The Human Genome and a Typography Exhibition in Newcastle

Spent the arvo in the Wellcome Trust gallery and library, part of the medical science exhibition was the entire human genome published in book form. The instructions to the human race. A powerful artwork celebrating an immense achievement. Can't recommend seeing this enough. The rest of the exhibition is excellent too, as is the library.

Twitter pointed me in the direction of the latest Electrik Sheep exhibition in Newcastle. Pretty tasty typography and graphic design from Seb Lester. As a part time graphic designer with my bootleg copy of Illustrator slowly gibbering into senility, I'm sick with jealousy.

Mayer Hawthorne

Obscenely brilliant artist Mayer Hawthorne may look like the lead singer from the latest indie band fresh from the We Are Scientists and Young Knives mould via Fitzgerald's finishing school, but his music is soul so sweet it could melt through an iceberg.

Adrian Ghenie

The Nightmare

I'm always up for a bit of dark, brooding and disturbing art, combine it with an old Eastern European country and its going to be a winner. Adrian Ghenie from Romania paints psychologically disturbing paintings of a new EU member state and it's inhabitants. The paintings remind me of films or memories, with the drips of paint, superimposed frames and layered transparencies like static; bits lost and distorted by trauma and the bluntness of life in the former Soviet Bloc. Well worth checking out, here.

Onwards

An absolutely brilliant piece of digital advertising by AKQA for Nike thats been floating around for a while:

Onwards from AKQA on Vimeo.

It's tickling my fancy partly because I love James Jarvis' work and the animation is captivating in an MC Escher/Mobius strip kinda way. But, moreover, I'm smitten because it is the one of the first ads to bring running out from either the eccentric and slightly older image of the 118 man, or from the slightly technical and 'jockier' side that typified much of the previous advertising centered on running. Instead, it makes me feel an ounce cooler about running, a feeling that is often quickly dispelled by the onset of cramp!

Another that springs to mind (interestingly another Nike idea) is LCD Soundsystem's 45:33, the soundtrack to a good few of my runs over the North Downs.

45:33: Nike+ Original Run - LCD Soundsystem

If 'Onwards' whetted your appetite, the first part of a rather good documentary about James Jarvis' running and art is here:



and a slightly older, but perhaps more insightful into Jarvis' art, video by Alex Gould is also worth a look:

James Jarvis from Ika Zcha on Vimeo.