Booki Takes To Tumblr.
In which I continue to shake things up by creating yet another blog.
Well, at least I'm consistent.
Started out making this as the cover of my class portfolio book, ended up doing something else entirely. I guess Picasso was right.
The search for an identity is one of the most wholesale phony ideas we’ve ever been sold.
In the twenty-first century it’s almost entirely subsumed in its purest form of “brand identity”—for Levi to be “more black” would simply involve the purchasing of items connected with the idea of blackness. How can anyone be more black? Or more female? It’s like saying “I want to be more nose-having, more leg possessing.”
People can only be defined by their actions in a world that contains other people. Sitting on a hill alone screaming “I am a Muslim in the 24-29 age bracket who likes Pepsi and sitcoms about loose bands of interconnected young people in my age group; I am a person who is French and into the things of Frenchness; I am a basketball player; a flower picker…” What does it mean?
The Belsey children need to stop worrying about their identity and concern themselves with the people they care about, ideas that matter to them, beliefs they can stand by, tickets they can run on. Intelligent humans make those choices with their brain and hearts and they make them alone. The world does not deliver meaning to you. You have to make it meaningful. The Belseys need to weigh situations as they appear before them, and decide what they want and need and must do. It’s a tough, unimaginably lonely and complicated way to be in the world. But that’s the deal: you have to live; you can’t live by slogans, dead ideas, clichés, or national flags. Finding an identity is easy. It’s the easy way out.
"Zadie Smith, Interview about On Beauty
I came across this book by chance because someone was selling a used copy for very cheap and I happened to like the typography on the cover. I’m so glad I read it. Zadie Smith is just really smart and cool.
Illustrations Of Unusual And Rarely Spoken Words
The Irish illustration duo of James and Michael Fizgerald, or also known as The Project Twins, have come up with a series of illustrations that visually represent rarely spoken and heard of words.
I really don’t like competitions or contests— too much pressure. But I didn’t have anything better to do, so when I saw the Doodler’s Anonymous challenge, The Essential Draw, I thought I might as well contribute.
My computer, on the other hand, was not so on board. This was my submission, but it wouldn’t upload it for some reason and the deadline passed before I could figure out why.
Curse you, technology.
Oh well. It was just for fun anyway. Now it’s just a (very) random doodle.
April 4-10, 2013.
I finally ended up serving on an actual jury. Waiting = Doodling. I only wish I could’ve taken a picture of my notes during the trial. They were epic.
Artist Hong Yi Plays with her Food for 30 Days
For almost every day last month Malaysian artist/architect Hong Yi (who often goes by the nickname Red) created a fun illustration made with common (and occasionally not so common) food. Her parameters were simple: the image had to be comprised entirely of food and the only backdrop could be a white plate. With that in mind Yi set out to create landscapes, animals, homages to pop culture, and even a multi-frame telling of the three little pigs. The project, which still appears to be ongoing, has been documented heavily around the web, but if you haven’t seen it all head over to her Facebook and read an interview on designboom. Photos will also be appearing on her Instagram at @redhongyi.
The assignment was to create an editorial poster (which, technically, I made as well), but I didn’t like mine that much, so I turned this in instead. Why? Because I am a rebel. Not really because I asked for permission and she said it was okay.
It’s kind of exciting though, this feeling of having already graduated and this knowledge that grades actually don’t matter now. It becomes much easier to do what I want and make things I like. For example:
I like coffee.
I like T.S. Eliot.
And voila!
Illuminated Infographics: If they did infographics in the Middle Ages, this is what they would look like. This series was really fun to make, and I loved exploring the modern/medieval mix of aesthetics. P.S. A lot of the imagery from these is taken from the Tres Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry, which is in my Top Five Best Illuminated Manuscripts list.
This is awesome. So creative!
