Hasta La Ideas

Tomorrow evening will see Sotheby’s find lucky new owners for such works as a ginormous Warhol self-portrait, Anish Kapoor‘s fun-house-mirrored panic button, and a radiant Rothko whose fiery hues will forever haunt our dreams. Those not busy bidding on Pollocks, de Koonings, and the mesmerizing graphite mist of Agnes Martin can still spend an evening contemplating beauty, which Martin once described as “awareness in the mind.” Beginning at 8:30 p.m. (Eastern) tomorrow, the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery will host “A Deeper Look at Surface Beauty,” a free online colloquium open to anyone who registers here. Inspired by the Freer’s ongoing exhibition exploring the visual philosophy of its neurasthenic founder, the event promises stimulating discussion of “the complicated narratives of cultural transmission and translation that lie beneath the surface harmonies of collector Charles Lang Freer‘s aesthetic vision.” Curators and scholars will weigh in on everything from capturing aestheticism through photography to the musical dimensions of surface beauty. We advise taking in the colloquium whilst sipping a refreshing beverage from a Pewabic Pottery mug.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Jenny Holzer may have raised laconic yet principled word bursts to an art form, but she is not behind the Twitter account attributed to her. “Maybe it’s somebody’s conceptual art project,” Holzer told Jori Finkel of the Los Angeles Times. “I would be embarrassed to do it myself—I like being invisible. But when I look at the website, I think: Go, Not-Me.” Holzer’s Twitter impostor has been posting all-caps, Holzer-flavored truisms since May 2007, attracting more than 16,000 followers. On Wednesday in L.A., the artist herself was presented with the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts. A fitting honor, as Holzer designed the bronze award plaque back in 1994. It reads “It is in your self-interest to find a way to be very tender,” a truism that yesterday appeared on Twitter.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Tune into NBC tonight to catch Devo, they of the pioneering New Wave sound and energy domed ziggurat hats, play a concert at the Olympic victory ceremony in Whistler, British Columbia. Yes, they’ll likely open with “Whip It,” but the Mark Mothersbaugh-fronted band will also debut new songs and a fresh look. Meanwhile, Devo realizes that the surest path to de-evolution is crowdsourcing, so they (with the help of Warner Brothers and ad agency Mother LA) are undertaking “a series of studies to help the band determine every decision it makes regarding its body covering, its brand color, its graphic icons, and even its choice of vocal style and instrumentation on any given song.” They’re determined to focus-group their way to the first new Devo album in 20 years. Click here to embark upon Devo’s Color Study in which you’re asked to weigh in on illustrated questions such as “What color is this neglected stepchild’s hair?” and “Which of these two men guards a horrible secret?” You’ll be rewarded with the knowledge of your Devo color.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

A few of the more than 20,000 works (and at least one baby carriage, thanks to Jay Doblin) that you can admire in the newly relaunched AIGA Design Archives.

Get ready to lose yourself—or at least many, many hours—in design excellence, because AIGA has relaunched its storied design archives. Thanks to a complete overhaul by Second Story Interactive Studios, the faster and more user-friendly site features roughly 20,000 records (and more than double that many images) encompassing design specimens ranging from books and logos to typography and motion graphics. “We were trying to build a perfect library—one that never ran out of room, but where nothing was out of reach,” notes Second Story’s Michael Neault, who served as production coordinator on the massive redesign project. We suggest finding your way through the archives, which date from 1924 to yesterday, by narrowing your focus to one of the 300 collections. Get into the Olympic spirit by exploring “A Decade of Sports Graphics” (1987-1986), chuckle at the 85 examples of funny design in “The Humor Show,” or marvel at a collection of extraordinary work by Vignelli Associates. No time for history? Jump right into the just released digital edition of this year’s design annual, 365: AIGA Year in Design 30, designed by Omnivore.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

San Francisco-based graphic designer Stephen Gose has a thing for the ampersand. “I think it is often the most attractive character of them all,” notes Gose on his blog, The Ampersand. Created in May 2008 as an attempt “to give this humble ligature the respect it deserves,” The Ampersand is a chronicle of ampersand sightings, whether on signage, book covers, tote bags, jewelry, cookies, pet cemetery gravestones, or a polo shirt worn by a waiter in the Galapagos Islands. Photos snapped by Gose and submitted by readers from around the world reveal backwards ampersands, graffitti ampersands, treble clefs masquerading as ampersands, and permanent ampersands—the freshly inked “&” tattoos of die-hard fans.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.