Tag Archives: art + photography

Idealist Propaganda

By Ed Fladung | December 29, 2008

Glen E. Friedman - Idealist Propaganda
Glen E. Friedman - Idealist Propaganda

Los Angeles peoples: seminal photographer/artist Glen E. Friedman has a new show called Idealist Propaganda up at Shepard Fairey’s Subliminal Projects gallery on Sunset. The show runs until January 9th and is a collection of images that appear in a recently published book of the same name.

Forget “in your face” or “life-affirming” or any of the other hackneyed descriptions lazily ascribed to the material, this is some kick you in the kidneys, tattoo your teeth-type shit. Friedman got it and it’s all there. The Check Your Head-era Beasties, nose-picking next to craggy ruins and leafy California palms. A maniacal Henry Rollins frothing at the helm of Black Flag. Public Enemy shrouded in shadows, assault weapons and beat automobiles, at the height of the their Yo! Bumrush the Show menace. Run DMC, seemingly confirming the veracity of the phrase: Tougher than Leather. Friedman’s depressingly precocious Dogtown & Z-Boys shots, Tony Alva and Jay Adams hurtling through drained swimming pools, tempting paralysis and gravity with a dazzling grace. Material from his most recent Recognize Series, filled with transcendent shots of blissful marshmallow clouds contrasting cold blue sky. – Jeff Weiss @ LA Weekly

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Raymond Pettibon at Art Basel Miami

By Ed Fladung | December 5, 2008

Later he could be seen in the beach parking lot, behind his van, a towel wrapped around his middle, changing out of his we summer suit.

Raymond Pettibon Towel, $50 for a killer piece of art, though not one of a kind. Great if you can’t afford the real thing, like must of us non-banker types. This is one in a series featuring different artists like Pettibon, Jeff Koons and Ed Ruscha, done for the Raleigh Hotel for Art Basel Miami.

[via Supertouch]

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Thomas Campbell on Surfline

By Ed Fladung | December 4, 2008


ART GALLERY: THOMAS CAMPBELL | Surfline

Surfline presents a mind-bendingly awesome presentation of Thomas Campbell’s artistic output complete with his voice over. 28 slides in all, this is by far the biggest peek into the process behind his work, that I’ve personally seen. Amazing.

The biggest thing I took away from this presentation? I need to chuck the computer out the window, go outside more and make more art. Mindless, meditational, doodling, noodling, art.

[via the always dialed Shaka Bra]

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An Inspiration

By Ed Fladung | October 25, 2008



photos by Callie Shell

Look at these two photos. How could you not love this family. It’s plainly clear that there is some major love going on here. These photos are not manicured. These kids are just like any kids you know in your neighborhood. Theirs souls bursting out of their slightly self-conscious smiles. These parents could be friends of yours. I get all melty inside when I think this dad and mom could be / should be / will be1 the next President and First Lady of the United States.

It gives me warm feelings to know that when Obama is on the phone with Putin and whoever from Iran, trying to smooth over icey foreign relations, that his two daughters Malia and Sasha will be wrapped around his legs giving him much needed love and support. That’s what I’m talkin about, real change! If Obama brings half the love that is displayed in this family, to his new job we’re all gonna be alright.

These photos come from Time Magazine photojournalist Callie Shell, who has been travelling with Obama for 18 months. She has an extensive set of photos up at The Digital Journalist. The photos are full of candid, unposed in-between moments that really capture his true character. Go see the ice-cream parlor photo2 and accompanying bit of text, it’s so worth it.

  1. fingers crossed ↩
  2. no direct link – darn it ↩
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Garamond Powerline

By Ed Fladung | October 24, 2008

Garamond Powerline is a beautiful typeface made from photos of power lines. When shrunk and put into a sentence (as above) the letters look illustrated, when you view the letters individually, larger, you can see that the shapes are made from actual photos.

Brilliant idea. with a bit of serendipity thrown in for sweet measure.

[via waxy]

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Modern Collective

By Ed Fladung | October 15, 2008

Interesting surf movie branding of the week award goes to Modern Collective. It’s nice to see surf art/branding being pushed in a different direction. I’m digging on the epic space-rock opera meets 70s uptown fashionista Bodoni vibe. Or maybe I’m just reading too far in to it.

Oh and the detail in the “M”? Don’t think for a second that I don’t see that. dope.

[via Daily Dropola]

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Gnar Safari Chili Faction

By Ed Fladung | October 13, 2008

I was surfing the interwebs this morning and I happened upon Jamie’s posts about the making of a sick-ass low-budge surf video she and Jay worked on as a part of Alex Kopps’ one-day DIY Filmmaking class “Movie Making for the Broke”. Here’s the video in big quicktime glory.

Alex Kopps’ class was part of the Make Something series given by various artists that appear in Aaron Rose’s Beautiful Losers film. Jamie and Jay also went to Thomas Campbell’s class as well1.

If this doesn’t inspire you to create beautiful, low-budget, easily-accesible things, check your pulse.

  1. ok, we’re super jealous at this point – is it showing? ↩
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‘08 Follow The Light Finalists

By Ed Fladung | October 9, 2008

Surfer Magazine has announced the 2008 Follow The Light Foundation Finalists. Really good work from all five photogs: Ryan Craig, Todd Glaser, Zak Noyle, Shawn Parkin and Pat Ruddy.

More on Follow The Light Foundation:

On October 10th, 2005, the surfing community lost one of its most influential figures. After a nearly three year battle with severe brain cancer Larry “Flame” Moore, the Photo Editor of SURFING Magazine for 30 years, passed. He left behind a legacy of brilliant photography and an army of photographers trained by him. Through his work at SURFING Magazine, Larry literally gave three decades of surfing their “look.”

Today, honoring Larry’s request, we have established the Follow the Light Foundation (FTL), an organization that will help finance the dreams of surf photographers, pushing the sport and its lensmen forward.

Each spring, the board of FTL will announce the amount of money available, make a call for entries, and make an application and application guidelines available. Applications will be due mid-summer, and will be reviewed by an advisory panel. Recipients will be announced on October 10, the anniversary of Larry’s passing.

I entered the competition, but admittedly I lack the serious in-the-lineup photos that make for good spreads in surf mags. Oh well, maybe next year, after I buy that SPL water housing I have my eye on….

Relatedly, Surfer Mag Photo Editor and Follow The Light judge Peter Taras weighs in on The State of Surf Photography in 2009. He gets asked a million questions a day by up-and-coming surf photogs. This is Taras’ attempt at defining new trends and what’s hitting/missing, first through photo examples and then words as he gets to the technical side of things. Inneresting.

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Tubus Eternus

By Ed Fladung | October 2, 2008


illustrations by Ze Bird at Tubus Eternus

Lots of cool surf bloggie shturf going on in Portugal. Peep the gorgeous illustration goodness happening over at Tubus Eternus, I especially like the raw skills on display in the napkin and coffee stain sketches (top left above), so nice. Help from a little google translation, and I’m waiting to see his wine stain sketches.

Paulo Ribeiro hipped me to ‘Tubus Eterno’. Paulo also has a nice english-language surfy blog, holdin’ it down for us surf/tech/design workers. ¡Thanks Paulo!

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Shakas & Seppos

By Ed Fladung | September 8, 2008

Attention my LA/SD peoples: there’s a killer surf art show this Saturday, Sept.13th from 7-11pm at Surfindian in Pacific Beach. The show is a combo one/two punch by two outstanding up-and-coming Southern California-based surf documentarians:

The work of photography and filmmaker Cyrus Sutton, whose new 16mm Australian surf culture documentary Under the Sun will be shown.

and

Ryan Tatar of Shakas & Singlefins fame. Ryan has his finger on the pulse of the Southern California alternative wave craft scene. He mixes cross-processed quiet-bliss surf photography with a fine eye for documenting scenes who don’t quite make it to the competition-based glossy surf mags1. Ryan’s laid-back/easy approach to his subjects is starting to yield some amazing results.

I wish I could make it to the show, please represent for me.

  1. Why this guy hasn’t started his own magazine by now is beyond me. Someone write him a big, fat check already. ↩
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seamouse

By Ed Fladung | September 4, 2008


art by seamouse

Is seamouse killin’ it or what? Even a scribble about his love for a particular pair of surf trunks pulls at me heart strings. The simplicity, subtly and minutiae of his work is brilliant.

Incidentally, I have my own pair of surf trunks I wear religiously. Stussy, of all brands, I got ‘em four years ago and they wore out long ago. But I still rock them on the daily. They fit just right and truth-be-told, most other shorts inflict too much damage on my junk. Why do most surf trunks just plain suck? Too much raised stitching right at the ‘repro org’ contact point.

ok, too much information.

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Pascuales

By Ed Fladung | August 22, 2008


photo by José Leonel Salazar

Amazing photo pilfered from Magic Seaweed, taken by Arrobo. Pascuales is a crushing beach break in Colima near Tecoman. Legend has it that the break is even more dangerous when it’s small as it breaks in shallower water.

A friend went down about a month ago and came back with stories from a heavy swell. The waves were 8 meters (25 feet) and the only people who could get in the water were tow-ins, save one loco guy who hand-paddled into and successfully rode the largest wave of the swell. This is the stuff of legends.

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Latin American Graphic Design

By Ed Fladung | August 21, 2008

Latin American Graphic Design. TASCHEN has just put out a insanely large survey of Latin American-flavored design, historical and contemporary. The book is text + photo heavy and weighs in at 504 pages1, lots of profiles on prolific designers past and present. For anyone interested in design south-of-the-border, this is the book for you. Taschen has a full flash-based preview of the book, you can actually leaf through every page. Very impressive.

Comprised of 20 countries located in North, South, and Central America as well as the Caribbean Islands, Latin America is populated by over 500 million people. From Argentina to Mexico, all Latin American countries are Spanish-speaking with the exception of Portuguese-speaking Brazil. Latin America has been producing a very unique form of graphic expression for decades and this historical publication brings together the best examples from the 20th century as well as today. The book begins with an extensive historical essay about the region’s contribution to design, featuring the development of graphic design in the region from 1900 to current times, while the main body of the book features A to Z entries of almost 200 designers and design offices that have built up and continue to champion the Latin design identity. Finally, a handy index facilitates access to key information in the book, such as designers’ names, countries, publications, educational institutions, and famous events.

  1. thick book! and at $40 not too shabby a price for a Taschen book, all things considered ↩
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Maya Hayuk

By Ed Fladung | August 18, 2008



paintings by Maya Hayuk

I’ve been diggin on the art work of Maya Hayuk recently. Her kaleidoscopic / day-glow / geometric / handmade/ abstractness is really doing it for me, right about now. You might have seen her work on the front of Mollusk NYC, which shares a building with her studio. Incidentally, they call the building Monster Island1. Fecal Face has a great interview with Maya, from Feb’08 and Etsy just put out a video feature on Maya’s work as well. I was poking around her site when I ran into her photography, it turns out she’s an accomplished photographer as well. Peep these shots from a brazilian mag called Trip of the Beastie Boys, amazing! [via Wooster]

  1. two words: RAD! ↩
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Lisa Candela’s Sayulita

By Ed Fladung | July 20, 2008


Virgin Single Fin print by Lisa Candela

My karmic soul sister Lisa Candela gets a nice big write-up at Apartment Therapy for her Sayulita series. You can see more of her ultra-saturated analog bliss over at Lisa’s portfolio site.

Candela takes all her photographs on film, then makes limited edition digital archival pigment prints on this wonderful heavy watercolor paper. And in her gallery on Crosby street — you can see each encased like little treasures in hand-made frames of driftwood (made by her partner David Decker).

Lisa and David own Candela – Decker Gallery and the Sayulita series is showing there, until the end of July, as part of the temporary exhibits. Dan Eldon’s work is exhibited there permanently. For more info on her work, contact the gallery at:

Candela – Decker Gallery
31 Crosby Street. New York, NY 10013
{Between Broome and Grand}
Phone # 1-212-343-1717

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