52 Shades of Greed
Posted in: Uncategorized
Art directed by two New York-based illustrators, a freshly designed set of 52 illustrated playing cards looks to educate the masses about some of the main contributing factors in the US to the current recession…
Just a few weeks ago, New York-based illustrator Marc Scheff was approached by a member of Occupy Wall Street‘s Alternative Banking group and asked to illustrate some of the people, institutions, and wider bad banking practices responsible for causing the recession.
Scheff roped in regular collaborator and fellow illustrator Daniel Nyari and the two of them decided to create a full deck of 52 playing cards for the project, inviting 26 other illustrators – including Jess Worby, Jon Burgerman, Mikkel Sommer and Steve Simpson – to contribute to the project with only a week to submit their work. The result is the 52 Shades of Greed pack of playing cards.
The idea was not simply to name and shame some of the big players in US banking and government that ultimately failed to protect the interests of homeowners and borrowers – but to highlight a catalouge of failures and wrong-doings that conspired to cause the collapse of the economy.
by Alex Fine
by Denman Rooke
by Jess Worby
by PJ McQuade
by Kyle Smart
Whilst the deck of cards is now designed, Scheff is hoping to raise the money to actually print them up so the packs can be given out on the street for free on September 17, the one year anniversary of the first US occupy gathering in New York, and in the following weeks.
“While occupiers are no longer in the park, they are hard at work figuring out how to use people-power to hold big time finance guys and institutions accountable for the mess they have caused,” says Scheff. “We think the cards will be a great way to bring people into the issues. For example, do you know what a CDO is, or how the banks are using it to continue subprime lending? Well, you should, and the information in this deck of cards and on our site will help. Especially as we come up to an election, these issues are very salient.”
For more information about the fundraising project to produce the deck, visit rockethub.com/projects/10224-52-shades-of-greed.
See the full list of contributing artists at 52shadesofgreed.com.
CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month. Try a free sample issue here
CR in Print
Students, grads, young professionals: if you buy one issue of CR this year, make sure it’s this one. The September print issue of CR is our annual graduates special. In it, we have teamed four recent graduates with professional practitioners in their chosen field who offer invaluable advice on how to get started in their profession. APFEL meet graphics graduate Arthur Carey, BETC London ECD Neil Dawson meets Sophia Ray, illustrator Matthew ‘The Horse’ Hodson offers sage advice to Sam Tomlins and photographer Jenny van Sommers meets Megan Helyer. In addition, our September issue also features Google Creative Lab, Unit Editions’ new book on Herb Lubalin, Michael Evamy on place branding, Jeremy Leslie on new bilingual magzine Figure and Gordon Comstock on the importance of failure.
Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878 to buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.
