POST - FUTURE

Legendary artist John Van Hamersveld is best known for his poster for the 1964 blockbuster surf documentary/film, '"The Endless Summer" and his album covers for the Beatles (Magical Mystery Tour), The Rolling Stones (Exile on Main Street), Jefferson Airplane (Crown of Creation), the Grateful Dead (Skeletons in the Closet), Kiss (Hotter Than Hell) and Blondie (Eat to the Beat), to name a few.

However, his credentials are endless. Among his other creations: an official poster and 360-foot-long mural for the 1984 L.A Olympic Games; illustrations for magazines such as Esquire, Rolling Stone, Billboard; branding and logos for Fatburger, Contempo Casuals and Broadway Deli.

The iconography of his oeuvre runs deep, from Day-Glo tones to trippy swirls to the grinning “Johnny face,” an icon in itself.

Like an acid trip in ink on the paper of space and time, John Van Hamersveldʼs graphics have transcended the psychedelic ʻ60s and become classic images that are as futuristic as they are vintage.

“Post-Future,” opening March 7 at Shepard's Fairey's Subliminal Projects art gallery, features many of Van Hamersveldʼs classic works juxtaposed with re-imaginings of those images, recent retro- styled pieces and a never-before-seen series of drawings connecting past and present.
Through the show, Van Hamersveld creates a lens, through which the past can be seen and the future can be sourced, where imagery melts into a pool that is both the source and the destination of creativity.
Van Hamersveldʼs book, also titled 'Post-Future,' is set to be released in September.

Bad Typography is Everywhere, says Craig

Sirdab has, for some while now, spotted this artist. Since then, we've been fervent admirer of London based illustrator, Craig Ward, posting several brilliant stuff made available on his online space dubbed 'Words are Pictures.'

Here is a sample from Ward's latest type-based design expressions.

As brilliant as we got used to! A true delight!!

AlphaPETS

Discovered a very talented artist with such a fresh illustrations. Some while ago, Alexander Blue was working on a book idea that shows kids how to draw characters using each letter of the alphabet… Blue was looking for a title to give to this beautiful book idea. 'AlphaPETS' was one of the options he suggested...
...It's amazing stuff, so imaginative, so inspiring, so playful, so creative & so fun, so & so infinite..

Featured below, characters based on the uppercase letter “R” & letter “E”. More here

Out of the (X)box campaign

XBox 360, the console that needs no presentation, is using ecstatic-frenetic, acid-dripped designs in a new, multi-platform Austrian campaign.
As a result, four art pieces with luscious graphics were created (A1 size posters). Additionally, the artworks are used for various forms of advertisement (Promos, ad events, campaigns, retail) within Austria.
Eric Chan (aka Eepmon) narrates on his blog, " Lets go back to several months ago. I was contacted by Thomas Kritsch, marketing director representing XBox 360 Austria who was interested in getting me on board for a collabo."

The collaboration involved XBox 360's 4 themes for their upcoming campaign that will be used throughout the rest of summer and fall of '08 in Austria. " I was given the honourable task to create the branding for XBox 360's 4 themes (Blockbuster Games, Music, Sports and Family)," explains Eepmon. "What a honour it is to be part of the XBox 360 experience. I am very pleased as how the pieces turned out. Every time I look at the 4 posters side-by-side, I look back at all the work I have put into this and to see it finally manifested into the physical brings an extreme satisfaction."

A definite out of the Xbox campaign, effervescent and jolly illustrations for one of the most must-have console games.

Agent under fire

To celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the birth of Ian Lancaster Fleming [born May 28, 1908], creator of spy novels James Bond 007, Penguin publishing house commissioned British born, San Francisco artist/illustrator Michael Gillette to paint the iconic covers--adapted to movies-- of 14 James Bond stories.

Take a look at the images above of just a few of the women, who have graced the world of James Bond 007 and see for yourself: the result is as sexy as the James Bond Girls themselves, who have become as famous as Agent 007 himself.

With exotic and far out names like Honey, Kissy, Pussy, Plenty, Tilly, Holly, Stacy, Tracy, Aki, Rosie, Bibi, Lupe, Magda, Pola, Kara, and Jinx – it’s no wonder!
Gillette's sexy interpretation of eye-candy Fleming Bond Girls, with a striking minimal colour palette overlaid with interlocking 60's inspire type treatments, are so good they're sure to bounce off the shelf. You can check out more of Gillette's paintings madness, while taking a look at his blog Pencil Squeezing.

Click here to read an interview done with Michael Gillette by MI6, the home of James Bond.

These beautiful pieces were made available on May 29 if you wanna purchase any;
however, the good news is that a limited edition of 25 signed Giclée prints (50x70) of each of the covers have been made for sale (£145.00 each) by Cosh.

Also, if you're in London over the next few months some of the work will be on display at BOND BOUND: IAN FLEMING AND THE ART OF COVER DESIGN: 22nd April - 28th June 2008 @ The Fleming Collection 13 Berkeley Street London W1J 8DU.

Moreover, it would be noteworthy mentioning that the James Bond films have grossed over US$4 billion (nearly $11 billion when adjusted for inflation) worldwide, making it the second highest grossing film series ever after Harry Potter when not adjusting for inflation.{source Wikipidia}

On another level, and for the little story, in 1960, Fleming was commissioned by the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) to write a book on the country and its oil industry. The typescript is titled State of Excitement: Impressions of Kuwait was never published, due to the Kuwaiti government disapproval.
According to Fleming: "The Oil Company expressed approval of the book but felt it's their duty to submit the typescript to members of the Kuwait Government for their approval. The Sheikhs concerned found unpalatable certain mild comments and criticisms and particularly the passages referring to the adventurous past of the country, which now wishes to be 'civilised' in every respect and forget its romantic origins."

Rockin' Illustration

Illoz is a portfolio site for Illustrators made in a way as to serve as a useful workspace for art directors. It's an experiment, of sorts, explain its founders, the same two guys who brought Drawger to life.

"The idea is to establish a new and better way for art directors to find and interact with Illustrators."

illoz is an invitation only online portfolio site for Illustrators. It's not for everyone and not everyone who wants to be featured in there will be able to do so, as admission is limited to keep the quality high.
Anyhow, it's worth a visit since, indeed you can find great artwork, brilliant illustrators from every corner of the world - no one from Lebanon though.

And here is our favourite of the pack, Edel Rodriguez, a Cuban national, whose work ranges from conceptual to portraiture and landscape. Edel's artwork is in the collections of a variety of institutions, as well as in the private collections of a variety of writers, actors, designers, businessmen, and political figures.
His work has been featured on the cover of many illustrious publications.
Edel Rodriguez is also the recipient of both a Gold and a Silver Medal for editorial illustration from the Society of Illustrators.

Piss In Style

Free hand airbrush illustration work--on toilet seat-- by a renowned Lebanese tattoo artist.
Hady Beydoun, is a multi-disciplinary talented young designer, owner of Skin Deep studio, and a well-established illustrator, who has earned a brilliant reputation in the Arab world, by blending passion and excellence in every piece he has drafted. Often the result is edgy, appealing and seemingly empowering to this professional illustrator.