Death in Le Style Mucha

Many people would argue that Alphonse Mucha is one of the most definitive artists of the art nouveau movement. Mucha was a Czech artist whose work for the Paris theatre gained him world wide notoriety. His bold yet beautiful illustration style held great influence over much of the art created in the early 1900s. His stylized floral patterns and intricate border elements are imitated by illustrators, printmakers & designers to this day. Although I didn’t know much of the artist until recently I have been a fan of his heavy outlined figures, bold color fills and ornate organic imagery. Take a peek at these images I found online:

Being a admirer of Mucha’s and modern day metal head I could not help but take great notice in the work of John Dyer Baizley. Baizley is an artist who’s work can be found on many of today’s prominent hardcore, grindcore and heavy metal albums including those of his own band Baroness. I bought a Pig Destroyer album on sight alone because of his work. To view his work is to gaze into beautiful death. It is as though Baizley has taken the essence of Mucha’s illustrations and threw them in a blender with the decaying corpses of prom queens. The similarities are obvious, but the differences are startling. Baizley does a fantastic job a nodding to Mucha while creating his own dark path to travel down. If you can’t quite imagine it take a look at these:

Calligraphic Scrolls

Sorry I haven’t been posting much lately I have been slacking. Here are some cool scrolls I found in a clip art book. It goes to show that the artists of olde were well versed. Not only could these chaps write beautifully, but they could illustrate inventively.

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Artist Survey #14: Lindsey Lutts

I met Lindsey during preparations for the Returning Show. The punk rock attitude captured in many of her photos contrasted nicely with the clean photography of other artists (check out her web page for more examples). She grew up here in Sonora and has since moved to the Bay Area. Despite the distance she is always willing to make the drive up to the foothills to help with our struggling youth art scene. Look for her work at the next foothill art event.

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(Ocean Necklace by Lindsey – Silver hand made chain mail all soldered
with turquoise and hydrologic press silver charms etched in acid.)

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Name: Lindsey

Location: San Francisco

Medium(s): Photographer, Metal Artist/ Jewelry, Ceramics, Knitting, Graphic Designer

What do you consider yourself (artist/designer/other)? Starving Artist maybe because I am still trying to figure out how to do it for a living. It’s hard to consider myself an artist when everyone thinks they are an artist. Anyone with a finger can push a button on a camera. It takes a lot to stand out in the world today and to not blend in with the masses.

Where can we see your work (place/publications/url)? Photolindsey.com but it is very out of date. Myspace.com/photolindsey has weekly updates of musician/band photos.

When did you start gaining interest in artistic forms of expression? Ever since I can remember.

Who/What inspired your interest? Almost anything can inspire me, a color or combination of colors, a smell that reminds me of a time, a feeling, the way light falls upon something, and pretty much every kind of art.

Where do you first remember being exposed to art? My family has always encouraged me be artistic from the time I could hold a paint brush. We made ceramics, paintings, and various crafts all the time. When I was 12 I took an underwater photo with one of those plastic disposable cameras that came out pretty cool. I think it still might be my favorite photo I have taken. Right away it stood out so my Grandma took it to get enlarged at a photo shop. Someone there saw it and bought a large copy for his law office wall. When my Grandma called me from the print shop and asked me if she could sell it and than brought me a check, I realized that this was what I was going to do for the rest of my life.

What is your day job? Accountant (yeah boring I know). I have worked in many types of photography jobs in the past but sold out for the higher paying job. I am not sure if I would recommend it but I have learned a ton that will help me when I decide to start my own business.

Why do you create? It is the only thing I do that makes me completely one hundred percent happy. It is my escape from the world but it is also my interpretation of the world and how it affects me.

Is there any recurring theme in your work? I go through different phases and if I figure out what they are at the time I am shooting them instead of after, I go with it and try to stick with it. It is usually just one word like decay, serenity, or sound…

What do you want from your work? I don’t think I want it to give me anything but I will give to it. Does that make sense at all? Haha

What do you want viewers to take from your work? To see me. Also if my work provokes a feeling inside someone no matter what the feeling is, it is successful.

How often do you work on personal projects? Always. I consider it all personal.

How often do you work on commissions or commercial work? I work for a small magazine photographing bands and submit to many other magazines monthly. Some of my photos will be in AMP Magazine’s next issue. I recently set up a studio in my house so I am starting to shoot a lot more band portraits, families, kids, and pin ups.

Does your art support you financially? No, that is my ultimate goal though.

Do you feel preoccupied with your art, do you think about it often during the day and night and do you anticipate your next session? Yes, like right now I am at work and really need to be at home working on some Riverboat Gamblers photos for a magazine. If I wait too long, other photos will be used.

What do you do in your spare time besides your art? It is really hard for me to go anywhere without a camera. I am trying to think of an instance when I do not have one with me. I think I am always working and looking for things that inspire me. It could be something as simple as a color or texture or something amazing that is just about to happen around the corner and I am ready for it. If I did not have my camera I would miss it. I have this strange kind of fear that I am going to miss something and in turn am constantly shooting. I do other things in my spare time but they always end up becoming about the photos that I can get while doing it.

Which musicians are you currently interested in? Gaslight Anthem, American Steel, Get Dead, Dead to Me, Samiam, The Clash, Drag the River, Devil Makes 3, Johnny Cash…

Are there any events you are looking forward to attending? Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas next week. Hundreds of bands and record labels form bowling teams and come from all over for a crazy week in Vegas. There are tournaments and shows going on the whole time. The teams all make their own uniforms and come to bowl and drink 24 hours a day. This is one of my favorite things to photograph every year.

Have you jeopardized or risked the loss of a significant relationship, job, educational or career opportunity because of your art? I don’t think so but I know a lot of people who have. I have only lost parts of myself and my time by not doing more art.

Do you work on multiple projects at once? Always. Imagine trying to take just one photo, or trying to choose just one after a shoot.

Do you have trouble parting with your finished work? Sometimes. I make handmade jewelry and that is much harder to part with than a photograph. A photograph can be duplicated in its raw form but Jewelry can not. I once spent over 200 hours on one piece and don’t see myself selling it anytime soon.

UTL vs. Fake Event Posters

Here are some posters I made for my portfolio near the end of my time at CSU Long Beach. They were created on my own time when I was trying to fill my portfolio with work that was less clean and more edgy than what I was making in class.

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(Paul R. Brown does a lot of great packaging for the
hard rock/heavy metal industry. Particularly Marilyn Manson.)

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(An annual event held at the CSULB campus)

Craig Ward: Typographical Badass

I found Craig Ward’s site while on a web adventure one day. Ward is a typographic designer & illustrator, working with letterpress, digital and hand rendered type to create expressive images. He is constantly experimenting and pushing his the notion of typography. His work is so great it is hard to pick & choose what to show you so take a peak at these and go explore his site: WordsArePictures



UTLTRN vs. Wood

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Here are some new pieces I am working on. On the left is a woodcut in the works. My first concept was the black marker. I didn’t feel that it filled the page well enough so I added the banner, but I already started the relief work on the skull so I couldn’t make the banner intertwine as much as I would like. I felt that the black flower was to cartoony so I changed it to some California Poppies. I might as some text to the banner and some more flowers and plant life as I feel its needed. I will post the resulting print when the time comes. On the right is another recycled chair back piece, this one is a carving of a happy cyclops. My girlfriend, Kim, and I came up with this while discussing what to do with the piece I broke in accidently half. I think this is a much better idea than burning it. I am carving with gouges instead of chisles which makes this very time consuming, but fun.

Stay tuned.

Kill The White Devil

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I have always wanted to do a hand rendered, type-cented piece, but never had the confidence. Type is so easy to manipulate in Illustrator I always felt safe there. Last week I said fuck it and gave it a go with some paint pens I had from street art looking piece I did this summer. I suck at using a brush and enjoy using these paint pens quite a bit. Is it still considered painting if you are using a paint pen? I used an old chair back with sepia ink washes as the “canvas.” My dad was cleaning house last summer and was going to throw out some old chairs that had fallen appart. I dismanteled them and kept the backs knowing that they would come in handy. It has been over a year since I have looked at them and decided it is about time that I make use out of them. I feel that the shape of the wood really brings out the vintage feel that my type hints at. I was originally going to put “Kill Whitey” but decided this phrase filled up the space better. Yes I am white. No I am not racist or self-hating. I am just taking it back. Deal with it.

Brandlessbrand Barcodes

This guy Ben commented on my barcode design post a while back. It seems that he has been experimenting with barcode design for a while now and has an interesting proposal for us all. Read below, check out his site and start participating.

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Brandlessbrand is telling you that – contrary to popular belief – all water IS the same. It’s water. That said let’s do something interesting with it…make it our national canvas. We’re letting designers test their chops by redesigning the barcode and creating a community brand around it. Nothing more. A barcode. A bottle of water. Your brand.

I started this project for a variety of reasons:

  1. I love the idea of using the barcode as a creative medium and re-defining the iconic symbol of consumption
  2. I think the limit has been pushed on how exaggerated a product’s claims can be and I wanted to push the limit in the opposite direction
  3. I’m completely taken with the power of the crowd/community and wanted to test crowd sourcing’s merits in the consumer products world and
  4. to send a small personal message to the beverage industry…which I have been working in the past couple of years (see logo:)

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Mostly though I’m just a designer at heart who has a passion for good, simple, honest design. In essence, this brand is all about the designers behind it, where the store shelves will become your gallery.  once we take over water…there’s no telling how many more shelves we can conquer! Overly ambitious? Probably. Corny? Kinda. Possible? That’s what I’m dying to find out!

Come join the brand and shout our praises to the world!

If you have any questions, or you want to get in touch with me personally, you can: ben[at]brandlessbrand.com – talk to me.