Posted in Art, tagged Art, Art Projects, Pigeons, Print on 12/14/2011|
Okay so this really can’t be classified as new given I finished this particular one way back in July. So I’ve been busy. Meh.
#9
Now I haven’t even gotten around to starting #10. I did have some PC problems but general laziness has been the real factor in all this. If I do find I have enough motivation and time over the Christmas break/ holidays then I’ll start it up and can have it all done in a nice neat package.
Posted in Art, Gaming, tagged 00s, A.J. Hateley, Art, Artist talk, Awesome Sauce, Book, Covers, Print, Video Games on 08/02/2011|
Cover - Animal Farm
When I’m out to buy a new book to keep myself occupied and I have no idea what’s awesome, recommended or will be a good worth while read, I do the faux pas thing and nab a book purchase based on its cover. Ah the old adage ‘You can’t judge a book by its cover’ comes out ringing loud and true. No you can’t exactly make that judgement call, but what I can do is enjoy the cover of a book then read the nice summary on the back and make a choice.
There’s a very good reason why publishing companies go to good lengths to make a book cover visually appealing. Primarily you’re enticed to have your eye caught on the book for purchasing prospects. Secondary is that it needs to help convey what the story is about (most of the time). And finally you’re suppose to have something pretty to look at and less utilitarian and generic sitting on your shelf.
Book cover art is serious business. This is something that gets printed tens of thousands if not a million times. A.J. (Aimie-Jane) Hateley is an artist who is serious about making book cover art. And she’s doing a damn fine job at it.
Limbo
What really caught my attention to her work was her combination of artistic skill, love of video games and her clear enjoyment of making book cover art. She’s working through a project entitled ’30 Days of Videogames’ which is basically her creating minimalistic book covers for book which have some representation to famous videogames over the years (such as Half-Life, Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, Katamari)
Many of them are a bit tongue in cheek when referencing their specific games, while others tend to stand out in the obvious. All of them are good homage to the legendary games they’re supposed to represent. And to sweeten the deal, some covers are available for purchase as cards, prints and shirts.
Final Fantasy 7
Videogame book covers aside, Hateley has done alternate covers for George Orwell’s book Animal Farm. Admittedly they are very abstract and a little bizarre from what you would expect to be the cover for Animal Farm but over all I would call the project a great exploration to expand a classic.
Moving beyond book cover design, like all artists, A.J. Hateley has other artistic pursuits but I find them to be less strong as her latter work has been. Primarily it seems to be highly repetitious and doesn’t exactly give me the impression she’s got the capacity to expand or evolve her work. This is the same for the book covers, yes they all take on a different game, but I feel there’s a lot of cookie cutter work design happening between them beyond the usual need to unify them via similar or common elements.
Flee - AJ Hateley
And on one final note, her tumblr. site was one of the ones responsible for me not entirely getting ripped shit pissed at the fail community known as tumblr. She’s got a good theme and layout going and actually knows how to use it better than a large majority of tumblr. users. However, as a gallery tool, tumblr. does not work well for presentation, which makes me a sad panda. Her older works can be found at her abandoned Deviantart Website.
Also if you’re really interested in owning some of her art, her print shop is open for business and prices are reasonable.
Posted in Art, Urban, tagged Art, Canadian, Internet, Kitten, Politics, Print, Stephen Harper on 04/19/2011|
Why look, it’s Stephen Harper with a Kitten!
Rejoice Canada, its the man who holds the 3rd Highest office in Canada, holding a Kitten.
Posted in Art, tagged Art, Artist talk, Awesome Sauce, Print on 03/16/2011|
Core 6, 2007
It takes a special kind of man to hate any book in society. Even rare is one who would actively decide to destroy a book simply because it exists. Brian Dettmer is an artist who with his artistic surgical precision slices up book pages and make some of the most bizarre sculptures I’ve come across.
Looking through Brian Dettmer work it’s safe to say he is primarily a spacial artist who very easily has this insane ability to x-ray vision a thick novel and totally have it dissected with surgical precision before he even lifts a knife. And his works only become more insane and deep the long he’s been working on them. His gallery of macabre literary texts goes back over eight years and can include more than a dozen novels to create the final sculpture. In fact from what I gather, the medical field is so fascinated with his work they’ve even got a few pieces in the International Museum of Surgical Science.
But I think his work is something that speaks better than I am realistically able to articulate. So find his sculptural masterpieces below. Book lovers, weep. (All books used are old editions from like over a billion years ago)
All this is just a fraction of the large collection he’s craved out for himself in his quest for a master piece. I urge you to visit his site and wander through all the works he has done. It’s always great to see an artist evolve his work through the years and push the limits on his style and technique.
Posted in Art, General, Urban, tagged Art, Art Projects, Artist talk, Life, Photography, Pigeons, Print on 03/09/2011|
Words to live by
Greetings readers. Spring is sort of on it’s way (some days it’s great out, others we plunge back into winter), but time waits for no man, and being so awesome, time will only wait so long for me. Given the warmering weather means I am able to venture outside without a lot of restrictions on my hands being cold and keeping me from the things I like such as holding my camera. Hopefully by late March we’re back into 10 degree weather and that everything starts looking green again and sunny. I like the sun.
One such project that’s been mothballed for a while I’m looking to get back into. Although it probably will take the parks a bit of time to grow green again, I have the time to plan out a route to hopefully get all the shots I want in one day. Perhaps if I’m being selfish I’ll drag someone along for the ride. Time will tell and I should put way more effort and research into it instead of thinking it’s an awesome idea and that it will magically happen on its own.
Next that I’m nearing completion is all the pigeon works (number 7 is now complete). I would like to get more photo materials for the next ones and I really have to work harder to be less picky about the whole process. Number 7 used approximately 6 layers which is actually a little insane thinking about it and really didn’t add too much to detail or depth to the work. In the end however I am satisfied with the outcome of the picture and I’m eager to get on to the next. Once all of them are done I plan to get hardcopy prints made and put together a minibook of them along with some of the other works I’ve been doing for the past year partially to catalogue the work and the evolution of it as well. More than likely I’ll have some other small side projects I’ll add to it before I’m done and ready to make my book.
Another project (which I’m sure I’ve mentioned), is my plans to get around the city and photograph me some graffiti. I know the idea isn’t exactly original, but I’m mainly looking to see how different parts of the city has different styles of graffiti. Not all that I want to shoot is graffiti as there are some murals that have been made on stores and business, but the majority is and I may have a sort of guide to help me with it. It’s also important because very soon the douche of a Mayor wants to have some of the more historical and culturally impressive works removed for no strong apparent reason other than making the city in his image. I’ll be keeping an eye on that and documenting before it’s gone for good.
Finally on Friday I’ll be working with a friend / fellow artist who is looking to get some glam shots of themselves done for modeling purposes. Not doing for money because I really haven’t done it before and I’m not very professional as well they are a friend, so it’ll be fun. I’m also working alongside another friend who has more experience, so much learning to be had from it all.
That’s realistically all my artistic ambitions for the coming summer. Knowing myself I’ll probably get to most of them, but I want to be optimistic and think I’ll do a lot of them and have something to show for myself at the end of the summer. Time will tell.
Posted in Art, tagged Art, Awesome Sauce, Pigeons, Print on 03/02/2011|
Why, Hello.
For several months I have been working on my current art speciality which I previewed oh so long ago (Special Art) and aside from the ones I’ve made prints for sale on Etsy / gallery showings / art sales, I’ve been pressing on with creating a series with a bird theme. Primarily it’s been just of Pigeons since they’re fairly easy to photograph, very diverse and everywhere in the city as well are patterned in a way that makes applying my style some what easy. That and all the summer birds are MIA for winter.
Having fully completed 6 digital pieces of just pigeons, I don’t think I’ll realistically do more than 10. It’s becoming a bit stale to do and there’s not much direction I can give pigeons to get them to do something different. I’m going to be making an effort this spring and summer to get more photos to work with of other birds (yes I could use stock photos, but I have the tools and skills to do it myself and have 100% ownership / creativity) and then I think it would be a good time to call it quits on this for a while.
If I am able to get enough money together to get some more prints made and have enough to get into a showing, then I think a reasonable goal would be to do it and see what happens in terms of exposure and critiques I could get on what I’ve been doing. I’m a little sad nothing’s sold on Etsy, but selling anything on there is hella hard unless it’s extreme and near trend vomitty. Save that, I know of some other local places to try that will probably get more success.
For now, take a look at the magic I’ve been making.
Disgruntled Urban Artist Guy 