Valet.
October 20, 2008 | Categories: Blogs / Clothing / Design

Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing a lot of shopping and I’ve visited some pretty cool new spaces, so my brain has been filled with a lot of beautiful ideas. I’ve also recently come across a blog called Valet., and online magazine of sorts, that embodies a lot of the things I’ve been thinking about lately. Basically, I have a bit of blog envy. They have a clean, crisp layout, post about stuff rather regularly, and write in a helpful and easy going tone.

Definitely pay them a visit, especially if you’re looking to keep yourself looking good in all aspects.

Bobby

Meg Hunt
October 15, 2008 | Categories: Art / Design / Illustration

My good friend Bern sent me a link to Meg Hunt’s work the other day, an illustrator from Phoenix, Arizona who has a really fun and colorful style. She’s one of those people who’s style seems very seamless, like she didn’t even have to try to make her drawings look so good. I’m also smitten with her choice of colors, and I love that she throws so many textures into her work as well. I’d love to get a print of her’s as well, but sadly her Etsy store is out of stuff for now :(

Check out her llamas and the rest of her work by clicking here.

Bobby

The Toyota iQ
October 14, 2008 | Categories: Design / Transportation

It feels like forever since I’ve posted about a car I really love, but nothing has really struck me as of late. I’m also not a big fan of overly weird or stylized cars, I just want a car that actually works and is amazing because of not only it’s looks, but it’s functionality as well. So when I spotted the new Toyota IQ over on Wired the other day, I knew right away I needed to write about it.

First off, it’s small. Nothing bothers me more than people driving giant, obnoxious cars and trucks that they don’t need. This car is aimed at young urbanites, but when it gets 56 miles to the gallon, I could image a whole lot of people wanting this little guy, especially in our current economic climate. It’s also been precisely crafted, from the placement of gas tank to the shape of the dashboard, so that the inside feels a lot bigger than it is.

Second, Toyota needs to get Scion back into it’s once A-game, and offering something like this, in the price of range of less than $15k, just might do it. With people trying to save money in any way they can, having a smart and fun compact car that saves them money just might do the trick. I personally would buy one of these puppies in a heart beat, I think the shape is certainly intruiging, especially the back end. I’m also a fan of the wide stance the tires have, something that’s similar in shape to the Mini.

Sign me up!

Bobby

Graphic Thought Facility
October 14, 2008 | Categories: Design

I feel like environmental graphics can often be overlooked, which is pretty stupid because if anything it helps us all get to where we want to be easier. A perfect example of this is the folks over at Graphic Thought Facility. For the West London Academy they created these incredibly simple graphics that clearly illustrate exactly what kind of room you’re about to walk into. These graphics combined with the bright colors they’re placed on make for a stunning combination, that not only informs, but beautifies at the same time.

These graphics are from 2006, and since then GTF has been quite busy, so be sure to check out the rest of their work as well, especially their marketing campaign for Frieze Art Fair and their beautiful mail-order catalogues for Antoni And Alison.

Bobby

DOT MATRIX REVOLUTION* by superbrothers
October 14, 2008 | Categories: Design / Illustration / Music Video

Earlier today I came across the pixel animations of superbrothers, the alias of Craig Adams, a genius when it comes to small blocks of color. He does really great pixel drawings for a lot of big clients, but it’s really his animations that are so cool, like the one above titled DOT MATRIX REVOLUTION*. The video features two computer engineers checking their vintage electronic equipment, when suddenly they “throw down” in a dance off that spans from 1951 up to today! The computers in the video look great, and the computer engineers dancing is hysterical, so watch it and see what I mean!

Found through one strange morning

Bobby

Megapuss / Surfing, Featuring Artwork by Travis Millard and Mel Kadel
October 14, 2008 | Categories: Art / Design / Illustration / Los Angeles / Music


Crop Circle Jerk ‘94 by Megapuss


To The Love Within by Megapuss


Surfing by Megapuss

When it comes to Devendra Banhart, I feel like you love him or you hate him. Some folks think he’s too weird while others think he’s too weird to be folk. Personally, I have a soft spot for him, his songs are always immaculately crafted and even though they may be a little odd sometimes, who else is making music like this?

So I was rather excited to hear that his awesome side project, Megapuss, was becoming a real project with a real album. I had the great pleasure of seeing Megapuss perform at The Hammer, performing along with a rotating slideshow of Lauren Dukoff’s photographs. The band was hysterical, the songs were a little rusty, but you could definitely see the potential in it. The band is made up of Devendra and Greg Rogove from Priestbird, and together they’ve probably made one of my favorite albums of the year.

The album sounds like a Devendra Banhart album for the most part, but instead of his usual “psych folk” sound, it’s more like psych surf, somewhere between a hippie love in and The Beach Boys. Every song is pretty eclectic, like Duck People Duck Man, about, well… duck people. But behind this trippy spoken word piece is a beautiful song, you just have to listen for it. There’s also the most rocking gay anthem I’ve ever heard, Adam & Steve, which even features a George Michael jam, backed by some bad ass drums. Nonetheless, this album is really easy to listen to, I’ve already gotten several people hooked on it.

Another sweet detail to this album is that the artwork was done by one of the most creative couples out there right now, Travis Millard and Mel Kadel. As it turns out, Devendra and Greg were recording the Megapuss album next door to Travis and Mel, and they happened to meet at the mailbox one day. They got to talking, and the next thing you know, they’ve made an amazing booklet of art. Travis was nice enough to send me some large images from the booklet, as well as some outtakes from it as well that weren’t used.

Everything is under the cut, another 18 images in addition to the ones you see above, so be sure to check those out. And I should probably warn everyone that there are some cartoon dicks and fighting and gore on the photos, so if you work in a church or for Sarah Palin’s advisory committee, you might want to be careful.

You can currently buy the album digitally on iTunes for $9.99, but the physical album doesn’t drop until November 4th, so be sure to mark your calenders, this is truly a gem of an album.

Keep reading Megapuss / Surfing, Featuring Artwork by Travis Millard and Mel Kadel…

Obama Letterpress Print by Dan Funderburgh
October 8, 2008 | Categories: Art / Design / Politics

I’m an adamant supporter of both Barack Obama and Dan Funderburgh, so when you combine the two it’s almost like waking up on X-Mas morning! Dan, along with Dylan Fareed over at I Am Still Alive, have teamed up to create another amazing poster called Census. The poster features all sorts of patriotic bits and bobs arranged in a way that only someone like Dan Funderburgh can do.

Most importantly, ALL proceeds go are being donated straight to the Obama campaign, so if you’re like me, this is a great deal on both ends. The prints measure 13 x 20″, and are only $30, which is an amazing deal for such an awesome print and an amazing cause. Click here to order one!

Bobby

Faesthetic #9 / The UFO Issue
October 1, 2008 | Categories: Art / Design / Illustration / Magazine

Faesthetic #9 dropped last week, and man, it’s a beauty. The theme of this issue is UFO’s, something that scared the shit outta’ me when I was a little kid, so I have this sort of masochistic love for it. As you can see in the top photo there’s and AMAZING cover by MARS-1 (he did the back cover as well) and features over 25 artists including:

Mark Pilkington & Prate™ Computer Channel , Rachel Gottesman, Julia Heglund, Gluekit, Paul Sahre, Mark Rubenstein, Arbito, Blonde vs Brown, Garrett Vander Leun, Adam White, James Unwin, PEAP, Jan Kallwejt, Joel Speasmaker, Sam Gilbey, Daniel Cantrell, Think Faest with Brian Roettinger by Forest, Joe Van Wetering, SnakeHawk, Joshua Agerstrand, John Solimine, Adam Cruickshank, Zeroten, Matt Curry, The Artists Guide to UFO’s, Becca Kacand & Thomas De Santis.

There’s one name in there that’s really close to me that I wanted to showcase as well. His name is Garrett Vander Leun, and he’s my roommate and best friend of 18 years. He did the other piece above called Fight Back, which features a little boy who’s sick of the probing and ends up kicking some alien ass, leaving quite a mess behind. Expect to see more of Garrett’s work in the Kitusne Noir universe and the larger art community as well!

You can get more info about the new issue of Faesthetic here, or to order it directly just click here.

Bobby

Music Video for Bjorn Svin’s Modular Noia
September 29, 2008 | Categories: Design / Music Video

Lately when I design things for the web I think about the idea of flat vs. textured. Seeing as how the only way you’ll see these graphics is on a flat computer screen, do we really need to make “texture”? But then again, texture can bring a sense of real-ness to a 2D image that can sometimes make something feel more real. Well, the video above definitely gives a little weight behind the idea of only using flat graphics.

The image above is from a music video for Bjorn Svin created by Niels Fyrst called Modular Noia. The song is a lot of random blips and beeps, but is brought to life through the use of multi-colored squares and circles flying in and out of the screen. Sometimes there’s some logic in the movement of the shapes, other times it just seems realllly random, but nonetheless it looks great. Click the link above to check out the entire video!

Bobby

Off-Register at Little Bird Gallery
September 26, 2008 | Categories: Art / Design / Illustration / Los Angeles

There’s quite a few galleries here in Los Angeles, so I’d imagine getting noticed could be somewhat difficult. Or you could do what Little Bird does and have a big group show with basically the best artists and designers out there. The show’s called Off-Register and features Geoff McFetridge, Steven Harrington, Andy Mueller, Cody Hudson, Mike Perry, Evan Hecox, Todd St. John, Justin Fines, Grotesk, and a ton more people. The show is all about screen printed posters, so it should be quite a treat.

Off-Register opens tomorrow night, from 7 to 11 pm, and runs until October 7th. I would suggest coming out to this opening though, I’m sure many of the artists will be hanging out, and they’re all particularly nice.

Bobby