type projections

How can I create type with complex, resonating meaning and house it in an environment with supporting [or blatantly contradicting] connotations? I’ve adapted the human body as my environment.

My diary entry on display theme has progressively evolved to opinions and feelings for all to see. One of the suggestions I received from the last crit-light was "try to create a message that means something to more than just me." My first thought was, why would I do that? (art for the masses is not my purpose in life.)

In the image below, the sadness of the moment has been anchored with contradictory type; poor Lydia should not have taken that call. I wanted to increase the drama by placing the type upside down. Maybe she just collapsed to the ground, maybe she has been sitting in the same place for hours. What if I displayed this photograph with a recording of a phone off the hook?

This photo of my dear non-shy friend Becky was actually just an exposure test. I am including it as process and nice hair documentation. Of course, the text holds true as well.

The shot below (90% post production free) is not doing what I want it to just yet. Hello blackmail. The photo below has extreme potential; my text is a purposefully blatant understatement (as confusing as that sounds). In the calmest voice possible, I am yelling at the top of my lungs that this perspective on love is alright. (Wouldn’t it be amazing to convert this to a billboard to exist in areas where this opinion is not acceptable.)

I tried extremely hard to avoid photographing only myself for these. Sadly, I had to cave in for the (blush) two girls holding hands shot because another friend could not make it—I happen to fit the ultra feminine profile (original plan intact).

About the intentional font choice, Helvetica allows me to project whatever I want to say. . . without a fight—additionally, I have an incurable affinity for the clean and modern Swiss touch.

me in a belly

sagmeister, my hero

When Sagmeister was fifteen years old, he wanted to become a designer. In 1993, Sagmeister worked for Tibor Kalman and shortly after, opened his own firm. As a young designer, he once considered style irrelevant to content; now he believes form and style are a powerful combination for communicating content.

From Sagmeister's perspective, the freedom to create concepts is most gratifying, if the project is without a deadline. The concepting of a project at times happens in a plane, a hotel or anywhere; the execution, however, usually occurs in the office. A resulting hand-made quality is what Sagmeister's studio is best known for.

And most importantly, to keep up to date and sharp on what other designers are doing, Sagmeister meets weekly with a group of friends who run local firms.
information from www.designboom.com

mikal shapiro

The song must be serious since her hair is flipping around.

a pretty spot for type

First of all, this diary entry on display was created on Valentine’s Day. (I guess that means I could place type anywhere and easily fulfill my criteria of connotation necessitating significance to the message.) I chose what I would consider to be a romantic location; a trail with stone steps leading up to a scenic view. Surely some giggly couple would hold hands while skipping to the top.

Besides creating a short-lived message with consistent connotations to the environment, I also wanted to test fragmentation. As the unaware individual begins wander up the steps, a new word is visible every few steps; the message begins at the bottom and is completed as the subject nears the top.

note to self...should I really bring my dog along while creating precarious type?

connotation of location

I’ve separated each word of the diary entry in order to consider how choice of environment could support or infuse meaning. My initial idea was to stand on corners where homeless people would, in order to communicate a need. My need just happens to be love. (Just to set you at ease, I am not quite as sad as projected. Surprisingly, I did have a date on Valentine’s Day.)

while he was sleeping...

turning tricks

In the first photo, I chose a somewhat desolate area to communicate the lonely message. Not many cars drove by—I was crying to the lord and the snow flurries.These were taken at the plaza during rush hour. I was much more self-conscious because cars and eyeballs were surrounding me. Since the sun was beginning to set and the weather was so bitterly cold, a new sadness lingered.I am attempting to rescue my friend from being hit by a bus; my photographer (Mikal Shapiro) has recently moved back to Kansas City from the Bronx—she decided the bus could wait.

The moral is, both weather and location affect a message in severe ways. The busy plaza was much more lonely and cold than a literally desolate location in downtown Kansas City.

a modern night

The following are a few moments from A Modern Night at the Folly. I was so grateful to have the opportunity to photograph this. (Some of these are from the tech rehearsal) directly below: a few dancers from the Owen/Cox Dance group and the infamous lighting designer who goes by, Moose.

when love

public art, created February 6th, at around noon at Penn Valley park
I’ve adapted combat boots as my drawing tool—fashion and function. I thought the traction would be enough, but the angle was a little more intense than predicted. Spikes would be helpful for next time.

During the writing process, from my vantage point, I convinced myself that the final product would not be legible. Although, I was absolutely not pursuing perfection. Something meaningful to me was my goal; a sort of diary excerpt for the world was about to be on display. (Maybe God actually listens when it’s written large enough.) I tried to size up each letter in my mind prior to rendering, but my occasional slipping somewhat prevented the intended outcome.
Upon completion, I was thrilled and relieved to find out the type was in fact legible—at least from a few angles.
While taking pictures, a bus stopped near me. A man began walking toward me and asked if this was my creation; he told me he’d been pursuing a lady who was a little shy about their relationship and he would love to send her a picture of this. Another man answered my snow diary entry with a predicted, very soon. I blushed.Just five hours later, the words were mostly illegible. (The 38°F that flashed on a bank sign earlier in the day, unknowingly predicted both sadness and destruction.)

short lived

Ephemeral work interests me, maybe because I appreciate the anti-commodity art movement. Maybe I just love the idea of a short-lived experiment. A moment that exists and is then gone is a reflection of life and should be cherished.

Within the fine arts, Robert Barry inspires me. He challenged the physical limits of art through "invisible" instillation; photo documentation of one of his Inert Gas instillations moves me the most; the scene in one photo contains a lonely desert setting and an upright, yet slightly crooked gas can—maybe or maybe not—emitting a fume. The act of documenting invisible gas is hilarious to me.

Specific to type, I would drape my affinity on Stefan Sagmeister’s ephemeral designs and his application of non-traditional materials. I can’t say that all of his work is especially beautiful to me, but I will bow to a man who allows an intern to carve an AIGA lecture invitation on his nude and unimpressive body. Since the lecture was held at the Post Modern hub, Cranbrook, the outrageous method was cohesive to the message. Another Sagmeister work I adore was placed within an exhibition titled, Things I Have Learned so Far; 7,200 bananas glued to a wall spelled out the message, Self Confidence Produces Fine Results. (I should take note.) The last Sagmeister piece that I will gush over is a series of billboards titled, Trying to Look Good, Limits my Life. The message is both honest and deeply penetrating; the materials include tree branches, a fence, grass and a pool.

bicycle photo possibilities