Monthly Archives: February 2010

ARCOmadrid Honors Los Angeles

The 29th edition of Spain’s leading contemporary art fair, ARCOmadrid, has opened its doors. For the first time, a city—Los Angeles—is the fair’s “honored guest,” rather than an entire country.

From this month’s issue of Art in America: “The switch, says the fair’s director, Lourdes Fernandez, reflects the fact that ‘contemporary meaning is not in countries but in cities.’ … It probably doesn’t hurt that L.A. is full of collectors and galleries, very few of which participate in ARCO, representing a potential future constituency.”

Be sure to check out this interesting story on the fair’s opening day at artdaily.org and this great article on the L.A. galleries participating at the Los Angeles Times.

Pictured: No Title (His transformation is), by Raymond Pettibon

Po the Panda is Here!

Williamson Gallery Director Stephen Nowlin gives us a behind-the-scenes peek at the installation of the upcoming exhibit DreamWorlds, opening March 4. A partnership between the College and DreamWorks Animation, the exhibit will highlight the artistry and craftsmanship behind today’s most successful animated features.

Become a fan of the Williamson Gallery on Facebook for exclusive updates as the exhibit takes shape. And speaking of Facebook, the official College Facebook page has officially launched—become a fan today!

The Wolfman Comes to Hillside Campus

There will be a special screening on campus of The Wolfman today. Film Department instructor Allen Daviau will host the 35mm screening of the Universal Pictures film for his Cinematography 5 Seminar. A Q&A with the film’s director of photography, Art Center alum Shelly Johnson, will follow.

A cinematographer and award-winning painter, Johnson has shot more than 50 feature and television projects including Tales from the Crypt, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, Jurassic Park III, The Last Castle, Hidalgo, Sky High, The House Bunny and many more. The Wolfman, a reimagining of the 1941 horror classic, was directed by Joe Johnston, written by Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self, and boasts an all-star cast including Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving and Emily Blunt.

The event is open to the entire Art Center community, as space allows.

The Wolfman Special Screening and Q&A
Thursday, February 18, 1 pm
Ahmanson Auditorium

Students Tackle Human Rights Issues

Images for Human Rights: Student Voices, a provocative exhibition exploring perspectives of Art Center students on the issues of freedom and human rights, is on display at the Skirball Cultural Center. The exhibition features more than a dozen large-scale, illustrated posters created by Art Center students as part of a Designmatters project.

The exhibition was designed in 2008 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in Paris in 1948. The historic document arose out of the tragedies of World War II and is modeled after the United States Constitution.

Images for Human Rights: Student Voices displays fresh interpretations of the declaration’s many principles, encouraging viewers to reflect upon its continuing significance. Taking such declarations as “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude” (Article 4), “No one shall be subjected to torture” (Article 5), or “Everyone has the right to education” (Article 26), the artists were challenged to represent these assertions through visual images. Each poster is accompanied by the text of the article(s) that inspired it, as well as insightful commentary by the student.

The exhibit runs through March 7. Read more about the project at the Desigmatters website.

Images for Human Rights: Student Voices
The Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049

(Pictured: Everybody by Christopher Kosek)

On Campus: Marian Bantjes

Don’t miss artist, typographer, designer and writer Marian Bantjes, who will speak at Art Center Thursday.  Working from her home on a small island off the west coast of Canada, her personal, obsessive and sometimes strange graphic work has brought her international recognition. Following her interests in complexity and structure, she is known for her custom typography, detailed and lovingly precise vector art, obsessive handwork, patterning and ornament.

Marian Bantjes
Thursday, February 18, 7:30 pm
Ahmanson Auditorium
Hillside Campus

(Pictured: Influence Map, Marian Bantjes)

Battle Royale: Book Versus Web

Lawrence Weschler loves the Web. So why is it a problem, then?

Permanence, for starters. The “extreme perishability of digital information” is of great concern to Weschler, who spoke on campus last Monday as part of the Big Picture Lecture Series. “Cuneiform tablets and papyrus scrolls have lasted thousands of years,” he explains. “Digital information, on the other hand, is catastrophic.”

Weschler argues the problem is that digital information decays over time, as well as the equipment and software used. Floppy discs, VHS tapes, CDs—these disposable media forms are quickly becoming archaic, and the work they contain becomes lost forever.

“The entire Clinton administration, in terms of history, is gone,” Weschler says. “Almost everything was conducted via email, with devices that are no longer around to use.” (Not to mention the fact that an external hard drive containing copies of data from the administration was discovered missing by the National Archives and Records Administration in 2009.)

A second issue, according to Weschler, is the “palpable substantiality of books,” or the stability of a printed book versus the instability and frantic nature of the Web. Books have substance and soul, while the Web is filled with insubstantiality and soullessness. “There is no calm centeredness on the Web,” he says. “Just a frenzy of echoes that rebound and go from one thing to the next. Which is its great strength as well.”

There is another set of issues with the Web related to authors. “The value of publishing a book for a writer is much the same as a visual artist putting together an exhibition,” Weschler says. “Preparing for an exhibition forces artists to self-edit, take stock in their work and decide what was good and what wasn’t.” You can’t do this on the Web, he argues. “It’s just too easy to put things up without the proper foresight or editing.”

Continue reading →

Big Picture Lecture Series: Robert Gregg

Don’t miss today’s Big Picture Lecture Series featuring Robert Gregg.

Gregg is professor of religious studies and dean of religious life at Stanford. His current writing project treats several “sacred stories” which appear both in the Bible and in the Qur’an—and examines interpretations of these scripture narratives by Jewish, Christian and Muslim writers and graphic artists in each of the religions’ early centuries.

Big Picture Lecture Series: Robert Gregg
Monday, February 15, 1 pm
Ahmanson Auditorium

In Case You Missed It…

As you know, there’s always something going on when it comes to Art Center alumni, students and faculty.  Some of the latest:

  • Film Department Chair Ross LaManna talks to CNN about the rise of the graphic novel in Hollywood. CNN
  • Director for Advanced Mobility Research Geoff Wardle chats with The New York Times about the Tata Nano, which will be on display next week at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. The New York Times
  • Alumnus Tommy Lee Edwards explains his conceptual work for the film The Book of Eli. Livingston Daily
  • Indy Racing League discusses the development of its next-generation racing car, developed with the help of Art Center students. Edmunds Inside Line
  • Painter and Illustration alumnus Paul Rickert’s latest exchibit, Industrial Visions, is currently on display at Rider University in Lawrence, NJ. CentralJersey.com
  • Filmmaker and alumnus Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s fantasy-action-drama epic about ancient Greece, Dawn of War, might be filmed in 3D. Little About

(Pictured: Out of Furnaces, Paul Rickert)

It’s All Good: Designmatters Brings Innovative Guests to Campus

A major component to the mission of Art Center’s Designmatters Department, which invites students from all disciplines to address humanitarian and social challenges, is to lead “an ongoing exploration of design as a positive force in society.”

Part of this exploration takes place in the field—Designmatters has organized dozens of projects, including the recent Safe Agua Chile, in which students developed systems for storing, transporting and conserving water in impoverished Chilean neighborhoods—but another part happens right here on campus.

Special events give students the chance to meet provocative and inspirational individuals who are using design to make a real difference.

Two recent Designmatters-sponsored events at Hillside Campus did just that.

On January 28, Designmatters and Acting Chief Academic Officer Nik Hafermaas presented “Leading Change for Social Impact: Perspectives from Prominent Innovators,” a forum moderated by Adlai Wertman, professor at the USC Marshall School of Business.

The panelists for the evening event in the Ahmanson Auditorium included Mariana Amatullo, vice president and director of Designmatters, who highlighted several recent departmental projects; Rhys Newman, head of strategic projects at Nokia Design, who explained how he uses his company’s extraordinary global reach to push environmental initiatives; and Jonathan Greenblatt, founder of Ethos Water and the open-source All for Good volunteering website, who discussed the business models behind his ventures and the power of the Web to effect social change.

Continue reading →

Awards Honor Exceptional Alumni

Each December, the College and Office of Alumni Relations present the Art Center Alumni Awards to three outstanding alumni. The winners, chosen by the Art Center community, are recognized during the Fall Term graduation ceremony. We are honored to announce the following Art Center Alumni Award winners:

  • Kenji Ekuan PROD ’57, awarded the Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award in recognition of his professional and creative accomplishments with his design company, GK Design Group. Founded in 1957, it is Japan’s largest design consultancy.
  • Michael Osborne GRPH ’78, awarded the Outstanding Service Alumni Award in honor of his humanitarian impact through his nonprofit design studio, Joey’s Corner. Named in honor of his late son, Joey’s Corner provides pro bono, strategic creative services to nonprofit groups focusing on health care, children’s issues and social causes.
  • Eric Benjamin Nyquist ILLU ’07, awarded the Young Alumni Innovator Award in recognition of his notable professional and creative innovation working with a range of clients including NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Goldie Cosmetics, Walt Disney, Heineken USA, VIBE magazine, Jeep, Lexus and Wall Street Journal Magazine.

Congratulations to our alumni for these well-deserved marks of distinction!