These are just too good. The geometric lines, the beautifully thought out subtle colors, the reflection back to Audobon style scientific etchings, and for sale for very reasonable prices (probably not for long).
A little bio on Josh from the About page on his site:
Maine native Josh Brill graduated Maine College of Art with a degree in New Media Design and has since worked as an New Media Art Director, balancing work between corporate clients and fine art. His artwork has been exhibited at Addo Novo, Institute of Contemporary Art, San Diego Museum of Art, Fabrica’s Annex and May 1st Reboot 2005.
Lumadessa by Josh Brill.
Don Bronstein had 2 incredible jobs. The first was being the first staff photographer for Playboy Magazine. The second, was as an award winning house photographer for the legendary Chess Records. He’s hard to find information about but his work is definitely notable, especially now when we’re so influenced by period styles.
Here’s a bio I found at Chicago Magazine:
Don Bronstein (1926-68): In June 1963, in the midst of a three-week gig at Mister Kelly’s, the legendary Rush Street nightclub, Barbra Streisand traveled to the Lake Michigan shoreline with the photographer Don Bronstein. The first staff photographer for Playboy, where he shot covers and centerfolds before embarking on a freelance career in 1963, Bronstein shot Streisand in a radical pose-with her back to the camera. That photo graced the cover of Streisand’s classic fourth album, People, and both singer and cover won Grammys.
Here’s some of his work that I’ve dug up:
And I know I can’t possibly give Don the credit he deserves without including this, although fairly tame considered against today’s standards.
Stumbled across this today, Re:collection is an online blog format archive of Australian graphic design samples. A lot of very interesting and ultra polished minimal designs.
While wandering around a bookstore in downtown Taipei, I came across this absolute gem of a book. Flipping through the pages I was awe-struck by the amazing work put out by this low-key and hard working Dutch designer, Ben Bos. Being part Dutch and having a fondness for the clean and playful aesthetic of dutch and scandinavian designers, I immediately fell in love with this man’s work. And work he does.
He originally joined Total Design, Holland’s first multidisciplinary design studio (yes first) where he would work for nearly 30 years. Today, this amount of time spent at a single studio is virtually unheard of. His story at Total is not all happy, as his book describes challenges balancing his work as a creative visionary with the day to day realities of financial and office management. But I’ll let you read the book and avoid any spoilers here, but certainly this book is worth more of your time than a “flip for nice pictures”. This actually in a way reminded me of the fine book on Tibor Kalman’s life’s work and professional life in its honesty and frankness, as there are many contributions and reflections on Bos’ work life from co-workers.
In looking at his work, much like Wim Crouwell (his “great example”) he was a master of the simple form made expressive and unique. And his approach was very wholesome, originally a copywriter and journalist, who fell in love with design a little later in his life, his approach is extremely well rounded, and his ability to see the big picture I believe is what gifted him with the ability to create such broad identity programs, crossing brand identity, collateral, packaging, and interior design. The most amazing thing about Bos’ work though, is it’s timelessness. Looking through this book, much like Crouwell’s work, his artistry is both visionary and crosses the lines of time and trends. You’ll notice below an illustration that looks strikingly like the work of Eboy, yet, this is before the constraints of the pixel defined that style. To me this is unbelievable.
Here’s some images from my book, and following below I’ve posted some links for you to continue to enjoy both his work, the work of Total Design and the work of Bos’ Dutch contemporaries. I highly recommend this book, it’s hard to find but I came across this link for the book for sale:
Counter-Print.co.uk
More on Ben Bos and his important work:
Total Identity’s website, telling their story, you see Ben’s fro peeking out in the back.
A sampling of Graphic design books on Flickr that include samples from this book and Bos’ and Crowell’s Dutch contemporaries.
A great Dutch graphic design collection on Flickr.
I was listening to Terry Gross’ Fresh Air interview that she did in 2003 with Maurice Sendak, author of a trilogy that includes Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen and Outside, Over There. I was struck by his description of the monsters actually being inspired by memories of his older family members, who would come to dinner at his home in Brooklyn and with their hairy noses and moles and big ears would bore him to death at the dinner table with their meaningless dribble and hungry eyes waiting for his mom’s outrageously slow cooked food.
This juxtaposition between loving human connection and fearsome beasts seemed to capture the strange sense that Sendak’s characters don’t really fall easily into any one black or white space in our minds, but rather a blur across that spectrum of love and hate.
This morning I came across the paintings of Austin Power on the Behance Network. Specifically, his new series, titled “21 Portraits of People I Miss“. There’s a longing and sadness to his work that’s obvious, but also a serious and controlled discipline in these seemingly unfinished works, and a use of colors that really strike a chord with me as entirely contemporary and modern. Wonderful work and even more wonderful because they’re watercolors.
His show is opening tomorrow at Satsko, 245 Eldridge St., New York, NY 10002. 6-9pm.
View a selection of his work from this particular show.
View his portfolio online.
