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but around 1:15 it turns into nightmares

Nightmares

Here, I’ve made an abstract art piece using materials found on the sidewalk near P.S. 58. It addresses the transient nature of emotion, youth, and how parties are just really awesome.

SHE DANCES!

Colorzzz

Beretzzzz

The Marimekko store is opening on the West side of Madison Square Park this Fall, 2011.

We saw these yesterday and fell in loooove. a) Because Marimekko is so beautiful and the patterns leave us all in a tizzy and b) they are so inspirational. They have inspired us so much that we are going to actually repaint our gates to include a mural featuring the things we love (i.e. cats, monsters, cats, patterns and cats). What?!!!

Cats.

Watch Aaron Koblin summarize his latest data endeavors, including The Johnny Cash Project, The Sheep Market, and Radiohead’s “House of Cards” music video. Surely you’ve seen Arcade Fire’s “The Wilderness Downtown” Google Chrome project. Yep. This guy. He probably rides monster waves and saves kittens in his spare time. ♥

I recently finished recording a 4 song EP (more to come on this…) and am in the process of putting the album art together. Honestly, I both Love – with a capital L, and Fear – with a capital F –  this task because there is nothing more difficult and rewarding than designing for yourself.

I usually start this process by poking around for inspiration. I found a gem of a site this evening called Deface Value, it features defaced album covers (both found and submitted)  The results are fantastic! A few nifty sample below.

Minnie Ripperton LP (back) as found.

Doris Day Day by Day LP as found

The Association Birthday LP as found.

Jane Fonda’s Workout Record altered and submitted by John Carroll.

thanks to ssahn for the photo above. This is from a series of people covering one eye. Why??? Please tell me.

We went to see Christoph Niemann today at Creative Morning‘s in DUMBO today! He was wonderful! Very endearing and clever. He had several humorous charts for us to follow along with as he explained his creative process. I didn’t transcribe most of them but the gist is that this man has a lot of anxiety. His way of handling it is by going straight towards the problem and attacking it! The more you confront problems, the better equipped you’ll be when faced with future problems. (more…)

So, while attending an AIGA lecture last month entitled Data Visualization: Methods and Madness I listened to Kate Carmody, the first speaker of the evening, promote Talk to Me, an upcoming exhibition she’s curating at the MoMA. Kate’s presentation explored how people interact with objects, during which she referenced probably the best thing I’ve ever seen…multi-hued poo.

Maybe I love this because it’s a socially inappropriate blog topic. Okay but, it’s also an amazing idea. Designers Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and James King, in collaboration with Cambridge University’s International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGem) team, created a low-cost diagnostic kit that employs a pigment-producing strain of E.coli whose colorful secretions can be seen by the human eye.

iGem developed the bacteria, but it was Alexandra and James who took this technology and helped the team find useful, human-centric applications for the little guys. Here’s the concept. You ingest E.chromi bacteria in the form of a capsule or delicious yogurt and subsequently they populate within your digestive tract, mingling with your internal flora. If all is healthy, they’ll secrete a pigment that turns your turd blue. If the bacteria encounter a chemical change caused by disease, they’ll produce other colors indicative of that abnormality. Ideally the bacteria could be personalized to mark for diseases based on an individual’s genetic susceptibility. Does your family have a history of colon cancer? You’d be able to test for that in your home!

Visualize this. Affordable, comfortable self-diagnostics replacing current, often invasive and/or expensive technologies. It’s an incredible application that, although presently lacking implemental logistics, would change the dynamic of many health care systems. Let’s make this real, folks. I want my very own scatalog.

Dana Lechtenberg (#10) has been organizing the hell out of a fantastic artshow – 33.3 inviting artists and designers to reinterpret or reimagine existing album covers. He was nice enough to ask me to participate. Which I did (#31).  I feel all fuzzy inside, not to mention a little bit star struck, being in such talented company.

And, if you happen in the Cedar Falls Iowa area, check out opening night reception  this saturday at Cup Of Joe from 6-8.

A few samples to wet your whistle:

Andrew Kolb

Rachel and Adam Little

Brent Couchman

Check out all the entires here!