mayjun2007preview

HendersonBromsteadArt Laurie Frankel Rethink Daniel Adel Interactive Installations Visual Typography Exhibit

May/June 2007 Eight Dollars www.commarts.com

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Laurie Frankel

In addition to her work, Frankel’s personality is a value­added aspect of hiring her. She has an unflap­ pable nature and brings a calmness to the shoot, without the sense of impending catastrophe that oftentimes accompanies a commercial photo session.

Of the muddy llama shoot, Satoko Furuta said, “We were knee deep in ‘stuV’ and freezing. I had hot air blowing inside the team van just to heat us and then we’d go out there again to freeze. Laurie has a really good attitude and I found it makes me not afraid to push [the photo] more, to move the camera; she’ll still be encouraging.”

That flexibility is how she balances her time between photography, her husband, Gary, and their two boys, Julius, 7 and Xander, 11. The men in her life have become another source of inspira­ tion in her work because she finds them so funny.

“I’ve started to bring more wit into my work and now I feel like I’m trying to be more playful,” she said, “even in still life. If you can add something that is funny and makes you think, it makes you a little bit more curious about life, and that’s some­ thing I would like to do.” CA Left: “Photographing designer Tamotsu Yagi’s space was like recording an art installation. I had the opportunity to meet him and photograph his collection of Prouvé furnish­ ings. Yagi is an elegant man with an impeccable eye, and I tried to capture the refinement in all of the lines created by his clean designs.” Tamotsu Yagi, art director; Tamotsu Yagi Design, client.

This page: “When stylist Alessandra Mortola found the weathered fence, we decided it was the ideal background for the silver vases. We always try to push a picture and end up with something unexpected, like the gap in the fence.

Attaching the letter helped create romance, as in Flemish paintings, where one often looks at objects and wonders why they are there.” Roost, client.

“I was shooting a party scene for Design Within Reach, and before the models arrived, I set up the camera in front of this orange couch. I wanted to create a strong visual with a graphic contrast between the horizontal lines of the furniture and the vertical wooden slats of the wall. The bottles broke it all up.” Frank Kofsuske, art director; Stephania Serena, creative director.

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Daniel Adel painted in a­turn­of­the­century illustrative style. He probably hasn’t actually painted Paris Hilton, but I know he wants to.” (Note: According to Adel, he hasn’t yet had the pleasure, but is mildly interested).

Adel captures the foibles of the rich and famous in ways that surprise even the most jaded art directors. He is master of the big­head thing, practiced by artists from Daumier to Robert Grossman; shrinking the body to half or less of the overall image allows more square inches in which to convey the subject’s countenance, yet leaves plenty of room to exploit his or her body language. Cases in point are paintings of Madonna as Marie Antoinette, octopus­armed Al Sharpton pressing the flesh on the campaign trail, Mike Myers as a shag­ adelic Rumpelstiltskin, Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat/ Hamlet in a codpiece. All demonstrate that no ethnic group, sex, age or type, if a public figure, is safe from Adel’s wicked brush. Stefan Kiefer, art director of Der Spiegel, the German newsweekly, who commissioned Adel to do a life­size portrait of the magazine’s editor­in­chief for his birthday party—and got a landed aristocrat with cell phone and whip—sums it up simply, “Dan is quite brilliant at what he does.”

Like many illustrators, Adel is perhaps most passionate about his personal work, realistic abstractions—in this case not an oxymoron—based on classical drapery, crumpled paper and water in all its guises. The only thing twisted about these serene still lifes are the folds of the fabric or paper. “These paintings are a great antidote to illustration, which is always on deadline and a much faster process. Illustration often involves working from someone’s else’s photos, depicting someone you’ve never met. You are three or four steps removed from the subject,” he explains. “When I do these still lifes, I spend days focusing on every nuance of a given object. The technique and subject matter are controlled.” To the viewer, the object, rendered in almost monochromatic oils, can take on a life of its Left: “This piece was for an article asserting that comedians, such as Sacha Baron Cohen, are as much actors as anyone else, though not often treated with as much respect. Hence Borat, as a true Thespian, playing Hamlet—with a bit less in the bloomers department.” Joe Kimberling, art director; LA Magazine, client.

This page: “A piece for the Wall Street Journal about Jimmy Carter’s writing career. No more entertaining collection of incisors and bicuspids exists in the known universe.” Joe Dizney, art director.

“A cover for the New York Times Sunday Magazine about how video games are becoming the new Hollywood. I’m still amazed that the New York Times agreed to let me paint a severed flaming head. Not your father’s Grey Lady.” Joele Cuyler, art director.

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Visual Typography Left: Mr. Letter’s Press identity. “Since the first home of the press was located in an orchard called Mr. Farm’s Orchards, it seemed natural to call the press Mr. Letter’s Press. Our name also needed to pay tribute to Tibor [Kalman] in any way possible. We couldn’t commit ourselves to a single typeface, so we did the Utah thing and married them all. Our mission statement, ‘Quality Products Since Monday,’ is an added bonus to help our clients appreciate the seriousness with which we conduct our business,” said designer Chuck Williams of Quorum Design in South Ogden, Utah.

“When Allan Haley approached us about designing the identity for TypeCon2006 (The Society of Typographic Aficionados’ annual gathering of typographers, type designers, and users and appreciators of typographic forms), I knew it wouldn’t be easy.

There is a bit of pressure when the audience members are all self-described typographic aficionados,” said art director Clifford Stoltze. “TypeCon2006 was held in Boston, and the logo is an interpretation of the theme The Boston T Party. Created with a nod to Boston’s rich history, other assorted collateral (Web site, postcard, shirts, programs, etc.) utilized elements and typography that might be found on an invitation to a formal tea party. The tea bag becomes a container for a collection of Ts, while the splats and drips reference ink and, well, tea.” Tamye Riggs of SOTA, added, “Central to any TypeCon identity is the typography. In the TypeCon2006 identity, Stoltze Design used three distinct typefaces to create a harmonious typographic palette highlighting historical and modern type design: Hermann Eidenbenz’s bracketed slab serif, URW Clarendon; Antenna, a then-unpublished sans super-family from The Font Bureau’s Cyrus Highsmith; and Richard Lipton’s elegant formal Adobe typeface, Bickham Script.” Roy Burns/Clifford Stoltze, designers; Stoltze Design (Boston, MA), design firm.

This page: “During the course of our long relationship with The Canadian Opera Company, we had the pleasure of working with Montréal photographer Valerie Simmons for two consecutive years to produce thematic images representing the season’s lineup of operas. To celebrate this partnership, we produced a promotional custom daytimer featuring the images and appropriately named it ‘Coloratura,’” said art director Ric Riordon and creative director Alan Krpan. “The word mark for the book was designed to reflect those attributes heard in music with graceful and whimsical lines floating and interacting with the letters and was featured as an engraved tip-in in a debossed area on the cover.” Dawn Charney/ Shirley Riordon, designers; Riordon Design (Oakville, Canada), design firm.

Film Finance Corporation Australia annual report. “Being a government report, there are certain constraints to the form and cost of producing the report, particularly size (7 × 97 ⁄ 8), two colors and stock. The intent of this report was to express ‘the passion’ and commitment required to create and support quality filmmaking,” said creative director Annette Harcus. “The words within the ‘heart’ reflected the areas of FFC’s involvement and the passions that drove them. Each cover was hand laser-cut to reveal one of the year’s key feature films—Candy starring Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish—coming together beneath the words.

This typographic treatment was carried throughout the report with key icons for each of the sections, reflecting an accessible and expressive organization willing to engage and connect with their audience.” Kirsten Davidson, designer; Harcus Design (Sydney, Australia), design firm.

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© Jamie Siler

SoCity

Location: East Village, New York City, and www.socity.com.

Duration: Three

years.

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Staff: One (Jesse Raker). Represented by www.josettelata.com.

University of Vermont and Academy of Art (San Francisco).

Education:

Cultural Influences: Anyone who has passion, anyone who is trying to make their dreams reality; the colors, sounds, smells of New York City; the New York Post; urban decay; old street signs; the Mission District in San Francisco; flea markets; found objects and old magazines; street art, photography and real hip-hop culture.

My studio/home is a sun-drenched space overlooking lower Manhattan, high in the sky (12th floor) towering over many smaller buildings in the area. Sounds like a real-estate ad, but in reality it’s an extremely inspiring setting across the street from Tompkins Square Park, where I do a lot of my work as well.

Environment:

Do what you love, and continue to grow as a person/artist.

Philosophy:

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