The original Just Do It

Last Saturday, a little group of us took a trip to the Art Institute (apparently everyone else had the same idea; the place was packed). I was most excited to check out the new modern wing and Apostles of Beauty.



On the way to all that, however, we stopped by a little set of rooms that houses a retrospective of James Castle, a largely untrained, deaf artist from rural Idaho. Castle never learned sign language or lip reading, so his art was his primary means of communication.

His work is wonderful in its own right. I'm in love with how pieces that are so rustic can depict such futuristic and wildly imaginative scenes. But there's something else extra special about Castle.

The museum has more than 200 pieces of his work on display. Castle worked with all sorts of found materials--food cartons, old letters, envelopes--and a combination of soot and spit and natural dye as mediums. Not only was he resourceful, the materials and sheer number of pieces made it seem as if he couldn't not make art.

Like he was absolutely compelled to create.



I can think of so many times I put off projects because I don't have the right stuff--I need another canvas or I don't like the fabric I have on hand or I should buy fancier paper. But this guy didn't stop. Couldn't stop. It was so wonderful to see all of his work preserved. So I'm using his perseverance to inspire me to stop stalling and hemming and hawing and just get on with it already.



Thanks for the new year push, James!

Grinning skulls

We're in the homestretch! It's only 10 days to Halloween, my favorite holiday.

In honor, I'm going to try to treat you to a post a day that is at least tangentially related to the big day.

First up, the art of James Hopkins.



Prosperity and Decay and Consumption and Consequence, respectively.

"Hopkins’ work draws from the techniques of optical illusionism through which he involves viewers by teasing with their visual consciousness. His sculptures allude to Symbolist literature in their spin on decadence and the self-indulgence of dandy-ism: they recall the impermanence of objects and their persistence in memory, in a similar way Pop Art made use of iconic images derived from vain consumerism. His sculptures utilise everyday objects that are turned into impossible variations, even into sly commentaries of themselves." (Taken from maxwigram.com)


"...Hopkins rendered oversize Death's heads. These works are poetically succinct meditations on longed-for pasts and inevitable futures, the impermanence of objects and their persistence in memory. Prosperity and Decay (2006) operates similarly, but aligns itself more closely with Holbein's precedent, substituting middle-age, middle-class extravagances—a wine rack, bottles, and glasses; antique maps, clocks, mirrors, and a chess board; leather-bound literature and a violin—for the adolescent possessions used earlier. It is likewise a more subtle composition; whereas the earlier sculptures relied on tonal differences to outline the memento mori, this piece forces the viewer to navigate a complicated interplay of positive and negative space. Perhaps unwittingly, Hopkins has, by thinning out the arrangement, formally echoed his thematic concern; in the end, there will be nothing left to position on these shelves. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

(via On Decorum)

Pent up

Remember the other day when I wrote about how happy a little pretty packaging can make me?

There's more to admire! The winners of the Pentawards packaging design competition have been announced. Let's look at some pretty stuff, yeah?

The best of show award went to Kimberly-Clark for those fruit slices Kleenex boxes.


Which, if you're interested in knowing, I hate. I don't like associating a fresh slice of juicy fruit with snot. Can't someone make a nice, plain box of tissue so I can deep six my stainless steel holder from Ikea? (not bad at all, Clorox) All I do is get fingerprints all over it every time I replace the Kleenex inside.

On the other hand, here are some other entrants that I love:

12 Inches juice by War Design


Boots body products by Camilla Lillieskold


Johnson & Johnson by Harry Allen Design


Jack Daniels by Mayday

There are tons more to click through. Do you have a favorite?

Helvetica turns 50

From Slate's slideshow "The Helvetica Hegemony": "letterforms were smooth and well-proportioned, with a pleasing roundness that feels friendly yet sleek and efficient, like an amiable, perfectly groomed flight attendant in business class."

Lovely.


"Ultimately, Helvetica is a cipher—and this is the key to its success. It can be authoritative or ironic, sober or idealistic, corporate or cozy. It's the tofu of typefaces: bland in itself but ready to absorb whatever flavors you add to it. It's clean, legible, and well-designed, but its real power lies in its uncanny mutability."

If you're into typography, the Art Institute's Typing for Tomorrow: Modernism and Typography is open through July 31. I can't wait to see it.