martin creed

I recently had the pleasure of getting a guided tour of Martin Creed's show Open/Closed, Big/Small, Full/Empty, On/Off, at Western Bridge Gallery. Martin Creed's work tends to focus on time-based installations that involve the viewer in the piece. The show at Western Bridge includes Work No. 312, a dark room containing a lamp that flashes on and off automatically, momentarily illuminating gallery patrons before returning them to darkness; as well as a piece consisting of a small dog (a Chihuahua) and a large dog (a Wolf Hound) who are loose in the main exhibition space during gallery hours. Unfortunately I didn't get to experience the latter piece when I was there as the dogs were on break. The highlight of this exhibition is Work No. 360, an installation consisting of a large room filled to the halfway point with silver balloons. Gallery patrons are allowed and even encouraged to interact with this piece. I have to say it was the most fun I've had at an art exhibit in a while. Playing in a room filled with balloons is even more fun than it sounds. My friend snapped a few photos, which I'm including below. I think you can see how much fun I was having.

I know, I know

Once again I've been neglecting Whiskey Tango Fontbook. I swear I had good reason, though. There's been a lot happening in my personal life in the last few months - some good, some bad - but it's all kept me pretty busy. The good news is, I got a job as a designer. Finally! Now that I'm not worried about finding a job, I plan to return to my twice a month posting schedule. Anyway, I'm back. And I've been looking at lots of great art in Seattle, so I have plenty to discuss. Thanks for reading!

sean alexander

I recently had the pleasure of viewing some of Tacoma-based artist Sean Alexander's work at the 5x5 show at Grey Gallery. Sean uses ink, watercolor and graphite on paper to illustrate a slightly surreal world that recalls folk art traditions. His drawings are intricately detailed - the low-res images here don't do them justice - so if you have a chance I highly recommend checking out the show at Grey Gallery. It will be up through June 4th.

lehel kovács

Lehel Kovács is a freelance illustrator based in Budapest. I love his series of illustrations depicting images of 26 cities (one for each letter in the alphabet) as shown in Google Street View. I've been sucked into virtual travel using Google a few times myself, so can appreciate the inspiration.

amber albrecht

Amber Albrecht is a printmaker and illustrator based in Montreal whose silkscreen prints and ink drawings depict beautiful dreamscapes filled with romance and melancholy. From her artist statement:

I portray dream-fueled absurdist situations, which often draw heavily on my cloudy recollection of the storybooks of my childhood, saturated as they were with strange creatures, impossible happenings and oneiric landscapes. These stories created for me a very idiosynchratic [sic] conception of a past-that-never-was, and much of my work is directed toward bringing this past into being.

via Drawn!

olympic fever

I've been completely addicted to watching the Vancouver Olympic Games this past week. I always watch at least a few events (like figure skating and downhill skiing) but this year I've been watching everything NBC deigns to show us. In keeping with this obsession, I thought I'd show some of my favorite designs from Olympics past. My favorite is probably Munich 72 - the now iconic identity system included a massive array of posters, pictograms and signage, all designed by Otl Aicher and team. Every single piece is amazing and you can see a lot of it here. Mexico City 68, designed by Lance Wyman and Eduardo Terrazas, is also great. The op-art poster works as a stand-alone piece, but if you look at the identity as a whole - the icons, signage, posters, etc., I think it's quite striking and really reflects the spirit of the location. I give honorable mention to Montreal 76. The logo is brilliant in its simplicity and I also enjoy some of the posters. You can see posters from just about every Olympics here, and you can see the logo, poster, medal and more for 46 past Olympic games at olympics.org.

Munich 1972
Mexico City 1968
Montreal 1976

alexis anne mackenzie

Alexis Anne Mackenzie is a collage artist based in San Francisco. She composes each piece by hand, using images cut from vintage books. According to her artist statement, her intent "is to portray the world as a flawed thing of beauty - a place that shines brightly, but has a dark side to match." Mission accomplished, I'd say.

via SeeSaw Designs

letterheady

I recently found a new blog to obsess over. Letterheady shows interesting letterhead designs - noteworthy for their design, who they belong to, or both. There are some real treasures, including the letterhead of Johnny Cash, Hitler, Albert Einstein and the Star Wars Corporation (ca. 1976). The ones I'm showing here are some of my favorite designs from the site.

via Letterology