The SPOKE Daily » Art

From Class to Crass; Final High/Lo lights from SXSW

Rachel Noonan — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:55:56 +0000

Music is coming to SXSW. It starts slowly; the hair gets longer, the button downs are now distressed vintage t’s, and the beards multiply. Before you know it the geekfest turns into a city wide rock concert. Bands are performing in every nook and cranny throughout the city. Music is spilling into the streets from all different directions. People are jumping on trucks, sleeping on the street and looking to do two things; drink and vibe. It was kind of weird thinking of nature vs nurture paired with the juxtaposition of the Interactive, Film and Music crowds. How people communicate and why. From a hyper tuned in group of over communicators to another group who communicate through instruments and song lyrics, it made me wonder who is getting their message across in the most effective way. Then I remembered interactive is about connecting and music is about feeling. We can’t really exist without both. Well, we could, but it would be a pretty boring. I know I will be swallowed soon by the rock locks and dirty bass lines. In an attempt to create some space in my brain I took a mental look back for my final SX highlights.. What were the awesome new discoveries? The inspiring talks? The newly created connections with the international “Futures Community” (I just made that up and will now create a wiki page for it)? Perhaps the next level bionic style partying that took place? Here are the top 10, in no particular order: HIGHLIGHTS Crowdtap Party. Good product. Good people. The most amazing chocolate fountain EVER. FROG Design. AWESOME. Joseph Kahn’s new Movie Detention. He did a bunch of Britney’s vids. Detention is a real-time pop culture satire time travel horror comedy. The script was crazy tight, the story was funny and the pop culture references were plentiful. Stylistically it felt like a series of single shots. The music video DNA is embedded in Kahn. He made no apologies for it in the Q&A. He does what he does and knows his audience. Talk with Pete Cashmore and David Crowley from Four Square. Crowley did some serious tap dancing around Cashmore’s pointed questions about selling foursquare. Chevy making life a little easier with 30 cars providing complimentary rides throughout the city. They also created the best photo experience I’ve ever seen in the history of photo experiences! Check it: http://social-gen.com/sxsw11/index-v.php?u=eC6. Checked out their new electric car, VOLT. It’s nice to see a “Dinosaur” surprise the scene with a product the future gen may actually like. Feel free to judge me on this, I don’t care. Mashable events. You could tell they cared and they worked really hard to make it fun. They were missing their actual content integrated into the activities, which was a bit of a bummer. GE’s Carosolar. A beautiful use of solar energy. A white on white old era carousel outfitted with slick neon lighting sat in a large parking lot inviting people to take a ride. Powered by solar energy, the carousel moves around and around, throwing people back to a time of fun and magic. Beyond the slick activation, this new solar technology seems to have legs. I’ve been trying to decide what to invest in. Something that’s part of today while constantly evolving to reflect new technologies, the environment and our constantly decreasing shared space. GE’s new solar technology is IT. Andrew WK talked. It was inspiring. I wish he was my big brother. Check out the venue Santos he opened with some friends in Manhattan. PARTY HARD. Artists you have to hear; Sheepdogs, Cold War Kids, Dikta from Iceland, The Kills, Kawarka, Malajube, Defences, Does it offend you, Yeah?, The Naked and the Famous, Phantogram In closing; SXSW Interactive was has the largest concentration of the most amazing thought leaders, trend setters and visionaries I have ever come across. SXSW Film was good, wish I had seen more. They need to separate film from Interactive. SXSW Music is dirty, loud and one of a kind. SPOKE will be back in 2012 ready to learn, play and connect. SIDE NOTE: For the ladies who are reading: Geeks are hotter than music dudes.

Puzzle EP Cover Art by Shingo Shimizu

Karen Lo — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:05:49 +0000

The illustration above was slightly reappropriated from Shingo’s personal work “Full Circle” for Puzzle’s new EP, “Polysnacks”. You can listen and purchase the EP here. Shingo Shimizu has been somewhat of a “resident artist” here at SPOKE since September 2010. Shingo is a graduate of the OCAD’s Communication and Design program and has been nurturing his illustration skills from an early age under the influence of his father who is a graphic designer. While Pop Art and Manga has a significant influence on his style, music is inevitably a major driving force for his visual language as Shingo is a member of the DJ trio at Hot Sauce. Currently the Art Director for Scion Canada Magazine, his work has also been featured in Mixmag, Business 2.0 and Popular Mechanics. Shingo has been recognized by The Advertising and Design Club of Canada and American Illustration and also been profiled in Vektorika’s ‘Greatest Hits’ issue. Watch out for our follow-up on his latest collaboration with Toronto photographer, Jalani Morgan.

Can You Draw the Internet

Karen Lo — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:37:03 +0000

The project started as an investigation on what children nowadays think of the internet as it becomes more and more an integral part of their childhood. They invited a handful of artists from elementary schools around the world and another handful of artists from the industry with another objective: to see who is more imaginative. You probably wouldn’t be surprised if the kids show more creativity, but what is so astounding to me is that their quality of work is more than comparable to their professional rivals’. You think you got what it takes to beat a 10 year old? Submit your work to Can You Draw the Internet. By Steven Walsh, Conran Design Group By Antonia Ayesa, Escuela Primaria Nº 4 OLAVARRÍA

YouTube Play Top 25

Inga Rumun — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:21:27 +0000

Developed by YouTube and the Guggenheim in collaboration with HP and Intel. YouTube Play showcases amazing talent in the online video realm. More than 23,000 videos were submitted and the top 25 videos have been announced. My vote goes off to:Die Antwoord-Zef Side (because I’m cool like that), Strindberg and Helium at the Beach (because I’m emo like that) and of course Toronto’s very own animated film, I Met the Walrus (because I’m Canadian like that).

SPOKE is attending TEDx Toronto

Rachel Noonan — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:16:50 +0000

SPOKE has been selected as a delegate for TEDx Toronto this Thursday, September 30th. We are excited to see how the organizers do at representing the TED banner in TO. We have collectively spent weeks on TED.com soaking up the amazing speaker talks that make us think about the way we live, love and learn in our new world. TED has been put on a pedestal by freaks, geeks and awesome people around the World. Let’s see if Thursday’s installment will have delegates blogging, tweeting and Facebooking from dawn to dusk. Hourly reports will come via SPOKE Daily. http://tedxtoronto.com/

You’ll Laugh and Cry

Karen Lo — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:47:45 +0000

Paper cut artwork by Owen Gildersleeve. So beautifully designed it makes me smile.

Jasper Wong

Karen Lo — Thu, 27 May 2010 19:19:29 +0000

I found the lactating Mr.T illustration last year in the shuffled database on FFFFOUND and had it on my desktop for a year without ever finding out who it belonged to. A year later, the stars aligned and I stumbled upon the artist’s profile on AliveNotDead.com and learned his name – Jasper Wong.

The New Hot is….Villah Nah

Rachel Noonan — Tue, 25 May 2010 11:48:49 +0000

Leave it to Helsinki, Finland to bring us our next electro/emo group of le moment…Reminiscent of New Order and the melodic synth of the 80, Villah Nah feels like it’s been sprinkled with fairy dust and put into the world to make people smile. Listen and love.

Culture Tracking: New Styles

Rachel Noonan — Thu, 20 May 2010 17:03:08 +0000

MELENA RYZIK wrote this article Mapping the Cultural Buzz that appeared in the NY Times. The amount of collaboration involved is pretty intense. Most of the results are not surprising, but there are a few ” Wow, didn’t see that coming”. Check it:

Hope & Glory

Karen Lo — Tue, 18 May 2010 17:33:07 +0000

It’s literally a circus show. Hope & Glory is a 2-month exhibition by Hong Kong-based artist, Simon Birch. Set in a massive 20,000 square foot space, Birch re-imagined the thriving circus industry from the 19th century in a notably different visual vocabulary to immerse the viewer into a metaphorical journey of a nation’s rise and fall, hopes and glories. From the hologram of haunting freak-show warriors to the glowing living room grid, each piece is designed to trigger the viewer’s curious mind to discover its symbolic values. Watch the two-part guided tour by Birch himself, all told while wearing a top hat!