Street Artist BLU

BLU is the pseudonym of an Italian street artist who has become renowned for his large-scale paintings on buildings and other large structures (bridges, etc.) as well as his stop-action animations created outside, in public spaces (see links below). 

He began his career as a street artist in the late 1990's, and by 2004 he was attracting the attention of major galleries.

In April, 2011, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles commissioned Blu to paint a mural on the back of their Geffen Contemporary building.  Upon completion, the mural, depicting rows of coffins draped in dollar bills instead of American flags, was immediately white-washed on the order of museum director Jeffrey Deitch.  Blu was invited to repaint the wall with a different theme but declined, calling the removal of his mural censorship.

A new mural, replacing the one painted by Blu at MOCA:

Read more HERE.

Blu's other work often uses humor and social commentary in the form of wall art, 

stop-action animation videos, and strange, surrealistic drawings in his sketchbook.

Walls:

Sketchbook Drawings:

Videos can be viewed by clicking on their titles below...

COMBO     MUTO

BIG BANG BIG BOOM

Click HERE to visit Blu's site.

Illustrator of the Week: Sterling Hundley

I've decided to create a weekly post to showcase some of the top illustrators in the industry. 

This week, we'll take a look at the work of Sterling Hundley, a 1998 graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University.  Mr. Hundley's work has appeared in the pages of Communication Arts Magazine, American Illustration, 3x3, Print, Step by Step and the Society of Illustrators Annual Competition.  He has created work for a large number of clients, including Rolling Stone, the New York Times, GQ, the Los Angeles Times, Red Bull, and Random House among others.

 

 

  

Sterling Hundley's book, Blue Collar White Collar, is available 

for your perusal in the PCA&D school library.

Watch a video of his working process HERE

  

  

  

Friends of Gail

The day Gail Anderson ran a workshop with the graphic designers here at PCA&D, she mentioned two friends, Steve Heller and Louise Fili. She proceeded to ask everyone if they knew who Steve Heller was and received that "deer in headlights" look from the group (along with those awkward crickets chirping in the background).  Now,  I know some of the upper-class students were aware of these individuals, but why didn't they speak up? Beats me. Let me tell you. Steve is an art director, journalist, critic, author, and editor who specializes on topics related to graphic design.  He has collaborated with many designers and illustrators writing books on every topic related to graphic design. His talented wife, Louise Fili specializes in food packaging, restaurant identities, logos, and book design.

One more thing, Steve is the proud recipient of the AIGA Medal awarded in 1999. Louise was inducted into the Art Directors Hall of Fame in 2004.

Read more about Steve here.  

See Louise's work here.

I could go on, instead review their work below.

 

Collaborative book projects by Steve Heller and Gail Anderson

 The work of Louise Fili