A Look at Art & Design

Guest of Cindy Sherman - Film opening March 27, 2009

I was pleased to be offered a pre-screening of Guest of Cindy Sherman, a new documentary opening tomorrow, March 27, in NYC at the Cinema Village and the Santa Fe Film Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Director Paul H-O, formerly of public access GalleryBeat, takes us again behind the scenes of the New York art world and brings us into the artist studio for exclusive interviews with none other than Cindy Sherman. 

During his stint at GalleryBeat, Paul attended many gallery openings and won many fans.  One of those fans being Cindy Sherman.  The press shy and elusive Sherman invites Paul into her studio for a series of exclusive interviews where Paul gains insight into the artist's private world and her artistic process.  A romantic relationship develops between the two.

Guest of Cindy Sherman, documents those interviews with the artist as well as interviews with Ingrid Sischy, John Waters, Robert Longo, Carol Kane, David Furnish, Danny DeVito and Molly Ringwald.  The film "paints a vivid picture of the New York art scene that is also a witty, illuminating look at celebrity, male anxiety, and art."

Male anxiety, you say?  One of the more interesting aspects of the film is in the story of identity.  The relationship between Cindy (who wears many identities in her work) and Paul H-O begins to falter when Paul finds his own personality greatly overshadowed by Cindy's.  The breaking point culminates as Paul finds himself in the role of "Guest of Cindy Sherman" at the openings and dinners which Cindy regularly attends. The notion of contrasting identities is compelling and the interviews are art world gossip at their best.

The film is directed by Paul H-O and Tom Donahue, producer Anura Idupuganti.  After its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, the film has played in over 30 film festivals around the world.  Visit the website at www.guestofcindysherman.com.   Tickets are available online.

Peter Good: 20/20

AIGA CT is sponsoring an event at Wilde Auditorium, University of Hartford on Monday, March 30, 2009 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm for the amazing graphic designer Peter Good, principal of Cummings & Good in Chester Connecticut.

Peter Good 20/20
Twenty Years / Twenty Posters. Peter Good looks back on a gratifying relationship between a client, a classical string quartet and a designer.

Peter Good is a graphic designer and illustrator who is well-known in Connecticut for the powerful images he has created for countless corporations, museums and art organizations. This work has consistently received awards from all the major graphic design institutions in the United States, and is published in design periodicals throughout the world. With his wife, Janet Cummings, he is a principal in the graphic design studio, Cummings&Good, based in Chester. Graphic Design: American Two, a 1997 survey of the "best and brightest talent in the USA today," contains a section on the Cummings&Good studio.

Since 1984, Peter's posters have been included in each of the Warsaw Poster Biennial Exhibitions, in every Lahti Poster Biennial Exhibition in Finland and in all of the International Poster Triennials in Toyama, Japan.

Monday, March 30, 2009, 6:30–9:00pm

Wilde Auditorium, University of Hartford
200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford CT

AIGA Members: $15
Non-members: $20
Students with ID: FREE

Cash or check accepted at the door

Visit AIGA CT for more info on this exciting event.

Inspiration Friday - joining organizations

Why I joined AIGA:

You may ask, why someone might invest a couple of hundred dollars toward joining a organization during a global recession?  The answers may surprise you.

This week I upgraded my "web only" membership at AIGA to a full fledged card carrying professional membership.  Now the AIGA web only membership was pretty fine...  It was free and I could visit the website, read some good articles, find resources; however as a freelance designer working mostly out of my office, I really wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself.  I debated the cost, the time, the need and when I finally decided to click the "upgrade your membership" button... It felt good.

I've been preaching to my clients (and just about anyone else that will listen) that now is not the time to pull back on marketing, networking and advertising.  During hard times it is especially important to regroup, reach out and get out there... You need to be razor sharp dedicated and you need to decide on what is going to give you the biggest bang for your buck.  It was time to put my money where my mouth is.

AIGA was always a group I had wanted to join.  Being a designer of modest means, it took me some time to make the investment but I felt that now was exactly the time to do that.  After clicking "upgrade now", I almost immediately felt a part of a community and I felt that my fee was going toward an organization and a cause that I believe in.   I hold the conviction that if you want to be truly good at what you do, one should associate with people who are better, brighter, more talented and more experienced than youself.  In addition to the community minded benefits, memberships often provide certain tangible benefits...  providing discounts on health insurance, software, literature and conferences.This also makes me feel comfortable that the organization is supporting me in matters that count and that my dollars are providing me a return.

Joining a membership is not only exciting, it is inspiring.  For this reason, I submit this post for Inspiration Friday.

Connected Disconnected: When is too much enough?

 Skype is doing a new thing.  It sends me email alerts when someone leaves a voice mail message on my office phone.  I'm not sure how I feel about this.  I have 4 email accounts, 2 laptops, a desktop, a Blackberry, an Ipod touch and a Skype phone.  I am wired into a variety of devices.

Now, being "wired" is pretty convenient in a lot ways.  Running my own business means I need to be informed.  So if I am out of the office for the day, it's handy to be notified via my Blackberry that I have an important email incoming, an SMS or a voice mail pending.  But here is how this generally works out.

I'm in a 2 hour meeting and when I get back to my car and check my phone there are 27-35 notifications!!  I have email, sms, Skype alerts, missed calls, voice mails, and Facebook notifications.  I turn on my Ipod and guess what?  I have 27-35 notifications.  I have email, RSS feeds, Skype and Facebook notifications.  Much of this is redundant. I read the things that are necessary and delete the things that aren't.  I get back to my office and... Everything is blinking!  I receive the emails on my desktop which removes the copy from the server for my permanent files, check the phone messages, post the blog comments, check the Facebook crap.  Good Lord... even the High School sends me voice mail messages and email notifications regarding snow days and vacation schedules for my son.  I have no idea how long, during the course of the day and night, I spend responding to notifications of some sort or another.  How many hours does this take out of my day?  I'm betting over the course of a month there is some pretty significant time involved here.

Two weeks ago I was interviewing photographer Jody Dole (who is fantastic BTW...look for my article on him in the April Edition of INK.)  We got to talking about distractions.  Jody pointed out that since moving to Connecticut from New York City, the distraction portion of his day has significantly increased.  While in NYC, if he wanted lunch he could have it delivered.  If there were errands to be run, there were messengers to do that.  Here in Connecticut, if you need something mailed... YOU go to the post office.  Want lunch?  YOU go make it.  Need office supplies?  YOU go to Staples.  Of course, this means if you leave the office you'll have 27 notifications on your Blackberry.

Despite our best intentions on being conscientious hardworking entrepreneurs, there comes a point when we need to be just regular disconnected people.  When can we go to the grocery store without talking on the phone while we pile milk and bread into our shopping carts.  There are times when we NEED to be with family and friends uninterrupted.  Of course, we can turn all the technology off.  I wonder if we can?  And even if we do, when we turn it back on... there will be 27 notifications waiting for us.