Respect Authority

(Medicinal) marijuana is good for a few things - none the least of which is creativity. Um… not that I would know. Maybe I missed Lost or whatever’s on, but making art (is that pretentious?) is really not that bad of a way to spend a Thursday night. So yeah… turns out weed’s not just for eating lots of Cheez Its and vegging out to the iTunes visualizer after all. …Or so I heard.

Last week, I informed you all as to my ongoing struggle with onions — indeed, if my relationship with onions was listed on Facebook, it would be filed as “It’s Complicated,” although the only real complication is that I hate them but they’re fucking everywhere I look. However, Aaron is listed in another relationship, and although my companion and I are not tagged in any photos together yet, our love grows stronger by the day.

Many of you may be acquainted with the humble Pop-Tart, a seemingly boring, forgettable member of the League of Breakfast Foods. However, while Pop-Tarts may be the butt of every Toaster Strudel commercial’s joke, I’ve remained faithful after all these years, just as they too have always been by my side. They saw me off to my first day of school. They saw me off to many subsequent days of school. And they were even there, in the dark of night, sealed within paranoia-inducing crinkly wrapping during my early experiments with a certain plant that makes you lust after junk food and mediocre television offerings.

In fact, Pop-Tarts made up a very significant portion of my diet during most of my college years — and by “significant portion” I mean “almost all of.” Plus, that brief stay in the hospital was actually a nice little get away, so I don’t really have anything bad to say about the often-frosted delights other than, perhaps, that there are never enough of them in my kitchen. So without further adieu, here’s a self portrait for you, my friends stuffed with various delicious fillings. Because it really is just like they say: the best part of waking up, is a Pop-Tart in your mouth. Or something like that.

Onions are by far my leading nemesis in the realm of the edible. Do you have any idea of how hard it is to love pork fried rice when you can’t stand onions? The Chinese people seem to have some kind of fetish for the pungent vegetable that I can neither explain nor support. And they’re not just infecting take-out — onions are fucking everywhere. It’s a tough life. Regardless, here’s an illustration I did the other day in honor of my hated rival, the fearsome onion, ruiner of many a cheeseburger.

Ronald Kurniawan may have just become my new favorite artist. Of course, in two weeks he’ll have to fight to the death before a savage, jeering crowd for his right to hold his title against whatever fit of fancy crosses my path next, but for now, he can paint comfortably and continue taking massive doses of LSD on the weekends or whatever it is that drives his delightful blend of genius and insanity.

Kurniawan’s style is uniquely beautiful; something about it seems utterly alien, but most of his paintings still maintain a very welcoming atmosphere. His work is incredibly psychedelic without being overwhelming or falling into the common problem of being deemed suitable only for fuzzy velvet blacklight posters relegated to the dusty back corners of random suburban head shops. Read More ›

Poster design and album art are two media with immense potential, and remain fascinating and visually compelling despite that fact that it seems, culturally, we’re moving away from both print materials and physical music as staples in our media landscape. One of the most enjoyable things about concert posters and album art is that those are two of the last places illustration still holds power and wields influence. And for those of us who made it through our scholastic careers by furiously doodling on loose leaf paper for 45 minute blocks of time, illustration is extra special as the media in which it has typically dwelled increasingly die out or drastically change.

Jason Munn is an Oakland designer currently working heavily in the indie rock scene, producing simple, thoughtful illustrations for many notable bands, including Modest Mouse, Feist, and Built to Spill. The designer has made himself a permanent fixture in independent music, just like modernist illustration has remained a fixture in poster design. He’s likely created posters you’ve seen while cowering the corner of some Pabst-soaked hipster club, pretending not to like anything because you’re part of a culture that has made enjoyment of anything uncool. Read More ›