Fractal goodness!
London's Design Museum has a show on right now of young designers which includes this fabulous lamp, "Romanesco light" by a young designer named Ulrika Jarl. Very cool.
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January 23, 2006
January 17, 2006
Go on. Judge that book by its cover.
I admit it. I often buy books just because I like the way they look. I adore trade paperbacks and hardly read those little tiny cheesy mass-market things anymore. It's good to know I'm not alone. This website showcases a variety of recent book covers and offers a forum in which to disect and discuss them.
My favorite exchange, about a book with a map of Manhattan on the cover shaped like a dangling rat:
- I passed by this book three or four times before I realized why it was so clever. While I'm not especially impressed by the type or layout of the cover, Peter Sis did such a nice job with the illustration, I can?t help but like it. Plus the concept is fairly spot on. The uneven streets where the guts would be is an especially nice touch.- Thats not guts, thats the paths through central park.
January 12, 2006
Islamic Design: the Ultimate Abstract Art
In my last post, I discussed Jack Levine, an artist who has specialized in representational, figurative art. Western taste tends to gravitate towards recognizable imagery (Rothko and the like aside). Yet taken to extremes, art that is too realistic can be the kiss of death for good taste and creativity. Two words: Thomas Kinkade.
So it's refreshing to shift attention to a very different kind of art, one where abstraction and pattern are supreme and the written word becomes part of the imagery.
From the L.A. County Museum of Art's website:
Calligraphy is the most important and pervasive element in Islamic art. It has always been considered the noblest form of art because of its association with the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book, which is written in Arabic. This preoccupation with beautiful writing extended to all arts — including secular manuscripts; inscriptions on palaces; and those applied to metalwork, pottery, stone, glass, wood, and textiles — and to non-Arabic-speaking peoples within the Islamic commonwealth whose languages — such as Persian, Turkish, and Urdu — were written in the Arabic script.Another characteristic of Islamic art is a preference for covering surfaces with patterns composed of geometric or vegetal elements. Complex geometric designs, as well as intricate patterns of vegetal ornament (such as the arabesque), create the impression of unending repetition, which is believed by some to be an inducement to contemplate the infinite nature of God. This type of nonrepresentational decoration may have been developed to such a high degree in Islamic art because of the absence of figural imagery, at least within a religious context.
Contrary to a popular misconception, however, figural imagery is an important aspect of Islamic art. Such images occur primarily in secular and especially courtly arts and appear in a wide variety of media and in most periods and places in which Islam flourished. It is important to note, nevertheless, that representational imagery is almost invariably restricted to a private context. Figurative art is excluded from the decoration of religious monuments. This absence may be attributed to an Islamic antipathy toward anything that might be mistaken for idols or idolatry, which are explicitly forbidden by the Qur’an.
To me, there's something very visually soothing about these works — but exciting too. And somehow, the colors and patterns seem timeless — I'd be hard-pressed to say whether a given piece was created 1200 years ago or last week.
Learn more about Islamic art from:
Jack Levine: Modern-Day Master?
(In my opinion, anyway) one of the best American artists of the 20th century, Jack Levine was born in Boston in 1915 and began his art career during the Great Depression. Working in representational imagery rather than abstract, by his own admission, Levine's art is heavily influenced by Rembrandt and other European masters, but his subject matter is frequently quite American and satirical. "I am primarily concerned with the condition of man. The satirical direction I have chosed is an indication of my disappointment in man, which is the opposite way of saying that I have high expectations for the human race." The painting here dates from 1998 and is called "Finger of Newt" — featuring the architect of the Republican Party's "Contract With America" See more of Levine's paintings. No matter how sordid the subject matter may be, it's hard to resist the beauty of the paintings themselves, with their rich colors and swirling brushstrokes.
But perhaps even more than the paintings, I enjoy his etchings, which really show the Rembrandt influence, particularly in his series of historical portraits of Jewish holy men. "My father's death in 1939 started me on the path of painting these Jewish sages. It was his religion, not mine, but when he died I felt like I was scoring points for him..."
For more information on this great artist, I recommend two books: Jack Levine, Steven Robert Frankel, Rozzoli, 1989 and The Complete Graphic Work of Jack Levine, Kenneth W. Prescott and Emma-Stina Prescott, Dover Books, 1984.
January 01, 2006
"Trailblazing" Marin ceramicist dies
Edith Heath passed away last week at the age of 94.
Mrs. Heath became a defining influence of 20th [-century] American design by creating distinctive ceramic dinnerware and architectural tiles that were commercially unavailable at the time. She is best-known for her pioneering glazes and clay bodies made to her own formulations with an avant-garde, minimalist look.
Everyone from Frank Lloyd Wright to Chez Panisse admired — and commissioned — her work.
Heath Ceramics has been under new management for the last few years, and they continue to produce her designs.
The photo is from MostlyWright.com. You can see photos of the Heath studio's creations at Design Within Reach's website.
Use type instead of images: "Great Idea"
Penguin Books recently launched its "Great Ideas" series in the United States after its successful debut in the United Kingdom. Each book in the series features the writing of a particular thinker deemed to be influential on modern Western culture. While there has been some debate on whether the selections are truly representative and sufficiently diverse, there is no argument about the quality of the book designs themselves. Largely eschewing the use of photographs or "normal" illustrations, the designers carefully use typography to match the theme and historical context of the book. You can't tell from the photo, but the covers look as if they were printed on a letterpress — the letters are "debossed" into the paper.
Not bad for paperback!