A little poster work on the side for El Jefe

I've been doing quite a bit of screen printing for clients lately. One of the more interesting designers I've been printing for is Jeffery Everett, aka El Jefe. He makes rock posters mostly for bands playing in DC, but occasionally he'll do a Richmond show. He also has a thing for Luchadores. He keeps popping up on this blog.

Here's two of his designs that recently I had the pleasure of swiping onto posters for him:



Yes, this one does feature a different Mexican Wrestler for every letter of the alphabet. I have to admit, the semi-transparent yellow layer that I laid down over the green layer had me worried that it was too opaque, but I guess Jeff was happy with it.
And here's an alternate version:



This next one Jeff designed for a Blitzen Trapper show at the Black Cat. That is gold ink and it really, really wanted to stop up my screen. Near the end of the run I was swiping three times over to get good coverage. But I was very proud of my precise trapping on this one.



I believe these, as well as many other of El Jefe's great posters, are available on his site eljefedesign.com. And with any luck, I'll be printing a lot more of his upcoming work.

-Spencer

February goes on forever! It's the week of wrapping up old projects. This is proving to be a long and uncomfortable process, but it's nice to get these dudes out the door. Here's the final mockup of the cardboard cutout figure i've been meaning to finish designing.

We are going to screenprint cardboard and have it laser-cut so the finish product will be wedged-together pieces that are somewhat modular. Soon, the specs will be put together on paper with visual guides for anyone who wants to make one that matches this batch. That way, we can mix and match each others' parts. Isn't that ultimately what human relationships are all about?

A I extended deadline

The final online deadline for the American Illustration 28 Call For Entries has been extended through Monday, March 2nd until 6pm PST. So there's still time to get your work in front of our distinguished jury. Be a part of our 28th exquisitely designed and produced, hard cover annual - as yet to be imagined by one of the industry's top designers.

Here's a look at our current volume, American Illustration 27, when it was hot off the press and freshly bound. Designed by Open N.Y. with an original fold-out jacket-as-poster by Ted McGrath. Limited copies are still available at the 30% discount (plus S&H). Order yours now.

Blu

I realize that I butt heads with a lot of people with this opinion, but I hate graffiti. For the most part I think it's a bunch of rich art school kids who didn't want to learn how to draw, but wanted to rebel against society (in reality, their parents), so they co opted art produced by poor inner city youth. And aesthetically, most of it's disgusting and/or poorly executed. I know many will disagree with me, but it's what I think.

Having said this, I love the work of Blu. His work is smart, innovative, and breaks free from most of the trappings of graffiti. His graffiti animation (below) blows my mind! Here's a link to his blog: http://www.blublu.org/blog/



"The Gaza Strip"

One Flag

I made it as a One Flag finalist. You can vote here.

I am not asking you to vote for me, but it would be wonderful if you did.

My Flag (All For One)

My Description

The black flag has been used to embody the idea of global citizenship since the 1880's. It represents the absence of a flag, therefore, the absence of nations and of borders.

The addition of the circle is intended - like many tribal cultures - to illustrate a decentralized social structure. The circle doubles as a globe without any natural distinctions or borders.

The flag is asymmetrical allowing for it to be displayed in such a way that it implies times of distress or of peace.

The simple flag design allows for easy reproduction. Anybody can easily draw a rectangle with an offset circle in it. Symbols easy to reproduce ensure longevity and have a viral effect. One need not rely on expensive reproduction methods to create their own flag or scrawl it's image on a wall.

Bizhan

Global Warming...

To read about this image and see more go here.

Plenty Stiffs Contributors

Plenty Magazine, which I done some work for, recently went under. As unfortunate as that may seem, they also failed to pay their artists and writers on their last two issues. Read the linked, brief article about the matter, and also post/distribute it if you can in order to bring some attention to it.

Thanks,

Barry
www.barrybruner.com

http://gawker.com/5146891/hippie-magazine-flakes-on-paying-writers

For the Cost of Living

I finally finished my sculpture which has taken me forever to complete. I was invited to participate in a group show called "The Cost of Living" at Gallery 5 in Richmond, Va which will include a lot of the local talent around these parts. I've been wanting to work three dimensionally for quite some now, and felt that this was a perfect opportunity to experiment. I admit that I'm not the best photographer so hopefully I'll get some better photos up here soon that don't included backgrounds of my messy bedroom. This is totally new territory for me so let me know what you think. Thanks!

Barry Bruner
www.barrybruner.com

Hey kids, just wanted to post some recent work because it doesn't happen very often. Any feedback would totally rule.
-Matt

Before and After

Hey, here's a drawing I just finished for the blog Frans Boukas and I will be starting soon (hopefully). We will be tag-teaming on humorous drawings of death and dismemberment. For the first image we decided to create a dry, school-portrait style drawing followed by a drawing of the same subject being physically destroyed. This is Frans--before and after:

Cost of Living 2

Here is my submission to the cost of living show. My response references William Blake's "The Tyger." One of the theories about that poem is that it references the French Revolution. See Barry's post for info.

-Bizhan www.mendedarrow.com

1000 Garment Graphics

Over at popidiot we  received our copy of 1000 Garment Graphics which you can order from Amazon -

http://www.amazon.com/000-Garment-Graphics-

It was designed and edited by Jeffrey Everette of El Jefe Design for Rockport Publishing. Once again El Jefe did a bang up job. The book is about printing on garments, mostly t-shirts but includes many other things such as hats, bags, belts, etc. If you love personal, quirky, mostly hand printed wares done by artists for the love of it, most of which is being done without the constraints of clients, this book is a great place to start. There's a lot of amazing work in the book. Some by friends such as Spaghetti Kiss, Adhouse Books and Squidfire and a lot of stuff by folks we're unfamiliar with but love being exposed to.

Some might say that it's full of ephemeral trashy pop culture junk and on some levels they'd be right. But we at popidiot love that kind of thing, for better or worse it's our nature.

Feb. 6th Metro Market

WHEN:
Market Date: Friday Feb 6th, 2009 (6-11pm)

WHERE:
Metro Gallery
119 W Broad Street
Richmond Va 23220
(804) 643-7125

WHAT:
Team Eight will be attending this market, which is also a benefit for True Love Press, a screen printing, etching, and other print forms cooperative. Its right smack in the middle of the First Friday Art Walk, so you know there's gonna be a ton of people there. Anyone should come on down and see us and the other vendors. Team Eight members, if you want to come help out and/or bring some of your own work to sell please do. It'd be great!

The Cost of Living

Lately I've been working on a sculpture for a show coming up at Gallery 5 in Richmond, Va (Opening on Friday, March 6th). The show is centered around the theme of "The Cost of Living," so I chose to create a bunch of little figures working in this unfinished building/giant king. Essentially it's saying the king's wealth is created by the combined labor of the many. I wanted to try something new with media, since I feel like I've been messing around with pen and ink almost exclusively for the last few years. It's been a lot of fun building this thing and I've learned a lot about working with an added dimension. In this image the piece still isn't complete, but I'll post an update once it's finished.



Best,

Barry
barrybruner.com

Italian Film & Food Festival 2008

Okay, this past weekend was a busy one and I'm not talking about that hockey game or whatever it was they had on the TV. One of the highlights of the weekend by far was the Italian Film & Food Festival. It went down Saturday at Plant Zero, RVA.

Carra and I made it to the first of their four showings at 11am, just in time for breakfast. We walked into Plant Zero's event hall and after getting some coffee, we were directed to the buffet tables at the back of the room. Edo's Squid, Mama' Zu, and 8½ (all of the very best, no frills, local Italian restaurants) had catered the event. The food was awesome and I think well worth the ticket value on its own. I had some kind of very lean pork sausage in tomato sauce with peppers, a lentil stew and a chicken stock soup, salmon with cream cheese and capers on a toasted baguette, fruit salad, and a weird little chewy desert pastry spiraled around a cheesy danish-like center. Following food was the screening of Antony and Cleopatra, a 1913 silent film. This was accompanied by a live performance of the original score by pianist Dr. James Doering. We sat right behind the piano, so we had a good view of what he was doing while we watched the film. Seeing that footage from almost a hundred years ago with real live accompaniment was a surreal experience. I spent most of the film thinking about how different film making and viewing film and other art forms must have been back then. Most things are so accessible and instantaneous now. Every things just a push of the button and broadcasted and you-tubed and podcasted and streaming downloads.

I missed the next two films, but I met up with Kelly Alder and we made it to the fourth. Again, we were served amazing Italian food by Edo's Squid, Mama' Zu, and 8½. Then the lights went down and we watched the Orange Thief directed by Boogie Dean, Vinnie Angel, Artie Wilinski. They made this movie from scratch in just a couple months in a foreign language, with Italian and Sicilian non-actors, as first time directors. They actually spent the first month just learning how to use the cameras, how to act, how to write, and how to direct. One of the directors, Vinnie Angel, was present and took questions after the film. This movie was my favorite of the day. I even rented it from Video Fan the next day to show to a few friends over pizza.


All in all the festival was a fun break from the usual. A good excuse to get out of the house in the frigid winter months and eat some good food with some good people and watch some good films I would have missed otherwise.

-Spencer