internet solely consisted of Joe Cartoon and AOL chat and so I really did need to visit these galleries and read these books - you couldn't log in and wing it. Today it's a different story however and only a few short moments into The Art of Seeing I was lazing my way through the Wikipedia post on Hockney to extend my knowledge beyond 'wasn't he that bloke what painted them swimming pools in the 60s'. The Wikipedia entry for Hockney stated that Hockney is one of the most influential British artists of the 20th Century which I suppose is irrefutable, but the thing that really interested me about him was the following (which I assume is true): "Hockney was born with synesthesia; he sees synesthetic colours to musical stimuli."
It's a week of firsts and today is the first post in the 'Stuff we love that wasn't done by us' weekly series.
I'd like to introduce you to The Surreal Paintings of Vladimir Kush. A really beautiful Dali-inspired selection of ethereal classics. If I had more time to look into the metaphysical nature of these and discuss the real meaning I would. Sadly I'm too busy, so just appreciate the damn picture, say ooh isn't it pretty and then assume he really liked eggs.
Surface art appreciation, naivety - it's the new black.
By the way the rest of this fabulous collection is available for view at Designer couch.
Please follow this link: designerscouch.org/view-log/the-surreal-paintings-of-vladimir-kush-687
We will soon be posting up the guest blog by international design sensation and co-founder of the Pilates Pod, the one, the only - Mr. Ed Smith. He discusses that the original inspiration behind his decision to get into graphics and design in the first place was due to a love of album artwork.
I think this is a notion that most professional designers can certainly associate with and throughout the endless self-written (what was the point?) briefs that university made me complete, more often than not I'd try to link it back to music somehow. I suppose this could have something to do with the age of my student self at the time, but I'm a romantic and I like to think that there's a massive link between the creative arts and music resulting in a harmonious meeting of the visual and the audible - typified by the album cover.
It appears Rolling Stone have compiled a de-facto list of the top 100 album covers of all time. The list is below and you can see it in situ at the following location: http://rateyourmusic.com/list/fedderedder/rolling_stones_100_greatest_album_covers
Much like their list of the top 100 albums of all time, I disagree almost across the board and whilst I can see they have done their research and have taken into account things like the historical implications and quality of musician - it is fundamentally flawed; there is no metal. Everyone knows the best album covers of all time are from Metal, it's just a fact (Zeppelin aren't proper metal and they're only in at number 50 anyway) and I think it's due to the inherently over-the-top and dramatic nature of the scene. Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not knocking the covers or artists they have listed - I just think there's a whole lot better in terms of pure artistry and awesomenitude (I cannot believe spell check has let that one through).
So to redress the balance here's a list of the top five metal album covers, in my opinion, of all time.
I stumbled across these at http://www.dornob.com and seeing as we will be decorating our family home in the near future, something like this has now gone straight to the top of my "Oh my God, I must have that in my house" list. The original Pacman and Space Invaders, followed by life-size R2D2 home-help robot still top this list, but wallpaper games are now right up there. The difficulty will occur in trying to get this past my lovely wife, who although a constant support and inspirational figure - is also death to grrreat ideas. I'll try my hardest though.
I have just come across this piece of design genius on the interweb. It's the vision of Shenzen Huashi; a monorail system to make use of the space ABOVE travelling cars. Apparently this is in production already and building will start at the end of the year.
This is unbeatably cool whichever way you look at it and really does mark the start of 3 dimensional travel possibilities - like those that were previously only seen in sic fi.
I hate the Simpsons. Don't get me wrong - it's been awesome in the past, well written, great ideas and performances. But is it really necessary to watch it EVRY SINGLE DAY FOR THE LAST !% YEARS. The answer is no of course and I'm sure you are probably wondering why I don't just change the channel - after all this is well within my power. To anyone maybe reading this who is married you will understand and appreciate the pursuit of the easy life and much like the sitcom Friends before it I am duty bound to put up with it and move on.
Putting aside my developing distaste for the Simpsons I have happened upon some news of an interesting collaboration, in this case featuring a starting sequence delivered by revered street artist (and probably terribly middle classed and endearing fellow) Banksy. The Simpsons collaborations have veered wildly in my opinion between great and REALLY REALLY BAD. Gervais I'm talking about you here, I am a fan of everything you do, but that episode was a mockery of a sham.
Anyway, take a look at the video below, I wonder how much he got paid for this?
