Holiday Wishes 2009

Wish all of you loyal readers a green Xmas! -Figus

re Tin Windmill Sighting

In the window at Private Screening inFremont

re spatter says it best

If only there was a book devoted to spatter fonts....it would have to use this latest poster designed by Robynne Raye as a primo example. Although Robynne and her cohorts at Modern Dog have produced a good many graphic pieces using drips and runs and splashes....this one takes the prize.
It navigates that marvelous territory between legibility and illegibility which means it grabs the mind and holds on until you wipe the tears from your eyes with the back of your hand.

Plastic Spoon Sighting

On a recent walk around Greenlake, I was dismayed to see a discarded white plastic spoon resting on the lake bottom ( Less than 6 feet from shore and at a depth of no more than 3.7 feet). One can only speculate the half-life of such trash, but there is also the hope that this monumental afront to nature will gradually disappear into the lake sediment. If you are interested in a more positive spoon story, please visit:
Plastic Spoon Sightings

re Welcome Mat

Most WELCOME mats do not make such good use of the opportunity to set the tone for a visitor. There is more to life than just cleaning your feet.

re Suicide Gimmick

This discarded sign offers a new tack on the challenge of panhandling in the cynical Fremont neighborhood. The full presentation involves lying along a heavily traveled bike path, curling up in the fetal position and draping the cardboard sandwich board style message over the shoulders. A rain soaked hat is placed nearby for whatever funds might be forthcoming. This is the third sign that has surfaced in as many weeks, making it easier to separate the posers from serious players. Makes one wonder how many times this ploy will work. Even the vernacular lettering fails the sincerity test.

Xmas Past

These Xmas cards from Xmas past might explain why the friends who received them have removed me from their address books.

re BiG NEwS

More than the brain can imagine. Just plain
amazing. Take a look:
http://moderndog.com/book

Re: Text in Sculpture

Incorporating text in a monument is a special challenge for the artist. This version of the 23rd Psalm is a small feat compared to the Vietnam War Memorial. Sand blasting is now used to execute the computer output; however, the Kennedy Inaugural Address was over 2,000 hand chiseled characters.

re Birdhouses

Pick up some scrap lumber. Make some birdhouses. Line them up along a road.
Sell them.

re holiday thought for 2007

This special holiday photo was taken along Aurora Avenue North near Seattle.

Re Work Disguised as Art

This is image is quite spectacular if you think that it was created from scratch in Photoshop 5.0 requiring 200 hours of time starring at an LCD screen. Sorry to admit that it is just an unaltered photo shot with a low cost point and shoot camera. Hopefully it still works as a reminder of the luxury of waste.

re txt mssg sgn

The wind assisted communication when it blew away the superfluous letters and converted this used car lot sign into a text message.

re Pet Rat

re THINK

The original IBM ad campaign might seem to have permanently damaged the word "Think",
however this recent pissoir message puts the verb in a new context.

re Please Ring Bell

San Francisco is a city of doorbells. Pick any street in any part of the city and the visual variations of such technology is compelling. They often betray far more than the owner might realize. After 50 years of over-painting, rusting, fingering, polishing, and labeling, it is still quite likely that a bell somewhere inside will sound the alarm when you give the button a push.

re Back View

The back view is rarely disappointing. . . even of religion.

re Red Cross

It is difficult to imagine a more successful rendering of the basic red cross design. Part of the impact might be the context of the vintage handpainted VW bus, but there is also something exceptional about the way the stencil failed to impede the running paint.

re Stone Pyramid

If someone accidentally knocked down a life-sized balanced stone sailboat....maybe a stone pyramid might be a great plan B.

re: Roadside Shrine

Roadside shrines appear on various highways to commemorate where people have died in accidents. This shrine is filled with descriptive artifacts that include a toy motorcycle, an unopened bottle of beer, Mardi Gra beads, color photos and Honda logos. Obviously only part of the story. The concept of the roadside shrine dates back to paleolithic time. Early shrines were linked to the worship of pagan gods and provided travelers with a place to rest or worship.