Hasta La Ideas

Following the success of their first book on the brilliant glass pipe blowing art form, independent publishers GritCityInc present “Smoked Volume 2“—a detailed look at over 30 artists transforming functional pipes into beautiful works of art.

The “Smoked” series, along with Brooklyn’s renowned fine art glass pipe gallery Easy Street, are helping to bring respect to a medium formerly considered mere utility. From quirky ice cream cones to complex pieces, the book shares the thoughtful side of pipe blowing.

Standing out for his intricate cannabis sculptural pipe (above right), Mr. Gray layers glass upon glass for a realistic take on the commonly consumed plant. Packaged in a wooden crate stamped with “Made In Humboldt,” Mr. Gray draws beautiful obvious ties to marijuana, showing off the prepossessing side of the flower.

A resident artist and teacher at experimental studio Philadelphia Glass Works, Joshua Opdenaker (or JOP) creates unusual, oft-animal-inspired works that display his quest for perfect execution and his philosophy that “art is not in the finished piece, it is in the physical movement of creating the work.” Even simpler pipes, like “Thumb Spoon,” convey his irreverent sense of humor as well as distinct ability to manipulate and refine glass.

“Smoked Volume 2” is now available for purchase online for $30 from GritCityInc or by picking up a copy at Easy Street Gallery.

Ever been tempted to ink your mother’s maiden name on your forearm in Helvetica Neue Bold? Imagined commissioning an indelible epidermal etching of lorem ipsum placeholder text to tell the world you’re a type A type nut? Fancy the lyrics of a Smiths song looping around your neck in perpetuity? Such distinctive inkings are the specialty of Ina Saltz (at right). The vivacious art director, designer, and writer continues her exploration of typographic tattoos in Body Type 2 (Stewart, Tabori, & Chang), the sequel to her best-selling Body Type: Intimate Messages Etched in Flesh.

The new book presents lush photographs of more than 200 tattoos—from a discreetly positioned Bell Gothic comma to an armful of Maori creation myths—alongside the ideas and emotions of their wearers. Saltz credits the boomlet in typographic tattoos to “the higher levels of education and cultural sophistication among those now choosing to get a tattoo. And, because we are living in a ‘golden age of typography,’ there is more awareness of the power of the letterform to express the meaning of the text.” In answering our seven questions, she explains the origins of Body Type, her own dream tattoo, and one of the book’s most memorable contributors.

1. How did you come to write Body Type?
I saw an amazing tattoo in 120-point Helvetica (lowercase) on a guy’s arm as I was taking the crosstown bus; I asked him if I could photograph it, and one thing led to another…shortly thereafter, I attended my first tattoo convention, and I noticed that, while there were many books on tattoos, there were none on typographic tattoos (which were the most interesting to me as a type geek). I loved the odd intersection of typography/literature/ poetry/lyrics/homage to the letterform with the edginess and commitment and passion of the tattooed and felt it needed to be documented. Also, I found the stories behind the tattoos to be equally fascinating (as did my readers); I may have been the first to include those stories along with the photographs of the tattoos.

2. What led you to write a sequel?
The first volume became a cult hit, and was sold everywhere from museum shops to stores like Urban Outfitters. Body Type inspired people from all over the world, many of whom sent me fan mail and photos of their tattoos. I had no idea it would resonate with so many different constituencies and cultures. Naturally the popularity of the first volume led to Body Type 2. I am already collecting even more wonderful typographic tattoos for volume three of Body Type!

3. Do you have any tattoos? If you were forced to get a typographic tattoo, what would you choose?
I do not have any tattoos, for a whole host of reasons. Chief among them: a phobia about needles, and the designer’s need to re-design at will; tattoos are very permanent! But if I were to get a typographic tattoo, it would be one which would signal to fellow type-lovers that I am a member of the tribe: an obscure dingbat from a favorite typeface, for example.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Despite its cringeworthy premise and unfortunate logo (in which Geoffrey Lee‘s Impact typeface gets a Cubist clobbering), Bravo’s Work of Art: The Next Great Artist is exceeding expectations. Our early favorites in the reality competition show are Mark Velasquez—fry cook by day, photomanipulation whiz by night—and the multitalented Miles Mendenhall, a drowsily handsome Minnesotan who talks obsessively about his obsessive compulsive disorder but never disappoints at exhibition time. Galleycat, our bookish brother blog, has the scoop on tonight’s episode, in which the artists are tasked with designing a book cover for a Penguin classic:

The twelve remaining artists, who are competing for $100,000 and a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum, will do their best to make a book cover that “captures the spirit of Penguin—classic yet cutting edge,” according to Penguin president Kathyrn Court, in the press release. No word on what the book is, but the winning design will be published tomorrow and available in bookstores.

The key to enjoying Work of Art? Don’t take it too seriously (and ix-nay on the Tom Friedman references!). As judge and self-proclaimed “art fan” Bill Powers said on the eve of the show’s premiere, “It wasn’t made for Cy Twombly to watch on his DVR.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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pAt 7am this morning a yellow delivery truck trundled through Manhattan carrying, along with raw food ingredients, a rather unusual payload: The United States national soccer team. The Algerians too./p

pNot the actual teams of course, but by 9am, when the specially-designed LCD television was rigged up atop the truck, the truck made good on its promise of delivering the match between these teams to the sidewalks of New York City. Free of charge./p

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pSince last week the A HREF=”http://espnwctrucks.com/” ESPN Match Truck/A has been staking out select spots in Manhattan on every World Cup game day, fully deployed and ready to go by 9am. A support crew hoists a custom 55″ monitor, encased a specially-made weatherproof and glare-free housing, atop the truck while the technical director rigs up a DirecTV satellite dish and receiver. Outdoor speakers are connected to make the commentators heard, and then bypassing New Yorkers suddenly have a compelling reason to linger./p

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pBut the matches are only half the story; the other half is the food. The truck’s graphics are hand-painted, like an original L.A. taco truck, which is probably not accidental–ESPN and the Civic Entertainment Group, who helps manage the truck, partnered with L.A.’s legendary Kogi BBQ Truck to devise an international menu of snacks inspired by the nations in the tournament. For a few bucks fans can chow down on Tortilla Espanola, Lamb Gyros, Kogi Ketchup Sliders, Yaki Mandoo Dumpings, and others. The food itself is awesome (I can vouch) and credibility, along with food-porn photos, has been conferred and displayed by food-blog write-ups at A HREF=”http://www.alwayshungryny.com/thought-for-food/entry/alwaysinformed-espns-match-truck/” Always Hungry NY/A, Esquire’s A HREF=”http://www.esquire.com/blogs/food-for-men/espn-match-trucks-061410″ Eat Like a Man/A and A HREF=”http://www.deependdining.com/2010/06/world-cup-worlds-grub-espns-match-truck.html” Deep End Dining/A./p

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p”The trend of high-end street food–‘vendrification’–is gaining more popularity around the country,” explains Seth Ader, ESPN’s Senior Director of Sports Marketing. “And given the daytime hours when World Cup matches are being shown in the U.S., we wanted to offer our fans an opportunity to see matches that they would otherwise miss while commuting or running errands. The association with Kogi gave us instant credibility with the street food crowd, while the ESPN brand and the TV setup delivers a great World Cup viewing experience.”/p

pI stopped by the truck yesterday and caught part of the Spain/Honduras match, where a small crowd had gathered in Foley Square. There are other World Cup pop-up communities in New York, like the Play Beautiful space in NoLita and Puma City at the Seaport; both of those have strong retail components, but what I liked about the ESPN truck is that there was absolutely no air of hucksterism about it. No one tried to sell me anything. One guy in an ESPN shirt was handing out flyers which I assumed would be selling cable packages, but instead they were just match schedules. I even spotted ESPN’s Seth Ader by the truck–hanging out and watching the game with the rest of us. It felt like it was all about the matches, with optional, tasty snacks at street-food prices./p

pIn Kogi BBQ tradition, the truck tweets its daily locations A HREF=”http://espnwctrucks.com/NYC” here/A. (There’s also an L.A. counterpart, tweeting A HREF=”http://espnwctrucks.com/LA” here/A.) I was unable to make this morning’s U.S.A./Algeria match up in midtown, where the truck was mobbed by roughly 400 bypassers-turned-viewers, but I called CEG Event Coordinator Luke Abbott, who was manning the truck, to ask him what the mood was like after Donovan scored the 91st-minute game-changer. Abbott picked his words carefully: “It was…Iabsolutely insane./I”/p

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