Welcome to the world of "Meditations," a journey that takes a unique twist on the timeless practice of introspection. While the original "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius delved into Stoic philosophy, Kirk's rendition draws inspiration from the serene realm of Zen Meditation. In this book, you won't find philosophical treatises, but rather a collection of 102 captivating moments frozen in time.
Kirk's quest for mindfulness led him on a decade-long exploration, armed with nothing but a smartphone. It's a paradoxical journey, where capturing the beauty of nature clashes with the act of being fully present. Those exquisite sunrises and sunsets that connect us to the cosmos – when viewed through a lens – transform into something different, something digitized and cropped. Yet, this book is a testament to the profound and delicate balance between presence and artistry, where every image captures a unique moment when the boundaries between "here" and "there" blur into oneness. Join us as we explore the duality of experiencing life and capturing it, one mesmerizing photograph at a time.
Inspired by Japanese manga (comic books) and anime (animation), the illustrations of Italian designer Simone Legno have become immensely popular to an international audience. Legno has successfully branded his work, marketed, and licensed his tokidoki collection on everything from hand bags to skate decks; the current obsession by some collectors is nothing less than astonishing.
Lynda Weinman has produced a series of videos online at lynda.com that document Legno's creative process from start to finish. In them, Lynda interviews Legno, and we observe him drawing his characters in his sketch book - then complete them in Adobe Illustrator. The series consists of 10 short videos. Unfortunately, most are available to subscribers only. "Shame on you Lynda!" During the first session this summer, I'll be offering Art 186 -
Computer Graphics with Adobe Illustrator at Cerritos College as a hybrid course and encourage anyone interested in Illustrator to look at Simone Legno's work for inspiration.
As a parenthetical note, the visual similarity between the work of Simone Legno and Takashi Murakami is striking (See my Blog, Murakami | The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA). However, what distinguishes one from the other is that Murakami's work is framed by a Fine Art context, and by misinterpreting and appropriating concepts of minimal and pop art, specifically Andy Warhol, Murakami successfully adopts the modus operandi of advertising, brands his characters, thereby blurring the distinction between high and low art. Simone Legno's frame of reference, on the other hand, is strictly commercial (i.e., design / illustration). There is nothing in his work that challenges conventional ideas. He sometimes ventures out by making a facile attempt at painting but remains wholly rooted in commercial art. Legno's characters compared to Murakami's are a pastiche and nothing more.
The thrust of this comparison lies not in the stylistic similarity between Legno and Murakami, or high vs. low art, but with respect to each artist's ability to brand his collection and license it to every kind of product imaginable. What makes Legno and Murakami interesting to me is how they have taken the notion of branding and dialed it up to a degree that would make even the most astute ad man envious.