Monday, March 31, 2008

Heroes


I still can’t believe I actually worked with David Bowie, Brian Eno and Philip Glass together on one project. The package design for Philip’s Heroes Symphony, based on the music from the Bowie and Eno album Heroes, began as rough sketches on a napkin. (Yes, it is true that some really good ideas begin as rough sketches on napkins.) Philip and I were friends and had worked together previously on other projects so I was comfortable with him. I didn’t sleep much the night before the photo session with David Bowie. I also was pretty anxious the afternoon I met Brian Eno at his session. (Yes, I asked both of them for their autographs, and got them).

NY Open Center


Logo created for the NY Open Center in SoHo. Banner and catalog cover featuring some of my analog collages.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Brooklyn Industries


Brooklyn Industries commissioned me to create an interpretation of their water tower logo for the first issue of the Brooklyn Industries Journal. The construction was made with mostly found materials: the tank is a breadcrumb container; the railing is made from a shopping bag handle. I transformed the actual Brooklyn Industries logo into a shadow. The image was also printed on a limited edition t-shirt. My first collaboration with Brooklyn Industries was a t-shirt design competition for senior students in the Illustration Department of Parsons School of Design. Four winning designs were printed on t-shirts in Spring 2007.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Live Bait


Live Bait is a bar/restaurant located on 23rd Street in NYC. It was established back in 1987 by Andrew Silverman and a group of fashion models including Eric Petterson, Carolyn Effer and Charles Milite. I designed the lettering used on the sign, menus, and merch.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Change Your Mind

Link
This is the logo I created for Change Your Mind Day, an annual day of meditation sponsored by Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. T-shirts are available here.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

So Percussion


My "bell man" t-shirt design for the amazing and unique So Percussion: Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, and Lawson White. If you get the chance to see So perform live, don't miss it. I have also designed the packages for their Cantaloupe Music albums: So Percussion, Steve Reich Drumming and Amid The Noise.

Friday, March 14, 2008

New from Kronos Quartet


Kronos Quartet and Wu Man/Terry Riley The Cusp of Magic. This is the latest of many album packages I have designed for Kronos. My relationship with David Harrington and Kronos Quartet goes back almost two decades. I feel fortunate to have been able to work with the Quartet and Nonesuch Records, who have both been extraordinarily open to using fine art and fine art photography in their album packages. Over the years Kronos' packages have included images by Robert Mapplethorpe, Linda Connor, Aligiero e Boetti/Mimmo Paladino, the Starns, David Wojnarowicz, and Vija Celmins. The cover photo for this package is by the master illuminator Dean Chamberlain.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Instant Karma!


Xerox box schematic and CD label comp for the Ultimate Lennon Box (1989). I was hired to design the box set, and Matt Mahurin to illustrate scenes from John's life. A dream project that unfortuanately for all involved just didn't work out.

Black Postcards


Black Postcards: A Rock & Roll Romance by Dean Wareham of Galaxie 500 and Luna fame, is just out on the Penguin Press. Dean and I have known one another since I had the good fortune to design the album package for Luna's Penthouse — still one of my all time favorite albums. I designed most all of the packages for Luna after that. After Luna's demise, I designed Dean and Britta's first album package, L'Avventura, and the DVD package for the Luna documentary, Tell Me Do You Miss Me. It has been my pleasure to have worked with Dean for all these years. He is an extraordinarily intelligent and talented musician and gifted writer.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Next New Networks



Three logos I designed for Next New Networks: Bleacher Bloggers, Metal Chik and Goggleburn. Next New Networks is a new kind of media company, creating micro-television networks over the internet for targeted communities, bringing together elements of tv programming and internet philosophy to allow viewers to contribute, share and distribute content.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

The Aeroplane Flies High


". . . turns, left, looks right."
Some preliminary sketches and snapshots of the Smashing Pumpkins boxed set (1996). The concept (Billy Corgan's idea) was based on the boxes teenagers used to keep their 45 RPM singles in back in the 50s and 60s. The box set included 5 CDs and 44 page book.

Linda said . . .


Hi Frankie:
I looked at your blog I like it. I did this painting of you and thought you
might like the image to use on your blog. It is a more recent image of you.... I don't know if you only are using ones where you are under 30... Love, L (Linda Pence)

Monday, March 3, 2008

Smile Please!

This logo was done for photographer John Bigelow Taylor and Diane Dubler's Liberty Digital studio. Apparently the Statue of Liberty was located near the studio, hence the name. My concept was that Lady Liberty had been photographed millions of times and now it was her turn to take your picture.