SUBLIMINAL, is a LA gallery space the origins of which came from Shepard Fairey and Blaze Blouin as an artist collective in 1995. The group played an integral part in introducing skateboarding culture and design to the art world, showcasing artists such as Phil Frost, Thomas Campbell, Mike Mills, Dave Aaron, and Mark Gonzales.

As client directed innovation becomes harder to come by, the self-directed approach of Subliminal and Shepard Fairey is more important than every to maintaining innovation among creatives. Why wait for a patron to use your inherent skills.

Shepard and Amanda Fairey continued to host and curate exhibitions that featured artists such as Ryan McGinness, HunterGatherer, David Ellis, Doze Green, Aesthetic Apparatus, Space Invader, Jim Houser and Andrew Jeffery Wright. In 2003, the Subliminal Projects gallery was officially opened in the Los Angeles offices of Studio Number One. The scope of the gallery remained true to its roots while embracing new forms of graphic art, illustration, photography and time-based media.

Subliminal is now located in the historic Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park, Subliminal Projects continues to offer a platform for artistic exploration and innovation. The 2008 schedule is on their website and includes art exhibitions by established and emerging artists, as well as a lecture series, workshops and artist publications.

The letter forms are a collaboration between Subliminal and Delaware-based House Industries.

.

 I had never spent time in Houston before so when Alex Barber, the incoming president of the Art Directors Club of Houston, invited me to help judge submissions to the 53rd Annual Art Directors Club of Houston, I was there.

In some ways Houston was what I expected, a city shaped by the oil industry, big money and conservative politics. But it was also a place of cool surprises, risk-taking creativity and reinvention. The ADCH kept the five judges running all weekend. If we weren’t huddled in a print warehouse evaluating Houston’s creative work, we were eating BBQ or becoming best friends with Houston artists, print makers and designers. With a largely traditional client base, the ADCH has a vital purpose in the Houston design scene where a creative community helps in the role of inspiring, promoting and pushing. Especially critical when the marketplace itself isn’t doing the pushing for them. And let’s face it, the marketplace is rarely the driving force for new creative invention in the end.

The judges group was stellar. It included art director Michael Borosky from Eleven, photographer Jeffrey Brown, illustrator Sterling Hundley and web expert Molly Holzschlag. Saturday night was a blow-out event with Houston artist Wayne Gilbert, a painter and Houston original whose pigments are made from human remains.

The last morning I spotted a bar room sign on the side of the road, ripped-down recently by the devastation of hurricane Ike. 10 minutes after I’d said, “I’d love to have that sign”, ADCH leader Jamie Farquhar was on the phone to her brother, “Get your truck out to highway 56 where it jogs south - right now. I need you to pick up something for a friend of mine.”  I was getting another glimpse of what makes Houston. . . Houston.

Scheduling a major party on the first day of the stock market’s downturn and the Vice Presidential debates might seem like its own form of social-suicide. Instead, the opening party of The Logan building was exactly what the masses needed. A place to meet, share, commune and understand that we are all in this together. And quite possibly, the innovation and problem-solving skills of the creative community may be more essential to the national dialogue than ever.

Ron Miriello toasted the crowd, “Our shared abilities of creativity and collaboration are fast becoming a new and important currency-type. As the financial markets waver and the myopic drive for individual wealth is paused, there’s an opportunity for the creative mindset and their unique abilities of invention, collaboration and informed risk-taking. The unique abilities of the people in this room are needed at a time like this.”

The celebration brought over 300 designers, architects, politicos, writers, artists and business people together to enjoy an evening in the creative beachhead neighborhood of Barrio Logan. The hosts – Miriello Grafico and LJG Partners – invited friends, clients and community members to a celebration – and celebrate they did. The Barrio restaurant, The Guild, managed the food and Temecula Valley ConVis organized the wines, all offerings from Temecula Valley. The Barrio Logan spokesperson Rachael Ortiz, arts tagger Crol, and the Mariachi Juvenil helped first-time visitors better understand the rich culture and history of the neighborhood. San Diego architects were plentiful, including the designer of The Logan, Jonathan Segal, who created a space where people obviously love to linger, share and invent.

Watch the party video on YouTube created by Jeff Durkin.                                                                        Find incriminating party pictures on Flickr.

The Sanctuary 143 nomadic artist collective opened their Reinventing The Wheel artist installation at Miriello Grafico’s Logan warehouse to over 700 people. “It felt more like New York than San Diego”, “I’ve never seen so many people into an art event in San Diego before”, and “I was blown away to find this level of energy, and in Barrio Logan of all places.”–were some of the comments coming out of the din.

Several artists and bikesmiths, including Ron Miriello of Miriello Grafico, contributed to the show pieces, all based loosely on the theme of reinventing- rethinking- the wheel. Velo Cult of South Park San Diego had 100 night-riding bicycle members arrive in mass to swarm the show and further expand the eclectic crowd of artists, designers, politicos, media, kids, dogs and hipsters.

Sanctuary 143 is an artist group, masterfully driven by Sean and Stacy Kelley and Jeff Faeth, with an approach to arts events founded on low egos, true collaboration and hard work. You can see photos of the Reinventing The Wheel event on Flickr.

Learn more about Sanctuary 143 and their next event  at : http://www.sanctuary143.com/category/events/

Visitors to MG’s new office always compliment our creative implementation of graffiti. Others are elevating the use of graffiti in new ways that promote a healthy environment. For instance, check out Anna Garforth’s web site featuring moss graffiti.

Finding a new creative use for  everyday, throw-away objects has a special satisfaction for both the maker and the viewer. Each get a slightly new perspective on things we see everyday. Re-purposed works send an interesting message that art is always surrounding - as long as we’re wearing the right pair of glasses.

These hanging mobile sculptures, made by Ron Miriello, are made from highway barricade sign and used zinc printers plates, cut with a CNC laser and then bent into three dimensional forms. This series was part of the Sanctuary 143 Reinventing The Wheel exhibition and are now installed in the offices of Miriello Grafico.

Tan is a graphic artist that work with the public realm and dreams up some very inventive projects to build community and open thinking.

Trained as a graphic designer, Tattfoo Tan’s art practice seeks to find an immediate, direct, and effective way of exploring issues related to the individual in society through which to collapse the categories of ‘art’ and ‘life’ into one. Through the employment of multiple forms of media and various platforms of presentation, Tattfoo promotes group participation between himself and an ‘audience’. Within this collaborative practice both minds and bodies are engaged in actions that transform the making of art into a ritualized and shared experience. His website contains all the community projects he’s done and they are very cool efforts: www.tattfoo.com

A vortex-shaped surface which reacts to sunlight.

From Dezeen Magazine-

OR is the boldest installation project at the Milan International Furniture Fair 2008, a vortex-shaped surface which reacts to sunlight.

The polygonal segments of the surface react to ultra-violet light, mapping the position and intensity of solar rays. When in the shade, the segments of OR are translucent white. However, when hit by sunlight they become colored, flooding the space below with different hues of light. At night, OR transforms into an enormous ‘chandelier’, disseminating light into the surrounding courtyard, an atmospheric space for events and gatherings.

The hues generated by the photo-reactive surface are therefore indicators of changes in weather and daylight, a dynamic architectural tool that can be used on building exteriors. OR is skin, OR is shining, OR is the light OR the shade.

OR is the first time that photo-reactive technology has been used on an architectural scale. The ecological structure is a step in exploring the possibilities of photo-reactive materials in the fields of furniture and design. The beauty of OR is its constant interaction with the elements. Each moment of the day is unique.

The project was developed by the architects and designers Ran Ankori, Francesco Brenta, Maya Carni, Christoph Klemmt, Laura Micalizzi and Elisa Oddone

Learn more at: http://www.klemmt.com/

It’s inspiring when you’re with someone who has both a fresh idea and the energy and business smarts to see the idea through to reality. I just finished a fun hour with Lara Matthews, the founder and director of THREAD, and Alex Matthews, her co-manager brother. The idea behind THREAD is to provide exposure and community for the upstarts in fashion. They’ve created a series of events in the US and the UK where small makers and designers of clothing, wearables, accessories and fashion, can show their wears, get feedback from peers and get counseling on how to take their ideas to the next level. A ton of work to pull off, but Lara and Matthew have been growing THREAD for five years now and it’s on it’s way.

In a world of global products and mass markets, THREAD provides a future for new ideas, that are fast to market and very niched. A great antidote to the container-ship approach to fashion retailing. And it all came from an idea, an idea that hard work and smarts have made real and has the fashion world on notice. The next THREAD Show comes up in April in San Diego. Get the details at www.threadshow.com

I

The question was how to create a cool chronicle of Miriello Grafico creative design that was simple, dramatic and easy to update. The Miriello Grafico entry lounge needed a treatment and got one lately with a system made from throw-away key rings and cutout circles of images we’ve either created or collected over time. Press sheets, posters, collected Hatch Show prints, CROP magazine images, packaging proofs, pictures of Johnny Depp, Josh Higgins Casbah posters, photos proof sheets, Dennis Garcia AIGA posters, they all got carved up and took on a new life as a circle graphic in the MG Lounge.