In celebration of the first annual TYPEFORCE exhibition—as if you haven’t heard me talking all about this, earlier in the spring—and to accompany the recently published TYPEFORCE book, Public Media Institute and the crew over at Firebelly Design have launched a simple, charming website to direct you to the work of each of the artists involved in the show. Lots of great designers here, so spend some time with it!

I’ll be getting my hands on some TYPEFORCE books this week, so look forward to some documentation.

Above is my poster design for tomorrow nights poster show, Printervention. It’s a modest little idea about growing it yourself, called Grow It Yourself. Come out tomorrow night to the Chicago Tourism Center Gallery and see a suite of way cooler posters! And hang out! If you’re cool at all, you’ll be there.

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Printervention // Printing for the Public

Following the success of last years’ Version Festival program: the Bridgeport WPA pilot project, we have asked artists from around the country to create works that raise awareness of social and political issues of our day.

Printervention debuts April 16, 2010 at the The Chicago Tourism Center Gallery and continues through Version Festival to include workshops, a mobile silkscreen cart, a window display at The Whistler and more. For more information and a complete schedule of events and participants please visit www.printervention.org

Opening Reception Friday, April 16, 2010 5pm – 7pm
@ Chicago Tourism Center Gallery
72 E Randolph // Chicago
Printervention, organized by Emily Clayton, Chris Roberson and Ed Marszewski, is part of Version Festival 2010, an annual arts festival in Chicago produced by the Public Media Institute that brings together hundreds of artists, musicians and educators from around the world.

www.printervention.org
www.versionfest.org

If You Could Collaborate
Author: Will Hudson, Alex Bec
Publisher: It’s Nice That

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London art directors Will Hudson and Alex Bec have been paving the way for this generation’s art and design community. Formerly of the design studio, HudsonBec, the creators of It’s Nice That have been up to a lot of good with their side effort, If You Could. Since 2006, they have asked artists and designers—forward thinkers—”If you could do anything tomorrow, what would it be?”

The question has resulted in two issues (one book, and one print pack), and an exquisite two-color printed series, not to mention exhibitions abound. Recently, the question has been posed in a slightly different manner, taking the level of intrigue up one whole notch, with If You Could Collaborate. The premise is simple: select 33 renowned artists and ask them to collaborate with an artist of their choice. The collaboration could result in absolutely anything, and they have 12 months to complete it.

The roster of collaborators is remarkable: Fontaine Anderson & Deanne Cheuk, Hellovon & Timothy Saccenti, Mario Hugo & Micah Lidberg, Karlssonwilker & Frank DeRose, Julien Vallée & Nicolas Burrows… the list goes on.

Upon the project’s completion—as tradition would have it—each of the 33 collaborative projects were exhibited in the handsome, A Foundation Gallery at Rochelle School, in London. The exhibition turned out to be very charming, and was quite well received by the public.

Accompanying the show, and made available to all—in an edition of 1,500—was the exhibition catalogue. A 312-page book that served as an insider’s view, documenting the process of each collaboration.

The visual content of the book is made up of process imagery from each collaborative effort, comprised of photos, sketches, and screen captures. The textual foundation takes the form of brief introductions of each initial artist invitee, followed by a modest interview with the collaborators involved. While interviews are often the most informative component to a project of this nature, they are unfortunately the downfall of this book.

After reading the second interview, one is quick to realize the interview questions are all the same for each collaboration. While the projects are all vastly different in medium, this static questionnaire is, for lack of a better word disheartening. A skilled journalist can get quite a lot of information from asking the right questions, and while some of the interviewees were bursting at the seams with their answers to each question, others seemed a bit un-enthused. With a static list of seven questions, one word answers can have devastating effects on the reader’s impression. And, while the final two questions of each interview serve to underline the purpose of the book, they exist in utter disregard to the project at hand, and the preceding twelve months of labor. Those questions: “What do you think makes a successful collaboration,” and “What’s your favourite collaboration of all time?” When the answer to the latter begins to trend as a joke—popular reply to the tune of “peanut butter and jam”—that should serve as a clue to rethink the questionnaire altogether.

Granted, the catalogue is not meant to be a comprehensive documentation of each collaboration, but merely a thoughtful glance into the process. On the whole, I for one greatly appreciate the publication, and the point the authors are trying to make about the importance of collaboration. I would certainly chalk it up as another shining success for the It’s Nice That boys!

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To learn more about the If You Could project, visit their website.
If you don’t already read It’s Nice That, begin.

TYPEFORCE : The Annual Chicago Show of Emerging Typographic Allstars

Co-Prosperity Sphere
3219 S Morgan St in Bridgeport [Chicago]

Opening: Friday, February 26, 2010
Runs through: March 14, 2010

Allstars Include:
Jeremiah Chiu, Renata Graw, David Weik, Billy Baumann, Matthew Hoffman, Chris Eichenseer, Chad Kouri, Ryan Thurwell, Luke Williams, Tnop, Andy Luce, John Pobojewski, Darren McPherson, Lora Fosberg, Margot Harrington, Greg Calvert, Aaron Pedersen, Duncan MacKenzie, Will Miller, Nick Adam, Damian Abraham

Brought to you by Public Media Institute and Firebelly Design

Sponsored by AIGA Chicago, Graphic Arts Studio, Unisource Paper & I Shoot Rockstars

I’ve been invited to exhibit original work in this year’s My Type of Town: The Annual Chicago Exhibition of Typographic Excellence. I’m honored and excited to take part in the event, which will be held in the beautiful Co-Prosperity Sphere, an experimental cultural center just outside of the city.

I have a few ideas making their rounds through my sketch pads, but I think I’ve decided to focus on ornamental vowels for my contribution. Here is a page of very preliminary sketches to give you an idea.

First obstacle I’ve encountered: I would really like to screen print my work for the show, but I am new to Chicago and although I have the supplies, I’m lacking the facilities. I have about a month to figure this out, so if anyone knows of a small shop in the area, I would be very grateful!

I plan to post progress along the way, and I welcome any feedback!

Super excited to see SEVEN new pieces from one of my personal favorites, Emil Kozak (eight or nine pieces, if you haven’t seen Acid Rain and We The People images floating around ffffound)! He’s not only helped coin the geometric vector art wave of the post-2000 era, but he’s managed to keep it fresh as ever, pushing forward with his own apparel and accessory line!

I can’t tell if I’m more excited that Emil Kozak has been a bit m.i.a. in the recent years, and is now making his personal come back – or if it’s because the work itself has maintained his classic style, perhaps sparking a com back of the ‘look’ itself! A boy can dream…

You’d be a fool not to have a look at his work, here.