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VANDAL RELENTLESS CREATIVITY
VANDAL- Relentless Creativity - Featuring: HLOVE
Representing overactive creative minds in the field of advertising.
THIS MONTH Harrison Love, aka: HLOVE Art Director and Designer The intricate work of Ramona Cezar: Preserving Sources of Inspiration Art in Action by Robert Zelic
End the Beginning Dedicated to creatively combining Design, Art and Advertising
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STAFF Founder Editor and Chief Giacomo Cosuma Graphic Design DepartmentAndrew Bohrety Zak Geiger Art DirectorHarrison Love Marketing and ADV DepartmentAlex Defrillo Maritn Errizo Web DepartmentPatty Grillo Lisa Darnel Photography DepartmentAlexandra Pavlov
Exhibition DepartmentMarco Surrillo Art CuratorJem Wu Lead EditorJohn Hayes Associate EditorsSteven Bryce Alec Hobbs Jenn Yang Jo Fu Yin Sarah Seigman Amanda Heffron Gabriel Wood Fracis Garcia Carsten Harrison Mathew Hollister
-Special ThanksThe American Red Cross for their sponsorship and patronage The Greenpoint Gallery The Dacia Gallery The Love Family foundation for the Arts
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APPROACH About VANDALVANDAL is a monthly publication dedicated to the representation of young and upcoming creatives in the industries of art, design and advertising. Based in New York, VANDAL was started in 1999 by its creator and founder Giacomo Cosuma, from his small brownstone in Soho. “In the early days we would have to keep our past issues in my bathtub because we had no space to store them, “ All of us at VANDAL are aspiring creative minds brought together under one roof to utilize our combined skills to promote and represent burgeoning talent that might have otherwise gone unnoticed in the bustle and hustle of New York City. We believe that it is the unique combination of artistic talent and global industry experience that truly offers the potential for a renaissance of communications and marketing. Join us online at www.vandalmagazine.blogspot.com Most of the support for VANDAL comes from independent investors however, a large portion of participating sponsors are the non-profit organizations, The American Red Cross and Amnesty International. To all of this year’s lead sponsors from all of us at VANDAL, we would like to express our sincere gratitude
Cartoon of the Month-
Inside this Issue-
A sit down with the featured ArtistHarrison Love Advertising Portfolio Design Portfolio Concept Artwork Sponsor Design Spotlight The Resumé of an Ad Nomad
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Harrison Macdonald Love grew up in Mount Kisco, New York. He began his art education at an early age under the tutelage of his family who have a long standing connection to the arts. When he was seven, the Love family moved to Brussels Belgium, where Harrison began his formal studies in the arts, at the International School of Brussels (ISB).
He returned to the US and continued his art education at the Norwich Free Academy in Connecticut, utilizing their large cast collection for his early studies. Early work from his high-school portfolio was submitted to the 2004 Scholastic Art competition, where Harrison Love became the most awarded student artist in CT state Scholastic history, winning five gold keys for his portfolio as well as honors for his major work, “A Changed World” (an illustrated accordion style book), named “Best in Show.” The book was later sent to the national gallery in Washington where it was further awarded a silver metal. Harrison went on to advance his art education at the Rhode Island School of Design. While attending RISD, Harrison had his first introduction to advertising and communications working abroad, in Tokyo and in Shanghai. While working abroad Harrison designed campaigns for some of the worlds best known brands and was able to balance his
design portfolio with his art portfolio by participating in exhibits in the US, while out of the country. In June of 2009, Harrison returned from abroad to his family home in Connecticut, where he began preparing his artwork and writing for exhibit in galleries and publications throughout the east and west coasts. Harrison Love is currently living in Manhattan, NY where he continues to work with international brands creating new brand identities for the youth generation as well as emerging trends worldwide. “I believe in the creative potential of even the smallest of ideas. I have always believed in art as a form of communication and my work in advertising has helped me refine methods of communicating to my audience. As creative communicators we all have a large social responsibility. “
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Graffiti Installation, Providence RI, 2008
“Mind on Mecca,” Graffiti Installation, Chicago, 2009 www.harrisonlove.com
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VANDAL’s Elie Janstone Q & A with HLOVE Sitting down with artist and creative director Harrison Love at his East-side Manhattan apartment, we discuss his creative process and personal goals over a glass of Maker’s Mark on the rocks. “Let me first just say Mr. Love, that you have an impressive volume of work for someone so young. You have worked in Japan, China, Singapore, South America, and New York producing artwork as well as advertising for major brands worldwide for almost 6 years. At only the age of 27 it seems that you have led quite a life.”
The Love Brother’s Artists Collaborative Installation, “Beautiful Later.”
H- “ Cheers! I have been creating artwork for the majority of my life and I try to keep myself busy, I’d like to think that my portfolio reflects my efforts as well as the non-linear creative process that I adhere to.” Q: So it would be fair to say you have been keeping busy? A: Ha ha ha, yes I suppose that would be accurate. Q: What projects are you currently working on? A: Most recently I was working for CitiPond at Bryant Park. I was the Creative Director and Production Manager of CitiPond for the 2011 Holiday Season. I can give you a few images to include in your article if you like. During my time as Creative Director I was given the opportunity to utilize my artistic skills for the park as well by creating and curating work for their restaurant and lounge redesigning the interior of the park itself. This year I am working on showing my art throughout the 5 boroughs. My artwork recently won a 1st place prize in Greenpoint and I already have two shows lined up in Greenpoint and Manhattan in the Spring of 2012.
“ColdSnap,” by HLOVE, Acrylic on Board
Q: How is it that you first got into design and advertising? A: Well my father is an ad man, I have watched him thrive by working in the industry since I was a boy. It
“SpringFollow,” by HLOVE, Acrylic on Board
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CitiPond at Bryant Park 2011
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VANDAL- Relentless Creativity was funny growing up in the house of an ad man, when we were kids we didn’t know that it was at all strange that there were only certain brands that we could use in the house. We just thought that Crest was the best possible toothpaste and that Bounty ‘did it better than anyone.’ I think it was after I matured that I realized what power was in advertising. Q: So advertising was all around you when you were growing up, but how did you become an artist as well? A: My brother was a comic book illustrator for a time during my youth and as a result I really had no intention of becoming an artist, I just enjoyed watching him draw and I learned from his example. Then as I transitioned into high school I began to realize how much I enjoyed drawing and painting. Soon it just became a part of myself. Q: How would you say that you became a creative person? Would you say that it’s something that you were born with or something that was nurtured over a period of time? A: “Um... Actually a little bit of both, my family has a strong creative gene, which has been passed down through the generations, however as I was growing up in my creative family I decided from an early age to try to be anything but an artist. It seemed like a, “too many cooks in the kitchen” scenario, if you know what I mean. Q: Would you say that your school adequately prepared you for the business of art and design? A: Well, practice makes perfect. I have had a lot of time to learn the skills listed in my resume. But when I hit the ‘real world’ I had no one to teach me and had to pick things up quick to survive in such a fast paced business.
N 39 - Winter 2011/2012 How do you think that your range of skills has benefitted you in the workplace. A: I remember when I was in school I wanted to be good at everything and be able to handle any type of production that my future clients would throw at me. Most of the time in the industry of advertising I work within teams and what I have found most useful about having such a wide range of skills is that I am able to see my projects through every aspect production even if I am not working with it hands on. It is important to have the greatest amount of communication between creative people to make certain that there are as few redundancies in the creative process as possible. This is a fast paced business and control in communication is key The industry of advertising is constantly changing and it is important for all the aspiring new breed of creatives out there to embrace a more fluid creative process; try to be as useful as possible. Q: I also see from your resumé that you have worked extensively outside of the US. Can you explain how you came to have such a diverse background? A: I think that because of my unconventional international upbringing I always felt more comfortable staying mobile and being a creative gypsy. When I was in college all of the good internships were abroad and I had no trepidations about being thrust into an entirely foreign environment. Q: How is it that you came to work on both the Beijing Olympics in ‘08 and the FIFA World Cup in 2010? A: Pure luck, believe it or not. I had been looking for freelance jobs while I was in school that I could register for credit with RISD and still make a little money. One of the opportunities that presented itself was to work with BBDO Shanghai in China in 2008. Although I jumped at the opportunity I had no idea at the time what exactly they would have me doing but as it turned out, one of their clients (VISA) was requesting layouts and designs for
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placement in the ‘08 Olympics. The story with the World Cup in 2010 is a similar one. I was looking to experience more of South Eastern Asia and found an opening as a Production Assistant at CNN/Turner Singapore. I jumped at the chance and while I was working there I ended up editing commercial reels for Hyundai for the FIFA World Cup.” Q: After three years abroad what brought you back to the United States? Given the state of our economy why would you not have chosen to remain abroad?
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fully cooked. Three-fourths of the energy expelled during the creative exchange between clients and agencies is lost in the communication and clarification of the idea’s parameters. The best thing to do is to exhaustively clarify the goal of the project to optimize your own creative output. Q:You pair a lot of your own artwork with your advertising and design work in this issue of VANDAL. I wanted to ask you how you keep the two separate or if you believe that they belong together? How does being an Artist influence you as a designer?
A: “That is a good question,” he laughed while sipping the Maker’s Mark from his rocks glass. Well I was meditating while I was in Singapore in 2010 and I had been thinking to myself that I had never really belonged to any one place as an artist or creative person. I have never been a patriot of any one nation. I looked at the state of the economy in the United States and I made up my mind. I said to myself, ‘Even if the US falls into some surreal parallel where we all revert to an old west kind of gunslinger existence I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.’”
A: I have always been a creative person sometimes to my own detriment; it keeps me up nights. I don’t know why but I just can’t turn it off when I come home or when I go into the office. I find that my interests in art greatly influence and enhance my creative abilities as a designer. I am always learning from my own artwork as well as the artwork of my peers and I think that I bring what I have learned into my design work.
Q: What are some of the obstacles you have encountered in your work experience?
A: Now there are a lot of people out there who think that mixing art and commercial design together is like mixing water with oil but I believe that this is a sign of a fundamental flaw in the function and process of advertising. Art should not need to be put up on such I high pedestal because it renders itself inaccessible to the wide majority of people. It should not just be a product for the rich or well educated. In both art and advertising the principle of brand identity is common. The industry of advertising is just starting to realize their roles as content creators. Advertisers reach the world and act as the face and voice of the companies they represent. As our environment becomes more and more social, agencies are becoming the personality as well. Advertising needs to take a lesson from the moral
A: Personally, it has been very difficult for me to communicate to other professionals in advertising exactly what kind of creative person I am. After getting to know me beyond my résumé my clients and peers in the industry come to understand what a creative asset I can be. However, it is hard to get to that step. Professionally, the hardest thing to achieve in a working relationship between agencies and clients is clear communication. An advertising brief will come into the agency formatted in the standard way that the agency has requested, however, much of the time the client’s concept of what they want is not
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Q: Most people make a clear division between art and advertising. Do you think the two disciplines have much in common and should be paired?
VANDAL- Relentless Creativity integrity of Art. As creative communicators it is paramount that we respect our audience and stay conscious of how we communicate. All too often we see ‘stupid or dumb advertising’ which plays to a basic formula based on generalizations about the audience’s comprehensive abilities. The truth is, in either the field of art or that of advertising; if you treat your audience like without respect they will respond adversely to your ads, however if you attempt to educate your audience and really give them the gift of new or inspiring concepts or art direction, the positive response can be overwhelming.” Q: Talk to me for a minute about your online viewership and what has been happening to your websites over this past year while you have been in New York. A: I feel quite overwhelmed by it all. It took me 2 years to collect 5000 unique viewers of my artwork and advertising online but since moving to New York my viewership has spiked. In the last two months alone I received over 3000 unique visitors. People are seeing my work at a faster rate and at a broader scale than I could have imagined. As an artist I am finding it easier to connect to my audience but I also find that my own identity as a brand needs to change and evolve constantly. That is why I have created a pseudonym for myself, HLOVE. It is easier to be a persona online and to maintain a certain professionalism as a partially fictitious character rather than be forced to live up to the constant demand of my audience. This is where brand identity enters into my practice.
N 39 - Winter 2011/2012 brands renewing their brand identity and ushering in a new era of advertising. At the same time I will continue to paint and draw to keep my creative demons at peace, but I will expand my influence. I certainly didn’t come to New York to disappear. I am interested in art as an extension of communication. Advertising is the act of utilizing a mode of communication to propagandize products and brands, art is a similar kind of propaganda, but the brand is oneself. I will continue to improve my own brand until I become an independent, by which I mean starting my own agency which embraces art and advertising together. Q:What are your predictions for the future of the industry? A: I see change on the horizon for the future of advertising and the visual media of communication technologies. Right now, our technology is advancing faster than we as a culture can digest. It is a faster and more interconnected world than we have ever seen before. Our audience is the world now. The consumer has a voice in our global market and that is changing the face of global brands. Last Question (the ice has melted to the bottom of the rocks glass). Q: What advice would you give to young creatives trying to get their first start in advertising, art, design, or production? A: First I would say, ‘to each his own,’ take my advice with a grain of salt because no one can replicate the exact path of my life nor make the same decisions I have and obtain the same results. I can merely hope to inspire others. 1- always take the road less traveled. 2- If you are good at something, never do it for free.
Q: So what are your goals/aspirations? Where do you see yourself in 5 years? A: For the foreseeable future I will endeavor to continue working for international
3- Never be afraid to try something different. Approaching a problem from a different direction is the best way to obtain unexpected positive results and is the only way to achieve innovation.
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WE’RE IN THE
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Preserving Sources of Inspiration Presented by Ramona Cezar Forward by JemWu
Artist and anthropologist Ramona Cezar is not like your average reclusive shy artist, she is an avid explorer of sources of inspiration. From Pop Culture, to tribal crafts of remote cultures of the Peruvian Amazon, Ramona Cezar draws from all sources for the enrichment of her work. I am drawn to the ideals of universal patterns and universal truths such as we find in mathematics. Feb. 2009: Walking down the road divider, a 5am sunrise, on the way into town. Dust kicking up from the moto-taxis passing by with wide eyed drivers, gawking at the sore thumb caught in the light of the rising sun. Long shadows from the early flight of horned vultures stretch across the wet tire tracks. There is the sound of the world coming alive all about the dead concrete, barreling through the ancient jungles of Peru, in line with Ucayali River gulping cold water from the melting snowcaps of the Andes. Pucallpa, is a dangerous town; stories of hostage taking terrorists and drug smugglers. Peddlers and pushers with calloused knuckles who prefer to dine upon backpackers with big “take me” signs fastened to themselves, weighing them down, bulging from their backs; like a meaty drum stick dancing
in front of starved hounds. But in fact it is more dangerous to trust a foreigner in this place, because most come for a reason; one with many prepackaged explanations. The natives are happy and proud, fully aware and accepting of their neighbors and fully accustomed to lending a hand where it is needed. Only from the relatively recent influence of consumer culture have their hands sought the feel of money in exchange for kindness. But there are still many who know virtue in their blood. I was lucky enough to find such kindness, a CT townie with a pocket full of lucky charms and a knife securely fastened to the hip, a walking contradiction in a place where people come to never be found. I wanted this kind of solitude, for it is only in the places where
man ceases to be a man that he truly knows himself. Four hours by taxi down a white sand and red clay road, to catch a boat, two hours down river, then one hour walking up and down hills, deeper and deeper into the hot breast of the Amazon. Going to meet a hidden teacher; the student seeks words with a sort of infinite; greater than an echo, an incongruous conversation with the id. Oct. 2005: It was my second year in art college. I’m at Borders looking through the art section for books that might fit under my shirt or in my bag. I come upon a book, “The Cosmic Serpent,” by Jeremy Narby, shelved incorrectly, wedged between Lucian Freud and Art Through the Ages. I would buy this book and it would lead me
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N 39 - Winter 2011/2012 to ask questions, to shrug off the predictable, and embrace the implausible. A confection of curiosity and wonder would take over my cerebellum and cause me to finger through every article I could find about Peruvian mythology and cultural heritage. It became a hobby to be anthropologic, a hidden love shared only in passing fancy with those of an elite knowing. First priorities: painting, graduating, finding a job, besting my friends and their summer and after school plans. All else eclipsed by the need to learn the things that are not taught in common institutional circles.
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the region in the past 30 years. Still untapped, no one can be sure exactly what is under the soil. It should be common knowledge, that in the presence of any major commodity (diamonds, gold, oil, etc.) cultural preservation, the preservation of life, all of morality itself falls in the wake of progress. There are many examples of this but my favorite comes from Lima, Peru itself, in the early 20th century when the president of Peru, searching for hidden treasures to boost the national economy, dynamited the temple of Pachacamac, the great temple of the earthquake god, (the biggest temple nearest to Lima). Nothing was found and, once he stepped Sept. 2006: An isolated tribe, down, the government spent never previously contacted, millions of dollars repairing the is discovered in the Eastern damage. This is an example of Peruvian Amazon by a helicopter cultural pluralism, which occurs crew surveying a newly when one culture adopts some of purchased area of rainforest, now the traits of another culture because under the ownership of Peruanco they see benefit in their inclusion. Oil (French owned, Peruvian Unfortunately the insidious trait sounding). No permission, absorbed by Peru through years of nor discussion of sale took suffering, betrayal and genocide, place between the indigenous was that of greed. peoples of the area and the oil company, which was trying its Oct. 2006: I am convinced that damnedest to hide the news of the indigenous population of the uncontacted tribe from the the Eastern Peruvian Amazon global public. Claiming that the will meet with an unfortunate tribe was nomadic and often went demise at the hands of an obese back and forth between Brazil oil-consuming culture. Fear for and Peru, this was a cunning the livelihood of the shimmering attempt to avoid governmental virtuous cultures I had come to interference, and to skirt the love gripped me in a moment of issue of the tribes presence and clear moral choice. No one I knew, importance. However, due to cared enough, knew enough, nor national exposure the issue went had the determination or grit to global. Peruanco, along with explore this road. I would make my several other oil companies plans through restless nights, trying discovered oil in the Amazon; to tongue the borders of the path it is the biggest discovery in ahead. N 39 - Winter 2011/2012
More details came in, the uncontacted tribe is perhaps 100 souls or fewer. The oil company had settled with the Peruvian government on buying a 2 million dollar plane to scan for heat signatures in the jungle tracking the tribes movement. The sole responsibility of monitoring the tribe is set upon the oil company and the lobbyists breeding in the local bureaucracy. It seemed inevitable that the tribe would be lost. I would seek only to learn more about tribes like these so that I could somehow preserve some fragment of their cultural heritage before the double tailed coin toss that would decide their future for them. March 2008: Made contact with an advertising agency in Lima which will help me build my living from the $1000 I have left in my bank account. For the next 6 months I will learn Spanish from nothing but a knowledge of the pronunciation of numerals. I will lend a fraction of my soul to the Devil so that my better nature can keep track of what we ad men feed the public; I would rather it be me than someone who values money over what exactly goes into baby formula. I do the job well but after Christmas I leave to pursue a deeper understanding of my fate. I travel one hour north by plane to the only accessible landing strip on the border of the Amazon, then three days by boat. With my Spanish I speak to many wise men, tribal leaders that have grown weary of the outside world’s encroaching duality and corruption. In me they seem to
VANDAL- Relentless Creativity find a renewed confidence in the good nature of the human spirit, even though I am not the first idealist gringo to cross their paths, a 23 year old six foot american is certainly something new.
laid out on the floor to one side to get within personal distance. He extends his leathery hands out into the lamp light requesting my hands in response. I give over both and feel the surprising softness and gentle nature of the man. “Do you April 2009- Road blocks have have any questions for me?” And been set up by some of the locals although I wanted to ask him about to hinder the transportation of how he came to be in this place far drill equipment into the jungle. from the sound of people; of how Although it hardly makes much he came to be. I simply said, “I difference to a road battered have nothing to ask for nothing is and broken by the summer owed me. I have only my thanks storms. Whole cliff faces ride to give along with an apology, the landslide damming rivers reserved for whomever may wrong that provide water to smaller you or cause wrong without giving villages miles away. Juan Flores reason or cause. I give this to (A Tribal Leader of the Shipibo)- you so that you may more easily ”But what else can we do? Those forgive. A wise man (Ghandi) once bastards never even asked us if said, ‘the seeker of truth must be they could use our land. They humbler than the dust.’” never came to any of us to tell us Juan folded my hands together what they found and they sure as and slipped his right hand between Hell weren’t going to share the mine and with as much honor as profits with poorer residents. They can be shared between men, he just came and found the oil and firmly shook my hand. I would not immediately, production of the say goodbye to him when I would rig and drills began. It isn’t just leave for town in the morning. I the oil companies, it is our own would only be told by the man government that is stepping on its driving the boat up river that people, turning their backs on the Juan had requested that I return very thing that makes this country whenever I felt that I had to, an great. They are taking away that invitation only given to those of the last untouched piece of wonder. most amiable quality. One of the last places where anything is sure to happen.” As I observed Flores, the rain poured May 2009- There are now three down the sides of the thatched oil companies moving to occupy hut. The sound of the overflowing sections of the Amazon where their hot water spring running down rigs will drink the blood of the the mountain. The flames of the land. When one takes a stone from oil lamps describing the shape the ground, there is a whole that of a man from a different world, remains; a cavity that can be filled peering out through the dark with dirt, fashioned so as to make night into my eyes and feeling a believe that there was nothing deep respect from my colloquial absent. But the fact remains that silence. He brushes the brightly once there was a rock that need not colored feathers of the Macaw be disturbed, where our eyes can
N 39 - Winter 2011/2012 forget but our mind remembers. I think to myself, when this is done the value of that culture that stands in the way of progress may be quantified in mathematical terms. Suffice to say that I will feel an emptiness when they are gone. I will have wished to recognize to another the great value found within the meek. June 2009- Returning home to Connecticut, where my stomach cries patriotic tears of joy as I enjoy two bottles of Cottrell while wolfing down my first hamburger in more than a year. News of Peru has hit the global circuit: The road blocks that have persisted in the northern territories of Peru have provoked the local government to violence. Twenty five civilians are shot and killed by the local police, 10 policemen are taken hostage by the angered mob. Unconfirmed reports of the several tribal leaders under attack. Juan’s name is among the list. The President of Peru has issued a statement calling the people that are preventing the transportation of supplies to the oil rigs, “terrorists,” and has called for immediate action to resolve the now public issue regarding indigenous land rights. Days later, the government of Peru, under international duress changed its rhetoric and for now has checked its action. Late June 2009: I have recollected my routine in the world of the clock that divides my life into quarters and halves. Walking down the still streets of New London catching stray glances at the bar rabble let out from the dry saloons. Following the rain run off N 39 - Winter 2011/2012
N 39 - Winter 2011/2012 down the hill to a two hour parking spot wedged between the alley and a tilted building. I look over at the train platform and see four people under the cover of a canopy speaking familiar Spanish. They see me and quiet themselves, giving worried glances. I yell, “habla pe!” Shocked for a moment they then return to comfort. I ask them where they are from and they say that they are from Leoncio Prado and Campo Serio. Two relatively remote villages in the Amazon near the areas where the riots have occurred. One man does not respond. He hangs his head and shakes his wet coat up from his shoulders. There is a shared look then the group all adopt the man’s posture. It seems the memory of that once better place disrupted the momentary pleasure of reconnecting to a bit of home. I say good night, turn and leave. I pass them on route to the highway once more and nod goodbye. I catch the on ramp to 95N and wonder if my life in Peru was all fiction, and then I think that maybe someday it will be easier to think that it was. I am only an artist. But I believe that the purpose of art has changed many times throughout history as art has become more commoditized. Originally art was our first language, it was our first and greatest tool for teaching and guiding our culture. Its inherent value has followed us through our entire evolution. We must not forget this function. Artists must take responsibility again and guide our culture by questioning the foundation of those systems that have governed us so far in the direction of greed, and self destruction. And we must preserve our sources of inspiration as much as we seek to inspire.- An original written work by Harrison Love N 39 - Winter 2011/2012
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DELIVER HOPE TO HAITI
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Pattern based textile, Inspired by Stanley Kubrik’s, “The Shining.”
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Shipibo Pattern Painting “Preserving Sources of Inspiration.” Ramona Cezar
This project started shortly after Harrison’s graduation from the Rhode Island School of Design. During Elie Janstone’s interview with the artist, she noted his peculiar altruistic turn during the years of 2008-2009. “He is not only an incredible creative person but suddenly in 2008 decided to devote himself to the recording of artistic processes of people far removed from his own artistic background. Harrison explains his project: “The project began with my own interest in Paleolithic art and the genesis of our creativity from an evolutionary standpoint. I was specifically fascinated with origin art and cave painting. This personal interest grew and Paleolithic art became a source of inspiration for me. But it was during my research that I encountered an article related to indigenous tribes living in the Amazon, who were being systematically disrupted by encroaching modern cultures. These tribes had been practicing art in a purely raw state, that is for themselves and for the manifestation of their beliefs, which I had come to believe was the original purpose of art. As I continued to follow the stories in the news about these tribes being disrupted I made up my mind to begin a personal project to research the processes of artists working in the Amazon, far removed from the influences of outside culture and the guise of ‘High-Art.’ I had no linguistic skills in either Spanish or the native language of Quechua and no real trajectory for how I would enter the Amazon and research these tribes. Fortunately it was through my background in advertising that I was able to secure a job at DDB in Peru and simultaneously build up my portfolio, N 39 - Winter 2011/2012
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N 39 - Winter 2011/2012 learn Spanish and develop connections in the Amazon with the tribes I desired to research. Finally in 2009 I was able to conduct my research and since that time I have worked diligently to spread awareness about the social problems affecting the indigenous tribes of Amazon and their struggle to maintain their land rights and repel foreign oil prospectors and companies from permanently damaging their territories as well as irreparably damaging the Amazon itself. What you see here are examples of my creative efforts to expose the cultural struggle of these tribes in the Amazon. It is important as creative people that we not only seek to inspire but actively try to preserve sources of inspiration and in 2008 I could not accept that the heritage of these tribes would be lost forever.�
Wood carvings from configured pattern.
Abstract pattern based animating flip books. The Shipibo are a South American Indian group in Peru. The Shipibo are known worldwide for the complicated geometrical motifs with which they decorate objects. They are known for their intricate rectilinear designs on pottery, clothes, paddles, and the human body.
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Linoleum Cut, by Ramona Cezar
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Active Art
with Marco Surillo and Robert Zelic Robert Zelic’s painting style and subject provoke responses from his following online.
“I get hate mail and fan mail at both extremes for the work that I make.”
"The Last Hit," painted by Harrison Love love.harrison@gmail.com
harrisonlove.com
The long and inspiring history of iconic art, created by devout monks and priests throughout the history of Hindu, Buddhist, Catholic faiths and more, is an inspiring tradition not only for the great breadth of work created but also for the devotion that is manifest in their craft. Artist, Harrison Love explores and adapts the clerical art form in his painting "The Last Hit," built upon Robert Zelic Robert painting more specifically draws upon his experithe Art History of religious painting, Harrison's ences in the Franciscan churches and Cathedrals of Peru during his year abroad. "The building of the cathedrals of Peru and around the world required such a singular vision and devotion that I can hardly imagine the great effort coupled with the time, patience, and measure of faith that was required for such a feat. But what was of most interest to me was to see the plasticity in the symbols of Franciscan painters during the time of the Spanish colonization of South America. What I discovered to my surprise, was that because of the existing religions in the areas of the Amazon and throughout the coastal cities of the Inca cultures, Franciscan monks were forced to adapt the symbolism of Catholicism to the symbols already at work in the faiths of the new people they hoped to convert. As a result, a new type of iconic art grew from South America. For example all representations of the Virgin Mary were adapted to the symbols of Pacha Mama (the earth god/godess) which was often represented as a triangle. As a result whenever Mary is represented in the Franciscan art of Peru she is often shown wearing a triangular dress which forms a near perfect triangle in the composition of the canvas. I became interested in the use of religious iconography to address different cultures and customs and I chose to adapt religious symbols to address current issues effecting the world today." "The Last Hit," addresses heroin exposure and abuse worldwide through the adaptation of Christian religious iconography. The character in the painting is not meant to be Jesus but merely reflects the composition, and painting techniques often used to depict Christ. The imagery reverberates in our memory, activating disturbing thoughts of crucifixion and inner torture. These were the themes that the artist manipulated to create this modern conversation, a personal dedication to a friend who struggled for many years with his addiction. The composition places the figure on a coffin-like canvas to augment the experience of claustrophobia and to focus attention to the full form and the objects represented in the painting.
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Art Direction and Production by Robert Zelic 2008
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Recent work
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It’s What You Can’t see that protects you t
“What strength remains to the roving spirit for the greatest of all labors?”
Franz Kafka - September 25th, 1917 written while sitting on the steps of The Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China rarely appears in any art of the China’s antiquity before the 20th century. The mantle of “The Great Wall,” was adopted from European idealization of The Great Wall of China as a monumental feet of man-made engineering.
the most
Simple Solutions for Complex Situations
All material created and presented by Harrison Love Visit: www.harrisonlove.com Thank you for your participation.