Author: Don

/ Don

NYC Subway Art Collages

Nearly all subway stations have inlays in the tiled walls for advertising. For over a century, these inlays have been plastered with wheat-paste and posters were rolled on top, only to be shredded off, re-plastered, re-rolled, and re-shredded, again and again. The resulting collage of color in this accidental artwork is often quite compelling.

Over the last decade, whenever I encountered one I really enjoyed, I snapped a photo. Mostly, I just put these on my Flickr “Textures” gallery, or temporarily use it as the wallpaper on my phone. But recently, I’ve been thinking of printing/framing some of them and hanging them in my apartment or giving them to friends as gifts. What do you think? Leave a comment below or drop me a line if you’re interested.

Other [d]online “Art Collage” Posts:
January 24, 2009 — NYC Subway Art Collages
November 5, 2018 — NYC Wall Art Collages

/ Don

David Zinn, Chalk Street Art

Michigan illustrator David Zinn has brightened the streets of Ann Arbor with his off-the-wall (or technically on-the-wall) chalk drawings since 1987. The artist works with chalk or charcoal to create site-specific artworks that usually incorporate surrounding features like cracks, street infrastructure, or found objects. Over the years he’s developed a regular cast of recurring characters including a bright green monster named Sluggo and a “phlegmatic flying pig” named Philomena.

Many of Zinn’s artworks are available as archival prints, and he recently published a new book titled Temporary Preserves. You can follow his almost daily street chalk adventures on Instagram and Facebook.

(via Colossal)

/ Don

“Cubes,” by Lernert & Sander

“Cubes,” by Lernert & Sander
“Cubes,” by Lernert & Sander
“Cubes,” by Lernert & Sander
“Cubes,” by Lernert & Sander

The idea for Cubes came to the Dutch artists, Lernert & Sander, when newspaper de Volkskrant commissioned them to take a photo for a food-related feature. The only guidance the newspaper gave was that the work had to be tied to food. But, “food is an overwhelming subject,” Lernert said. “You can go so many different ways. How can you photograph something when you can’t decide?” So they did the only thing that could be done: make all of the food seem equally important by cutting everything into uniform pieces, he said.

As for the rationale behind which food they chose to use for the cubes? That was determined by what they could find in local grocery stores and shops. And the foods couldn’t be processed, at least in the traditional sense. “We realized that if you cut up everything, it has this nastiness of everything becoming processed,” explained Lernert. “That’s the inside story.”

(via bonappetit.com)

Category: Pix
/ Don

Copies of a Copy

In 2007, an investment firm hired my studio, ERA404, to design an “Indiana Jones diary” for a global investor, as a unique way of showcasing their findings from a literacy study they conducted. Part of the project was creating a dozen or so original illustrations from his travels. One of the illustrations was of Huckleberry Finn rafting down the Mississippi River. I confess that I borrowed inspiration from an iconic book cover when creating the artwork.

"Huck Finn River" Google Search ResultsA few weeks ago, a friend and colleague pointed my attention to an article on VentureBeat.com which incorporated a cropped version of this illustration. On a whim, I did a Google Image Search, and was able to find that this image has been reproduced, re-cropped, and re-used in 8 pages and 90 links worth of results, making it one of the most frequently returned images in Google searches with the keywords “huck finn river”.

Read more

/ Don

The Herb Ritts Foundation

The Herb Ritts Foundation

This week, my design and development studio, ERA404, launched the new web site for The Herb Ritts Foundation. The press release is below.

Los Angeles—HERBRITTS.com features the largest collection of the late photographer’s work online, while offering the opportunity to explore every aspect of his career.

Dozens of editorial examples, advertising tear sheets, book spreads, and museum installation photos mixed together demonstrate how Ritts’ work embedded itself into popular culture.

In addition to producing portraits and editorial fashion for Vogue, Vanity Fair, Interview and Rolling Stone, Ritts also created successful advertising campaigns for Calvin Klein, Chanel, Donna Karan, Gap, Gianfranco Ferré, Gianni Versace, Giorgio Armani, Levi’s, Pirelli, Polo Ralph Lauren, and Valentino among others.

The site features an interactive timeline of Herb Ritts’ life. For the first time, visitors are able to see examples of Ritts’ directing work including award-winning music videos and commercials. Further insight is offered into the Foundation’s history and mission: to advance the art of photography and support HIV/AIDS causes in a manner that reflects the spirit and values exemplified by Herb Ritts during his lifetime.

Designed and developed by ERA404 Creative Group, the site allows visitors to conduct advanced searches through Ritts’ vast archives and follow the Foundations social media presence.

Herb Ritts’ iconic images have been exhibited in museums worldwide, including hugely popular exhibitions at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

(via ERA404.com)

/ Don

Tattly Uncharted Collection Set

Tattly Uncharted Collection Set - Original Photo

Tattly Uncharted Collection Set – Original Photo
Tattly Uncharted Collection Set – Front of Package
Tattly Uncharted Collection Set – Front and Back
Tattly Uncharted Collection Set – Instagram

Tattly made me (quasi) internet famous.

Tattly Founder/CEO and friend, Tina Roth-Eisenberg, reached out to me over the summer and asked me a strange question. She wanted to know if I played any of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted games and knew of the game’s main character, Nate Drake. You look a bit like him, she said.

With the help of Nic-Annette Miller‘s Art Direction and Ace Boothby‘s photography, you’ll recognize a familiar jawline on the collection packaging.

Get yourself a set from the Tattly shop.