Hyperbolic Logic

Here is a cool artist I found through Upper Playground.  Here is some info and work by him.

“Korean-born artist David Choong Lee’s intricate paintings and collages are built layer upon elaborate layer. Merging photorealistic elements with simplified shapes and patterns in a way he describes as “visual DJ-ing,” his paintings draw from both classical styles and street art. Now based out of San Francisco, David Choong Lee’s artwork has appeared in galleries throughout California, as well as in New York, Portland, Canada, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.”

And here are some by a guy named Oliver Vernon which are really great too.

My friend Chris is a photographer taking really cool photos of events around Detroit.  You can see his site here.  He was looking for a logo. 

A photographer provides unique services to a very diverse customer base.  There is a wide variety of subjects or specialties they can work with, from nature, celebrities, landscapes, real estate, nature, technical, portraits.  Some do it as purely as art, others more as a service such as school portraits and whatnot.  No matter the subject or approach, most photographers channel their of passion and creativity into their work creating their own style.  The logo needs to reflect this style and appeal to the demographic that is looking for their work. 

This is the first idea I did.  The name on the inside of an old school camera lens.  I wasn’t really feeling this one and it would have readability problems if it was shrunk down.  Oh well, just the first idea.

This next idea used a twin lens camera with a “C R” and the name underneath.  This one worked better for readability but still seemed too generic.  Chris photographs a lot of concerts, sporting and social events; the logo didn’t seem “rock and roll” enough to reflect his subjects. 

Chris had ideas on symbols he wanted to include and doing a circular format that could be printed on stickers or used as a watermark.  I made a logo below.  The star below is a universal rock and roll symbol, and the camera shutter is incorporated.  He started photographing a lot of Mixed Martial Art fights and the fleur-de-lis is used a lot in symbols and tattoos on the fighters.  It ended up looking great.

The term “starving artist” exists because for the most part it is true.  It is hard to make a living off of art, and supplies are expensive.  This is why the salvation army is so nice.  And not just for kitschy pieces like the seagull clock below that will impress your hipster friends.

Frames to me are insanely expensive, especially nice ones.  At Salvo you can save hundreds of bucks by purchasing framed photos or paintings.  It is hit or miss on having the correct size or style, but you can’t beat the prices.  The frame for my picture below would probably cost over $100 new, I got it for less than $12 at Salvo.

I didn’t like the natural wood color of it so I spray painted it flat black, then left it outside in the snow for a couple weeks to get a nice aged look.  Spending a little more time on it will yield a better color and finish if that is what you are going for.

Another possibility is painting directly on the print or photo that is inside the frame.  I bought this huge framed print of a seaside sunset for around 20 bucks.  I then used that as the background for a new scene I painted on.  Here is a picture of the work in progress with some random dude standing next to it

And the finished product, framed and ready to go.

With some imagination and inginuity you can make something out of all the tchotchkes littering the shelves.  I turned a small clock into an unhappy robot. 

I cut out pieces of plastic and mounted them to the various hands on the clock.  Strategically placed holes and facial features allow the face to change as the features rotate around the face.  The mouth changes, and one of the eyes changes from green to red to yellow.  I painted rivets on the side as well.  Some examples of the faces it makes as it spins around are below.

It basically looks like a robot getting more and more nauseous as it spins around.  Unfortunately the plastic battery holder is broken so it only works intermittently.  I’ll be picking up a new one from Radioshack soon.

So who wants to give me some money?  I need it because Juxtapoz Magazine is having a Charity Auction to raise money for the Power House Project of Detroit which buys and restores neglected houses in Detroit and makes them energy neutral.  There is a lot of great stuff for sale, including the original art for Snoop Dogg’s album cover, signed by Snoop himself.  Some examples of art for sale are below.

The album cover ^^^

Ryan McLennan

Catherine Brooks

Kehinde Wiley who has work up in the Milwaukee Art Museum

WK Interact

Eric Siador