Joe Mills

Turbo Wall Art

Image from Jellio

I saw these pieces a few months ago in Cargo (which is now defunct) and I had wished I would have saved the magazine or researched these further. Well, thanks to OhGizmo!, I now know where to find them. If you check the link for Jellio, you will see that this piece, Turbo Wall Art, is sold out, but nonetheless, it is a fantastic piece. For those of us that used to put together model cars or other toys, you will no doubt remember how the pieces for these toys used to come in several pieces of injected molded plastic. In order to put the model together, you had to pull the pieces out of the plastic and then assemble it. In my opinion, those pieces of plastic, before you detached everything, used to look really cool. Well, designers Mario Marsicano and Chris Lenox got the bright idea of making a large scale piece that looks just like those little pieces of plastic. Yes, it is a reminder of childhood, but it has such a great aesthetic. It is has the soul of a sculpture, but works lilke a painting since it hangs on a wall. Plus, they paint it all one color to further give it that “model” look. You almost want to pull it off the wall and assemble it. Once again, a simple idea that just plain works.

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Dror Benshetrit

Image from Studio Dror

I came across this work of “sculpture” a few months ago, and, if I weren’t in the middle of trying to save money, I would purchase one of these in a second. Studio Dror has this incredible vase that was constructed and glued together from a broken vase. (At the site, go to Portfolio > Product > Vase of Phases to find an image.) The lasting effect has tremendous and dynamic lines and great movement. It is such a simple concept, I almost wish I would have come up with it. Usually, the most simple designs are the best looking designs.

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Creativity

I’m in the middle of a terrific book by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called Creativity. His most recognized book is Flow, and I guess you could say this is the sequel to Flow. While Flow centered around how to get the optimal experience out of everyday life, Creativity focuses on the people who have actually achieved a life of Flow. He interviewed close to a hundred in various fields of study and compiled a “profile” for the creative person. The people he interviewed were not just people usually associated with being in a creative field (e.g. artist, musician, etc.) but people who have used their creativity to break new ground in their field of choice.

One of the most interesting discoveries in this book is how the people don’t share too many similarities in their lives except for the fact they are completelly engrossed in their work, they are curious people, and they love being challenged mentally. I think this is so important to note. All of the creative individuals in this book would be considered successful not only by other people, but by themselves. I think a lot of times people define success and happiness by the ability to have time to relax and let their brain’s rest. These people are the exact opposite. They feel successful and happy because they love using their brains and they are hungry to learn and continually be challenged. That way of thinking is so different from the way we are taught in the United States that it almost seems strange to write down, but it is so true. I know how I feel when I’m laying on the couch mindlessly watching television as opposed to the times I’m using my brain. I’m invigorated when I can be curious, challenged, and in thought. I believe Creativity, and Flow, are must reads for anyone who wants to really shatter the myth that suggests success and happiness are measured by leisure time and relaxation. Put your mind to work and maybe you will feel differently…

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Pixel Chicago

Image from Eboy

The following artwork has its roots in inspiration as well. Since I consider it an important part of the creative process, I feel that it is necessary to display my own “inspired” artwork. The following piece was obviously inspired by the City of Chicago. More specifically, though, I have been fascinated by the pixelized artwork of EBoy. Although their work is more cartoonish, I think the graphic quality of pixels is extremely strong which is the reason I emulated their work with my piece “Pixel Chicago“.

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The First One…

Blogs have been around for awhile…I know this, but I always thought it was just a bunch of people with nothing better to do. Now, I have seen the other side. The Web has always been a community, but has finally become a TRUE community just in the past couple years. And for the sake of my students (I teach art and, eventually, technology at Murray Language Academy in Chicago) , I wanted to try to make this a part of my life and see where it leads. And hopefully, I can bring it back to my students in September with a bunch of ideas.

Image from The Photography of Joachim Krill

First, the purpose here is to be inspired by other artworks. I feel that artists do not work in a bubble and need to devour visual images in order to become a better artist. The first artist I wanted to highlight is Joachim Krill. I bought a piece of his artwork at the Wells Street Art Fair in Chicago and it is truly fascinating. He has designed the world’s largest portable instant camera. It takes 20″ x 30″ Polaroid photographs. His photos can best be described as surrealist installations. The photos he takes are actual pictures. Photoshop was not used to create them. Enjoy!

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About

Joe Mills is an art and technology teacher at Murray Language Academy in Chicago. His interests range from illustration to rooting for the Fighting Illini and White Sox to using the Internet to its fullest potential.

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