The CR Taxi


Our very own Mumbai taxi. Watch an interview with the designers here

For any design-aware visitor, Mumbai’s yellow and black taxis, which constitute a major part of the city’s horrendous traffic, are a wondrous sight. The majority are richly decorated with a litany of the driver’s favourite things: like a MySpace page on wheels. The sacred and profane rub along on rear windscreens, wings and bumpers as visual references to gods mingle with film titles, western brand logos and complex geometric patterns. At night, these vivid forms dazzle under street lights and car headlamps. For our April issue, we commissioned our own Mumbai taxi

April is our type and typography issue, so we wanted to do something special for the cover. I had visited Mumbai last year and, while there, met with Grandmother India. Partner Kurnal Rawat talked, among other things, about the Typocity project that he and colleagues have set up to document Mumbai’s typography. One of their projects, which has already received some coverage in Eye magazine, is a proposal to adapt the system of wayfinding icons developed by Mumbai’s ‘dabbawallas’ (who deliver home-cooked lunches to workers in the city) to use as signage on Mumbai’s train network. Kurnal also showed us the work that the studio had been doing to document fast-disappearing handpainted shop signs in the city as well as the aforementioned taxi art.

You may have noticed that the covers we have been running recently have shared a common theme – taking a list of the issue’s content and asking a contributor to create a layout for us in their own style. We have had woodblock type from São Paulo (January) and hand-lettering from Amsterdam (February). When it came to thinking of a cover design for this, our special issue on type and typo­graphy, I immediately thought of Kurnal and the Mumbai taxi artists as I was intrigued to find out more about how they work. So, I emailed Kurnal to see if we could get a genuine taxi artist to create a cover for us. Despite his imminent wedding, Kurnal immediately agreed to help us out.

He and the team from Grandmother tracked down two of the leading (and possibly the original) taxi artists in Mumbai – Manohar Mistry and his son Samir Manohar. Initially they were not keen: time was tight and it was a lot of work. However, after a solid two hours negotiating and with the promise of several times more than their standard fee, the Mistrys agreed.

Manohar and Samir Manohar Mistry (aka Swami Art) work out of the family’s garage business in the Chinchkopli area of Mumbai. They typi­cally charge around 4000 Rupees to decorate a taxi (about £55). Grandmother India convinced a driver called Shashi to lend us his taxi for our cover. The rear window was taken out and replaced with a new glass (you can see his rear windscreen behind Manohar Mistry in the shot above).

The Mistrys then set about cutting the vinyl for text supplied by us, working with Grandmother’s Kurnal Rawat on the design. Samir is shown here drawing a grid with a chalk pencil on a piece of vinyl sticker and then sketching out the letters.


Using a blade, he then makes light cuts and peels off the waste material in the spaces in between the letters.

Extra colours are then added (blue to the word ‘typography’ and red and orange to ‘type’) using thin strips cut freehand from extra sheets of sticker material. Drop shadows are also added in this way. The pencil chalk markings on the letters are then rubbed off.

Once the lettering had been cut, it was time to apply the designs to Shashi’s taxi which was parked in the street outside the garage.


The main text was posi­tioned on the rear windscreen and the backing pulled away. Extra decorative elements were then added in situ.


Samir cut these freehand with his scalpel, positioning them as he and Kurnal saw fit, both on top of the lettering and at the sides of the screen to form a frame.

Finally, Samir designed a numberplate especially for us (proudly declaring ‘Made in Mumbai’), with the words ‘Creative Review’ on either side. Above is the Swami Art name and phone number.

Shown below with the finished taxi are (left to right) Aashim Tyagi and Kurnal Rawat from Grand­mother India, Samir Manohar Mistry, Shashi (the taxi’s owner) and Anand Tharaney from Grandmother who conducted an interview with the Mistrys about their work which is in the April issue. The interview was also filmed – watch it here.

After the shoot, the team from Grandmother took out the glass and carted it back
to their studio where it now resides.

And here’s the cover of the April issue

When I was in India, there were rumours that taxi art may be under threat as the city government sought to tighten regulations with the introduction of more modern vehicles. But, as they explain in our inter­view, the Mistrys are hopeful that their work will be allowed to carry on. It would be a shame to lose such a rich urban art form to bureaucratic conformity.

All photos: Aashim Tyagi.
Text: Anand Tharaney.
Art direction: Kurnal Rawat and Samir Manohar Mistry.
Research/production: Anand Tharaney
Thanks to everyone at Grandmother India


Samir Manohar Mistry

You can watch a film about the creation of the CR Taxi here

Q&A: Adrian Tomine


Detail from a 2004 New Yorker cover by Adrian Tomine

US author Jonathan Lethem described comic book artist Adrian Tomine’s contemporary fiction series Optic Nerve as “deceptively relaxed and as perfect as a comic book gets”. Tomine’s stories of everyday people living out everyday lives, laced with a heavy dose of humour, have led to comparisons with fellow New Yorker Woody Allen. Simon Creasey caught up with Tomine during a rare visit to London to promote his latest collection of stories, Summer Blonde, which has just been published in the UK by Faber & Faber…

In addition to working to his Optic Nerve series (stories from issues five through to eight are collected together in Summer Blonde) Tomine regularly contributes illustrations to the New Yorker and Believer magazine and in the past has designed CD sleeves for the likes of Eels and Yo La Tengo.

Simon Creasey: How would you describe an Adrian Tomine story to somebody who is unfamiliar with your work?

Adrian Tomine: I’d probably say something self-defeating like: “It’s probably not your cup of tea. It’s kind of boring”. But probably I should say that it’s kind of like contemporary fiction in comics form.

SC: Where do the ideas for the stories come from?

AT: I like the way that David Lynch has described his idea-getting process [“ideas are like fish: you don’t make the fish, you catch the fish”] because it gets at the mysterious quality of it all that’s hard for me to articulate. I think most people think that I just live some experience, change a few names, and there’s my story. But it really is a lot harder to describe than that, and a lot things do come from some unconscious process that often becomes clearer to me after the fact.

SC: Have you always been a fan of comic books?

AT: Yes. I was “reading” comics before I could actually read. Something about the medium just transfixed me at an early age. As a child, I read pretty good stuff, like Peanuts by Charles Schulz, but as a teenager, I have to admit that I got into some pretty questionable super-hero/fantasy stuff.

SC: When did you realise that you could make a living out of comics?

AT: I don’t think I’ve ever made a living completely from my comics. I’ve always done commercial illustration work to help pay the bills. But to answer your question, I think I was pretty determined to become a full-time “artist” by the time I graduated from college, and by some miracle, it worked out.

SC: How long did it take you to develop your own drawing style? Did anyone in particular inspire it?

AT: Ha! I’m still working on that to be honest. I never really had any formal art or comics training, so I think I’m very much the product of my influences. I don’t think it would be too hard to spot the influence of people like Jaime Hernandez and Dan Clowes in my artwork, but there are a million other great artists who have had some sort of impact on my work.

SC: One of the more refreshing things about Optic Nerve is the letters page in which a healthy proportion of the letters you publish are critical of you. Why don’t you censor them?

AT: Why would I want to censor them? I enjoy hearing a variety of perspectives, and I think it makes for an interesting read. I suppose I’m arrogant enough to think that I can publish some of those negative reactions and not worry about it hurting sales.

SC: One of the biggest criticisms of your work on the letters page is from ardent fans bemoaning how long it takes you to produce the next instalment of a story. Are you a slow worker or just lazy?

AT: Yeah, I’m just a lazy bum who almost never does any work. Just kidding! I think the people who complain about my pace were raised on the type of comics that are made on a production line, so they’re trained to expect that monthly fix. I honestly work as hard and as fast as I can without sacrificing quality, but there’s always some kind of interruption, such as interviews like this!

SC: What’s your view on the need to end a story with a cliff-hanger? Most of your comics just seem to tail off with very little drama in the final cell.

AT: Yeah, some people hate the way I end my stories. I offer no defence, other than that they’re the way I intended them to be, for better or for worse.

SC: What’s the percentage split of your work in terms of comic books and commercial illustrations?

AT: It’s about 73.727% comics, and 26.273% illustration work.

SC: Do you enjoy undertaking commercial assignments such as the stuff you create for the New Yorker where you are working to a brief and as a result you have less creative freedom to take risks?

AT: I’m fortunate enough that for the most part even the commercial assignments I take on are pleasant, gratifying experiences. I go out of my way to avoid projects or people that I think are going to make my life hell. And I also think that it’s useful to occasionally have that collaborative experience.

SC: What projects are you working on at the moment?

AT: Nothing too earth-shattering. Mostly just more illustration work for The New Yorker, and my next book, which I probably shouldn’t say too much about at this point.

SC: I spoke to Charles Burns [fellow comic book artist] recently and he confirmed that David Fincher is on board to direct a film version of Black Hole and that the script was currently in development. Have any of your stories been optioned?

AT: The best advice I received from someone who’s had his work adapted to film is: “Until the movie is in theatres, keep your mouth shut”. The most I can say is that I’m not adverse to the idea, but it’s also not my primary focus.

SC: I understand that you’re married now – does this mean that the relationship issues and problems that plague your protagonists, will give way to sunnier stories, or does it just mean that your stories will move into a whole new ballpark of marital problems?

AT: I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how the next book turns out.

Summer Blonde is out now, published by Faber & Faber; £12.99.


Page from Adrian Tomine’s Summer Blonde collection (click for larger version)

Frank Chimero


I’m a fan of designer/illustrator Frank Chimero‘s work and was thrilled that he participated in Old School. The folks at Grain Edit have posted a fine interview with Frank.

I highly recommend his collaborative site with Ben Barry, entitled Questionable Characters. Ask them a questions and the two will supply a witty reply.

MWM Graphics Exhibition

Matt W Moore of US-based MWM Graphics opened his first UK solo show, Coincidence World, at Concrete Hermit gallery in London’s East End last Friday. Moore uses a variety of mediums – some of the work is collage, made cut up coloured paper. Digital prints on paper and canvas also feature as do hand-drawn images created using marker pen and watercolour. All the work shown displays Moore’s fascination with geometric shapes, colourful abstract patterns and letter forms…

Coincidence World runs until 2 May at Concrete Hermit, 5a Club Row, London E1 6JX. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7729 2646. Email: info@concretehermit.com

See more of Moore’s work at mwmgraphics.com/

Step into my cardboard office…

Nothing is a new commercial creative agency formed by Michael Jansen and Bas Korsten that has just opened its doors in Amsterdam. While the city houses the KesselsKramer agency in a fairly unconventional building – a nineteenth-century church – the Nothing office is an unusual construction too, in that it is built almost entirely out of cardboard. They sent us some great pictures of the space, which was created by designers Joost van Bleiswijk and Alrik Koudenburg

The Nothing team took the idea behind the company name (taking nothing and turning it into something) as the starting point for the physical design of the office; which included creating walls, signage, beams, tables, shelving and even a set of stairs out of cardboard.

But Nothing aren’t going to be prissy about the clean lines of designer cardboard that surrounds them. Apparently, the walls will double as a blank canvas with visitors encouraged to leave their mark on the surfaces. Indeed, illustrator Fiodor Sumkin was the first to liven up Nothing’s predominantly brown colour scheme with some well-crafted penmanship.

And when they get bored by the accumulated daubings, the studio can presumably replace individual sections of their workspace for, well, nothing much at all.

All photography by Joachim Baan.

More on Nothing at nothingamsterdam.com.

Mr. Bingo

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“Master of pens, Mr Bingo is the Shoreditch beat buskerteer, here to steer minds with drawings, riddles and rhymes in two thousand and nines.”

Don’t know… here

MonoStation

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Some great work from a UK freelancer, just not enough of it up there. I like the frames for the blog images though (the wall clips). word

The Art Of Lost Words

text/gallery is a new experimental showcase for art and design projects inspired by the printed and written word, according to its website. The brainchild of curator Rebecca Pohancenik of Studio Zwei, text/gallery has opened its first exhibition entitled The Art Of Lost Words this week at London’s German Gymnasium which promises to showcase “new design and illustration inspired by language’s forgotten words”.

The exhibition’s 41 participants include Angus Hyland, Andy Altmann of Why Not Associates, Jonathan Ellery, Spin, David Pearson, Mike Dempsey, David Quay, Alan Kitching, and each has produced a piece of work based on a seldom used word he or she has selected from the English dictionary. Here are a few of the exhibited works:


Redemancy – the art of loving in return. By David Quay


Spin celebrates the word, nubivagant (meaning moving through or among the clouds)


Inergetical – meaning sluggish. By illustrator Andy Smith


Why Not Associates’ Andy Altmann takes on “antithalian”


This piece, created by Johnson Banks spells out “habroneme” which means, rather appropriately, having the appearance of fine threads


No Days Off created this piece in response to the word “jussulent” – an adjective meaning having a soupy consistency: full of broth


Close up of No Days Off’s hand painted piece

The Art Of Lost Words runs until 9 March at The German Gymnasium, Pancras Road, London NW1 (opposite St Pancras International station). Open daily 10.00–18.00. Admission free.

The works are available to buy online at textgallery.info, with proceeds going towards the National Literacy Trust.

Designers Against Tibetan Abuse


Detail from Si Scott’s poster, included with the Designers Against Tibetan Abuse book

The first project to come out of the non-profit organisation, Designers Against Human Rights Abuse – founded last year by Rishi Sodha – is a collection of art and design work that focuses on the Tibetan struggle…

The DAHRA organisation exists to raise awareness among those in the creative industries of their social, political and ethical responsibilities, as well as bring attention to different instances of human rights abuse around the world.

As such, Designers Against Tibetan Abuse, focuses specifically on the struggle for Tibetan rights and is a combination of a book, a limited edition Si Scott silkscreen poster and an exhibition at London’s Cork Street Gallery that is set to take place this summer.

52 creatives from around the world have all contributed pieces that take issue with the Tibetan human rights question. We spoke to Sodha about the reasoning behind the book.

CR: What you think a book like this can achieve simply by collecting and showing these art projects?

Rishi Sodha: In order to answer this question one has to understand the fundamental aims of DAHRA, which not only exists to promote awareness of human rights abuse, but to also raise awareness of ethical practice amongst creative professionals.

As such the Designers Against Tibetan Abuse is a project that combines a book featuring many of the most talented creatives in the industry today, a limited edition Si Scott poster and an exhibition in London, with all proceeds going to Tibet Relief Fund.

However, unlike many other organisations, we realise that a combination of these three mediums isn’t anywhere near enough in terms of raising awareness of such an important issue and so merely is a starting point. Therefore we are currently working on a film and second publication on the Tibetan issue to be launched alongside the exhibition this summer.

This is principally how DAHRA works, whereby we have two or three issues we wish to focus on and run projects on these topics for up to two years in order to ensure we make a real difference. These projects are a combination of closed (invitation only) projects such as the DATA book and projects open to all our members (anyone can join).

The most unique thing about DAHRA is that it is run by creatives for creatives and therefore we try to keep the briefs as open as possible, thus giving our members a break from the restrictions of client driven work. In fact we encourage our members to explore mediums and styles that they’ve never had a chance to work with before in order to express their voices.

It is this approach we feel that will hopefully ensure that we can meet our goals of raising awareness of human rights and promoting ethical practice amongst creatives.

CR: Are all the pieces in some way related to the Tibetan struggle? Can you highlight a few of the ways that the designers have dealt with the issue through their work?

RS: Firstly, I think it’s important to point out that DAHRA doesn’t support the discrimination of anyone and as such when we briefed our contributors we stressed the fact that this is not an attack on the Chinese but rather an opportunity to promote awareness of Tibetan Rights.

Having said that, the response was overwhelming and varied with some contributors choosing to focus on more subtle themes of love and spirit, such as Shame Mielke, Si Scott & Alex Trochit, whilst others focused on the more political aspect of the Tibetan issue, such as Jonathan Barnbrook and Nick Hard (Research Studios) and others chose to draw their inspiration from Tibetan Culture itself, such as Tokyo Plastic and Christopher Cox.

The full list of contributors to the book runs as follows:

Nik Ainely (Shinybinary), Anna Badar, Jonathan Barnbrook, Adhemas Batista, Bek 03, Luisa Bernardes, Diana Bodea, Bartek Bojarczuk, Jon Burgerman, Jonathan Calugi, Giovanni Capriotti, Christopher Cox (ChangetheThought), Nicholas Creevy, Sebastien Cuypers, Adam Dedman, Neil Duerden, Andy Ellison, Nima Falatoori (NMO design), Theo Gennitsakis, Alex Haigh (thinkdust), Christine Hale (Love,Christine), Nick Hard (Research Studios), David Harris, Sean Canty, Mike Harrison, Peter Harrison, Nessim Higson (IamAlwaysHungry), Piotr Holub, Eli Horn, Eric Jordan (2advanced.com), Evgeny Kiselev, Niklas Lundberg (diftype), Justin Maller (Depthcore), Chow Martin, Kevin Megens (Karma.tv), Shane Mielke (2advanced), Nathaniel Milburn, Saad Moosajee, Jared Nickerson (J3concepts), Joao Oliveira, Snehal Sanghani, Loic Sattler, Si Scott, Rishi Sodha, This is Pacifica, Bram Timmer, Tokyo Plastic, Alex Trochut, Ana Ventura, Ari Weinkle, Oliver Wiegner (Ice Cream For Free)

Read more more about DAHRA at dahra.org.

All photography: Nicholas Creevy.

You can purchase the book for £20 from enlightenedgifts.org. All proceeds go directly to the Tibet Relief Fund, who are also distributing the book.

Exclusive Interview: Yellena James

Yellena_whisk

We’ve been long-time fans of the talented Yellena James. Her richly textured works feature intricate details that take their cue from nature. She’s already been featured on RM more than once. We knew an interview with one of our favorite artists was way overdue. Many thanks to Yellena for sharing her time with us!

REUBENMILLER: Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Yellena James: I was born in Sarajevo. I went to art school there for a couple of years during the civil war. When I was 18, I moved to the States and went to UCF for my graphic design/painting degree. Besides exhibits and taking care of my Etsy shop, I also do a lot of freelance illustration work. I recently moved to Portland, OR and I love it here. When I’m not in my studio working or checking out my favorite design blogs, I’m usually tooling around town visiting galleries, eating good food, hanging out with new friends. I love to travel too, whenever I can.  Having shows around the country is a great excuse to visit new places.

(Continue reading for complete interview.)


Yellena_season

RM: What mediums do you use for creating your art?

YJ: I love using pens, markers and other inks on paper. I also love to paint with acrylics. For that, I prefer a wood panel over a canvas for the amount of control it gives me over the strokes.

Yellena_spectacle

RM: What is your main source of inspiration?

YJ: I’m inspired by so many things that it’s hard for me to pin point one main source of inspiration. I’m definitely intrigued by microscopic worlds. I love discovering strange new life forms, plants, fungi, undersea aliens, etc. They spark my imagination and often inspire me to invent my own flora and fauna. I try to create new shapes based on what I imagine to exist within the unseen world around us, and attempt to suggest movements in my designs that we’re not accustom to seeing in our everyday lives, to sort-of pass that spark of inspiration on to others as they complete the movements within their own minds.

Also, moss. I’m inspired by moss.

Yellena_origin

RM: Who do you think most influenced your work?

YJ: I love the flow, complexity and perspective play in the work of Julie Mehretu or Matthew Ritchie. I’m also drawn to the beautifully dark worlds of Jeff Soto and the colorful, microscopic landscapes of Jacob Magraw. The biggest influence, as far as my own work, is probably Mother Nature… the parts she tries to hide.

Yellena_breeze

RM: Do you work in any other medium?

YJ: I have a Gocco printer that I absolutely adore. Every time I lift the screen, it’s like a little zen moment. I also have a old letterpress that I am planning to incorporate into my limited edition prints and other paper goods. I have a slight obsession with anything letterpressed and I was so happy when my husband found one for me for my birthday last year.

Yellena_bluster
 

RM: Please describe your thought process in developing a piece.

YJ: My drawings or paintings are never planned in advance. I simply just start with one element and keep building on it and around it. I never use any references or sketches. The fact that I don’t know where the piece is going to end or what it will look like when it’s finished is very liberating to me. Throughout the process I think about balance and composition and how to connect all the elements into one entity. Although the artwork starts very freely, the end result often appears very controlled and calculated.

Yellena_swirl

RM: Where is your work exhibited and sold?

YJ: I’m currently at the Grass Hut in Portland and working on some group shows for the Giant Robot in NY and SF.  I’m also hoping for a solo exhibit at GR2 in LA sometime this year, but no date yet. I have a small show coming up in Seattle (at Velouria) in April, a Kokeshi doll I’m working on for the JANM, and I will have my first UK solo show this fall at the Here Shop Gallery in Bristol. There are others, but this is what comes to mind first. The best way to keep track is through my website, www.yellena.com/blog. I don’t do a lot of "blogging" but I try to keep the posts current as far as what I’m working on and where I’ll be. Of course, for affordable prints and more, visit www.yellena.etsy.com.

Yellena_allure

RM: What’s next on the horizon?

YJ: Lots of shows this year. I am also planning to expand my creations in a variety of ways, including some designs for clothing and various paper products. I’m eagerly anticipating the release of my new K2 snowboard and some patterns I did for Nike/ACG apparel to come out sometime this year as well.  Mostly, I’m just looking forward to creating some fresh new images and embracing any opportunities that may come as a result.

RM: Wishing you the best of luck in everything, Yellena!