If You Don't Read This, I'll Kill The Dog
by Steven Heller
"Making people laugh is the lowest form of humor," said Michael O'Donoghue, one of the wits behind The National Lampoon (and a substitute English teacher at my high school). But making people laugh hysterically was the goal and success of The National Lampoon, which picked up for Baby Boomers where MAD magazine left off. Now a insightful and entertaining new book chronicling the Lampoon titled Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Writers and Artists Who Made the Lampoon Insanely Great by Rick Meyerowitz provides the first in depth look at the art of Lampoon art and art direction....
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Gastrotypographicalassemblage
by Steven Heller
The Gastrotypographicalassemblage (a real mouthful) was the 11 metre wide handmade wooden typographic wall that hung in the CBS cafeteria in New York designed by Lou Dorfsman, with custom type created by Herb LubalinTom Carnase and containing almost 1500 individual characters. "There are few pieces that represent the typographic and design spirit that illuminated that moment of history, and certainly none on a scale as ambitious," said Milton Glaser....
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Let the Rally Wars Begin
by Steven Heller
Rally round the rallies boys, rally round the rallies. Shouting the battle cry of freedom. What else can we say? Here's the latest salvo in the battle of wits and rally provocateurs (in their own words) from the left and right, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert (see them here): "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
Who among us has not wanted to open their window and shout that at the top of their lungs?
Seriously, who?...
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A Helluva Dante
by Steven Heller
Dante’s hell is Chwast’s heaven. Imagery flows from him like blood from a freshly opened vein. Chwast's deceivingly child-like scrawls are packed with inherent wit. In this adaptation, a noir-ish Dick Tracyesque, trench-coat wearing, pipe smoking Dante treks through the Inferno, Purgatory and ultimately Paradise, led by the mustachioed Virgil in a bowler hat, spats and carrying a walking stick. Along the way he encounters the evil minotaur (in a wrestling suit) guarding the ravine of broken rocks; the well endowed centaurs guarding the Boiling Blood River; and the teeming masses of serpents attacking the sinners....
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The School of Rap
by Steven Heller
MTV-U is the best place to see and hear the latest hip hop music videos. In fact, it is like the AIGA of hip hop. Really, Mr. Koolpants? Yes Really, Mr. and Mrs. America! Because videos have become the 21st century graphic design (in a way). And music vidz, which have gotten less air time on the main, game and reality besotted MTV, are still featured content on MTV2 and this website. It just so happens that my son, a music video director, has a piece competing on the Freshmen MTV-U....
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59 Posters That Shook The World
by Steven Heller
English-born David King is an artist, designer, editor, photographer, photo historian and archivist, who has been described as “one of the most significant artistic-intellectual personalities of our time.” He also has a gallery dedicated to his rotating collection of Russian revolutionary and avant garde posters at the Tate Modern, London. Its good to be King. This October, Cleveland-based Productive Arts gallery will exhibit (and sell) King’s graphic art and designs, primarily the political and cultural posters and graphics he produced in the late 1970s and mid 1980s...
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Up Against the Wall
by Steven Heller
Paula Scher’s recent mural, large-scale typographic map paintings, examines ideas of location and ways of seeing the world. Her pair of murals at Queens Metropolitan Campus, a new public middle school and high school in Forest Hills, were completed last week as a commission for the Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art program, in partnership with the NYC School Construction Authority Public Art for Public Schools program. Pentagram notes: “The two murals are located in an atrium and commons at the Metropolitan Campus and each cover approximately 2,430 square feet."...
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Sock It To Me!
by Steven Heller
There is nothing (well, almost nothing) more pleasurable than a fine pair of socks. I am a sucker for striped multi-colored socks (or shall I say socker). So whenever I find a pair I like I wear them until they wear out, and then wear them some more. I was recently presented with a few pair of socks by Office Weiderholt (OW), which describes itself as follows: OW is a seamless Ameba-Unit which started spreading all over the world in 2007. Phototgrapher/Filmmaker Sven Wiederholt is Czar of this unit. His members are located all over the world, places such as Germany, Japan, Nigeria, Finland, US and are ready for the next project....
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In Praise of Tolerance
by Steven Heller
From the Sparrow Media Project comes this symbol of tolerance. And to fight xenophobia and and promote good will, 50% of the profits from this shirt will benefit victims of hate crimes. The Sparrow Media Project identifies and promotes projects by people who are experimenting with possibilities for social change, "through arts, activism, education, subversion, and song," says Andy Stepanian, director. "We aim to educate others as to the beauty that is all around us, to the beautiful fire that sits inside all of us and to get involved and stay involved with whatever sparks that fire inside of you."...
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Sad ironies
by Steven Heller
Today is the 9th anniversary of 9.11. We all remember it in different ways. Each year I vividly recall that crisp September morning with horror and sorrow. I can still smell the acrid air and see the dark downtown clouds. But I also think of the various ironies surrounding the event, like these two advertisements created years before, when the World Trade Center was touted as a monument to architectural innovation....
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The Paper War Against AIDS
by Steven Heller
Twenty-five years ago the HIV/AIDS virus began killing thousands and infecting hundreds of thousands more. Although the western world was hit unaware, the disease had been coursing through the third world’s bloodstream for years before. When Europe and the Americas were directly impacted, however, curative and preventative measures were gradually instituted and awareness began. Even in this hyper media, information saturated age, printed pieces of paper continue to influence and inspire, incite and inform. Anyone who says this is hyperbole should look closely at Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Awareness Posters 1985-2010 at MassArt (Massachusetts College of Art and Design....
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You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby
by Steven Heller
Some people prefer the Stones, others the Beatles. Some prefer the Yanks, others the Mets. Some prefer Letterman, others Leno. And some prefer The Twilight Zone, others The Outer Limits. For me, The Twilight Zone remains the sina qua non of the sci-fi/social commentary genre yet from time to time I watch The Outer Limits to clear my head of excess metaphor and allegory. Outer Limits was not as well written or acted or directed, although the title sequence is just as good. Its monsters were even better....
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