Anthony Burrill has created a new print to raise funds for Wilton’s Music Hall in London, the East End Victorian venue that still has many of its original features. The print will be launched at a Vintage Open House event on Sunday September 25 by none other than Barbara Windsor.
“Making a ‘playbill’ poster was an obvious idea,” Burrill says. He decided to have the poster printed by his regular collaborator, Adams of Rye. “The type down at Adams is of a similar age to Wilton’s – so it made a nice link. I picked a list of adjectives that suit Wilton’s. I was also thinking of the florid language used on original Victorian playbills”
“I asked Derek at Adams (above) to set the type to the same width, and he came up with a lovely selection of fonts, some simple, some more ornate, that filled all the available space. I didn’t want it to look like a pastiche, hopefully it looks modern and old at the same time”
The prints cost £50 and are limited to an edition of 300, signed by Burrill. All proceeds go directly to Wilton’s. The prints are available directly from Wilton’s and Nelly Duff on Columbia Road.
The open house (including a cake sale) starts at 3pm, with Ms Windsor in attendance. Burrill will also do a short talk about his work. Details here
CR in Print
Thanks for reading the CR Blog but if you’re not also reading the magazinein print, you’re really missing out. Our October issue includes the story of Blackpool’s Comedy Carpet, a profile of Jake Barton whose studio is currently working on the 9/11 Memorial Museum, plus pieces on branding and the art world, guerilla advertising coming of age, Google’s Android logo, Ars Electronica, adland and the riots, and loads more.
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.
Illustrator and artist Ian Wright has unveiled a series of new commissioned works from his role as artistic ambassador for Keaykolour paper, all of which can be seen at Tent London
The artworks all take music as their starting point – a constant source of inspiration in Wright’s life, and all have been created using Keaykolour paper.
Wright had the names of various radio stations foil blocked onto different colour papers and cut and folded the paper to build up a multi-layered, brightly coloured boombox. “This was my interest in pirate radio – which is probably where all my musical knowledge comes from,” says Wright. “So I wanted to reference that in some way.”
The three new works form the basis of Colourful Life, a campaign from design studio Blast to relaunch the brand and its 29 paper colours.
“We’ve worked with ArjoWiggins for quite a few years,” explains Blast’s Colin Gifford, “and they asked us to work on the rebrand of Keaykolour. It was originally introduced in the 1970s but as a brand it hasn’t really done much in recent years. So we’ve rebranded the range and come up with the campaign idea to relaunch it and reintroduce it to designers across the globe.
“The concept Colourful Life refers to the history of Keaykolour,” Gifford continues, “the fact that it’s been around for a long time. So we thought it would be nice to talk about the idea of living your life in colour. We wanted to work with an artistic ambassador so we wanted to find someone who’d had or who lived a colourful life who we could work with over a year – the idea being that the project would represent a kind of year-in-the-life of someone who could work with Keaykolour paper.
“We were looking for someone with an international profile, someone that does original, experimental and innovative work in a variety of mediums, and who is interested in craft, process and pushing boundaries and who has a colourful story to tell. With the brief written, I called [illustrator and educator] Lawrence Zeegen as we go back a long way and instantly Lawrence suggested Ian Wright.”
“At this point it was kind of a two way thing,” says Zeegen. “I was mentioning Ian to Giff, but at the same time having to see whether Ian was going to be free and available to take it on. And as soon as I mentioned Keaykolour, Ian’s response, which was completely unprompted – what was so good was Ian was like “oh yeah, I’ve always used that paper” which was brilliant because he’s familiar with the product and has used it in his work before.”
“I think I was just ready to use paper as a material,” says Wright of the project. “Recently I’ve been playing around with some stuff for Saks Fifth Avenue in New York, trying to make low-key stuff because I’m aware of the political and economic climate, so in a way getting to work with something as pure as paper was perfect. Also, I’ve not been asked before to work with a brand or work in a particular way with someone over a period of time so I thought that was really challenging.
“Most commissions you get maybe a couple of weeks to do it, and you work on it for maybe three or four days and you really run at it. What’s different about this one is that in the making of it all there was this personal time to let your head spiral out of control and really question whether it’s any good or not – I’m trying to think about what I can do, not only be commissioned, which i still like to be, but I have to invent my own thinking.”
For this piece, Wright meticulously rolled strips of coloured paper into cones so he could place them in a specially created clear Perspex grid of thousands of holes. “It was a bit like I was planting and pruning with this one.” says Wright of the process. “I have a bit of a fascination, visually and musically, for Jimi Hendrix – there was a drawing by Martin Sharp, from a photograph by Linda McCartney that I saw when I was at school and cut it out of a magazine. I’d created an image of Hendrix for an It’s Nice That project, and this project allowed me to reinterpret it.”
All three artworks are on show in London until this Sunday (September 25) at Tent London, Shop 25, Old Truman Brewery, Hanbury Street, London E1 6QR.
Keaykolour is also releasing a series of making-of films in which Wright discusses each artwork and his approach to it. They can be viewed at keaykolourpaper.com. Here’s the first of the series of Colourful Life films:
CR in Print
Thanks for reading the CR Blog but if you’re not also reading the magazinein print, you’re really missing out. Our October issue includes the story of Blackpool’s Comedy Carpet, a profile of Jake Barton whose studio is currently working on the 9/11 Memorial Museum, plus pieces on branding and the art world, guerilla advertising coming of age, Google’s Android logo, Ars Electronica, adland and the riots, and loads more.
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.
In case you missed it, late last week a date for next year has been announced for the opening of the new home of the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. Controversial from the start, which was heightened considerably after the popular film The Art of the Steal was released, documenting founder Albert Barnes‘ original wishes not to have his staggeringly large and important art collection moved from its home in suburban Merion, PA and then its ultimate undoing, with the bulk of the museum being picked up and moved into a flashy new Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects-designed building in Philadelphia proper. Back in July, you might recall, those trying to fight the move appeared to have lost their final battle (though they were back in court on August 1st), the original Barnes Foundation closed its doors, and the long and potentially dangerous process of moving such a large, priceless collection a few miles down the freeway began. Now the new home has announced that May 19th is opening day, with two weeks filled with different events, including a black-tie fundraising gala (technically on May 18th), several days of member events, and finally the public opening on the 19th, wherein the museum will stay open for 60 hours straight and offer free entrance. Given what an emotionally and legally loaded enterprise this whole thing is, we imagine that it’s undoubtably going to provide some of the best architecture and art review reading of the year.
Wonderfully realistic paintings from Mike Bayne, more images after the jump
He does a great job on such a small scale, capturing the day-to-day and the mundane from across the continent. He has a show opening soon in NYC, have a look if you’re in the neighborhood. Check his site here, enjoy!
Pass the diet cola and Mentos, fire up the 3-D printer, and prepare to be serenaded by Tesla coils, because it’s time for Maker Faire. The bricolage bash kicks off tomorrow at the New York Hall of Science in Queens—take a left at the glowing dragon! Created for last year’s Burning Man festival, “GonKiRin” (Mandarin for “Light Dragon”) is the work of Hong Kong-based light artist Teddy Lo, who constructed the 69-foot-long and 22-foot-tall car-creature from a 1963 Dodge W-300 power dump truck, approximately 2,500 feet of linear RGB LED lighting fixtures, and a massive flamethrower. Artist Ryan Doyle collaborated with Lo on the project. Riders can sit in the dragon’s mouth or relax in a couch on its back as an intrepid DJ spins from a booth on the second story. Can’t make it to Maker Faire? Look for GonKiRin in the New York City Halloween parade later this fall and click below to watch a video of the creature in action.
We all aspire to own great original artwork by up and coming and established artists, but for most of us, now isn’t exactly the time in our lives when that goal is attainable. In the future, absolutely, but for now, not really. Although I encourage the support of the arts community, sometimes you just want a nice large piece of art to add color and interest to your walls. You have seen some pretty simplistic art out there and you figure, “Hey, I can do that myself”. If you are in that crafty/DIY mood and inspired by professional pieces you have seen, here are some ideas to get started.
Abstract Art
A quick trip to the art supply store to pick up a large canvas, brushes, and some acrylic or oil paints can yeild a free form composition. Some people even reuse leftover home interior latex paints to ensure a matching color scheme and to be green. Be aware of the colors that you choose and how they come together on the canvas, just like a real artist. Work by building layers of colors. Embrace drips. And if you paint with a fat brush you will save time. The result will be indistinguishable from museum pieces.
For his new Outline Editions show, illustrator Noma Bar has been going die-cut crazy, feeding his enormous dog shaped, electric-powered die-cutting machine (which we blogged about last week) all kinds of material to die cut, from hand made paper through to old album covers, rubber flooring, carpet, ply wood and anything else he can think of. The results lend his work a new dimension and a whole lot of colour…
By using different materials, some textured, some patterned, in a variety of colours, Bar’s work takes on completely new appearances. Not only does the viewer have to work out what’s going on with the positive and negative space in each work, but also now there’s the extra dimension of trying to work out what materials have been used. Wood ply sits next to paper, plain paper is juxtaposed with patterned material, and smooth surfaces are paired with rough.
“Normally I’m a one colour person because I don’t really need to use colour combinations in my work,” explains Bar, “it’s about light and dark. Now I can swap what would normally be white [space] in my work with something else and this is how this project started to evolve. Actually, I’ve started to collect and use things I would never previously have considered using in my work, things I hate, like for example, flower-covered carpet – just to surprise myself with new materials. It’s almost as if as soon as I punch [cut] the material, it becomes mine. It’s a little bit like a dog pissing on the corner – you know, I can take a David Bowie sleeve and cut it and suddenly it becomes mine and there’s something really exciting about that.”
The work hanging on the walls will be sold as seen during the show’s run, with prices of each work being dependent on the materials used. As artworks leaves, so new work will fill the gaps as throughout the show Bar will continue creating new variations of his work using the materials and the die-cutting machine in the gallery.
As part of next week’s London Design Festival, Bar is hosting live drawing and also die cutting workshops on Saturdays September 17 and 24, from 2pm to 5pm. Attendees of the free workshops will be able to choose from a wide range of coloured papers and other materials to create their own unique Noma Bar artwork of choice using the die-cutting dog machine. Details at londondesignfestival.com
Cut It Out by Noma bar runs until October 1 at Outline Editions, 94 Berwick Street, London W1
This week we have a bumper edition of nice work for you, which covers Coke’s Great Happyfication, angry corporate office-workers, batik-making in Indonesia, and a trip with Pharrell to Tokyo.
First up is Coke’s new animation, the latest iteration in the Happiness Factory series, starring wham-bam, magic-man Pete, a trio of singing penguins and various other bizarre creatures. Agency: Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam. Creative directors: Eric Quennoy, Mark Bernath. Art director: Matthew Jerrett. Copywriter: Sean Vij. Production company: Psyop/Smuggler.
Philips’ new interactive music video features the Dutch Metropole orchestra, and aims to emphasise Philips’ quality of sound by allowing the viewer to single out any member of the 51-strong orchestra. The site allows you to hear each individual’s contribution, as well as discover some facts about each musician. For example, Moog player Berend Dubbe has performed for over 36,000 hours, and has been playing music for 35 years. Advertising agency: Tribal DDB Amsterdam. Art director: Bart Mol. ECD: Chris Baylis. Copywriter: Pol Hoenderboom. Production company: Stinkdigital.
Directed by Yoann Lemoine, this new ad for Cadbury’s Twirl Bites focuses on all things that spin. Featuring a twirling carwash of penguins, office workers having far more fun than they should be, and a rotating UFO complete with alien, this ad aims to “bring to life the joy of twirling”.
As you can see in this making-of video, the set is the real deal, with each part handmade and painted, and the end result a fully operational machine. Creative Agency: Fallon. Creative directors: Shishir Patel, Sam Oliver. Art director: Rich Gayton. Copywriter: Darren Beresford. Production company: HSI.
Next up is Air France’s film, L’Envol, which sees the airlline apparently evoke “the more poetic side of flying”, with a performance from two intertwined dancers. Advertising agency: BETC Euro RSCG. Director: Angelin Preljocaj. Creative director: Florence Belisson. Copywriter: Veronique De Surmont.
Asos’s Urban Tour promotes the clothes brand’s Autumn/Winter menswear collection. Featuring some pretty serious dubstep, the film sees a variety of talented street dancers perform, and allows the viewer to zoom in on individual dancers, as well as their clothes. Similar interactive videos are to be launched for Paris and Tokyo, featuring in-line skating, and Japanese beatboxers. Creative agency: BBH. Directors: Sebastien Strasser and Ben Newman. Creative director: Dominic Goldman. Copywriter: David Kolbusz. Production company: Stink Digital.
Greenpeace is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a video that sees them triumph over a wealth of irate, corporate office workers. Director: Peter Thwaites. Production company: Gorgeous Films.
Not for the faint-hearted, CURB have created an advert for new movie Contagion that is quite literally viral. Following the theme of the film, which tracks the path of destuction left in the wake of a lethal airborne virus, this abandoned shop window in Toronto houses two giant Petri dishes which gradually grow the title of the film over the course of a few days.
Intel have created the third in their series of Visual Life blogger profile films (previous films have featured The Sartorialist, and Kitty & Lala), and this time round the focus is on Indonesian batik designer Nancy Margried, who takes us through the fractal designs newer technology is allowing her to create. Agency: Amsterdam Worldwide. Creative directors: Richard Gorodecky, Joseph Ernst. Copywriters: Martin Beswick, Karen Cardy. Production Company: @radical.media
In collaboration with Palladium Boots, Pharrell visits Tokyo in a series of five short films, that see him speak to artists and designers about the impact of the recent tsunami and earthquakes, and how Tokyo’s creative community is recovering.
As part of Studiocanal’s rebrand, Devilfish has created a new cinema ident, which was made from light projected through an installation of 25 glass panels. Agency: Devilfish. Creative director: Richard Holman. Design/Direction: Double G Studios.
And lastly, this new film from artist Robert Seidel, which was commissioned by the Goethe Institute Seoul, and will be displayed on the facade of a building in the city until Sepember 27.
As part of a number of events and exhibitions taking place at the V&A in London for this year’s London Design Festival, French designers Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec are offering visitors the chance to view the Raphael Cartoons in an entirely new way…
The Bouroullecs have installed Textile Field, an undulating carpet-cum-lounge of soft fabric onto the floor of the space, and are encouraging audiences to lie down upon it to view the paintings. The piece has been created by no less than a Royal sanction, as the Royal Family own the Raphael Cartoons and therefore have to give permission to any adaptation to the room containing them.
To walk on the work, visitors have to change into a pair of specially designed booties, which can be seen in the photos above. “We were invited by the London Design Festival to choose any space we wanted within the museum for our installation and were immediately drawn to the Raphael Gallery,” says Erwan Bouroullec. “It’s an opportunity to create an environment for viewing art which has never been done before.”
The Bouroullecs are among a number of designers and artists invited to create work for this year’s LDF at the V&A. Architects AL_A have created a stunning 3D spiral made of American red wood, which is positioned at the main entrance to the museum, while curator Murray Moss has collaborated with Belgium-based group Materialise to create an exhibition of works created using 3D printing. There is also a specially made Granimator app, an exhibition about ‘brutal simplicity’ by M&C Saatchi ad agency, and work by recent graduates from the University of Arts London, chosen by Giles Deacon, is displayed in the V&A’s British Galleries. And for those who would like to wander the museum guided by the famous, Johnson Banks has created a new set of bespoke maps of the museum which feature selections by Judi Dench, Tom Dixon, Annie Lennox and more (see last year’s maps here).
All displays will be on show throughout the London Design Festival, which runs until September 25. More info is at vam.ac.uk and londondesignfestival.com.
Cool Brittania Peter Lanyon’s “Airscape” of 1961 and below, a 2007 chair by Tom Dixon. (Images courtesy Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design, Providence)
As London designers today kicked off their turn on the global fashion calendar, the Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design is putting the finishing touches on a major exhibition highlighting its impressive collection of contemporary British art. Opening next Friday, “Made in the UK: Contemporary Art from the Richard Brown Baker Collection” will showcase approximately 100 works by artists such as David Hockney, Anish Kapoor, Jim Lambie, Tacita Dean, and Julian Opie. The show traces the collection of Baker (1912-2002), a Providence native and Rhodes Scholar who lived in London during World War II before moving to New York, from British takes on Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art to the moiré effect canvases of Bridget Riley and the YBA explosion (Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Jake and Dinos Chapman, and Rachel Whiteread are all represented). Baker proved to have a sharp eye for emerging artists and donated around 135 works to RISD and provided the museum with funds to further enrich its collection of British art. “He never lost the thrill of discovering new talent, and, as he could afford it, continuing to support those whose work he had previously collected,” says Jan Howard, who curated the exhibition with Judith Tannenbaum. “Made in the UK” will be on view at the RISD Museum through January 8.
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Illustrator and artist Ian Wright has unveiled a series of new commissioned works from his role as artistic ambassador for Keaykolour paper, all of which can be seen at Tent London
As London designers today kicked off their turn on the global fashion calendar, the 