Hasta La Ideas

Well here’s a new one. The Australian hotel chain, Art Series Hotels, which features respected art throughout its hallways and in its rooms, has launched a promotion called Steal Banksy. In it, they’re encouraging people to swipe the Banksy they have in their collection, entitled “No Ball Games” and estimated to be worth somewhere between $15,000 to $20,000, hidden somewhere in one of their three hotels. “Find the art and try and steal it,” they write. “If you don’t get caught it’s yours to keep. If you do get caught then back up on the wall it goes.” The promotional aspect of it, beyond the publicity of course, is that the fun-to-read terms and conditions (pdf) state that you’re required to book a night’s stay should you discover the hidden piece and want to keep it. However, we’re curious as to why, if you’re going to be plan a heist in the first place, why bother following a company’s rules and regulations, something we’re fairly sure very few legitimate art thieves do themselves? And, clever marketing or not, we’d really like to know what the museum world thinks about the glorifying of art theft. Whatever the case or potential controversy, should you want to try your hand at it, the Banksy has been hung and you now have until January 15th to find it.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Every now and again, be it ceramics exhibitions or legally contentious jewelry designs, Frank Gehry branches out into creative outlets other than architecture. He’s soon to be doing it again, as the Grammy Awards have just announced that Gehry will be creating the official artwork for the event. The main image features the Grammy’s gramophone logo surrounded by a handful of models for Gehry-esque buildings and will be used on the program book, tickets, and the posters for the awards show. We’re not entirely sure what his architecture and a music awards show have to do with one another, but there it is. And here’s a bit from the press announcement:

“We are thrilled to announce our collaboration with world-renowned architect Frank Gehry on our official artwork for the GRAMMY Awards and the opportunity to further The Academy’s dedication to celebrating the arts in every discipline,” said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy. “Frank’s exemplary creative accomplishments through a variety of artistic platforms have been inspirational. We are honored to work with such a well-respected talent who has served as an influential figure within the arts on a global scale.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Goodbye Honeysuckle, hello Tangerine Tango, or as we prefer to call it 17-1463, announced today as Pantone’s colour of the year for 2012

According to Pantone, “Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy” and they’ve helpfully provided us with this photo to underline their point:

It is a colour, Pantone go on to say, that is “a bit exotic, but in a very friendly, non-threatening way”.

“Sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Colour Institute. “Reminiscent of the radiant shadings of a sunset, Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline  rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.”

What has inspired this love of orange? Could it be the preponderance of spray-tanned reality TV stars on our screens? Or Blackpool’s brief but entertaining foray into the Premiership? Who can say, but for the next 12 months the CR editorial team will be clad head to foot in tangerine, satsuma and a dash of clementine.

Regular readers will recall that last year’s colour of the year was Honeysuckle. No? Us neither. Pantone’s previous choices have been:

PANTONE 15-5519 Turquoise (2010)
PANTONE 14-0848 Mimosa (2009)
PANTONE 18-3943 Blue Iris (2008)
PANTONE 19-1557 Chili Pepper (2007)
PANTONE 13-1106 Sand Dollar (2006)
PANTONE 15-5217 Blue Turquoise (2005)
PANTONE 17-1456 Tigerlily (2004)
PANTONE 14-4811 Aqua Sky (2003)
PANTONE 19-1664 True Red (2002)
PANTONE 17-2031 Fuchsia Rose (2001)
PANTONE 15-4020 Cerulean (2000)

CR in Print

If you enjoy reading the Creative Review website, we think you’ll enjoy reading the magazine even more. The December issue of CR includes a profile piece on the independent creative scene in Liverpool, a major interview with Dutch book designer Irma Boom and a great piece on ‘Poster King’ Edward McKnight Kauffer. You’ll also find articles on Dentsu London, a review of the Walker Art Center’s Graphic Design: Now in Production show and a fascinating debate on the clash between design and advertising betwen Wally Olins and CHI’s Dan Beckett.

And if that wasn’t enough, the issue also includes a FREE paper toy for readers to cut out and customise.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

Artist Andrew Salomone, along with his hacked 80s knitting machine, is currently resident at London’s KK Outlet gallery in Hoxton Square, creating alternative Christmas jumpers featuring designs by the likes of Anthony Burrill, Geneviève Gauckler and Siggi Eggertsson…

Yes, using a “hacked” industrial 80s knitting machine, Salomone is able to “print” pixel-based designs (Anthony Burrill’s design as submitted, shown above) as knitted fabric. For the month of December KK Outlet has invited him to bring his machine into their gallery space and have invited a host of image makers to submit alternative Christmas jumper designs for Salomone to transform into seasonal knitwear.

Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen pixel-based designs transformed into knitwear at this time of year. Regular CR readers might recall Moving Brands‘ Weare Scarf project from 2008 (which featured in the Best in Book section of our 2009 Annual) where the agency set up a screen made of a grid of fairy lights in one of its windows. It then invited people to send messages and pixel drawings via a web interface. Everything sent to the window was stored in an online gallery and the full sequences of images used to create the design for a knitted scarf which was manufactured as the agency’s seasonal gift to clients and friends.

This project is a little different, in that it’s all possible thanks to Salomone’s personally hacked knitting machine (hence the show being titled O Come All Ye Hackers) and the contributions of some rather talented illustrators. Here are some of the knitted artworks created at the show so far:

by Anthony Burrill

by Niek Eijsbouts

by Geneviève Gauckler

by Siggi Eggertsson

And this red and white number is titled “The Equation of a Koch Snowflake”

The knitting machine itself is a bizarre looking contraption:

To see it in action, check out this interview with Salomone operating it:

O Come All Ye Hackers runs until December 22 at  KK Outlet, 42 Hoxton Square, London, N1 6PB – where all the one-off jumpers are on sale for £150 a pop.

kkoutlet.com

CR in Print

If you enjoy reading the Creative Review website, we think you’ll enjoy reading the magazine even more. The December issue of CR includes a profile piece on the independent creative scene in Liverpool, a major interview with Dutch book designer Irma Boom and a great piece on ‘Poster King’ Edward McKnight Kauffer. You’ll also find articles on Dentsu London, a review of the Walker Art Center’s Graphic Design: Now in Production show and a fascinating debate on the clash between design and advertising betwen Wally Olins and CHI’s Dan Beckett.

And if that wasn’t enough, the issue also includes a FREE paper toy for readers to cut out and customise.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

This month’s issue of CR features a survey of Liverpool’s thriving independent creative scene. We’re going to show more work from some of those featured here on the blog. Next up: street artist and illustrator Tomo

We were invited up to Liverpool by artist and illustrator William Johnston (aka Framedink) who gave us a guided tour of the city. Popping in to a variety of spaces we saw a great range of imagery but we first encountered the work of our next featured artist on the street outside.

Tomo paints and pastes his way across Europe but you can also see his work in his home city, such as this mural on Renshaw Street in the city centre.

Much of his work has a subversive edge

Photo: Clare Freeman

While other pieces betray a gentler side

As we talk about in the magazine piece, there is a great collaborative spirit among the creative community in Liverpool: when he’s not drawing and painting, Tomo also helps organise the popular Tea and Two Slice film club at the Wolstenholme Creative Space in the city

See more of his work here

CR in Print

If you enjoy reading the Creative Review website, we think you’ll enjoy reading the magazine even more. The December issue of CR includes a profile piece on the independent creative scene in Liverpool, a major interview with Dutch book designer Irma Boom and a great piece on ‘Poster King’ Edward McKnight Kauffer. You’ll also find articles on Dentsu London, a review of the Walker Art Center’s Graphic Design: Now in Production show and a fascinating debate on the clash between design and advertising betwen Wally Olins and CHI’s Dan Beckett.

And if that wasn’t enough, the issue also includes a FREE paper toy for readers to cut out and customise.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.