Art and Photography Blog

Bob Saake's Art Deco Posters

I have always liked art deco posters. Here is another collection. Bob Saake has the most amazing set of advertising posters made between 1930-1960 in France, Italy, Germany and Great Britain that use illustration to full effect. 

He says on his site: “Throughout my life I've been mesmerized by posters -- particularly those created by the Europeans of the mid-20th Century. These bold, graphic and inventive posters continue to captivate contemporary illustrators, and while many of us have liberally taken inspiration from iconic poster graphics, they pale in comparison to those created from 1930-1960 in France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, and virtually every country on the European continent.”

You can browse his collection and he does not appear to be selling anything, just sharing his passion. Thanks to the IF team for this.

Hirshon Hoax: Paper Art Still Good

Here is an interesting set of creative paper art works that were billed on the web as entries into a contest by the Hirshon Museum where you could only use one sheet of paper. It turns out that the Hirshon Paper contest was a hoax.  However, the art works themselves, all done by Peter Callesen are still quite remarkable.  Thanks to my friend Don Lesser for sharing this with me.  Peter you did not need to do this but perhaps it was done for you.

Tips on Creating Posters with Impact from Scamp

Here are some useful tips for poster artists from the blog Scamp written by a creative/creative director at BBH in London. He tells use that someone once said: "A poster should have no more than seven words on it."

 That person made a schoolboy error.

 You see, a poster should have NO words on it.” He goes on to explain why.

Scamp writes that no one is looking at a poster unless you make them. 

To catch their an eye, you need an image. I you use no words you are forced to use a strong self-explanatory image that will catch the eye and stick with their mind. This makes sense as people often ignore the words anyway and the words are not what draws you to the poster unless the poster uses very provocative words. Then Scamp writes, you should not use an image as it will compete with the words. Thanks to the IF team for pointing this out. There are 30 other tips on Scamp’s blog so take a look.

Masking Tape Street Art - BUFF Dis

It is amazing what can you do with tape outside.  Here is the BUFFdiss stuff on Flickr.

Guido Daniele's Amazing Hand Art

Here is a new niche, hand art or very elaborate body painting by Guido Daniele. It will take him many hours to do a hand. 
Then he photographs it for posterity. Here is a series of Daniele's hand art shown on the blog Fresh Pics. It had 2225 diggs when I looked. Thanks to Don Lesser for sending me the links.

Valdis Krebs on the Scientific Analysis of Art Authenticity

Here is a nice post form my friend, and social networking expert, Valdis Krebs. In Networks, Patterns & Paintings he discusses how network patterns experts are applying their algorithms to a group of recently found paintings -- suspected to be by Jackson Pollock. Valdis wrote that an initial study of these paintings cast doubt on their authenticity. Now, a group of physicists from Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University have come out with what they say is a better analysis. They conclude that “by analyzing paintings by Pollock and others, that fractal criteria provide no information about artistic authenticity.”  Still it was an interesting idea. I guess we have to leave authenticity to more subjective analysis.

Valids leaves the question open and closes with ths. “We as humans leave behind repeated patterns and motifs in our architecture, music, writing, and social networks... so why not in how we paint?”

Mick Mather Transforms Another Photo from this Blog

Here is another great transformation of one of my photographs by Mick Mather, artist and blogger. The original is a study of a row of plastic chairs down on the beach at Point Independence Inn, Onset, Massachusetts that appeared in this Art and Photography Blog. Mick takes a photo and does a process of cropping, filtering and layering. I agree with Mick about the nice way the way the cubist forms repeat, relate and resolve themselves within the whole piece. Mick has a wonderful art blog and gets a lot of comments.

This will bring a Smile

Here is a great ad for Cadbuy's chocolate that I had to share. It was done by Glass and Half Full productions.

Send Your Photos to National Geographic

National Geographic is aligned with the trend toward more user-generated content. They have a space on their site called Your Shot that features many of the thousands of photos they receive. There are several online galleries to view selected photos and many are very good. They certainly have a global perspective. You can also see which user-submitted photos were published in National Geographic in the Top Shots section. It has an audio commentary for the photos that is very helpful for thinking about your own photos, as well as giving more context to the pictures. I really liked the lemons in jars on the site when I looked, as well as the commentary.

Here is the form to submit your photos.

Mail in Your Art to a New Blog

MAiLmeART is a new blog by created by Darren Di Lieto, the founder and editor of LCSV4. Basically, people make art on envelopes and send it in. So far, the artwork has been incredibly vibrant and creative, typically displaying the address in a clever way. Once sent in, the works are shown on the MAiLmeART blog - eventualy to be shown at a gallery in London. Thanks to the IF team for this.

The about page explains: “In 18-24 months MAiLmeART will be holding an exhibition in London (venue to be confirmed). The show will include submissions from you guys and girls which will be on sale at the exhibition. The creators of items that sell at the show will receive 70% of the price their creations sell for, less the landlord’s cut. I can only offer 70% because I need to cover costs. The project will carry on and continue after the show with possibly another show the year after and the year after that.”