kumoArt

Sidearm Design Posters

2009-05-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

Some beautiful work by Washington based designer Karl Peterson of Sidearm Design. Kind of reminds me of the Pilot Report poster series I started a while back. I love his images! Hopefully he'll start selling some of them in his shop.

fwd: tag, and be tagged

2009-04-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

Directions: 1. Respond and rework. Answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your own invention; add a question of your own. 2. Tag eight other un-tagged people.

//what is your current obsession// contemporary electronic genius ulrich schnauss (music you hear in your dreams but don't remember).

//good coffee place// not really a coffee drinker.

//do you nap a lot// no.

//who was the last person you hugged// my mother.

//what was the last thing you bought// sun glasses, tank-top, and shorts for the summer.

//what is your favorite line from your favorite movie// "they can be a great people, kal-el, they wish to be. they only lack the light to show the way. for this reason above all, their capacity for good, i have sent them you... my only son." -jor-el from superman: the movie

//what are you listening to right now// Ulrich Schnauss - "On My Own" from the album A Strangely Isolated Place

//what is your favorite weather// 75°. sunny. bit of a breeze. a few cumulus clouds scattered around to block the sun every once and a while.

//what's on your bedside table// ikea lamp, sony dream machine alarm clock, felt drink coaster and a half eaten bag of unsalted almonds.

//say something to the person who tagged you// dear mitsue, please move to brooklyn right now. we'll form a punk/bossa nova band: me- drums, you- bass, sam- guitar. band name: the sayonara sisters (sam and i will of course be in drag)

//if you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you want it be// park slope brooklyn, ny.

//favorite vacation spot// japan but soon to be costa rica, i'm sure of it.

//name the things you cannot live without// music, movies, computers, friends and family.

//what would you like to have in your hands right now// golden retriever puppy.

//what is your favorite tea flavor// chamomile with a splash of whole milk.

//what did you want to become as a child// A fireman with no wife (according to my parents, this is what I said whenever i was asked the question).

//what style trend is the hardest one for you to adopt// funny, mine too is a leather jacket. bomber jacket to be exact. I ended up trying twice on ebay but failed to find the right fit. the search goes on...

//if you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour where would you go// my late grandparents' house on my mother's side of the family. acres of land to run around on. cows to feed. gigantic house with millions of memories. it's been so long it almost feels like a dream.

(photo taken from google maps)

//what is your favorite scent; perfume// banana bread in the oven.

i'm tagging caitlin at Food*Nerd, cousin kaki at personaldebris, jonah at coin-operated, sujey at powders of gold and annalily at render it lovingly.

FOOD!

2009-03-27T11:22:00.000-07:00

I just ate lunch about an hour ago. Saw these. Now I'm hungry again! These extraordinary oil paintings (yeah, I know. PAINTINGS!) are by Atlantan artist James Neil Hollingsworth. I love how there are no settings. It's just the food sitting there in dark spaces. All your focus is drawn to the realism of the cookie part of the oreo or the glimmering jelly in that PB&J. You can view the rest of his work here where he has a diverse array of subject matter (the food just happens to be my favorite).

New Drawings

2009-03-14T12:27:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple new drawings from lasts week long pose session at Spring Studio in Soho. Our model was so serious the whole time. Almost angry. But his face was so fun to sketch. Such character. The top two (one's a close-up) were the long pose (about 80 minutes with a couple breaks). The second I think was 15 minutes and the last was 5. I'm thinking about bringing in ink and brushes for the next session. I want to start creating pieces that are wall-worthy for my apartment.

Edit: Man, I gotta work on my hands.

Hey Studio

2009-03-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

Some nice work by Barcelona-based design company Hey Studio. Would love it if they sold these as small prints.

On a side note, I finally started going back to Spring Studio and have some drawings i'd like to scan and share. I'll try and have them up later this week.

The Work of David Jon Kassan

2009-02-19T14:16:00.000-08:00

It's been a few months since I've attended a drawing session at Spring Studio. Motivation hasn't been so high lately when it comes to illustration I guess you can say. Above is exactly what I needed to see though. An artist who is so good my mind is racing with inspiration and creativity. I can seriously feel every texture this guy paints or draws. So beautiful. You can view the rest of his work here.

It turns out he's having a solo exhibition right here in NYC as stated in his blog. I will definitely try and make the opening on March 12th. Can't wait.

Over A Month - No Posts 2

2009-01-26T11:30:00.000-08:00

I've decided to create a label named "Over A Month - No Posts". This way if you'd like to locate the first posts after each of my long, lazy blog breaks, well then you're just one click away. I'm going to go ahead and put all the blame on the cold weather which has sort of taken the fun out of going out on photo adventures. But this blog wasn't created for the sole purpose of posting your photography, Kyle! What happened to the album reviews, ikebana lessons, and drawings!? GIVE US MORE TILT-SHIFTS!!! Whoa, jeez. Stop yelling at myself, self.

Above are some '08 pictures I've uploaded recently to Flickr that I had forgotten were on my camera. Hopefully you will hear from me again within the next thirty days. Ciao.

Helvetireader

2008-12-17T09:15:00.000-08:00

Do you use Google Reader? Tired of that bland "Google" look? Head on over to Helvetireader.com to download a sweet helvetica theme for your reader! Also, since you can see my subscriptions now, now's a good time to ask you - What are YOU subscribed to? Have any recommendations?

It's at&t. Not AT&T, idiot. Now swallow this semiopaque sphere of confusion!

2008-12-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

I thought I hated it, but it's grown on me. Well, the new type at least. Still not digging the awful globe and it's 3D treatment. I spotted the new logo on a store front in the city today (pictured above) and was reminded of the original logo:

The whole idea of that negative spacing on the original is to indicate that it is indeed a sphere. Simple yet effective. Now take that image and actually make it a 3D ball with gradients and transparencies and you get something that defeats the whole purpose of the original design.

Yuck. Just another bubbly, Apple-ish 3D logo. It looks like it belongs on my applications dock. The perspective is all wrong and shouldn't the white be the transparent part? I thought the blue was the solid area. But anyways, whatever. Just thought it was interesting that if you strip away all the 3D treatment it really is nice looking, especially on that large copper sign.

Squarepusher - Just a Souvenir album and Planet Gear video

2008-12-03T14:18:00.000-08:00

Since the release of his latest album Just a Souvenir, Tom Jenkinson (AKA Squarepusher) has gone ahead and created this music video for Planet Gear, the 8th track on the album.

From the description on squarepusher.net:

"The overall concept of this video revolves around images of imaginary astronomical phenomena. I selected a method which I anticipated would be appropriate to the construction of "scaleless" objects, such that one could imagine them occupying planetary sized volumes of space."

The new album is like nothing I've ever heard before. With carefully crafted layers of bubbling slap bass, complex (and erratic at times) jazz drumming, ultra-compressed distorted guitar riffs, vocoders and xylophones, glowing synth chimes and pads, time signature and bpm changes (that I still can't quite understand, which makes me like them even more), rock, prog-rock, punk, house, jungle, slow jams, reds, greens, colors, yellows, blues and purples, whites, GOOD LORD THE WHITES!!!

Okay I went a little over the top there, but you have to hear it to understand. There is no categorizing this album. Go give it a listen. That's an order not a suggestion.

Container Color Systems Poster Set

2008-12-01T11:08:00.000-08:00

By Antrepo Design Industry. $100 for all five prints. 18.9x26.8". Huge posters. Definitely wall space available. Logos. Colors. Oh my god, the colors. Rolling over the ADD TO CART button. Somebody please stop me. Soo...aammaaazzii....

Shop for these and other nice prints here.

LIFE Photo Archive Hosted by Google

2008-11-21T08:59:00.000-08:00

LIFE and Google have come together and created a HUGE photo archive (10 million scanned photos) spanning from the 1750's to today. Apparently 95% of these have never been seen before! Above are a few photos I liked from my keyword search "plane". You can start by clicking here or by adding "source:life" to any Google image search.

Happy searching!

EDIT: Seriously, what's up with that third photo? It looks like he's flying a missile or something. And the lit up cockpit, it's just such a wicked picture.

Japan Graphic Review Magazine

2008-11-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

In addition to my Grandfather's postcards, film negatives, slides and 8mm movies, I also found two large books each containing twelve magazines bind together titled Japan Graphic Review. The content in each magazine is somewhat interesting with black and white photos and Japanese text. But the covers I had to scan. Some pretty cool and vibrant images were used on these. You can view the whole batch here.

Netherland Art

2008-11-06T08:02:00.000-08:00

I came across this artist from Chicago. His name is David "Netherland" van Alphen. He says that these are created using acrylic, collage and resin on wood. I would LOVE to have some of these hanging on my walls. You can view more of his work here.

30 Reasons

2008-11-03T13:52:00.000-08:00

"30 Reasons is a 30-day email and internet campaign to encourage people to vote for Barack Obama. Our goal is simple: Use design to build a logical, multi-faceted argument for Obama and make it easy to share each reason with another person."

"We enlisted 30 graphic designers to create a poster that represents a reason to vote for Obama. Starting on the October 5th, we will post a new poster online every day and email it to our list. Recipients can easily share the email with other supporters and friends who are undecided."

I thought this was an interesting project. Above is my favorite (graphically) by artist Andrio Abero. You can view the rest of the poster designs here.

Kaiju Utopia

2008-10-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

I've been following the blog Omni-Monster!!! for a while and can't get enough these. Gotta have 'em all!

Over A Month - No Posts

2008-10-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

Wow, I really let over a month go by with no posting? Let's just pretend I've been on a long vacation in Iceland with no internet access taking advantage of their fallen economy, when really I've been sitting at my desk all month with plenty of time to post. Capiche?

Well, above is a selection of random pictures I've taken throughout the past month. I've been doing a lot of scanning recently trying to continue transferring all of my Grandfather's negatives to digital. A lot of really interesting stuff. I'll be uploading everything soon!

Jan Von Holleben Photography

2008-09-19T10:44:00.001-07:00

Some of my favorite shots by German photographer Jan Von Holleben. These must have been so fun to setup. It's amazing how much of a sense of movement was accomplished with such static subjects. And the expressions on the kids faces completely sell it. Happy times.

New ISO50 Poster!

2008-08-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

Looks like I'll be buying yet another print by graphic designer Scott Hansen (aka ISO50). The type, the colors, the textures and the imagery, just so perfect. This is by far my favorite ISO50 print. You can view the back of the poster/flyer here.

Now to wait for it to go on sale in his online store...

Alex Trochut

2008-08-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

Alex Trochut is a designer/illustrator based out of Barcelona. His work is simply unbelievable. It turns out his grandfather was a graphic designer in the 1940's named Joan Trochut. Alex is truly a perfectionist and pioneer in the design industry. Viewing his work has really lead me to stop and question how seriously I take my job.

You can view more of Alex's work here. Incredible talent.

My New Home

2008-08-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

I finally made my move out to Brooklyn a few weeks back and I really like it so far. I'm located in Kensington, fairly close to many of my friends and a few relatives. Got a chance to take some snapshots of the new place which I'm extremely happy with. Although the living room is pretty much how I want it (god I love those ISO50 prints!), the bedroom still needs some work. Trying to keep it light with a blue/grey theme. I'm enjoying the empty space in the bedroom for now though. I'm thinking about doing one giant painting for above my bed. I'll post that if I decide to go forward with it.

Mix of Vintage Ads

2008-07-31T11:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I haven't really been posting much recently. I actually just moved to Brooklyn and the move has been pretty hectic, but I'd say I'm pretty settled in now. I was going to post some photos of the new apartment but I'm not quite ready since I dont have much artwork up on the walls. I'll probably take pictures this weekend, though.

So anyways, I was searching for some interesting prints I could order to add to my poster collection and found this amazing website with a plethora of outstanding designs and illustrations from the early to mid 20th century. Above are some of my favorite picks. I especially love the BOHN ads. Such cool ideas they had back then. Best of all, you can buy prints!

I'm thinking about buying a few. I have to sit down and figure out which ones are my alltime favs first. Enjoy!

Weird Gifs

2008-07-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

I don't really know what the deal is with these but I like them. They look like stills from 8mm movies or something. Don't look at them for too long though, I already have a minor ache in mah head.

David Byrne - Playing the Building

2008-06-30T08:28:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post this earlier, but I ended up checking out David Byrne's grand installation, Playing the Building, at The Battery Maritime Building.

"Creative Time presents Playing the building, a sound installation in which the infrastructure, the physical plant of the building, is converted into a giant musical instrument. Devices are attached to the building structure — to the metal beams and pillars, the heating pipes, the water pipes — and are used to make these things produce sound. The activations are of three types: wind, vibration, striking. The devices do not produce sound themselves, but they cause the building elements to vibrate, resonate and oscillate so that the building itself becomes a very large musical instrument."

I went with my friend Jonah and we ended up seeing Byrne just hanging out in the corner of the room! The installation itself was pretty neat. It was a bit frustrating trying to play some sort of rhythmic arrangement since the actual sounds produced by striking the keys were delayed a second or two. And since there was a line to sit down and try the instrument, I felt rushed. Probably only played it for 45 seconds or so.

I suggest that you go see it though if you're in NYC. It's open until August 24th.

Pilot Report 003 Poster

2008-06-26T12:00:00.001-07:00

A third poster for the Pilot Report series. Photo was taken from above the Pacific Ocean while on my way to Japan back in 2004. So far I've only learned how to translate one thing from the pilot report located at the top of the poster. SK SKC means "clear skies". Interesting stuff, I might try and learn how to translate a whole PIREP so I can create my own for future designs.