this is my heart

Its quite coincidental, that (since I'm traveling and haven't been able to do much graphic work) I've started writing, and happen to have come across a great blog 'this is my heart. it is a good heart' thanks to my friend back in South Africa - Fathima.
The image (from love notes) also caught my attention seeing as I'm away from home at the moment. Hopefully I'll give my writings a graphic treatment and post them here soon. via Fathima

Edinburgh, is awesome

I've been out of the loop. Traveling is awesome, and Edinburgh is so far my favorite city in the mini version of the world that I've seen. It's very difficult to stay in the design loop, whilst backpacking around with non-designer/creatives. But. When I ran into this A6 flyer/poster on the streets of Old Town in Edinburgh, it injected we with some new vigor.

Well... I'm back in London, looking for work, working on my portfolio/book. The economy sucks right now, and with the whole fact that 70% of advertising jobs go unadvertised (go figure) it makes it really hard to find work for a creative who isn't part of the "design culture" of a city. But I'll keep going. Hopefully I find something/anything soon.

London Towne

I'm in London, at last. The last 3 months organising Visa's and such like, and now I'm finally hereI arrived on Saturday the 8th of November, and have as yet only done 1 day of freelance design work (for a company called Velvet). But so far so good.

I had told myself that I wasnt going to do the whole touristy thing, but really its hard to avoid. The pic above is what seems to be a Shepherd Fairley poster that I past on my way to my interview in Battersea. I'm not sure if its the real deal or not (and I suppose it doesnt really mean much to people who pass stuff like that all the time), but I was quite chuffed. Especially since (via the interwebs) I hear the Smithsonian Institute is planning on buying Fairley's portrait of US President Elect Mr Obama, for $75,000.00. Thats pretty awesome.

I did manage to let my batteries run flat on the one day I happened across a SpaceInvader tile installation (near Westminster Bridge) whilst sightseeing with fellow South Africans Tammy and Jason (dunno what their surnames are), but oh well, I'll take a pic of it soon enough.

Anyway London is awesome so far, and I look forward to meeting tonnes of people.

I came across this quote on ffffound, and although (due to it being on ffffound) everyone has probably seen it, it struck such a chord with me, that I just had to re-post it. And along with this one, I found another great quote, via WikiQuote.

"Is graffiti art or vandalism? That word has a lot of negative connotations and it alienates people, so no, I don't like to use the word 'art' at all" Banksy

Moar Post-its

My last post was of the idea of doing a varnished Post-it Bird... well heres the result (the first atempt anyway) It lasted all of one day before passers-by started vandalizing it. how dare they (hehehehe kidding). I quite like the weathered look though.
I must say I prefer it from a distance more than up close. The whole point of the project is: "Aiming to bring a childlike admiration and appreciation back into the hearts of Durbanites, Durban really is a beautiful city, if only people would take the time to notice."
Right/Ctrl click on the above images and view, to see larger sizes.
And here is what my agency (Modern Museum Communication) gets up to along the same lines when the power goes out, in the comfort of our own agency.

LLLLOST & Post-it Birdy

Firstly, this is a most sincere request to anyone to happens to cross paths with my blog, and is in possession of a ffffound account, from which they can invite me. I love ffffound and am llllost without an account. Please ... please find it in your graphically orientated hearts to invite me.

Anyway... The above image is a mild excursion into urban/street pixel art that I found myself doing to pass the time during a power outage at work. The idea is that I will create roughly 8x8 images with Post-Its then varnish/wheat-paste them in place. So far all I've done is the above experiment on a piece of found wood. But, urban canvas here I come. Inspired by boredom and space-invaders.
[image from my flickr]

UPADTE:


After making the above half of the post, I was browsing ffffound, and came across the red pixel image above. Its a silk screened poster available at Hybrid-Home. I thought it was cool, and relevant, so added it to my post.
[via ffffound: Apartment Therapy : Hybrid-Home]

On the walls of Beijing

Photographed on the streets of Beijing, I really really like it...alot! "chinoiserie meets militarism" via LCerre at 2 or 3 things I know.

Youngna Park Photography

Some flipping brilliant photography by New York based photographer Youngna Park, I particularly liked the images from her "street" category. I think its the urban/neutral feel that they have, coupled with the bright swatches of colour, makes for great photos.
via A cup of Jo. via Ali Loves Curtis although they liked a different pic, from the "light" category.

It Struck a cord.

I came across this image whilst browsing through flickr. And all I can say, is that it struck a cord. Photo by Violaceousdaisy

Visual Activism

This is a poster campaign I'm doing as part of my Btech (4th year/degree show) in Graphic Design, specializing in Visual Activism and the role of graphic design in the communication of Public Service Announcements and constructive social commentaries. Uploaded at Flicker.

This one is stuck up on Botanic Gardens Rd. Durban, South Africa.

Roadsworth Tour de France

"The grey area between graffiti and vandalism is more than theoretical for Roadsworth: his controversial street images have turned pavements in politics in the city of Montreal and rekindled debate about the nature of public art." Lost O

Peter Gibson, the man behind the Roadsworth graffiti identity, began taking to the streets of Montreal in late 2001, spray-painting cyclist symbols on the roads to protest the lack of bike lanes and paths in the city. Gradually his street images have developed into increasingly symbolic displays of civic and environmental critique.

"pedestrian crossings on the Plateau Mont-Royal turned giant footprints; orange stencils of barbed wire lined crosswalks; heart monitor-like spikes and valleys punctuated centerlines on roadways." Lost O

His most recent being a flock of birds road installation on the UK leg of the Tour de France as seen above. Noticed first at Wooster Collective.

The Willowz, Jubilee

Light writing seems to be making more and more of a show all over the place they especially cant get enough of it at the Wooster Collective (a showcase of all things street art). This music video is a really cool example of light writing in effect. I especially like it when its used subtly.... as in the beginning in of this video. (the water scene). Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The band: The Willowz
The song: "Jubilee"
The label: Dim Mak
The director(s): Toben Seymour

Pixelator project

"Pixelator is a piece of work by artist Jason Eppink, masking Subway entrance ads in New York and converting them into 45 glowing squares of colour. Probably the most tasteful anti-capitalist graffiti you’ll ever see." via Its Nice That
Go to his website (www.jasoneppink.com) to view a video of the installation process, as well as a "How to" guide.