My design culture artifacts

Support for independant artists by James White

I’ve been watching the global, or underground, art and design scene for over ten years now and as a result have seen artists start with small portfolios and unique ideas to become known on an international scale for their quality of output. Being a big fan of these people for so long, I always feel compelled to contribute to their endeavors by owning a small piece of their respective creative journeys. Afterall, small contributions help keep independent artists doing what they do best.

So I would like to dedicate this post to some of the art and design items I have accumulated over the past few years, all of which I am so very proud to show and own.

Shown above are my various Obey Giant items. I have been a fan of Shepard Fairey since coming across his website ten years ago and am thrilled to see him become the design powerhouse he is today. My Obey items include Supply and Demand, a big Obey vinyl sticker, E Pluribus Venom and Shep’s recent Obama design for the cover of Time Magazine.

Queens of the Stone Age by Obey Giant

I waited a long time before ordering anything from the Obey Giant store, mostly because there was too many prints I wanted. However when this poster design for my favorite band went live, I ordered within seconds. This is #88 of a 250 limited edition print run.

ISO50

My two favorite items from Scott Hansen’s online store over at ISO50, his Vuela 1971 poster along with his Workers t-shirt.

Darwyn Cooke

Darwyn Cooke is my favorite comic book artist with a lovely vintage style that lends itself nicely to DC’s bright and colorful characters. He also just happens to live about and hour from Halifax. Shown above are two of Darwyn’s original drawings, on the left is Green Lantern drawn for me at an instore signing at Strange Adventures, the best comic shop in the world. On the right is a character design for Amon Sur, created for the New Frontier animated feature movie.

Wandering off into Space: Chuck Anderson

My most recent purchase is Chuck Anderson’s new book, Wandering off into Space. This second book showcases Chuck’s amazing client and personal work created since 2003. Check it out at NoPattern. I’m yet to own any of Chuck’s prints myself, however have given a few to friends and family as gifts.

Lucia Holm

Here are two beautiful self-portrait prints by my favorite photographer, Lucia Holm. I discovered her work over a year ago and can’t get enough of her eye for color, environment-usage and subtle effects. She nails the idea of retro-modern.

Ming Dynasty: Joshua Davis

After watching the work of Joshua Davis for the duration of my design career (I discovered his Praystation site while I was still in school in 1998) I am proud to own this poster series he designed for Ming Dynasty.

As I said, I’m very proud to have these books, prints and drawings as part of my growing collection of design culture artifacts, and I’m sure the list will grow as the scene progresses and changes as new art emerges.


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16 responses to “My design culture artifacts”

  1. Shelby White Avatar

    I’ve always loved Scott’s and Chuck’s work.

    I really enjoy Lucia’s photos as well.

  2. michael Avatar

    thanks for sharing your collection. really enjoyed the post.!
    greetings from cold switzerland! :-)

  3. Neil Martin Avatar

    It’s amazing to see how popular Shepard Fairey’s has become over the last few years. That poster you now own in particular is stunning.

  4. Simon Page Avatar

    Big fan of Scott Hansen’s work – thanks for sharing the rest too.

  5. Daan Avatar
    Daan

    Nice one!

    I wondered, why is this posts appearing as “My support for independent artists” in my feed? X)

  6. james Avatar

    Daan, I changed the title of the post as the previous seemed a little vague.

  7. PKayne Avatar
    PKayne

    That’s an absolutely admirable collection. I am still developing mine now. Scott Hansen and Anderson’s are in there plus a few others. For the longest I have been trying to get Fairey’s artwork even before the Obama poster and everything good was always sold out. I expect it will be so much harder now.

  8. james Avatar

    PKayne, yes I noticed his store stock has been pretty low recently. I assume he’s a pretty sought after designer, and his work might be even more scarce with the exposure he’s gotten recently. Good to see him rise to an almost household name :)

  9. Daniel Avatar

    Yeah Lucia Holm is doing very original stuff.
    And so does Scott Hansen. His blog is also very cool!

  10. Loukas Avatar
    Loukas

    God, all you had to do was ask me to make you something instead of alluding to it in this post.

    xoxo!

  11. james Avatar

    Loukas, so you noticed the ‘lack of Loukas’ artwork in there, huh? Am I going to have to pester you for another year, pal? :)

  12. Gav Avatar

    What an amazing collection of pretties!!!

  13. Matt Avatar
    Matt

    it’s unfortunate that the iconic image of Soviet labour in Scott Hansen’s “Workers” shirt is taken wholesale from here: http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/VAS/0000-5265-4~Russian-Industrial-Posters.jpg

    Shepard Fairey’s plagiarism is pretty well documented as well:
    http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/index.htm

    sure, both make some nice looking stuff… it’s just sad that they’ve both received so much acclaim for biting others’ work.

  14. Andrea Austoni Avatar

    Hi James. Your work is beautiful and original. I came across this article, available at this address: http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/index.htm which unmistakably shows how Shepard Fairey shamelessly traces other people’s artwork and calls it his own without giving credit. I know I can’t stand plagiarism in stand up comedy (Italian “comedian” Daniele Luttazzi is a big offender, having ripped off George Carlin and Bill Hicks many times) but I understand how spoofs and parodies might apply to street art. Obey Giant’s work, though, is very superficial. What if you found out the Queens Of The Stone Age is a rip-off too?

  15. james Avatar

    Matty, thanks very much for the link! It was a very insightful read and urged me to finish my Shepard poster, I referenced the article with the post. Really appreciate the heads up :)

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