Netflix is premiering a new documentary series entitled The Art of Design on February 10th. As you'd imagine, it's a bunch of interviews with influential designers talking about their craft, their story and their hopes for how it shapes the future. I can't help but think it's going to be hours of overly entitled, self-involved, grandiose statements.
Scott Dadich, editor in chief at WIRED, worked on the series and he's posted an introduction to the series in which he promises it is something different. Given the source, that's not a surprising statement.
All that being said, I'll likely watch it. We should all yearn to be less pessimistic and maybe this will be more fascinating than it appears to be at first glance.
The GIF does it no justice but I highly suggest pulling up this full performance from Makeup and Vanity Set from the 2017 MAG Fest. His light show has been getting more and more intense over the years and this is, as of this posting, the most prime example of it. Oh, and the music is surprisingly awesome for the environment. I would have thought the dark overtones would have been too much of a downer but it's not at all.
Phenomenal read from the New York Times on The Report of the 2020 Group - aka the Future of The New York Times. They share some stats on their subscriptions versus advertising rates as well as their vision for the future of the publication. With all the talk of Fake News and an Internet loaded with slight of hand, this is a rather positive view on the future.
I've been diving deep into the offerings of Strike Gently after seeing this Death Pin from Kim Mikhi. There are a phenomenal amount of great pin and patch designs and a world of great artists to explore from there. Real happy with stumbling into this.
I'm sure I'm way late to the party here (as is often the case) but I've really been enjoying the video essays from Folding Ideas. In particular, his pieces on film techniques like The Kuleshov Effect or Why Suicide Squad was Edited So Poorly are extremely well spoken, informed and still manage to be entertaining.
Great read from Dave Pell on This Is Why You Hate Me, a short treatise on the failure of the Internet to bond us together into like-minded understandings. Not exactly a feel good piece but it's certainly worth a read as it serves as a good reminder that we're all in our own bubbles and sometimes further understanding comes from reaching outside of that world. It's just so damn hard to avoid the trolls.
Part of my deep dive into the world of Big Baby D.R.A.M. led me to work of Miami artist, Mister E, who created the colorful bills seen throughout the Cash Machine video.
In fact, all of Mister E's art is currency based. Paintings of bills, silk screens of bills, interpretations of money, It's actually a rad color palette for our fairly droll set of cash.
So, yea, the work is worth a look but the most interesting part to me is that Mister E is part of a new school of artists that were discovered on the Internet and found extreme popularity in a very short amount of time (the New American Dream). Reading through this interview with him is a sharp reminder that most folks in his position will talk more about personal brand and marketing than they do about their work.
It's all a bit shallow but I think with pop art that's more than acceptable. It's fun and it's entertaining.
