Copenhagen Jazz Festival 2008 Poster by Kasper Eistrup

Good morning everyone! First off I just want to say that I think today is going to be a really good day. Last night I signed the lease on my new apartment, so that stress is gone. And then after that I met up with my friend Max and we talked about some upcoming business with the blog, and I also randomly got to see my friends Kyle, Michael, Aron and Elliel as well. Then this morning I actually woke up rather early for a change, and I’ve already come across something awesome to post about!

The poster you see above was created by Kasper Eistrup, a Danish musician who is in the band Kashmir, one of Denmark’s more popular bands. For years now he’s done the covers and music videos for his band, but in 2006 he took the time to create enough work for a one man show at the Falkener Gallery in Copenhagen. Because of his obvious talent, the folks at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival commissioned him to create this years poster, and I would admit that it’s incredibly rad. The poster features a random jazz fan, it’s really no one in particular, which was Eistrup’s point:

”I have chosen to shift the focus away from the performing musician and his or her instrument, and instead portray an ardent music lover as he stands before a current of sound waves. I wanted to create a picture that was steaming with music, without directly using the usual symbols to depict it. It turned out to be a harder task than I’d expected, since a saxophone or well-know jazz figure would have given an instant, clear signal, but my objective was to achieve the same effect without them. As to whether or not I’ve succeeded, I leave that up to the observer.”

I’m absolutely in love with the “current of sound waves” behind him. And so you know, the poster is watercolor or gouache, I can’t really tell, but it’s all hand-painted, which is really nice to see these days. The color choices and the lighting is also extremely spot on, like in my mind this poster couldn’t be any better, it’s as close to perfection as you can get.

To see a larger version of the poster, you can click here, or to buy for yourself, take a visit over to here.

Found through Dansk Dynamit

Bobby

Bobby Solomon

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April 18, 2008 - See more posts by Bobby

New Graphic Design in China

China if you hadn’t noticed has hit a huge economic boom from the last 20 years, and with this summer’s Olympics being hosted there, people are starting to become more and more interested in the country. So PingMag wrote a great article talking about design in China, who’s doing it and where it’s going.

It’s pretty crazy but design hadn’t really taken off in China until 20 years ago at most, so it’s still almost in it’s infancy there. But from the examples given in the article, there are some pretty interesting things going on nonetheless. Reading this also reminded me of a Monocle video which talks about all of the new structures being built in China, but none of the major landmarks have been built by Chinese. It’s interesting to think about, although here in America, our greatest symbolic landmark was built by the French…

Bobby

Bobby Solomon

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April 15, 2008 - See more posts by Bobby

Max Key

Earlier this morning I got an email from my buddy Nathan Fox telling me about this guy he went to school with named Max Key. Max was born in 1973, went to school at the Kansas City Institute of Art where he earned his bachelor in fine arts and is a totally awesome painter.

His inspirations come from landscaping painting and tacky wallpapers from days gone by. He combines these ideas together masterfully, creating something that looks like the fabric on an old chair mixed with Jeff Soto or Mars1. Those are compliments, by the way. His pictures are totally filled with tons of tiny details and vibrant colors, two of my favorite things when it comes to art. They’re also HUGE measuring in the realm of feet, not inches. Take a few minutes and pay Max and his awesome work a visit.

Bobby

Bobby Solomon

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April 14, 2008 - See more posts by Bobby

Shepard Fairey for Penguin Books

I’m the first to admit that I wasn’t the best student in high school. I’m a strong believer that if you can’t make something relevant to a student, then they won’t want to learn about it, and I certainly was of that mindset. Maybe Penguin Books was thinking the same thing when they asked Shepard Fairey to redesign the covers of two classic books, Animal Farm and 1984.

1984 is an obvious match up with Shepard and his style and the mantra his work embodies. Animal Farm has those same sort of ideas, but I was still a little surprised he did that one in addition. These covers stick to pretty much the same thing he’s done over and over again (think of the Smashing Pumpkins cover he just did and compare it to the Animal Farm cover), but I think this is a really smart move on the part of Penguin’s, nonetheless. If someone had handed me one of these books when I was 16, I would have instantly though, “Oh, he’s that guy who makes those Obey clothes!”, and been excited to see what the book was about.

As horrible as it sounds, kids judge a book by it’s cover. Hell, as an adult I still do. Hopefully Penguin enlists the help of more designers like Mr. Fairey to liven up the fronts of books, possibly opening up a new love of reading for kids growing up in the age of the internet. How about Futura doing the cover of Brave New World? Evan Hecox doing The Outsiders? Neckface doing Lord of the Flies? So many awesome artists out there that could help make a kid read.

Click here for more info about the project.

Found through Coudal Partners

Bobby

Bobby Solomon

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April 11, 2008 - See more posts by Bobby

Hot Dog and I by Fernanda Cohen

I’m still in love with 20×200 and the fact that it enables me to own awesome artwork without having to pay a million dollars (or even $200). This week’s illustrator is a lady named Fernanda Cohen who grew up in Buenos Aires, moved to New York and graduated from SVA. Her drawing is titled Hot Dog and I and features a big fat naked guy eating a hot dog, simple enough. I think it’s pretty damn cute and clever, and Fernanda’s line work and use of color is really nice. As per usual you can get an 8.5″ x 11″ print for $20, 17″ x 22″ print for $200, or a giant 30″ x 40″ (in an edition of 2) for $2000.

Bobby

Bobby Solomon

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April 10, 2008 - See more posts by Bobby

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