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18 May 2009, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Art, Business, Culture, Entertainment, Politics, Portfolio, Technology, 0 Comments

Can you change everything?


This is a good post from Seth Godin’s Blog about getting out of ruts (I know we all face them from time to time).

You might not be as permanently stuck in a rut as you think. The rut you’re in isn’t permanent, nor is it perfect. There are certainly less perfect ruts, but there may be better ones as well. The certain thing is that you can change everything…

  1. Buy a competitor
  2. Sell to a competitor
  3. Publish your best work for free online
  4. Close your worst-performing locations
  5. Open a new branch in a high-traffic location
  6. Hire the best salesperson away from the competition
  7. Join the competition
  8. Host a conference for your competitors
  9. Connect your best customers and organize a tribe
  10. Fire the 80% of your customers that account for 20% of your sales
  11. Start a blog
  12. Start a digital bootstrap business on the weekends
  13. While looking for a job, spend 40 hours a week volunteering and freelancing for good causes
  14. Go on tour and visit your best customers in person
  15. Answer the customer service line for a day
  16. Learn to be a killer presenter
  17. Let the most junior person in the organization run things for a day
  18. Delete your website and start over with the simplest possible site
  19. Call former employees and ask for advice
  20. Move to Thailand
  21. Listen to audio books in your car instead of the radio
  22. Sell your cash cow division to the competition and invest everything in the new thing
  23. Find more products for your existing customers to buy
  24. Become a gadfly and tell the truth about your industry
  25. Quit your job
  26. Move your operations to another city
  27. Become a vegan
  28. Have all meetings in a room with no chairs, and everyone wears a bathrobe over their clothes
  29. Open your offices only four hours a day
  30. Open your offices 24 hours a day for a week
  31. Find every project that is near the danger zone (in terms of p&l or deadlines) and cancel it, no appeals
  32. Go for a walk during lunch
  33. Get an RSS reader and read a lot more blogs
  34. Go offline for longer than you thought possible
  35. Write five thank you notes every day
  36. Stop sending spam
  37. Do your work somewhere else. Set up your chiropractic table at the mall
  38. Have everyone at work switch offices
  39. Give your most valuable possessions to a stranger
  40. Go see live music
  41. Start a company scrapbook and take daily notes
  42. Hire a firm to make a documentary about your organization
  43. Buy some art
  44. Make some art.
  45. Do the work.
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20 Feb 2009, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Art, 0 Comments

The Floating Man


From The Daily Telegraph: 

German street performer ‘defies gravity’ to astonishment of commuters
A German street performer took time to impress commuters as he seemingly defied gravity leaning against a wall in Madrid.

Johan Lorbeer: Levitation 'expert' impresses tourists by leaning against the wall   

Johan Lorbeer: Pictured here at Madrid’s Atocha train station, he has been known to remain elevated for hours at a time Photo: REUTERS

Crowds gathered to marvel at Johan Lorbeer, an artist and illusionist known in his home country of Germany.

Famous for his “Still-Life” Performances, the artists usually features in an apparently impossible position such as sitting down without a chair or dressing up as a street cleaner and standing horizontally out from a wall high above the street.

Installations he is known for in Germany include “Proletarian Mural and “Tarzan”.

Pictured here at Madrid’s Atocha train station, he has been known to remain elevated for hours at a time as citizens and tourists look on surprised.

Unfortunately however Mr Lorbeer has not mastered the power of levitation and the gravity-defying feat is merely a stunt.

His outstretched “arm” that he uses to lean against the wall is actually a support beam that he is then harnessed to. The real arm is really tucked inside his clothes.

Working since the late 1970s on his floating act, Johan believes his work is defined “in the dynamic area between act and sculpture.” He said: “My point of view standing on the wall acts normally; that is to say vertically.

“The optical perception redefines the wall as the floor, which is why from my position I perceive the observers as positioned against the wall.”

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11 Dec 2008, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Art, Business, 1 Comments

Think Outside the Art Supply Store


Here’s a post I wrote for a friend’s blog, Canvas Cubed, back in February. Canvas Cubed is an online store offering deep-edged artist’s canvases and I highly recommend their products.

When it comes to shopping for art supplies, you probably feel like you have limited options. Whether you’re picking up a few brushes, a tube of acrylic or gloss varnish, your first (and only) stop is probably your local art supply store.

It’s time to think outside the art supply store.Untitled

A couple of my favorite places to shop for supplies for my creative projects are my local hardware and home improvement stores. Not only will you conjure up countless ideas to use the oddities you find while wandering the expansive aisles of the Home Depot, you’ll also discover that home improvement supplies are significantly cheaper than traditional art supplies.

Here are some of my favorite home improvement store and hardware store finds:

• If you’re painting the background of a large canvas a solid color, try a pint or quart of latex house paint instead of expensive tubes of acrylic or oil.

• Want to add a glossy shine to your finished piece? Skip the gloss varnish from the art supply store. Instead, try some polyurethane. It brushes on easy, seals and protects your work, and provides the glossy look you’re going for.

• Instead of art store brushes, give a traditional house painting brush a try. They come in several sizes and varieties and are great for painting large areas of a canvas quickly.

• Looking to add some visual interest to your canvas? Try gluing some washers to your masterpiece. Paint over them to achieve an embossed effect.

• Add texture by applying spackling paste or wood putty directly to the canvas. Experiment with different textures by applying either through a piece of screen or wire mesh.

• Use pieces of wire or twine, or experiment with caulking and other adhesives to add dimension to your canvas surface.

• Gently rub shoe polish onto your piece to add an aged look and add definition to texture. Be sure to seal your canvas if you use this technique since the shoe polish can rub off.

Give your local hardware store and home improvement store a try and see what you can find. Most importantly, think outside the art supply store “box”, and be creative!

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15 Nov 2008, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Art, Personal Projects, Portfolio, 1 Comments

Painting with Wax


I’ve had an idea for a few weeks to try painting with wax. I finished my first “painting” today, and the results were pretty successful for a first attempt. The idea was inspired by watercolor painting (which I love), but I wanted to devise a technique where I could get similar flowing rivers and pools of color, but with a richer color palette, and more control. Here’s my first completed wax painting (Wildflower Nebula 10×8):

I’ve found that a coffee grinder works great (thanks for the suggestion, Jen) to break wax pieces down into a fine powder that I can sprinkle on sheets of Masonite. Here’s a look at some of the prep work in process:

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01 Nov 2008, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Architecture, Art, 0 Comments

Art Installation at Clark Shoes International Headquarters/ROSO


Thanks for the great find, Joe:

By Nico Saieh — Filed under: Art , Selected , , ,

ROSO has launched a major art installation at Clark Shoes Headquarters in Street Somerset, South England. This was commissioned by Mr Lance Clark and is the first phase of two, of the art work situated in the communal court yard in the heart of Clarks office buildings.

Concept

The installation itself was developed from a single observation – Light is only seen when reflected. A light beam coming through a window is only visible because light is reflected in the millions of dust particles floating in the air.

Approach

Roso’s approach was to create a dynamic, ever changing space where the space itself would be a major part of the installation.

Two imaginary beams of light enter the courtyard from one end and travel through the space, penetrating the centre bridge building, one hitting the end wall up high, above the terrace and the other the side wall opposite this. The entire courtyard was painted white and the bottom was covered in black asphalt to turn the court yard into a canvas for the reflections and shadows from the installation.

As wind and light changes during the day and the seasons, the dynamic of the installation alters – sometimes wild, illuminating the entire space, at other times calm reflecting the colors of the surroundings on grey days.

The installation and the space is merged – one cannot exist without the other. Offices and staircases are penetrated by the light and shadows coming from the art work, extending the effect into the building themselves, making the installation an integral part of the Clark Shoes head quarters.

Each beams is made up by 7.500 shiny discs suspended from 36 vertical wires, which mounted on a structure on the central bridge building and onto the end walls.
The discs themselves reflects the incoming sunlight from the top part of the yard down into the shadowy bottom below and the walls on the side. They also reflect the colors of the surroundings, as well as have a pixilating effect as they either reflect light or are black when in shadow depending on the angle they have.

Background

Roso was approached by Mr. Lance Clark of Clark Shoes International, to propose an installation that would bring life into the very dull and dark central courtyard in the Clark shoes international headquarters in Street, Somerset in South west England. The court yard is situated in the heart of the old Clarks factory now housing the offices of 1500 employees. This is part of the factory’s social centre – the canteen, which extends into the courtyard via an outdoors terrace where the employees can enjoy their breaks.

The physical space of the courtyard has a strong dynamic in itself – the space is 25m long, 7 meters wide and 4 storeys high with a central bridge building, connecting the two sides. This bridge building divides the court yard into two spaces, one being the terrace side and the other just an empty courtyard with no designated usage. The space is isolated from the outside world and is partially shielded from sunlight and wind, which meant that the space had potential but rendered very dull and un-dynamic in it’s original state.


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21 Sep 2008, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Art, Design, Literature, 2 Comments

National Poetry Month Poster Design


I came across this poster design today for the 2008 National Poetry Month back in April.

The conservative use of color against the stark, white background is beautiful. There is a great sense of movement in the three-dimensional block letters.

The poster was designed by SpotCo, a firm based in New York City that specializes in marketing and design for theatrical events. They have a lot of nice work in their portfolio—worth checking out for inspiration.

The American Academy of Poets maintains a gallery with past years’ poster designs, though none are as impressive as this year’s design. 

          

 

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