VAROOM 08
the journal of illustration and made images November 2008
Cover image by Thomas Hicks
Purchase here
CONTENT:
ALAN ALDRIDGE:
THE MAN WITH KALEIDOSCOPE EYES
BY MIKE DEMPSEY
Alan Aldridge was a key figure in the artistic volcano that erupted in 1960s London. An iconoclastic art director at Penguin, friend of the Beatles, and the author of a string of successful books, Aldridge moved to LA in the 1970s. But he’s back with a new book and exhibition. His one time collaborator Mike Dempsey went to see him.
MAPPING THE TERRAIN
MAKING IMAGES MOVE
BY MARK WEBSTER
Four artists reveal how new accessible digital tools, and new hybrid working methodologies, have allowed them to take image-making beyond the static and into the realm of motion. In the past they might have been traditional illustrators, but in the new era of computer-aided creativity, anything is possible.
HENNING WAGENBRETH
HIDDEN BEHIND THE OBVIOUS
BY MICHAEL O’SHAUGHNESSY
Henning Wagenbreth is one of the most influential practitioners and teachers in modern European image making. His work jumps between lino-cut rawness and pixel-perfect, isometric accuracy. But it’s always underpinned by strong narrative undercurrents. He is a skilled and inventive teacher, and has produced a generation in thrall to him.
STEP RIGHT UP! IT’S THE RESIDENTS
BY JOHN O’REILLY
The Residents have spent nearly 40 years pushing sound and images into the oddest spaces. But who are they? Everything they do is cloaked in anonymity, and all we have to gauge them by is their music and a body of astonishing visual work that seems to be about the nature of seeing.
THE COMPELLING IMAGE
CHOSEN BY STEFAN SAGMEISTER
Illustrators, designers, artists and commentators select an image that has moved them or given them creative stimulus. Graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister’s choice reveals his love of dramatic imagery.
HEATED DEBATE:
EDUCATE, AGITATE, ORGANISE
BY PAUL BOWMAN
Illustrator and educator Paul Bowman takes an elegant swipe at illustrators, their agents, their educators, and their obsession with style. Yet his irritation is tempered by his knowledge of recent cultural history, and his deeply held view that illustration is too valuable a tool for commentating on the world, to be given up without a fight.
CONTEMPORARY POLISH POSTERS
A WINDOW TO THE WORLD
BY CHARLOTTE WEST
The Polish Poster School flourished under the patronage of the Communist state, but fell into decline in the 1990s. Renewed interest from collectors, cultural institutions, and a strong heritage passed from one generation of designers to the next, has helped the Polish poster to make a comeback.
REVIEWS:
POURQUOI PAS? – A JOURNAL OF
FASHION ILLUSTRATION
Magazine reviewed by Jo Davies
A RECENT HISTORY OF WRITING
AND DRAWING
Jurg Lehni & Alex Rich
Exhibition reviewed by Lydia Fulton
DOGS AND DICE
Martin O’Neill
Book reviewed by Adrian Shaughnessy
WHAT ARE YOU LIKE?
Self-revealing Artworks by People in the Public Eye
Exhibition reviewed by Derek Brazell
THE ADVERTISING CONCEPT BOOK — Think Now, Design Later
By Pete Barry
Book reviewed by Paul Belford
Varoom 08 is available from the AOI Shop