fish armada

the robocops of fish


fish fish fish armada by ~yokotei on deviantART

smoke smoke smoke

Der Raucher Kultur by ~yokotei on deviantART


Rauch frei by ~yokotei on deviantART

Freshman Lecture Review

this week - H. John Thompson

Things I liked:
1. There is no set definition and medium for 'a drawing'. Thompson's work is not confined to pencil and paper, in fact, his definition of drawings were small scale and very polished looking studies of architectural elements, in materials that imitate their real life counterparts.
2. It's okay to live in your parents' basement. or in his case, the basement of his grandfather's bakery. While he does work inside his studio just as often as he works outside, he has a really nice setup, perfect for his work ethic and storage needs. The collection of oddly-scaled chairs are interesting and cute as a source of inspiration.

3. Draught Horses are amazing and intense creatures. Thompson's work inspired by draught horses and decide 'found' objects ( the old truck he disassembled) is very strong conceptually and visually - the way the finished piece took up almost the whole gallery space at Uarts, just communicated the dominating presence like that which he described in his encounter with the horses.

"And that's when the turkeys showed up."

face smoosh face

facefaceface by ~yokotei on deviantART
scanner face is a happy face.

Why, Gap, Why???

Gap changed its logo. and it looks like crap.

Prior to this watching parts of Helvetica (the movie) in class, I didn't have a problem with the font, and I still don't. But in the case of this logo (which affects me personally, because i have a part time job at a gap subsidiary) it looks like crap. The old logo felt very mature and respectable, actually reflecting the characteristics for which the clothing brand is appreciated, but this is just so neutral and pales in comparison.
if they had at least gone with a look more reminiscent of the first gap's storefront, it wouldn't be awful. at least that looks modern. Again, in comparison, the helvetica looks tired.(photo courtesy Carnesaurus on Flickr)
And why the tiny gradiated square? It looks shy and uncomfortable in that corner

Single Shots of Wisdom from Derek Sivvers

Our assignment this week was to watch a TED talk and review/ share our thoughts about it. After wasting dutifully viewing a handful of videos for about an hour, I settled on the short but inspiring talks but Derek Sivvers. He seems like a cool guy – started his own record company by accident – and upon further research I found that he also has a blog of inspiring stories and lessons, some of which are based on his TED talks.

His three talks, “Weird, or Just Different?”, “How to Start a Movement”, and are all based partly on conventional wisdoms, partly on personal observation, and a little bit on a ‘recent study’.

His first speech, “Weird, or Just Different?”, not only educated me on the street system used in Japan (did you know they name their blocks, rather than their streets?) but emphasized the importance of being open to information that challenges that to which you may be accustomed; in other words, “whatever you learn somewhere, it might be the opposite somewhere else”.

“How to Start a Movement” was actually quite entertaining – after initially watching the TED talk, I found it on Sivvers’ personal website and viewed the narrated version of the video, which features a shirtless dancing guy. Sivvers emphasizes that while he will be named the leader, and remembered as ‘beginning’ the giant dancing crowd that forms around him, his true functions are: A) to inspire a single individual, who becomes the ‘follow’, and B) to nurture that ‘follower’ by encouraging them in their fellowship

It’s just plain funny, but still has enough going on to have substance.

“Keep Your Goals to Yourself” is kind of self explanatory – Using findings from ‘recent psychology tests’ (quotation marks because anything citing a recent study really needs better citations) and the 20^th century writings and findings of several psychologists, including Peter Gollwitzer, who conducted the recent tests (Qualifier! Eh? Ehhh?) Sivvers explains that you shouldn’t share your goals, and “if you do need to talk about something, you can state it in a way that gives you no satisfaction”. I have definitely been having this problem lately with class, between procrastinating and general time management failure. So quit asking me what I plan on doing for my next piece :P

In other news, now that I’m aware of it, I’ve been seeing TED talks everywhere on the Internet. Mrs Q. posted the cutest Texan kid talking about organic food here, and the hilarious but offensive LATFH.com called out this mutton-chopped robotics engineer here.

Freshman Lecture Review

This Week: Douglas Bucci, who hangs out/teaches in the metals department here at Tyler.

1. He's accesible. One of the reasons I chose to attend Tyler is for the jewelry/metals/cad/cam program: I attended a small metals and jewelry making class at Moore College for two consecutive summers, and was smitten with the idea of all the new and shiny 'toys' in this department. While i haven't done any serious metalwork in a while, I'm still quite enamor with the idea of taking a jewelry class here at Tyler. now that he's been introduced, i feel that Doug will be more approachable.
his work itself is also accessible, both the commercial (which is easily identifiable, even for a shut-in like myself) and personal (which caters to a more specific audience, but is very relatable).
2. embracing discomfort. i've noticed in my own experience - being dissatisfied with your work means that you are doing something right. this is not to be confused with doing something at the last minute and 'settling' for the result ( something of which I've been guilty on recent occasion). It's bizarrely comforting to know that this is the way a professional perceives things as well. and he also drew a line between comfort and discomfort - putting his family first, being in Philadelphia, all while pushing himself to do more artistically.
3. his work is truly personal, without becoming static. The pieces he makes focus on a central theme in his life - his dealing with Diabetes. So they're all connected in that way, but especially with the printed pieces he's produced most recently, are complimented by the technology he's exploring.

No Lecture Next Week? No Review Next Week