Designing a Presidency

There are so many firsts with Obama's presidency, but the role that art and design played in inspiring and galvanizing people was pretty incredible.

Shepard Fairey’s Hope work is etched in history, but was...only one in a sea of stellar images inspired by Obama and his quest for the White House. Fairey and Evolutionary Media Group founder Jennifer Gross collect much of the best of that historic time in Art for Obama: Designing Manifest Hope and the Campaign for Change, a 181-page compendium of the campaign’s artistry.

I had a heated debate with a friend in reference to Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. She felt that it wasn't deserved as it was based on his ability to inspire based on words, not deeds. Perhaps in four years times the Prize would be merited on the basis of his actions during the Presidency.

I don't know, it's a fair argument, but there is something about his diplomatic international outreach and completely refreshing honesty and candor, which we have been deprived of for 8 years, that may have culminated in a worldwide feeling of the real possibility for change. And maybe that hope can motivate politicians, business leaders and everyday people to be the best they can be. Perhaps that deserves a Nobel Peace Prize?

The ability to spread this sense of hope needed simple and meaningful slogans, compellingly and consistently communicated, but also necessitated evocative art and design that visually express this through powerful symbols that people can rally around and transform into their own expressions of support and unity. Symbols that people can replicate and remix, and that become a part of their cultural currency.

I wonder how design and art will continue to support his presidency and motivate and unite his constituency?

It's all gone wild.

Talk about great ways in which to extend the narrative across different platforms and create a real sense of excitement, anticipation and wonder, just as any project associated to Where the Wild Things Are should. And it so happens there are several.


There's Dave Eggers book, The Wild Things, a book adapted from a movie that was adapted from a picture book (a great example of transmedia storytelling). Flavorpill reviews his book here, stating that: Dave Eggers has written a novel that is deeply imaginative, slightly strange, occasionally dark, and ultimately touching.

Then there's the WTWTA pop-up shop in LA called Space 15 Twenty, where people who can't wait for the opening night can (October 16), can check out all things Max in a space that...is filled with enchanting twig-and-leaf constructed structures, a giant trunk etched with Max's iconic "M" heart and monster claw scratchings, as well as the requisite Wild Things-inspired clothing, dolls, and home wares. Found here.

And the trio wouldn't be complete without an iPhone App. With the Wild Things app, you can browse through pics from the film while listening to tunes from Karen O's soundtrack, view movie trailers, or have a dirt fight with Where the Wild Things Are character Carol, who dances to music from your library and can make a mess of your photos and contacts if you don't give him proper attention. Found here.

Mother Sucker

A rapid vacuum cleaner is on the loose
It used to be tightly stowed away
tucked besides an old wooden broom and
a dusty cardboard box overflowing with old cassettes

Strands of long brown hair caught and twisted in its wheels
the plastic monstrosity rested quietly
back against the daisy patterned wall
Silently biding its time

Until

It would be released into the domestic wild
this feral, fucking crazy sucker
creeps up on you
One minute you’re casually reaching for another sour-cream and onion chip
the next, you’ve got this hoover draining the life out of you

Bits of experiences, hell even a piece of pia mater, swirl
in the glass coffin seated firmly at the centre of the machine
a book of matches from a first date,
drop of sweat from the last make-up fuck,
a dollop of energy that coursed through your veins at the last match,
a stranger’s smile on the commute to work,
all gobbled up and churning inside the belly of this beast

It drains you of color, robs your memories,
shoves two fingers down your throat until chunks and rivers gush
and you lie, like peanut shells on the floor of a rodeo bar in Savannah,
empty, drained, suck bone spanking dry (like dark chocolate marrow)
Stripped, raw and tired
a small skeleton frame shining and singing songs of sweet mercy

A wild, huffing and puffing, insatiable,
vacuum cleaner is on the loose.

I'll be the trapeze artist...

I've always dreamed of running away to the circus. The dressed-up and embellished fantasy of travel, adventure, magic and a camaraderie found amongst outsiders, is probably just that, a dream world concocted and baked by the imagination. But, for a minute, on a Saturday, wouldn't it be fun to just lose ourselves in the idea of it?

Going Postal

Mail Me Art is a collaborative art project that uses the postal service as a creative medium, soliciting art and illustration from contributors across the world. Created by Darren Di Lieto — founder and co-editor of illustration-news portal Little Chimp Society, Mail Me Art is in its second run, the first installment collecting, "over 600 submissions, mailed in on postcards, envelopes, boxes, and pieces of wood and cardboard."

The MMA goes through early 2010, with a winner selected each month by Di Lieto and crew.








Found in Flavorpill.