Neil Blender Tattoo

archipelagonow — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:23:48 +0000

image courtesy of Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art

This is board is my favorite skateboard art from the eighties, well probably of all time. I liked other boards for many reasons; like the grip tape art was cool, or because I liked the style of the rider but this one’s stock art is my absolute favorite. It looks like Picasso doing MC Escher. On second thought, I don’t really see the MC Escher comparison…to me its just a clever use of figure ground reversal; I wish I’d thought of it! Well, long story short, I’m going to get that as a tattoo to remember my skate days with bleached blond bangs listening to the Misfits or Gorilla Biscuits.

I’m also going to finish the tattoo on my arm. It was drawn and designed by my friend and collegue, Edwin Fang. He’s a designer and artist, equally adept at both but he’s so amazing when it comes to line drawing, I think I’ll get him to draw me another one. I have a third tattoo idea that I want but I’m still working on that one. Top secret.

SF

archipelagonow — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:50:39 +0000

I know I said I would write about International Style but I think if you’re going to critique or even talk about Modernism you better come out with your guns blazing and have your shiz together. And I just don’t have the energy for that right now so for a lighter post….

So a band that we played a show with at Spaceland called the Music Lovers were having their last show before an extended hiatus in the Mission. Seemed like a lot of bands I know are taking a break, I wonder why? The place was pretty packed for the opening band, the Minks (an all girl Kinks cover band). They played the songs great and brought a new female energy to the Davies catalog. They mainly seemed to stick to the rockers like End of the Day but I wish they played my favorite Kinks song, Waterloo Sunset . Mostly it was cool hearing the songs with female vocals. Music Lovers had a good crowd and I’m glad to have caught them in their “element”. Their stuff reminds me of solo Edwyn Collins (whom I love) but they have their own thing going on. The guitar lines and tones were nice and classy with some slower stuff mixed in to keep the set moving. The last song after two encores was a nice understated end to the night.

The place we stayed at was the W in SOMA. Decent place but I feel like it needs an update. It needs something to tie together the disparate elements of Asian, Futuristic, Kitsch and Plantation. Also, it’s probably not that big a deal but somethings were unfinished like below:

Recession Chic

There was a good view of the Thom Mayne designed federal building and Libeskind’s Jewish Museum.

The forms were deconstructed cubes with a beautiful blue skin that was cut like snake skin. That guy didn’t seem too impressed.

SFMOMA was free so it was pretty crowded. I liked the new rooftop addition. It was nice to take in some art, have a coffee and check out some more. A lot of pieces stood out but I’ll stick to one.

It seemed to sum up the way I’ve been feeling lately….

Lost On Theory Island

archipelagonow — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:11:28 +0000

I’m working on huge post called International “Style” vs. International “Process”. Expect it soon. ‘Till then I thought I’d share one my favorite things I did in grad school. It probably said more in a few squiggly lines than in some of my projects! It’s a comic that sets into play some of the major architecture theorists of our day: Robert Venturi, Peter Eisenman, and Bernard Tschumi. Funny!

My First Post

archipelagonow — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:47:46 +0000

Ahh, welcome to Archipelago Now. A design blog focusing on the emerging design cultures. I’m excited about this…a place to organize thoughts, images, ideas; all in one place.