Sketch by Parisian artist Turbo
All the creative greats throughout time have used a sketchbook: Leonardo da Vinci, Michealangelo, Rolf Harris… Anyone who is visually creative will have a book or a pad they scribble ideas on or work out visual compositions – and it’s no different for the graffiti artist. A new book by Tristan Manco explores the sketchbooks of over 65 street artists from around the world…
Should you happen upon this flyposted message, you’ll be struck by its beguiling duality: How offensive – yet how beautiful! Especially with that gold-foilblocked censor strip. Let’s face it, it’s not everyday you see a flyposted poster (flyposter?? Or is the flyposter the one doing the posting of the posters???) with gold foilblocking, more’s the pity. But wait, we’ve also been getting reports of sightings of more suspiciously well-produced posters popping up around London – ones with varnishes, scratch-off type and even heat-sensitive ink…
The Return of the Real #1, 2007. All images courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro Gallery, © Phil Collins
The UK television industry has taken rather a pummelling lately, from the discovery that phone line and competition fixing was widespread practice, even on shows as homely as Richard & Judy and Blue Peter, to the seemingly daily emergence of a catalogue of other “viewer betrayals”, including the discovery that even the Queen is not above being manipulated by the editor’s hand.
Into this climate comes artist Phil Collins’ solo show at the Victoria Miro gallery, where he presents the outcome of a project that began as part of his contribution to last year’s Turner Prize exhibition. Collins has been exploring ideas around popular factual programming on television, most typically reality television shows, for four years now, and he used the high profile that comes with being nominated for the Turner Prize to engage with the media about some of the issues that arise from appearing on these shows. As part of his Turner Prize exhibit, he set up a fully-functioning production office at Tate Britain, the rather sweetly titled Shady Lane Productions, and appealed for people who felt their lives had been negatively affected by appearing in reality TV shows to come forward and tell their stories, with the promise that their contributions to his films would remain uncensored and unedited.
Design Event 07, the north east of England’s annual design festival, commissioned new media curators Cinefeel to create a film programme for this year’s event that included animation, motion graphics, architectural visualisations and music videos, based on the festival’s theme of “How do we want to live?”. As part of the initiative, DE07 selected their favourite piece of work from the package. The winning entry is Gardens of the Bay by London-based production company, Squint/Opera, who specialise in making architectural films.
BBH New York’s new campaign for NYC
BBH New York has created a new campaign for NYC & Company, the official tourism organisation for New York, in a bid to attract yet more tourists to the city (the aim is to entice 50 million visitors annually by 2015). The campaign, based around the tag This Is New York City, encompasses television, print, online and outdoor advertising, as well as a new logo by Wolff Olins, which will be used in advertising, promotional materials, as well as on New York taxis.
All images from Little Savages by Tessa Farmer at the Natural History Museum, courtesy Danielle Arnaud, Parabola
Artist Tessa Farmer has created a number of new artworks for the Natural History Museum in London that are amusing, gruesome and utterly fascinating.
Her creations, which include a stop-motion animation, are the result of an artist’s residency that Farmer began at the Museum in June this year, where, rather than grappling with more popular exhibits such as dinosaurs or other larger mammals, she used the opportunity to explore the museum’s vast collections of insects, and worked with experts within the Department of Entomology. This passion for insects is a recurring theme within Farmer’s work, which has previously seen her create highly intricate still-lifes involving insect “fairies” pitched against other creatures in dramatic battle scenes.
As revealed here last week, Channel 4 has commissioned four leading imagemakers to adorn a giant 4 logo outside its headquarters. First up, photographer Nick Knight whose contribution was unveiled today: a
9-step lenticular using images of eleven different bodies.
Here at CR we regularly get bombarded with news of the latest “designer collaboration”. Radios, cars, Coke bottles… all have recently been sprinkled with a little designer fairydust courtesy of an overimaginative PR company and a designer with a mortgage to pay and a somewhat elastic notion of the term “selling out”. But this one’s a doozy. Jamie Hewlett, he of Tank Girl and the Gorillaz, has applied his distinctive graphic stylings to a range of celebrity-endorsed vibrators.
The best album cover ever? The CD version of XTC’s Go2 album, originally designed by Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis in 1978
With last Sunday’s Observer came The Observer Book of Rock and Pop (seems like a lot of publications are giving away nice little booklets right now, ahem ahem). In it, readers were treated to Storm Thorgerson’s views on the role of the album cover designer (including the rather honest self-assessment above)…
Adding further fuel to the “New Ugly” debate on magazine editorial design (see here, here, here, and here) comes M/M’s Arena Homme Plus, sorry Homme +.
The Saints, Paul Pfeiffer, 2007. Commissioned and produced by Artangel
On Saturday, while most people flocked to Wembley for England’s qualifier for the European Championships against Estonia, I travelled to the area for more artistic reasons, to see Paul Pfeiffer’s new Artangel installation, The Saints. The show is being held in a disused warehouse just opposite the new stadium, continuing Artangel’s tradition for showing work in unusual and atmospheric venues.
While I may have missed the England game, knowing it was going on so near provided a good backdrop to Pfeiffer’s artwork, which explores the role of the audience in major sporting events. On entering the warehouse space, it initially seems empty apart from the epic noise of a roaring crowd. As a viewer, you are suddenly placed at the centre of the scene, with the crowd cheering, chanting and singing all around, creating an impact that’s both exciting and a little unnerving.
Haymarket design director Paul Harpin, John Brown executive creative director Jeremy Leslie and a line-up of the great and good of UK editorial design have come together to launch The Editorial Design Organisation, a not-for-profit body that “aims to promote the skill, knowledge and appreciation of editorial design in magazines, newspapers and websites”.
Leslie, who also runs the magazine design blog, magCulture explains the ED.O’s goals…
Brands are saying sorry at a more rapid rate than ever. CR’s advertising columnist Ben Kay delves into why sorry is no longer the hardest word and whether this is an effective strategy for winning audiences
By loosening its approach to advertising, and engaging with its audience directly, the drinks brand has transformed with the times and won a whole new set of fans
Kelly Grovier’s new book charts the artist’s persistent dialogue with classic and contemporary art
We speak to Lego’s VP of global brand development Alero Akuya about the brand’s rare ability to straddle the physical and virtual worlds with ease – whether through its immersive new art exhibition in Paris or collaborations with Epic Games and Nike
The Pentagram partner has created the titles for the acclaimed new Netflix show, which reimagines the Greek myths in a contemporary setting
A new book from Reel Art Press collates the first comprehensive history of film posters. We explore why they remain an underappreciated area of cultural design
The Autumn 2024 issue of Creative Review looks at the brands and individuals who are pushing creativity forward on their way to the top
Mark Sinclair talks to the artist and designer about his new book, Lost Ordinary Magic, and the importance of recognising the power of simplicity and the everyday wonders that surround us
We explore how the 90s, an era the UK looks favourably upon for its thriving culture, are continually inspiring a stagnated creative industry
The band’s surreal new album visuals explore a darker, more grotesque side of romance. We speak to the creative team behind the campaign about challenging the visual tropes of rock music
As the &Walsh founder launches her agency’s new offshoot Type of Feeling, she discusses why typography’s ability to evoke emotions makes it one of the most powerful tools at a brand’s disposal
Kinda Studios is tapping into the emerging field of neuroaesthetics to help creatives and brands make more impactful work that benefits people’s wellbeing