This week in school, I've been given an assignment to create two posters. Each poster will present a combination of images that speak the the themes of several different plays scheduled to be performed this year by the A.C.T. theatre group. I think our assignment parameters are a little too muddled - basically, it seems that our instructor wants us to be able to prove our proficiency in all the areas of Photoshop and Illustrator that we reviewed in class.
I wish we weren't be pushed in a photo/special-effects based direction. Here's some work that I really admire that captures a bolder, more formally subdued direction...
Anybody else notice that skateboarding has been picking up steam again? I'm seeing more and more people skating in the past few months. Personally, I never learned to do anything more than stand on a board and roll down a slight incline, but that hasn't done anything to hinder my appreciation for the sport/act of rebellion.
This morning, while holed up in one of the design studios at school, I looked out the window and saw a bunch of teenagers across the street doing their thing on their skateboards. They moved along pretty quickly and were gone as suddenly as they had arrived. 30 minutes later, I heard the sickening sounds of children frolicking, and I looked out the window. The area where the skaters had been hanging out only half an hour prior was now overrun with a small mob of thirty-something yuppie parents and their attendant brats. I was genuinely upset to see them there!
Thankfully, they moved on after a few minutes. Before they left, I had to laugh to myself as I realized that the way I reacted to the presence of those families (in comparison to the way I felt about the skateboarders) pretty much ran counter to the way that most normal people would have felt about the situation.
Last month, Trash Talk recorded a live performance to be aired on Fuel TV. I don't know anybody that subscribes to Fuel TV, so I tracked it down on the channel's website.
A lot of people love to talk shit on Trash Talk, and hey... I guess that's just the way it goes. Any time a band finds even limited success, there will be people who want to tear them down simply because they're popular. I see it differently. I remember them being a band that could barely get anybody to come see their shows. I also remember them being a band that didn't give a fuck that nobody really cared. They just hit the road, over and over again, and did their thing until people woke up and noticed that they were killing it!
The work of Emigre, the legendary type/design/publishing powerhouse, is currently on exhibit at San Francisco's Gallery 16. I completely missed the opening (which was over a month ago), but luckily I still have 10 days to catch the show before it closes on January 30th.
Poster Cabaret showcases and sells the works of a number of talented designers. Poster art is usually pretty exciting, as that is its imperative; by their very nature, posters strive to entice and attract people to events, or to at least offer an enduring memento of the event. After only a few seconds of surfing through the site, it already looks like I may need to expand my collection.
