The Art of Rock and Roll

I had the privilege to see the legendary band Genesis this past weekend at the Hollywood Bowl. It was the last night in their tour that started last spring in Europe. I have enjoyed Genesis since I was a teenage student. I expected a good show but they blew away all expectations. I was struck while listening to the many long instrumental sets, arranged and performed with the greatest of skill, passion and talent, of going to a symphony concert. The music’s arrangements where inspiring and captivating. What would Mozart have done with an electric keyboard, guitar, bass, and drums? I have to believe he would have composed music such as this full of the today’s energy. If you ever have doubted if rock and roll could be art, give Genesis a try when they tour again. This rock and roll symphony was modern art at its best.

NYC Transit Museum

One of my passions is visiting cities and taking their subways. I love to observe the public design of the spaces and cars along with the advertising you find. New York is one of the best when it comes to subways. When I was in New York a week ago, I had the chance to visit the New York City MTA Transit Museum in Brooklyn. What a hidden treasure if you are into history, the development of New York and design. The museum is in an old subway station and covers the growth of the largest subway system in the country. As you enter you descend the stairs into the museum located below street level. This level is full of how the system grew and historical artifacts but the real treat is deeper down below. Descend further down as if you where to get an A train and you find a collection of subway cars that spans the last hundred years. On this platform level you can see the details in the designs of the cars. As you enter each car, you can see it as if it was brand new with every detail down to the vintage ads and maps. It seems that prime ad space in subways has been around since the turn of the century. One observation of these vintage subway cars shows the wonderful design of their periods. The next time you are in the area visit the MTA Transit Museum in Brooklyn. Your passion for design will thank you.

ArtWalk Fall 2007 Los Angeles

Today was a visit to ArtWalk Fall 2007 to visit a great artist friend of mine, Mike Tracy. ArtWalk is a big open house at the Brewery in East LA. The Brewery is in an old Pabst Brewery that has been turned into work and live spaces. Mike Tracy has been showing in this space over the years and the work keeps getting better and better. One look at Mike's work and you can see his passion for creating and exploring in art. If you missed this open house, Mike will be showing at Hunsaker/Schlesinger Fine Art Gallery in Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA in the coming months. You can also contact Mike for an appointment and to see more of this fine work visit http://www.miketracy.net

In the beginning...

In the beginning an image was drawn. Soon after a word was drawn next to the image. Graphic communications was born. This is a start of the blog space for aNEW designs. Our goal for things to come is to spread the word of how great it is to be a designer and artist in this time of change and progress.

I have grown in my passion of all things design and art over the years. Passion is the key to creating designs that communicate the information at hand in an artistic and aesthetically pleasing manner. I will be sharing my passion with you over the time to come. I hope you we can unlock our passions together.