Postmodernism Film Is Clarifying

Postmodernism is one of those slippery terms to define. Want some clarification? Check this film out to coincide with the exhibition. Superb.

More information here.

Ralph Fiennes Coriolanus Looks Gargantuan

Ralph Fiennes directorial debut - Coriolanus - looks truly epic. A modern retelling of the Shakespearean work, Fiennes stars and leads a strong UK cast.

Comes out Christmas day. Looks incredible.

Learn To Make Coffee At Intelligentsia

Espresso, Intelligentsia from The D4D on Vimeo.

As you may or may not know, I am a licensed barista. That's right, I can make coffee anywhere in the world. Not just filters, but full on espresso (notice there is no X in the word espresso), cappuccino, and the best froth you can get. I don't like to brag, but I'll brag on my froth.

Anyway, the superb Department of the 4th Dimension - the premier short makers - has created a stunning set of shorts for exemplary coffeehouse Intelligentsia. And they are fantastic.

Check out the whole series here.

Gorgeous.

RRL By Ralph Lauren Is Nothing But Spectacular

I've long be a fan of turn of the century mugshots and stereoscopic photographs. Their atmosphere was deliberately evoked in my XTRMNTR series a couple years ago.

Ralph Lauren has released a lookbook for their RRL line, and the photographs are spectacular. Directly referencing to the work of early documentarian photographers, Lauren has created a legitimate collection of images, as stirring as any produced recently.

Additionally the site that supports the line is also a must see. Find the entire series RRL here. Find my XTRMNTR series here.

Simply brilliant.

MVOTW: "Lions In Cages" by Wolf Gang

As I've discussed many times, I have a deep love of music videos. I believe that they are an art form unto themselves, though unappreciated and now without their former cultural impact. In their first 20 years (1982-2002) they were a dramatic influence on our culture, and their release dates were true events, as large as single releases or album debuts. You would stay up until the late hours to watch a new video (and if it was significant enough it would be played every hour on the hour - like every Guns N Roses video released from the now 20 year old Use Your Illusion albums), you might even stay home from school to be there for this event.

Now of course music videos are kind of a novelty, a mostly non-essential entity shot to specifically appease interested band members, with the decidedly disposable outlet of YouTube or Vimeo. And with the proliferation of inexpensive video equipment and editing software, virtually anyone can make a music video at any time.

That being said, I still love them. To me they hold a power unlike any other art form. As I've discussed previously, they hit me at a very young age and their magic continues to inspire me. And the odd thing is that while the "golden age" of the music video has cleared passed, some interesting and strong work has continued to be produced.

With that in mind, I bring you the Music Video of the Week: Lions In Cages by Wolf Gang. This video is a classic example of taking a song that is solid/good, and elevating it through the unique power of the visual. And it's brilliant, and beautiful, and hits you in the chest, and you don't even really know why. And that is why the music video is an art form, one that will continue to resonate.

Enjoy.

Sadly Epic Space Oddity Becomes Beautiful Kid's Book

Illustrator Andrew Kolb decided to create a children's book for David Bowie's immortal song Space Oddity. Rendered in the style of a classic Golden Book, the lovingly crafted images tell the story of lost astronaut Major Tom. And it's brilliant.

Take a look at the book and Andrew Kolb's other amazing work here.

New TIMSPEAKER.COM Is Finally Active

After several weeks of work, the new timspeaker.com site is up, featuring much new work. The site is not fully populated yet, but I will continue to add material as I finish preparing it. Virtually all of the Art galleries are up and functioning, but the Design galleries might take awhile as I track down old files and projects. Too much moving around the country tends to cause items to disappear over time.

Big thanks to Jivan Dave (of the illustrious and aforementioned Crave Collective) for his assistance in helping get my feet wet with Cargo. Check out his killer new site here.

In the meantime, please visit the new and improved timspeaker.com.

Polaroid Comeback Gets A Lift

The life, death, and resurrection of the Polaroid brand has been well documented and lamented in the last couple years, especially by me. After the good people at the Impossible Project took the first tentative steps to saving the original Polaroid process, the company that started it all is potentially poised to make a comeback. The first step towards that comeback is the introduction of their first new production line, instant film camera - the PIC 1000.

My deep love of the Polaroid line goes way back, and they are the company I would most like to work for in terms of product development as well as marketing and branding. It seems that due to poor leadership, a distinct lack of understanding has developed towards their audience. Their customers are like me - artists/designers/nostalgics/young creatives/etc. who are absolutely enthralled with everything about the traditional Polaroid experience - the noise the shutter makes, the white border format, the time it takes to develop, the incredibly beautiful saturation of the images it so magically produces. For a long time (and even now) the people running Polaroid don't seem to having any understanding of this, and attempt to "update" the brand for a contemporary, digital audience by producing homogeneous/boring/indistinguishable products through a pixel-based medium.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to go out and buy a Polaroid digital that doesn't offer any of the sentimentality or fun - fun is a term that Polaroid exclusively owns in the photography business - of the original brand. Nobody. Their is no appeal in it. Even when they attempt to combine new, digital technology with the instant photo print template, they screw it up. The evidence of this is the new Polaroid Insta-Print. Had they sought to replicate the inherit charms of the original Polaroid experience - those instantly recognizable white borders, the autumnal colour, the unmistakable Polaroid flash lighting - people might respond to the product. These descriptors are for all intents and purposes the Polaroid brand - these are the real assets of the company itself. Instead, the camera produces bland, printed-at-Walgreens, completely-devoid of personality "shots". And nobody, nobody buys a Polaroid product to engage in a meaningless, boring, anonymous activity.

So that leads us to the PIC 1000. It seems that someone at Polaroid has at least a little understanding of their audience by creating a Polaroid product that:

A. Looks and feels familiar to the user and
B. Actually embraces the retro appeal and enjoyment of the original.

The all silver plastic version is OK, but the wood grain version is awesome, such a big step in the right direction. It is clearly related to the late 70's, early 80's SX-70 Series models that didn't have a hinge to flip open, but were always ready to shoot.

No word yet on when film will go into production, but at least these prototypes show some rudimentary understanding of their audience. I can't find a release date on the PIC 1000 but I know that I will be the first in line to try to pick one up.

Watch the Brilliant Evan Hecox Work

Evan Hecox from Incase on Vimeo.

Everything about this film - from the music, cinematography, lighting, music, set-ups, and of course the featured artist - is fantastic. If you aren't familiar with the work of Evan Hecox, you should be, because his work is totally amazing. This film gives you the opportunity to watch him work from beginning to end. Like me, he is part trad fine artist, part designer, part illustrator, part printmaker. Killer.

PS - Thanks Kitsune Noir (fantastic in it's own right) for the heads up.

Even More New Work

Been rocking the studio of late. Here is Mau Vais Sang.

Enjoy.

Sleevage Breaks Down Years Of Refusal Cover Art

Sleevage is an awesome blog devoted to album cover art that I read very often. Recently they broke down the newly iconic Years of Refusal cover by Morrissey. Great stuff. Take a look here.

The 100 Show Opens Next Friday At The Art Bomb

Next Friday night - it is a First Friday event night - the 100 Show will open at the Art Bomb. Lots and lots of work for sale, everything under one hundred dollars. So stop into 1320 Pendleton St. on Friday night, December 4th and support some local artists. And maybe buy some Christmas presents too.

Instax Shots from Atlanta and the Twin Cities

Recently I went to Minneapolis/St. Paul for a wedding, and took my new Fuji Instax Instant Camera. Over on my Flickr page I have posted some of those shots.

Enjoy.

Paperworks Laboratories Bring Cool People Together

Paperworks Laboratories is a great print collective which features Robert Pollard (yes, that Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices) as well as some other great artists.

Check out the work of The Mac (his piece is at left) and others, here.

New Banksy Show Predictably Making Waves

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One of the true contemporary art stars, Banksy, is having a massive exhibit of his new work in Bristol, UK. As you probably already know, he does not usually show in museums, making this a very big deal. Watch the video for more.

More here.

Chris Seddon Illustration is Beautiful

Young British illustrator Chris Seddon has a bunch of excellent work in his portfolio. It's all quite strong, but I especially enjoy the work under the "personal" tab - the ironic usage of typography dramatically alters the message of the imagery. Check it out here. Enjoy.

Animated GIF Drawings Are Awesome

This is by some French artist I found, but I don't even know his name. Awesome.

StudioKxx Rokxx

StudioKxx has some really great stuff on it. Check it out here.

Penguin Cover Design Does It Again

OK, I love these in every conceivable way. They are beautiful, obscure, and feature excellent hand type. And you really can't go wrong with Kafka. Fin.

Cool Logo

I don't know what this group is, other than the logo is cool!