Monday 29 September 2008

on the road



i'm posting the end of the first chapter in jack kerouac's on the road to celebrate the begining of a new year. this autobiographical novel, chronicling the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across America, was published fifty years ago and established kerouac as the voice of the beat generation. i wish us all that somewhere along the line the pearl would be handed to us:
''I was a young writer and I wanted to take off.
Somewhere along the line I knew there'd be girls, visions, everything; somewhere along the line the pearl would be handed to me.''

Saturday 27 September 2008

graffiti heart from barcelona - fresh delivery!


here is another great graffiti heart from the gothic quarter in barcelona. thanks to omri perez for his contribution to my growing hearts-on-the-streets collection.

specialisation within the specialty

"The words graphic designer, architect, or industrial designer stick in my throat, giving me a sense of limitation, of specialisation within the specialty, of a relationship to society and form itself that is unsatisfactory and incomplete. This inadequate set of terms to describe an active life reveals only partially the still undefined nature of the designer."
[alvin lustig american graphic designer]

Thursday 18 September 2008

eighties chique


this is another great image that roy oppenheim shot in ghent. it really made me smile, as i have lived in brussels and saw those cool eighties numbers all over. they might look tacky and outdated in any other context, but in a city that the prominent design and architecture styles are art-nouveau and art-deco, this is quite an hilarious combination. you can see those eighties chubby 'barbapapa' letterings all over, usually they are offered for sale in basic bold colours such as red and yellow.
the appetite for mixing the old and the rather new can be found everywhere. i used to live in a great 'parisien chique' apartment from the twenties with original wood floor. however, when the landlord renovated some of the rooms, he choose vinyl carpets decorated with geometric patterns. every here and there, i found myself staring at the design combinations, admiring the freedom to mix styles and materials. this could only happen in a place that has such a design legacy that it is almost taken for granted.

in another place, some of those items would be exhibited in a design museum.

Friday 12 September 2008

quote of the day

"i have no complaints, except for the world."
[barbara kruger american conceptual artist]

Thursday 11 September 2008

great graffitti from ghent




a very colorful contribution from my friend, roy oppenheim, who just came back from a week of work in ghent. i guess that the great color palette must be some kind of creative reaction to the poor grayish belguim weather. anyway, roy says that he had fries (frites) for lunch every day and although they are supposed to be a staple of local cuisine, he didn't find them any special. no complains on the beers, though.

Saturday 6 September 2008

quote of the day

"The age of the book is almost gone."
[george steiner French–born-U.S. critic, novelist]

tel aviv university - outdoor typography