Urban Design

British street artist and designer Dave The Chimp recently started a new sales game to make some fans of his artworks happy and to get some money for the cold month. Currently, I read about that “Lucky Dip” lottery and thought, that this playful way of art disposal has to be supported. It’s very interesting, because it’s a combination of lottery and sale… “If you’d like to get your hands on an original “Human Bein” painting, plus a signed copy of his book “Part of Rebellion 2: Dave the Chimp”, and some zines, all for just 35 euros (40 euros outside of Europe) then drop him an email and he’ll send you the instructions of how to play the Lucky Dip.” (hooked) ...

I love artworks, which are influenced by maps or the city itself. For this reason, I already wrote some articles about this part of contemporary art - remind the Manhattan Skyline Drawing by Stephen Wiltshire or the fantastic typographic lino-cut by Mark Andrew Webber. Today I will present another great example: Whether New York, Paris or London, American artist Karen O’Leary’s map cuts are amazing! She hand-cuts parts of original maps into paper and reveals in this way the paths, nodes, circles, boulevards, parks and streets of some of the greatest cities in the world. ...

When industrial design meets typography - Dutch artist Pieter de Leeuw, who just graduated in Industrial Design, designed a very interesting bookshelf as his thesis! It contains out of several separate letters and tries to give the consumers maximum freedom of using it. The wooden letters in various colors can be arranged to the user’s liking and could also be used as seating. I like those crazy interior designs! On the one hand it’s really simple, but on the other hand there’s a great concept! However, I need such a letters bookshelf for my next apartment… ...

Do you know the British artist Stephen Wiltshire? No? Me neither, but today I read an very interesting article about him and his great Manhattan Skyline drawing… …He is the world’s leading architectural artist! Stephen Wiltshire was born on April 24, 1974 in London. When he was about three years old, he was diagnosed as autistic. The special thing about him is, that he is able to draw intricate buildings and cityscapes completely from memory! And I meen not only small villages or urban scenes, but whole cities or skylines. “In 2005, for example, following a short helicopter ride over Tokyo, Japan, he drew a stunningly detailed panoramic view of the city on a 10-meter-long canvas.” ...

Some weeks ago (almost a year after the first test issue), the new, second Crack Mag issue was published! The urban magazine delivers urban culture and lifestyle feeling and features a exquisite selection of work from street artists, photographers and musicians. This time, the “Crack For Your Eyes” crew collected art by Snub23, Fake, Mr. Zero, Chase and other famous people. The mag itself is very clear, structured and convinces with great photos. The about 180 colorful pages and is available online for free! ...

Almost every bigger fashion label used street art or graffiti for their commercials or got directly in contact with international urban art protagonists in the last years. A few already have their own gallery! Street art is popular and for this reason en vogue. Also jeans fabricator Levi’s goes with the trend and brought two well-known urban artists on board of its advertising campaigns in the last weeks. On the one hand, Shepard Fairey made a whole poster series - the Levi’s collaboration graphics - in his famous Obey-style and on the other hand, KR designed some jeans and jackets for them. ...

Google Street View is already highly controversial. Whether technological revolution, or “Big Brother”, there are different arguments for and against the Google feature. A really pro argument are the Google Street View artworks by Kentucky artist Bill Guffey! He uses the Street View pictures as references for his landscape work: “Using Google Street View, I’ve completed a series of paintings, one from each state in the U.S. Except Hawaii (they don’t have Street View there yet). Some scenes are typical of the area, others not so much so. […] ...

About four months has Mark Andrew Webber spent to design his new artwork and the past two months he carves it: An enormous linocut map of Paris! But that’s not the highlight! The whole map is a typographic interpretation of the French street and building names. With its 1.8 metres across, it’s an fantastic artwork! “With this Paris map, I’ve tried my hardest to make it accurate, but I’m not a French speaker so it’s bloody hard. It’s just a lot of checking and I’d rather like the pieces to not have to be chopped up, as that kind of ruins it.” (Mark A. Webber) ...

There are many different graffiti-inspired designs, like urban wear, magazine and web layouts, skateboard decks or something else. I will show you some very interesting and fresh, graffiti-inspired interior designs! Spray-Can Cocktail Shaker No joke, this stainless steel cocktail shaker that comes disguised as a graffiti-writer’s spray-can is what I ever wanted to have! “What appears to be a paint can primed for graffiti is actually a cocktail shaker waiting to prime your pump - the cap of the shaker even has an arrow on the top, like a can of spray paint! The back of the can features a removable label full of drink recipes to try out on your amused guests.” (Via boingboing.net) ...

Possibly the best source of inspiration for typography posters is available under typographicposters.com! With the theme „feed and consume quality“, lashings of typographically influenced posters from the whole world are collected and presented there. For everybody searching for new inspiration for the next poster-collection, typographicposters.com with artworks by Via Grafik, Petros Voulgaris, Ralph Karam and many more is an amazing fundus! Now, take a look, get inspired and put up your own typography posters!