Changethethought

Creative think tank and all around experimental explorers Friends With You recently updated their site. The site was built by Boulder, Colorado’s Quick Left and has a number of notable upgrades including an expanded storefront. The site presents a rich interactive experience without utilizing Flash and apparently offers up a dummy-proof CMS system that gives Friends With You the hassle-free ability to update content whenever they like. It’s a lot like what I am aiming for with the development of my new site.

More via The Denver Egotist.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Friends With You, Graphic Design, Quick Left, Web Design

The remarkable talent that is James Jean has updated with a new website and filled his online store with some beautiful works of art. I am impressed by how much he has gone straight towards being a fine artist and deviated from just being an illustrator. Prepare to be inspired after sifting through his work. He is one of the best. This one is being filed under ‘art’.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Illustration, James Jean, Painting, Process Recess

Christopher Davison earned an MFA in Printmaking from the Tyler School of Art. His work is dark, intense and deals in religious symbology, specifically Christianity. It’s a dicey subject to toy with in this day and age.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Christopher Davison, Drawing, Painting, religion

Rob and Christian Clayton, the amazing Clayton Brothers who share a bit of a Denver, Colorado heritage have updated their website with some of their spectacular new paintings. They now reside in Pasadena, California (come home guys). Count me as a fan. Their use of color and just flat out imaginative subject matter is absolutely beautiful.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, California, Painting, The Clayton Brothers

LA-based designer, illustrator and artist Demetrius May has some sincerely radical work in one of the more wild portfolios I have seen in some time. There are some very strange things going on in his work but it is all art and I love that. He graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts, Illustration from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Since then, he has been making, like I said, some seriously radical work. It will be interesting to see what he does in the future.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Demetrius May, Graphic Design, Illustration, Los Angeles

Brooklyn-based photographer Noah Kalina has an eye for color and the ability to nestle his subjects squarely within an image composed of subtle hues.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Brookly, Fashion, New York, Noah Kalina, Photography

My guess is that you will be seeing these clever book sculptures from Paul Octavious all over the creative blogosphere as they are precisely the kind of sculptural typographic works that seem to be resonating with the online creative community. After seeing them though, be sure to dive into his portfolio where you will also find some exceptional photographic art.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Paul Octavious, Photography, Sculpture, Typography

Gregoire Vieille is a French still photographer living and working in Paris. He has some nice imagery in his portfolio including this recent series for Amusement magazine about vintage consol games with set design by Pierre Hourquet.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Gregoire Vieille, Paris, Photography

The Manifest Equality show kicks off this week in LA and will run from March 3rd through the 7th. I was invited to exhibit in the show after having exhibited in the Manifest Hope show during the Democratic National Convention. Manifest Equality’s focus is encouraging the equalization of civil rights for the gay community. It’s an issue I have strong feelings about. It’s my opinion, and you can call this liberal or whatever you like that under the constitution as citizens, so long as we are not breaking the law we should have equal rights to pursue happiness however we see fit. If there is any one group in this country, a supposed ‘free’ country who does not have those equal rights, then it is a threat to the rights of all the people and any other group could be singled out to have their rights revoked. This falls outside of the moral spectrum and lives in the realm of the private life. Sexuality and the expression of sexuality as well as the pursuit of relationships should be the right of every free person under a democratic state.

The original posters I created focused on a particular part of the male anatomy that I see as the central problem in the gay rights equation. The minute this bit of anatomy rears it’s head (yes, a pun is intended) is the minute everyone ruffles and loses their nerve. I am a married hetrosexual man who was raised in a very small town in Nebraska in a conservative household, but I have never understood this. I am not bothered by this part of the anatomy or what people choose to do with it. So I decided to put that right out front and make people have to face it head on (again, pun intended) and spend a moment thinking why it makes people so uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the posters (which I went to the trouble of having 100 screen printed and shipped to LA) were rejected on the grounds of being ‘too graphic’ and controversial for display.

Needless to say, I was very disappointed and lashed out by sending some angry emails Shepard Fairey and Ron English’s way. It was a snap judgement that I should have considered before jumping to and Fairey wasn’t very happy with my email. In retrospect, I know there is a time and place for everything. After speaking at length with the show organizer Yosi Sergant, I realized this just wasn’t the right place to be hanging a giant red, white and blue prick. Shepard Fairey remarked that I should ‘take it to the streets’ and maybe he is right. My point was that I felt some of the work should be provocative and angry in tone if this really is a ‘civil rights issue’. I think as a nation we have grown far too apathetic and just ‘accept’ a lot of the laws handed down to us by our government. Our government works for us. We do not work for them. If you want change in this country, you have to get out there knock on the Whitehouse door and say, ‘we the American public, want this to change now!’

So, I revised my work and created a new poster, which you can see at the top of this post that will now be exhibited at the show. It turned out alright, but I still think it lacks the teeth of the original posters which were really created to provoke the issue as a political one that begs a public outcry. I decided not to attend the show after losing out on my investment in printing the posters, but I do wish all the artists exhibiting the very best of luck, and I will be hoping the show is a huge success. It will be interesting to see the rest of the artists work from the show once images begin to hit the web. If you are in LA, the show opens Wednesday from 11am until 6pm at 1341 Vine Street. If you can be there, I wouldn’t miss this one. It should be a thought provoking event, and might I suggest standing outside and waiving one of my posters in the air?

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Gay Rights, Los Angeles, Manifest Equality, Posters

Oil painter Gglennray Tutor paints mind-numbing trompe l’oeil landscapes that are so meticulous in detail it’s almost hart to imagine they could be accomplished by the human hand. There are so many things at work here, light, form, dimension and pop culture.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Gglennray Tutor, Oil Painting, Painting, Trompe L'oeil

Danish artist Anders Clausen is currently exhibiting an interesting set of collage works at Hotel about the influence of operations systems and interfaces. He is particularly interested in the notion of scrolling which I can easily identify with and would imagine you can too considering the fact you are currently reading a blog.

written by Christopher | tags: Ander Clausen, Art, collage, Denmark

Artist Jon Todd takes eastern and latin cultural influences and throws them in a blender ending with a mishmash of references that evoke a sense of familiarity while managing to still seem exotic. Anecdotal sidebar: I have dressed as a luchador 2 years in a row for Halloween.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Asia, Jon Todd, Mexico, Painting

Breed London is representing some extremely talented individuals from the design and illustration industry. The roster includes people like Si Scott, Steve Wilson, James Joyce and MASA to name a few.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Breed London, Graphic Design, Illustration, Rep

Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight is currently hosting an exhibition that brought the memories flooding back. The theme of the show is He-Man, the toy cult phenomenon that so many young boys became devoutly engaged in. I was way into He-Man as a child and had practically every character in my toybox. I even used to make my own custom He-Men by taking them apart, making new costumes and weapons with plastic soda bottles. I would even melt new parts onto my He-Men toys by heating them in the microwave (sounds toxic now). Anyway, as you can see the show is featuring the work of several artists, all of whom interpreted a beloved part of their childhood in a different and unique way.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight, He-Man, Painting

Fashion photographer Luis Sanchis is a real artist with the camera. His ability to compose form, color, subject and lighting is striking. He possesses one of those rare portfolios that once you begin browsing you feel compelled to click on almost every single thumbnail to see each image up close. His work is truly beautiful.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Fashion, Luis Sanchis, Photography

I would love to take a walk through the Shoreditch studio of ‘object’ artist Tithi Kutchamuch. She rethinks objects and their purpose and is interested in giving consumers a pause to consider what it is they are engaging with and why. There is a lot of thought put into each of her projects and each must be considered for the purpose it fulfills and how the viewer/user/consumer interacts with it. She is a bit of what you might call a ‘design engineer’. To gain a little insight into her approach, there is a nice little interview here.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Design, London, Objects, Shoreditch, Tithi Kutchamuch

Illustrator Jonas Bergstrand has been busy since I last dropped in and he has updated recently with some beautiful illustration work that shows an enormous attention to detail.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, collage, Illustration, Jonas Bergstrand, Retro

Joe Andreas’ colorful abstract collages are just plain fun to look at and would probably make for some great conversation if hung on a wall in a set. You can see them in his Flickr-folio.

written by Christopher | tags: Abstract, Art, collage, Flickr, Joe Andreas