Hello, hello. Writing this week’s Meanwhile is an essential act, as for a few minutes it prevents me from obsessively tweaking my website. I’ve finally upgraded to Squarespace 7.1. It’s a brilliant tool for putting together a portfolio, but the lure of all those styling options is strong for the weak-willed and aesthetically-fickle. Maybe I’ll try this font, or that font, or tweak the margins, or give everything chartreuse drop shadows, or— somebody please drag me away from the sandbox.
1 — With his latest series, Dirty Laundry, New Hampshire-based artist Shawn Huckins reimagines traditional portraits in an exploration of concealment and identity. This one – based on Jean-Léon Gérôme’s 1869 painting Bashi-Bazouk – desperately belongs on a book cover.
2 — “Sometimes whenever we talk about creativity, it can have this kind of feel that it’s just nice, or it’s warm, or it’s something pleasant. It’s not. It’s vital.” – I’m a little bit in love with this Ethan Hawke talk on sandcastles, foolishness, Top Gun and giving yourself permission to be creative.
3 — I think it’s safe to assume that Meanwhile readers have wonderful taste, and therefore you’ve watched Alex Hirsch's Gravity Falls all the way through at least six or seven times, yes? What you may not have seen is the accompanying book, an impeccably recreated facsimile of the Journal, completed and annotated by Dipper and Mabel. TV tie-ins are often a bit lacklustre, but this is book design at its very best.
4 — Another year, another Photo London exhibition passes me by. Always at the wrong wend of the country. Still, good to explore it via others’ instagram feeds and discover incredible work that would have otherwise passed me by – like the stunning almost-paintings of Dutch photographer Ilona Langbroek. Her use of colour and texture is breathtaking.
5 — I’m sure anyone who would be interested in this already knows about it, but I simply couldn’t forgive myself if I allowed the recently-announced LEGO Optimus Prime to go unhyperlinked. I need this.
6 — "No solos; no decoration; when the words run out, it stops; we don’t chorus out; no rocking out; keep it to the point; no Americanisms.” – Wire bassist Graham Lewis explains the band’s approach to minimalism, from Wilson Neate’s 33 1/3 book on the album Pink Flag.
7 — The Peculiar Manicule is a fantastic little archive of 1960s and 70s ephemera, psychedelia, typography, and mod miscellanea, compiled by a seemingly anonymous Seattle graphic designer (or at least I couldn’t find their name anywhere, too distracted by the overall fabulosity of it all). Worth a visit just for the colours. Colours were different back then.