Tag Archives: parsons illustration alum

New work by AJ Fosik at GRNY show “With Friends Like These”

Exhibitions, Illustration Alumni, , , , , , , ,

grny with friends

With Friends Like These
Through December 3, 2008
Giant Robot Gallery
437 East 9th Street Between 1st Ave. & Ave. A, in the East Village
New York, New York 10009
(212) 674-GRNY (4769) | grny.net

With Friends Like These, is a group show currently on view at Giant Robot NY featuring new works by Isaac Lin and AJ Fosik (Parsons Illustration Alum).

Drawing inspiration from his background creating street art and signage, AJ Fosik is a Philadelphia-based sculptor who creates animal abstractions, or as he calls them “existential fetishes.” Totemic apparitions of ursine beasts and delicately rendered paintings skirt American folk art and psychedelia. Viewers are confronted with cryptic symbols from overlapping sources, both traditional and contemporary, creating a dynamic tension where art and viewer come together in an expanded definition of culture and assumption.

Catch the show while you can–it surely won’t disappoint.

Good work, A.J!

Last Minute: Typhon Book Signing

Events, Illustration Alumni, Illustration Industry, Publications, , , , ,

NYC area comics aficionados are invited to a TYPHON book signing at Jim Hanley’s Universe on Wednesday, August 6th from 6-8PM!  Parsons Illustration Alum R. Sikoryak drew the cover and a story for the collection.  Congratulations, Bob!

Pick up a copy of the brand new, 192 page, full-color comics anthology TYPHON Volume One, and get it signed by these TYPHON contributors:

Gregory Benton
Victor “Bald Eagles” Cayro
Mike Edison
Glenn Head
Danny Hellman
Cliff Mott
Bruno “Hugo” Nadalin
Chris “Steak Mtn” Norris
R. Sikoryak (Illustration Alum and Current Faculty)
Doug Skinner
Matthew Thurber
Motohiko Tokuta

Wednesday, August 6, 2008
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Jim Hanley’s Universe (Manhattan)
4 West 33rd Street
New York, NY

[illustration by R. Sikoryak]

Gareth Hinds launch party for “The Merchant of Venice”

Events, Illustration Alumni, Illustration Industry, Publications, , ,

Straight from the Illustration Inbox, we got this announcement from Alum Gareth Hinds:

Hi, everyone. Most of you aren’t local to Boston, but I wanted to let you know that my new graphic novel The Merchant of Venice came out June 10th. I’m having a launch party on June 21st — more details below. Let me know if you might be around, otherwise keep your eye out for the book in your local bookstore or on www.garethhinds.com 🙂

Saturday June 21st, 6:30-9:00 pm (I’ll do some sort of reading/demo/speech around 7:00-7:30) Porter Square Books (in the Porter Square shopping plaza next to Star Market – map) Open to the public; please bring friends!

There will be snacks, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages. There may be a late-dinner expedition afterward. There should be plenty of books on hand, which the friendly staff of the store will sell you, and I will happily sign and personalize.

This particular book was drawn largely from life, and most of the “cast” (i.e., my friends who posed for the characters) will be there, which should be a lot of fun.

RSVPs are not necessary, but would be much appreciated.

One other thing, as long as I’m self-promoting. I have an official blog now, so if you’d like to keep up with my doings, check http://www.garethhinds.com/blog/ (or if you’re on Livejournal, the username “garethhinds” will get you a feed of the same content).

Thanks!
Gareth

If you’re in the Boston area, make sure you stop by and support Gareth on his fantastic new work!

Alumni Email Bag: Work by Andrea Geller

Illustration Alumni, News, , ,

Straight from the Illustration Inbox, we have this update from Andrea Geller:

I am a Parsons graduate, Illustration department (1982) and would like to update you on what I’ve been working on…

1. An oil painting titled “Floating” [above] was selected for inclusion in the U.S. Department of State “Art in Embassies” program, Athens, Greece.

2. Completed interior book illustrations for “What to Say to a Porcupine” Amacom Books, NYC, July, 2008. [editor’s note: pre-order the book here!]

Congratulations, Andrea!

Alumni: As always, keep us updated!

Book Signing for Leah Hayes’ new book tomorrow!

Illustration Alumni, Illustration Industry, , , ,

WHAT: Book signing for Parsons Illustration Alum Leah Hayes‘ new graphic novel Funeral of The Heart.

WHERE: Spoonbill & Sugartown
218 Bedford Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718.387.7322

WHEN: Thursday, April 24, 7PM

Funeral of the Heart is Leah Hayes’ stylistic tour-de-force and graphic novel debut, featuring a series of short stories by Hayes and illustrated entirely using the otherworldly medium of scratchboard. Hayes creates a world of unease and ambiguity populated by obsessive characters, forlorn animals, and mysterious, inanimate objects; odd occurrences, unnerving deaths and unconventional but genuine love bind these characters and their stories together. In “The Bathroom,” a middle-aged couple discover a mysterious tunnel in their pool house after a neighbor’s child accidentally drowns in their pool — leading to an immaculate bathroom and another drowning. In “The Needle,” two sisters suffer the death of their grandmother as well as her possible resurrection at the hands of the woman with the needle.

The stories are hand lettered and juxtaposed against stark, highly stylized, graphically powerful, black and white images. Stories with titles like “The Bathroom,” “The Needle,” and “The Hair” may sound innocuous, but they aren’t fables that should be read to one’s children — unless your children enjoy being made uneasy by beautiful things.

Come out and support Leah, but if you can’t make it, the grab your copy of Funeral of the Heart over at Fantagraphics.

Andy and Ben Kehoe show at Green Lantern Gallery

Events, Exhibitions, Illustration Alumni, Illustration Industry, , , , ,
kehoe brothers

Chicago’s Green Lantern Gallery is hosting an exhibition of works by Parsons Illustration Alum Andy Kehoe and his brother Ben. The official press release reads:

Though the days are shorter, it is still a bitter cold outside. It is impossible to recall the heat of summer and sweaty green things. The body seems to have lost its memory. The mind conjures only phantoms of light and comfort. Yet there is also the anguish of spring and in spring there is a rebirth. Life takes on new shapes, adapting to the apprehension of growth. There is anticipation in life.

We are born in violence. The passage is both catastrophic and forgettable. In this show, violence is depicted through ornate designs of medieval horror, friendship, monsters and the sometimes contemporary wink. There is a new splash of color that takes up the page as we enter the worlds of Andy and Benjamin Kehoe—a compelling place with rich metaphors and soft jokes. It is better in this world. In this world the fantasy offers some respite from the otherwise urban gray of winter decreptitude. They prepare us for the summer, refurbishing the idea of color.

Andy has posted a preview of the show here. If you’re in the Chicago area, make sure to check it out!

The Safest Place in the World
Andy and Ben Kehoe
February 29th-March 29th, 2008
Green Lantern Gallery
1511 N. Milwaukee Ave., 2nd Floor
Chicago, IL

Illustration Adjunct Faculty Deroy Peraza gets his shot in the Spraygraphic Spotlight

Illustration Faculty, Illustration Industry, Interviews, , , , , ,
marquez-hyperakt

Deroy Peraza, an Illustration alum and faculty member, discussed his business Hyperakt and artistic process with Spraygraphic’s Sprayblog back in January. Here’s an excerpt:

SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.

DP: There’s two answers to that. The creative process and the pragmatic process. The trick is getting the two to get along.
On the creative side, there are always some vague ideas floating around in my head that are waiting to get matched with the right project. They are usually inspired by something I saw, read or heard somewhere, and tend to be unfinished fragments that don’t really mean anything until they are activated by a concept. But all of that is bullshit without answering some very basic, practical questions first:
1. What does it need to do?
2. Who needs to get it?
3. Why?
Whether the work is personal or commercial, print or interactive, 2d or 3d, the same questions apply. I need to be able to define what I’m trying to do concisely in one statement before creating anything. Otherwise, I feel lost. Like most things in my life, the process of creating any work is one of structured chaos.

SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?

DP: Ask for help. One of the great things of working in a collaborative environment, with people I like and respect, is that I can ask them for help. Everybody gets stuck sometimes. Whether your brain forgot to power up that day or whether you’ve been working on something for so long that you’ve been blinded to reality, there’s nothing like a little perspective from your peers for a reality check. At Hyperakt, we don’t really have the luxury of letting a project sit around waiting for brilliant ideas, so we tag team on them when we get stuck. We’ll just trade projects and hit reset. Its a practice that is not easy to learn. It requires putting the ego aside, and trusting your baby to someone else. Both are hard. Other than that, there’s the usual. I dig for inspiration in our library or on the web. I go for a walk. I try to travel as much as possible. I’m also very competitive, so nothing fires me up more than seeing good work from the competition.

Read the rest of Deroy’s interview here!

Quick Hit: Illustration Alum in show at Cinders Gallery

Exhibitions, Illustration Alumni, Illustration Industry, News, , , ,

Illustration alum Keren Richter (whose wonderful work has been recently featured in the Illustration Department display cases as part of the Jordin Isip-curated show “Expatriates”) is part of a group show at Cinders Gallery in Brooklyn, called “Brevity’s Rainbow.”  Here’s an excerpt from the curator’s note:

Nothing against Christo and Jean Claude, but art isn’t meant to be big grand flourishes of orange gates. And really, I love Olafur, and huge waterfalls under the great bridges of New York are really cool, but art is supposed to be an intimate affair.

Which is why I asked some of my favorite artists and some of my best friends to interpret the idea of the Lilliputian and the temporal, the specks of dust that make up the world, the fleeting moments of pleasure and pain. I wanted the artists to bend over their workbenches and canvases and get inside of their tiny artworks. I wanted to freeze a moment so you could all lean in, get our faces right up next to the artwork, as close as you can possibly get, and see a tiny beautiful thing.

I wanted to make a galaxy of tiny art, a prismatic assemblage of little moments: this is Brevity’s Rainbow.

If you’re in the New York area, make sure you check it out. Congrats to Keren on her work!

Brevity’s Rainbow
A Group Show of Tiny Works
February 8th – February 17th 2008
Opening Reception Friday Feb. 8th 2008
Curated by Maxwell Williams

Illustration Alum Brian Wood’s comic DMZ written up in Print Magazine

General Info, Illustration Alumni, Illustration Industry, Publications, , , , ,
brian wood’s DMZ covers

Illustration alum Brian Wood is garnering attention in a recent article in Print Magazine. Author and artist of DMZ, a comic book he creates with artist Riccardo Burchielli, Wood tackles the tricky issue of war in his work, creating a re-imagined America ripped apart by disunion. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

A rocket explodes in a neighborhood in the middle of a war zone, and a U.S. Army division arrives to survey the scene. The commander turns to the embedded photojournalist who’s been traveling with them and suggests a way to characterize the photographs he’s taking: “Insurgent cell defeated en route to engage American forces’ or something. Whatever. And crop out the small bodies.”

It could have happened last week in Baghdad or Fallujah. But this scene is set in downtown Manhattan, in the future—in the comic book DMZ for Vertigo/DC Comics. Writer Brian Wood and artist Riccardo Burchielli’s ongoing series, which imagines a devastating civil war in the United States, is one of a new class of mainstream comics: stories that are clearly responding to the war in Iraq without referring to it directly. Using settings and characters that are futuristic, surreal, or satiric, these new comics go where the network news fears to tread.

Make sure to read the rest of the article here. Visit DC Comics/Vertigo to pick up the most recent issue of DMZ (on sale today!).  Congrats to Brian on his thought-provoking work.  We’re proud to call him an alum!