Ryan McGinness

Ryan McGinness started out as a graphic designer but has become a contemporary innovative artist. His book 'Ryan McGinness Installations' shows his design processes and where he takes his inspiration from. Brilliantly laid out showing his amazing use of colour. There are some quirky icons he uses in his designs taken from around the world. Great book if you are interested in t-shirt design, skate-boards and that kind of thing and the boundaries between art and mass production. Explains the process of screen-printing which is informative and interesting. He is mostly interested in flat shapes, iconography and geometric forms as a way of communicating.

'Ryan McGinness has been accurately described a "Warhol for the 21st Century" (Black Book) and a "leading pioneer of the new semiotics"(Vogue). Using iconic representations of logos and symbols, he weaves & spins them into something supremely elegant.'
http://intelligence.avkitip.com/2008/08/30/aesthetic.comfort/
www.artcoregallery.com/2/new_design/exhibitions/aesthetic_comfort/index.html
Check out his website www.ryanmcginness.com shows his recent works and some great sculptural pieces.

London

Arrived at the Generator Hostel in London, wow! The neon lights hit you as you walk in amongst the hustle and bustle of travellers and fellow students. The place gave out a good vibe and a fairly nice welcome. It was, how shall we put it, basic but clean! Perfect for a quick stop over in London with your colleagues, just 1 night mind! And great there was a bar and food was readily available albeit sometimes just a vending machine. Lockers also available in the room although a padlock was needed. Only small gripe was the showers, clean but not much privacy!

After touching base our next stop was Print Tank Design Studio situated at Broadway Studios, 28 Tooting High St, London SW17 ORG. Print Tank is a textile design studio producing creative and contemporary printed and embroidered samples for the fashion industry. We visited Print Tank to be given direction and colour palette for a live brief we were working on, for the studio, which involved producing 10 A3 fashion print designs aimed at the women's wear market. The designs would work together as a group but all be varied within that collection. We had to choose from one of the following stories, exploring a floral theme, Smokey and Neon, Shibori and Tie Dye, Psychadellic, and Textured and Adorned.

We were shown a series of storyboards/inspiration on each theme and colour palette which would be the starting point for the project along with our own research. We were to explore the themes mentioned, using a combination of hand stitching, machine embroidery, CAD, screen printing and embellishment. The themes are based on the main trends coming from New York fashion week in September.

To see the catwalk styles that have inspired these starting points we were told to look on http://www.style.com/.

We asked Rose and Sian, owners/designers, of Print Tank some questions to help us with the brief:-

Q. What did they study?

A. Both Textiles.

Q. Where was there first job?

A. Freelanced for another design studio called Boutique for 2 years to get some experience and contacts of the business.

Q. How much do you earn?

A. 50/50 in house, 60/40 from home, and each design produced is worth £300.

Q. Did they get any financial help?

A. Grant/loan from the Princes Trust Fund in which they had to produce a business plan and visit banks etc.

Rose and Sian also told us they attended 2 trade shows, 1 in Paris called Indigo, and that they had agents in L.A., New York, Japan, and Hong Kong.

They sell to high street stores such as Miss Selfridge and higher end labels such as Missoni and Vera Wang.

They advised us about copyright, informing us to always add names and dates to designs on our computers, to prove exactly when designs were produced.

Other tips towards the brief included check out Pucci designs for inspiration on the Psychadellic theme, no spiky shapes or anything rude in designs, hold your design up in a mirror to see if it looks good and ask yourself wolud you wear it?, don't have too many colours in your designs, don't have anything too bunched up or clustered, if it looks good from a distance it would probably look good, R.A Smarts for print fabrics, think about different fabric processes you could use in your designs such as velvet, devore, discharge, think fashion, the way fabric drapes with the design, think about placement for T-shirts e.t.c., scale - not too big not too small, and its good to have designs on an angle rather than straight on, flowing. All in all we were given some valuble advice and direction from the obviously talented and experienced girls at Print Tank and I felt i got a lot out of the visit.

We were shown some of their own designs which were a fantastic range of geometrics, florals, tie dye, and textured and adorned. It was good to see these to enable us to get a clear idea of what was expected in our own designs. Some of the samples had been put together in the style of a dress to give the buyer the idea of how the print could be used to help sell it.
In the evening we went to see Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo being shown at the Peacock Theatre in Sadler Wells. It was not just an ordinary ballet but a ballet with a difference!. All the dancers are men and wear tutu's, hence our nickname the tranny ballet. It was funny and impressive and one of the best performaces I have ever seen. The opening ballet was Swan Lake. It was quite something to see the men as large as they were performing so gracefully but also very funny!. The costumes were fantastic. After the interval came Pas de Deux, then La Troviatiara. The final performance being Majisimas. This last ballet was definitely the best for me. As the curtains opened the colours of the set against the colours of the costumes created a breathtaking effect. This performance was slightly more serious than the others but brilliant! The venue seemed perfect for this show being fairly small with a good atmosphere to it. Even the bar area was very pleasant!
After the show was over we headed off to Camden Town and ended up in a basement bar which had an open mike night on. There was a lively friendly atmosphere where the music and drinks were enjoyed by us all.
When we arrived back at the hostel we had a few more drinks in the Generator bar. The blue neon lights gave the place a bit of a cold fell to it but none the less we got talking to a couple of Australian backpackers, and thoroughly enjoyed the whole evening.
The next day we decided to explore Camden Market. This also proved to be an enjoyable experience due to the music buzz and vibe of the place. It was nice to take in all the different fashions and characters that we came accross and was totally inspiring. We came accross a few vintage shops and stalls which were enjoyed by all.
London proved to be everything we expected end more!

Daniel Zeller

I find his work very inspiring. I like the linear qualities it contains and the geometric shapes and fragments created by his drawing pens. I am also excited by the fact that these drawings start from a basic idea, usually inspired by satellite imagery, maps and microscopic imagery, and grow into beautiful art pieces being led by his pen, continually changing and evolving. Daniel Zeller has always been drawn to surface detail, similar to myself.