Vanishing Austin
Posted by Art at 2:37 pm
Feb
9
2010
Has that beautifully beat-up old sign you’ve driven past for years suddenly disappeared with a cold, glass and steel tower rising in its place? Obviously, if you’re here at NoRelevance.com you’re not alone. But if you’re also in Austin, TX then you’ve got a last chance to see some of those lost treasures and can even help save future vanishings. Vanishing Austin is a website dedicated to, well, basically what the name says. More specifically website owner Jann Alexander’s photographs of “Austin in transition contrast the often-contradictory beauty of the old juxtaposed against the new.” As an archivist myself of beautiful things lost to “progress” I can only stand on my chair and applaud such efforts. Ms. Alexander has also recently unveiled a new poster featuring Austin’s “Endangered Species,” available on her website. Good stuff!
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Alvin Lustig Book Covers (via FaceOut Books)
Posted by Art at 1:46 pm
Dec
7
2009
Thanks to @brandi_duncan for turning me on to FaceOut Books and their inspiring blog, which features among others these wonderful book covers designed by Alvin Lustig. Reminiscent of Alexander Steinweiss’ covers for Columbia records, Lustig exploited the silhouette as design element and hand-drawn scripts to wonderfully tasteful heights. If you’ve read any of the books whose covers he designed for authors as varied as Franz Kafka to Henry James you will probably find that they were equally illustrative from a context standpoint. One can see resemblances to fellow modernist Paul Rand in the geometric and free-form shapes he used as well as his love for color. Check them out and be inspired.
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Hand-Painted & Hand-Made Signs – Antigua BWI
Posted by Art at 4:15 pm
Dec
3
2009
JUST UPLOADED: Feast your eyes on over 20 beautiful, ugly, tattered and torn, hand-painted & hand-made signs from Antigua BWI. Signs from St. John’s, English Harbor, Rotten Hill and beyond are here for your drooling pleasure. View the thumbnail gallery or the slide show. Enjoy!
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Tony Fitzpatrick at Slugfest 11/4 – 12/14/2009
Posted by Art at 1:38 pm
Nov
20
2009
Chicago-based artist Tony Fitzpatrick has presented a mesmerizing collection of print/collage works in No. 9, An Artist’s Journal currently on view at Slugfest Gallery in Austin, TX. Comprised of several pieces all roughly 7.5 inches wide by 10.5 inches tall, the collection tells stories of places traveled and people known (and lost) as revealed in the subtle clues embedded using symbolic imagery and collaged objects. The ephemeral quality of the works are the result of both the actual bits of precisely cut graphic images adhered to the surface as well as the melancholic nature of the pieces as a whole. Mr. Fitzpatrick stacks cutout handwritten words in columns within each image that form poems that possibly hint at the meanings of each piece or perhaps of a moment experienced in the “story.” He frames each work with three or four matchbook covers, one in each corner of the piece. These matchbooks, which appear to date anywhere from the 1940’s through the 1960’s, often hail from bars and restaurants in New Orleans, a richly storied city where Mr. Fitzpatrick has spent some time. In fact, you may have seen his work on the cover of the Neville Brothers classic 1989 album Yellow Moon, to which he attributes the initial boost to his career as a visual artist.
The works in No. 9 strongly resemble–and are possibly a subset of a larger series of–works previously exhibited in New Orleans during the Prospect 1 Biennial earlier this year. Those works were also of similar scale and composition as the ones in No. 9 and were possibly even more compelling shown in New Orleans. However, beyond their obvious cultural references, the thread that runs throughout No. 9 and is even part of the Slugfest exhibition’s namesake is a reference to a dear, departed friend of Mr. Fitzpatrick, who bears the tattoo “No. 9″ on his forearm as a memorial to his friend who would always say goodbye by reminding folks to be careful because “we’re already on our 9th life.”
Slugfest Printmaking Workshop and Gallery
Tony Fitzpatrick Official Website
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The Impossible Project Revives Beloved Polaroid
Posted by Art at 12:45 am
Nov
13
2009
Perhaps I was a bit harsh in that previous post regarding the $18 Polaroid prints. Perhaps not—you were still paying out the wazoo. But perhaps you’d not heard of Polapremium.com where you can (like I have) buy remainder stock of many different types of Polaroid film formats for what still seems like a reasonable price. And if perhaps, like me, you have that instant print itch that can only be scratched by the cha-ching of an SX-70 Land camera spitting out a $2 gamble then your prayers may have just been answered. The Impossible Project was founded “with the concrete aim to re-invent and re-start production of analog Integral Film for vintage Polaroid cameras.” And, in 2010, their limited edition films will launch and, get this, Polaroid will even introduce a new “classic analog camera” designed especially for their film stock. The Impossible Project managed to secure one of the Polaroid production facilities in Enschede, Netherlands and has begun production on pilot stocks of films. And, apparently, they were behind the limited edition Polaroid Camera/Film package I was slamming in my previous post. I guess it was both market research and a ballsy fund-raiser? Whatever it was it clearly inspired Polaroid to rethink having ditched Dr. Edwin Land’s amazing vision and return to the medium that made them an international icon. Hallelujah!
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Polaroid Prints – Only $18 a Piece!
Posted by Art at 2:42 pm
Oct
16
2009
Well, if you were one of the lucky idiots who paid $180 bucks (plus shipping) for the “Special Edition Polaroid One 600 Classic Camera & 779 Premium Film” package that Urban Outfitters was recently peddling then I hope you made every “say cheese” count. With only 10 prints per pack, as has always been the case, the Special Edition package pumped you for at minimum $18 buck a snap–thus quite possibly eliminating the joy and spontaneity that made Polaroid the camera of choice for party-goers and crap-shoot photographers alike. Anyone who has swung by their local thrift store, even if only to drop off that bag of last year’s clothes, has to have noticed the piles of perfectly good Polaroid 600 series cameras growing in the electronics section. I once picked up an SX-70 Land camera (think Warhol) for $3 bucks at a thrift store. Perhaps unbeknownst to their previous owners, film for these cameras does still exist–though mostly remainder stocks on eBay and Amazon.com.
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Eckhardt Signwork, an Inspired Font
Posted by Art at 10:26 pm
Oct
12
2009
Finally, the fruits of my labor are made apparent in the new and ever-relevant dingbat font designed by Jeff Levine called Eckhardt Signwork. An archivist of forgotten letterforms, Mr. Levine was inspired by many a sign photo found in the collections on this website as well as on Forgotten-NY.com, a terrific site I once blogged about years ago. As with many of his previous fonts Eckhardt Signwork reveals a caretaker’s handling of the tattered lettering that lay within these scratched and rusty relics. And while I’ve certainly received emails from all sorts of folks thanking me for the inspirations, I’ve only seen a few examples manifest like this. I can’t wait to see “YES” appear in print one day soon!
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EricBelowSeaLevel: The Design of Erik Kiesewetter
Posted by Art at 11:49 am
Sep
22
2009
Peruse the portfolio of this New Orleans-based designer and try not to feel lazy! In addition to his commercial work, which is quite excellent, Mr. Kiesewetter has been busy working and collaborating on projects ranging from post/medium, an online artist/gallery portfolio management system for New Orleans artists, a screen-printed poster series for the historic 2nd-lining Nine Times Social & Pleasure Club and the Neighborhood Story Project, a book-making project based in New Orleans whose mission states “‘Our stories told by us,’ we work with writers in neighborhoods around New Orleans to create books about their communities.” Honestly, it’s difficult to tell which of Mr. Kiesewetter’s work is commercial or pro-bono as the level of quality and creativity remains consistently high. I recently purchased the first two issues of Constance, an art and literary magazine produced in New Orleans, which Mr. Kiesewetter collaborates on and is how I stumbled upon his work. You should take a look, yourself.
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Cult of the Goat – Bock Beer Labels…
Posted by Art at 2:34 pm
Sep
17
2009
From the permanent collection: Devilish goats rear their ugly heads in these sinister looking beer labels from the U.S. and around the world. I include more than a little bit of history on where this strange iconography came from. Enjoy the show!
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Hand-Painted & Hand-Made Signs – Turkey
Posted by Art at 11:48 pm
Sep
14
2009
Feast your eyes on over 60 beautiful, ugly, tattered and torn, hand-painted & hand-made signs from Turkey. Signs from Istanbul (not Constantinople), Izmir, Selcuk, Effes, Kabak and beyond are here for your drooling pleasure. View the thumbnail gallery or the slide show. Enjoy!
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Don’t Freak – Better Signs of Trouble (via NY Times)
Posted by Art at 12:27 am
Sep
14
2009
A funny, if not scary, op-ed in the New York Times revisits the Homeland Security terrorism-alert system, though I’m not certain it was meant to be funny… Neville Brody and Paula Scher, among others, chime in with their graphic suggestions.
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Hand-Painted & Hand-Made Signs – Vietnam
Posted by Art at 2:56 pm
Sep
2
2009
Feast your eyes on over 40 beautiful, ugly, torn and tattered hand-painted & hand-made signs from Vietnam. Images hail from such cities as Saigon, Hanoi, Da Lat, Nha Trang, Hoi An, Da Nang and Can Tho just to name a few. View the thumbnail gallery or the slide show. Enjoy!
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Rebirth
Posted by Art at 4:18 am
Aug
27
2009
Welcome to the new, and hopefully improved NoRelevance.com. Now with 100% less Blogger issues. The switch was thrown just after midnight last night and I may have even uttered the phrase “to hell with IE!” in the process. NoRelevance.com went online almost exactly 8 years ago and was in DIRE need of an upgrade. One word: Wordpress.
Some work still needs to be done to bring the permanent exhibits back online, but at least the house is built and ready to move-in. I’m working on moving Cult of the Goat over now and have several more Bock beer labels to add to the exhibit. I hope you like the new digs!
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AttaBoy Papertoys – R.I.P. Billy Mays
Posted by Art at 5:26 pm
Aug
19
2009
From MonkeyInADryer, the folks that brought us the Cereal Box Archive, comes one of the best tributes I’ve seen to the late, great boardwalk-turn-television huckster Billy Mays. AttaBoy has an impressive gallery of downloadable patterns for making your own hexagonal paper bobble-head dolls of such B-list celebs as Frankenberry and Mayor McCheese as well as pop-culture favs Margie Gunderson (ya betcha!) and Boba Fett. They’re even throwing a contest to use their downloadable AttaBoy templates to design and submit your own paper bobble-head. Remember paper, scissors and glue? Anyone? Anyone?
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Hand-Painted & Hand-Made Signs – NYC
Posted by Art at 3:04 am
Aug
18
2009
Finally, I’m getting these photos up for your viewing pleasure! Some beauties and some real dogs, but all hand-painted and hand-made with love, spite, anger, ecstasy or indifference. Feast your eyes on 189 (for starters!) new-old signs located in and around New York City and get ready for a LOT more from Vietnam, Turkey and elsewhere. View the thumbnail gallery or the slide show. Enjoy!
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Typeface, a film by Justine Nagan
Posted by Art at 2:13 pm
Jul
16
2009
I’m looking forward to seeing Typeface, a film by Justine Nagan, which recently premiered at TypeCon2009 in Atlanta. The film’s tag line say that it’s “charting the intersection of rural America and contemporary graphic design.” Well, that’s right up our alley here at NoRelevance.com! The preview images and synopsis look and sound great and all of its early press seems to indicate that it’s a wonderful film. Hopefully more interesting than that other film about type that came out not too long ago. Speaking of the synopsis: “Typeface focuses on a rural Midwestern museum and print shop where international artists meet retired craftsmen and together navigate the convergence of modern design and traditional technique.” You had me at “typeface.”
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A New Look For Jack [in the box]
Posted by Art at 4:43 pm
May
18
2009
File this under “I don’t know who you are anymore.” From Duffy & Partners, the folks that brought you the Gattica-esque, futuristic redesign of, um, Fresca, comes the likewise 3D modernity of yet another “huh?” brand. Jack-in-the-Box franchises have existed under the now-retro-looking brand for some time now and, well, doesn’t everything need to be redesigned every so often in order for it to remain relevant? Take the departed Paul Rand-designed UPS logo that was ultimately replaced by the 3D shield design or the latest Pepsi logo that looks more like an outtake from a previous redesign than a finished piece, IMHO. Personally, I feel nostalgic for older brands and that probably makes me less objective as a designer or re-designer. The new Jack look seems to be hesitant to decide which century it wants to be a part of. On the one hand, the script type feels like a bit of a throw-back, but then the “in the box,” which has now been reduced to tag-line status, could easily say “x-box.” I think Duffy has done some good work, but this is not among its best. Just look at their Knob Creek suite of labels and try to compare the quality, relevance and messaging of those to this one.
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War Posters
Posted by Art at 3:35 am
Apr
22
2009
From the Boston Public Library, check out these wonderful–if not strangely relevant–propaganda posters from WW2 Allied powers.
War Posters (flickr set)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/…[deletia]
I’ve got a victory garden going, don’t you?
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Record Store Day 2009
Posted by Art at 4:10 pm
Apr
18
2009
How quickly time passes when you’re busy. Here we are again, one year later, observing Record Store Day, this time in Austin, TX–truly the “live music capital of the world.” In fact, I stopped in to a great Austin record store (one of many), End of an Ear, to pick up some vinyl and happened to catch the last four songs by BeauSoleil avec Michael Ducet before they headed back to southwest Louisiana. They were in town playing at the Old Settler’s Music Festival (one of a gazillion fests here this time of year) and were gracious enough to give us a free show in the parking lot. Oh, and I scored this UK pressing of Pete Kelly’s Blues featuring the silky-smooth voice of Peggy Lee and sporting some great typography to boot.
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Dreams of Space
Posted by Art at 12:19 pm
Jan
12
2009
Dubbed “Space Art in Children’s Books,” this very simply presented website is a treasure trove of pre-space era through post-Apollo mission illustrations which appeared in astronomy and science books beginning as far back as 1883 with Agnes Giberne’s romantic visions in Sun, Moon and Stars : A Book for Beginners. As a child of the Apollo era, just barely old enough to remember the famous lunar touchdown, I’m thrilled to see such a collection of wondrous images available online. To the moon…and beyond!
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