Packaging For The Happy Show's Typographic Films by Sagmeister & Walsh

These beautifully designed limited edition Blu-ray packages for three of Sagmeister & Walsh's typographic films, currently shown as part of the traveling exhibition "The Happy Show", each contain a unique earthenware USB drive (specific to each film), the disc and a certificate of authenticity. All the black boxes were individually written on by Stefan.








Centered around the designer's ten-year exploration of happiness, the traveling exhibition of Sagmeister & Walsh's The Happy Show presents typographic investigations of a series of maxims, or rules to live by, originally culled from Sagmeister's diary, manifested in a variety of imaginative and interactive forms. To contextualize the maxims that appear throughout the exhibition, Sagmeister has gathered the social data of Harvard psychologists Daniel Gilbert and Steven Pinker, psychologist Jonathan Haidt, anthropologist Donald Symons, and several prominent historians. In addition to individual works, some of which have been custom-made for this exhibition, The Happy Show includes a personal narrative, as Sagmeister's individual experience is portrayed beside social data detailing the role of age, gender, race, money, and other factors that determine happiness.


above photo of Stefan Sagmesiter and partner Jessica Walsh, credit to John Madere (johnmadere.com)

Stefan Sagmeister talks about The Happy Show exhibit:


Bill Rodgers of C-file reports that "The Happy Show was a 2012 traveling exhibition by the New York design firm Sagmeister & Walsh. Spearheaded by Stefan Sagmeister, the show premiered at the Institute for Contemporary Art in Philadelphia in August 2012 (and has since traveled through Los Angeles, Toronto and New York). In addition to being a personal narrative of Sagmeister’s quest for happiness through meditation, therapy and pharmaceuticals, The Happy Show also looked at happiness through social data with factors such as age, gender, race and money. Sagmeister’s work employed graphic design, graffiti, bright yellows, free gumballs and activity cards suggesting things such as cutting out of the show early to go home and have sex.



Video was also a feature of that exhibition. Three of those films are now available in a limited series of boxed USB drives. Each box was written on by Sagmeister; they bear individualized therapeutic reminders to be present, flexible and to ask for what you want. The USB drives themselves are made of ceramic and resemble horns, or tentacles or worm specimens. They look like exhibits taken from the mental health wing of the natural history museum.



Physical media is dead. The conventional wisdom among people who produce this soon-to-be-ancient material is that physical media works best when it enhances the experience of the song or video contained within. Within the last decade we’ve seen musicians release albums that are pressed on X-ray images or are part of a vast alternate reality game. Sagmeister, who has worked within the music industry creating album art for musicians such as Lou Reed and OK Go, seems to be working with similar logic as he created a highly-personalized artifact from his exhibition that draws the experience of his work forward, even if you’re only viewing it from your home computer."

Credits:
Creative Director : Stefan Sagmeister
Art Director and Designer : Santiago Carrasquilla
Designers: Christian Widlic, Esther Li, Thorbjørn Gudnason
Ceramic Production: Janine Sopp
Box Production: South Side Design and Building

Check out the fun title sequence on this one Happy Show video:


all images and information courtesy of Sagmeister&Walsh

Art Fund Cooks Up A Clever Way To Help UK Museums and Galleries

above: Photographs by Maja Smend, food styling by Kim Morphew, prop styling by Lydia Brun

A new fundraising initiative from the Art Fund encourages art lovers to create edible masterpieces with all funds raised going toward helping UK museums and galleries.

Damien Hirst's Anatomy Of An Angel Now Available Cast In Black or White Miniatures.

This 2012 edition by Damien Hirst reflects in miniature his original, classically posed Carrara marble sculpture of the same name (shown below at the Tate Modern).


above: 'The Anatomy of an Angel' and 'Doorways to the Kingdom of Heaven' during the press view of Damien Hirst's work on display at the Tate Modern.

The Hirst sculpture was based on Alfred Boucher's sculpture ‘L'Hirondelle’ from the early 1900s:

above: Hirst's angel is based on Alfred Boucher’s sculpture ‘L'Hirondelle’ (1920)

In Hirst’s version, cross-sections of her body show the anatomical structure beneath the skin, revealing she is human after all.




Cast in either black or white resin, each in a limited edition of 50, the signature, title and edition number are etched into the resin by the artist.

In White:





In Black:





2012
Resin
330 x 185 x 140 mm
Edition of 50
Produced by Other Criteria

PRICE: $10,825 (£7,200)
To enquire about this purchasing this product, email info@othercriteria.com

30 Pieces of Poignant and Uncensored Art by U.S. Veterans of War.

above: Autobiography (02) by Maurice Costello

In honor of Veteran's Day, I wanted to share with you some very personal and intimate art pieces from the National Veterans Art Museum in Chicago. The National Veterans Art Museum inspires greater understanding of the real impact of war with a focus on Vietnam. The museum collects, preserves and exhibits art inspired by combat and created by veterans. The pieces express their experiences through photography, sculpture, paintings, drawings and mixed media.

Please note: The work in this museum- and shown here- was made by veterans of war and the depictions of their experience is poignant and uncensored.

Good Morning PTSD by Christopher Arendt:

Real Life Souvenirs by Jay Burnham-Kidwell:

Towers (1) by Victoria Bryers:

Exiles on Main Street by Elgin Carver:

Title Unknown by Ronald Doc Cook:

58,000 Plus by John Dell:

Angel In The Desert by Marcus Eriksen:

(un)clothed and in her right mind by Iris Feliciano:

Aftermath by Michael Gottschalk:

Orphan III by Bill Hackwell:

In the Jar of Mars by Michael Helbing:

Where the Publisher Meets the Writer by Jay Burton Hellwege:

Tourist Photographs from Iraq - This is How I Wanted to See Myself by Aaron Hughes:

Fascinating Vietnam by William Hoin:

Memory of a Conflict by Louis Janetta:

Blown Away by Richard Lindsay:

Seventeen Months, Twenty-Nine Days by Grady C. Myers:

Early Out by Scott Neistadt:

Morphene, Anyone by Neal Pollack:

Mending by Scott Rogers:

The Wall by Michael Rumery:

Anguish by Bruce A. Sommer:

Together Separately by Anthony Stetina:

They Also Serve (POW) by Gary Tillery:

Prayer Boots by John Turner:

Head by Gregory Van Maanen:

Diptych Self Portrait by Kimo Williams:

This is How You Died by Richard Yohnka:

Punji Trap Wound by Bernie Zawiki:

Autobiography Installation by Maurice Costello:

The above pieces only represent a few of the works within the museum. You can view the online collection here.

God Bless all the brave men and women who give of themselves for the rest of us and this country. Thank You.

all images courtesy of the NVAM Collection Online website © 2012 - National Veterans Art Museum