Carry Hope: Geoff McFetridge for Gabriella Charter School

Geoff McFetridge is an artist based in Los Angeles, California. He was part of the most recent “Beautiful Losers” exhibition, and has had solo exhibitions everywhere from Los Angeles to Japan. McFetridge has won awards from the Art Directors Club and I.D. for his student work in graphic design, and from 1996 to 1998 he was art director of the Beastie Boys’ underground magazine Grand Royal. He then founded the design studio Champion Graphics, with which he has worked for numerous clients while still pursuing independent projects as an artist.

 

 

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THE CAUSE 

“I have been teaching art and graphics on a volunteer basis and doing graphics for the Gabriella Charter School here in L.A. (Echo Park) for the past year. The Gabriella Axelrad Foundation was started by Liza Bercovici when her daughter was tragically killed in a car accident. She loved to dance, so Liza created a dance school in her honor. With the after-school dance program, she brought dance to hundreds of inner-city kids. From this successful program, she started the charter school. Each day, the kids dance. For those who have very little, it is amazing for them to participate in art every day. Working with them has been really rewarding for me, it has created a direct connection between my studio and the kids in my neighborhood.”

 

THE CONCEPT 

“I enjoy drawing wristwatches and hands and feet. I feel that a watch projects a feeling of seriousness that is nice to play with. The watch and the soft hands are also very classically surreal. When doing a simple drawing I feel that the content has to be quite striking for the simplicity to work. Each element in these drawings I do has to carry some visual weight. Originally, I was thinking of a drawing I did of a girl dancing with a watch. In this drawing, I made the watch sort of passed out—unconscious. It has been a long day for this watch.”

 

See the complete set at My Design Shop. There are only 25 of each design, and they all come with a handmade hang tag and are individually numbered. All proceeds will go to the charity that the designer has chosen.

 

 

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