CALVIN AND HOBBES

New Release: A new exhibit catalog featuring 152 pages of original comic art and commentary by Bill Waterson was released on March 10th by Andrews & McMeel. Based on a 2014 retrospective at Ohio State University, Exploring Calvin and Hobbes also includes interviews, Watterson's original syndicate proposal page, and photographs of the artist's studio. Calvin and Hobbes ran from 1985 to 1995 and set a new standard for writing, art, and artist rights in the field of comic strips. More info at Bud's Art Books and Amazon. 

MARC GABBANA

Concept artist Marc Gabbana (Star Wars I-II, Matrix II-III, War of the Worlds) did an interesting interview with Entertainment Designer today about working in the Film and Advertising industries. What do artists need to make it professionally? How can artists promote and target their work to clients? How did his iterations of Star Wars sets inspire George Lucas to write a new sequence? Check out Marc's many helpful tips here.

RALPH MCQUARRIE TRIBUTE

Art Pioneers celebrates the great Ralph McQuarrie with this 5-part Tribute to a Master documentary. McQuarrie is best remembered for his inspired concept art for the Star Wars universe. Keep your eye out for interesting and warm reflections from George Lucas, Marc Gabbana, Doug Chiang, Steve Sansweet, Lorne Peterson, Dennis Muren, and others. Enjoy!

BOWIE STYLE

Illustrator Helen Green celebrates eery Bowie hairstyle from 1964 to 2014 in a new GIF posted on Slate here. Chart form image below. Enjoy!

MOMA ON MUSIC

A new exhibit opened at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC in November that focuses on the aesthetic connections between music and visual art and design. The scope of the collection is quite impressive, spanning designs for sound equipment, live hall spaces, sheet music, commercial design and graphics, as well as instruments themselves. Making Music Modern: Design for Ear and Eye was curated by the Department of Architecture and Design and will be up through November 1, 2015. Official description from MOMA: "Music and design- art forms that share aesthetics of rhythm, tonality, harmony, interaction, and improvisation- have long had a close affinity, perhaps never more so than during the 20th century. Radical design and technological innovations, from the LP to the iPod and from the transistor radio to the Stratocaster, have profoundly altered our sense of how music can be performed, heard, distributed, and visualized. Avant-garde designers- among them Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Lilly Reich, Saul Bass, Jørn Utzon, and Daniel Libeskind- have pushed the boundaries of their design work in tandem with the music of their time. Drawn entirely from the Museum’s collection, Making Music Modern gathers designs for auditoriums, instruments, and equipment for listening to music, along with posters, record sleeves, sheet music, and animation. The exhibition examines alternative music cultures of the early 20th century, the rise of radio during the interwar period, how design shaped the “cool” aesthetic of midcentury jazz and hi-fidelity culture, and its role in countercultural music scenes from pop to punk, and later 20th-century design explorations at the intersection of art, technology, and perception." More details here. As a music fan and musician, I hope to make it to the exhibit. I image they included a number of graphic scores, which I'd love to see up close. And as a record collector, it must be thrilling to see the various designs for LP jackets and players. Promo image below: Radio by Hiroshi Ohchi, 1954. Ohchi (2008-1974) was a prominent designer and art director of IDEA magazine. Related posts: my visit to SFMOMA to see the Dieter Rams design show here, 8-Track Museum, Vintage Vinyl, London HMV. 

JOHN LENNON ART BOOK

New Release: Fans of John Lennon and The Beatles may be interested in a new book called John Lennon: The Collected Artwork. Compiled by Scott Gutterman, writer and director of the Neu Gallery, and Yoko Ono, the project features familiar and obscure visual works by Lennon that include early childhood cartoons, illustrations, lithographs, and experimental images. Much of Lennon's work has been over-saturated, particularly the cover image, but the book will include twenty-five pieces that have never been published before. Clocking in at 204 pages, The Collected Artwork will be published by Insight Editions on Dec 23rd (US date). From Amazon: "Over the course of John Lennon’s career, his work as an artist expressed the societal themes that touched his life. Until now, little of this work has been seen in one place. For the first time, John Lennon: The Collected Artwork offers a captivating history of Lennon’s visionary art, from his early childhood to his untimely death in 1980. Lennon’s artwork predated his success with the Beatles and remained a passion throughout his years as a music legend. During his lifetime, he produced numerous series of sketches and lithographs, which were published starting in the early 1960s. Often surreal and composed through a method of free association, his drawings from this period were widely considered some of the finest interpretive artworks of the era. In 1969, Lennon began exhibiting selected drawings from a series entitled Bag One. This array was wildly popular and frequently censored due to its overt eroticism. His peace-themed sketches were elevated through their use in antiwar movements, beginning in the 1970s and continuing to the present day. Capturing his emotional, political, and imaginative energy, this lavishly produced collection serves as a timeless record of John Lennon’s creative spirit." AmazonUK link here.