Archive for 2010
Breakthrough Breast Cancer
The Art Below and The Sun newspaper in London invited Jon to participate in a group exhibition and charity event for Breakthrough Breast Cancer on December 13th. His piece is called “I Melt In The Sun”. More about the event, which took place at the Victoria & Albert Museum, can be found here.
Never Judge a Book by Its Cover
Jon contributed to the Never Judge a Book by Its Cover show at StolenSpace with his re-imagining of A Confederacy of Dunces:
The age old proverb is easier said than done, when choosing a read who can’t be swayed by good cover art, the cover after all has the job of explaining thousands of words in an instant. Think of the classic covers that grace the jackets of thousands of books and the names of the truly great artists that have put their artwork to novels, creating iconic classic covers for these classic books, but is the book cover dying? With the advent of the iPad it’s now questionable how long the printed novel and its cover will be around, just like the album cover, it’ll be resigned to a thumbnail in iTunes.
StolenSpace in association with Penguin plan to celebrate the art of the book cover with a show titled ’ Never Judge? this December.
The broad and varied spectrum of artists were inviting to paint, print, etch, sculpt, photograph, whatever their medium, whatever their style… create a book cover for a novel of their choice, a book that has inspired them, a book that has had a profound impact on them or a book that they remember fondly as a child … all that we asked was that they create their original artwork to the traditional format and size of a Penguin book 198mm (h) x 129mm (w)
For this exhibition ‘Never Judge?’ we will be exhibiting these artworks and fill the gallery with original book covers from our favourite artists from around the world. As well as originals we will be producing limited edition prints of a selection of the artwork. The show promises to be a visual feast and working in conjunction with Penguin and their upcoming Penguin Essentials project the show will be a guaranteed block buster.
The show ran in London from December 3rd to December 19th.
Customized Toys for LOVE MOVEMENT
Jon is one of many artists involved in LOVE MOVEMENT, a very special project I’m curating with Shin Tanaka and Nao Shimojo. LOVE MOVEMENT is an art show using vinyl toys to deliver universal messages about love. American, Japanese and European artists were given blank versions of toys designed by recently married artists, Shin and Nao. The finished works will be exhibited and sold at SUPERFROG Gallery in San Francisco with an opening reception on December 11th at 7PM. Many artists will be in attendance!
I met Shin and Nao in Tokyo while on my honeymoon. I was freshly married, Shin and Nao were engaged, and Japan felt like the most welcoming place in the world. Love was everywhere, and I promised I would get the two artists a show in San Francisco. Shin and Nao are now married, and LOVE MOVEMENT is that show.
Jon’s custom T-BOY is called “Love Messes You Up,” and his custom Dankeschoen bear is called “Broken-Hearted Bear”. More images of his work are available upon request.
You can see all the artist’s designs for LOVE MOVEMENT here.
Find out more information about the show and join the LOVE MOVEMENT here!
Shelter Charity Auction
Jon did this piece for the Shelter Charity Auction at 20 Hoxton Square. It has a very “Day of the Deadsy” feeling to it, doesn’t it? This follows up the 2009 Shelter House of Cards project, to which Jon was also a contributor. Here’s a bit from the press release:
Every week across Britain nearly 5,000 households face the nightmare of losing their home. Housing charity Shelter has teamed up with creative agency Margaret and 20 Hoxton Square Projects to create ‘52 Weeks’, a unique show comprising artwork inspired by weeks of the year. Hosted by 20 Hoxton Square Projects and curated by Adam Waymouth, the exhibition aims to raise awareness about the thousands of families struggling to keep a roof over their head. It follows on from the success of Shelter’s House of Cards exhibition in September 2009, which raised over £100,000 for the housing charity.
2010 Hannukah and Christmas Doodle Cards
Back in August of 2009, I interviewed Jon for Jewzine, HEEB, and naturally, the topic of his copious Christmas cards came to light. Jon spoke of parental guilt and possibly having slipped in the odd dreidel somewhere. At the time, he was entertaining the idea of doing a “little latke person” to balance things out. Well here it is, fatty!
Four limited edition gift cards for the seasonal festival of lights (aka Hanukkah), printed full color on 310gsm art paper and blank inside with an envelope for $9.25 USD HERE.
Four limited edition gift cards for that OTHER seasonal festival (aka Christmas), printed full color on 310gsm art paper and blank inside with an envelope for $9.25 USD HERE.
Bag and Shirt for Build My Dreams Charity
Regenerate Clothing has launched a range of interactive limited edition organic t-shirts and bags designs with 100% of all proceeds will go towards caring for street children across Indonesia, through The Peduli Anak foundation. Build My Dreams is a project which was set up by Regenerate Clothing (UK) and Adikaka foundation (Indonesia). The project is a fundraising project to help children living on the streets of Indonesia through The Peduli Anak Foundation.
The designs have been printed by Dots Sports onto Earth Positive organic cotton bags and t-shirts and each item comes with a Posca pen so you can customise them and add your own style. All profits will go towards the Peduli Anak Foundation, which protects street kids by providing a new, happy and safe environment so that they can live and grow like any other children in the world.
Writes Jon:
“My drawing is inspired by the gooey, fluffy, malleable texture of dreams, where everything is possible yet clear and obscured at the same time. The intangible nature of subconscious dreams are explicitly linked to our imaginations, hopes and aspirations. We know they exist and have to believe that one day it may be possible to touch them.”
Hoults Yard Muradoodles
Jon was recently in Newcastle to go big on a wall at Hoults Yard, “a funky and flexible office complex with character”. Unfortunately, rain appears to have made a more macabre mural than perhaps intended. The Hoults Yard team tweeted a promise to repair the project as soon as the “sun shines”.
Happy Hour Print
Jon’s Happy Hour screen-print was first shown by Concrete Hermit at Christy’s South Kensington as part of the Multiplied show. Oil based inks make the colors really vibrant. Limited to only 50 copies, signed and numbered for £145 here.
Cafeteria Doodles
Somewhere in the UK, lucky students get to eat lunch in a cafeteria adorned with GREEN doodles by Jon. Be cool. Stay in school.
Custom