Om Conference of the Birds album
I felt really lucky last night, standing in a new Portland gallery called "Carhole" with my friends. Alex Fenton (formally known as "un-google-able") and two other artists filled the small concrete space perfectly, as Om looped from the iPod deck. As I was smiling at Alex's paper mache works and the fire-stained sheets installed on the opposing wall I was reminded of Chris Burden. When I commented on the total atmosphere, Jeffrey pointed out—where we huddled at the back of the gallery while a handful of visitors trickled out onto the streets smoking cigarettes in the biting cold—that I was welcomed to "the north west art scene."
There are a few relevant metal-related curiosities that are dear to me and I'm glad to be more aware of them here in Portland.
Initially, I was introduced to my friend's death metal band Toxic Holocaust (now based in Portland). In his case, I admire the balance of professionalism and blasphemy that has carried him to international fame. He's one of the most gentlemanly people I know. Visually, I became interested in the iconic representation that is standard throughout all of the branding of metal bands. The gothic/medieval influence paired with glorified death and primal behavior satisfies a deeply rich culture apart from popular ethos. The culture is surrounding Portland proper and I was excited to tear a local metal poster from a lightpost last week in hopes to savor a format that amassed those complex angular logos into a grid. Delightful.
Earlier this year during a visit to New York, my friend Kai Salmela announced his upcoming work at Pentagram being a redesign of the typeface for the Guitar Hero video game. A spectacular investigation in to a somewhat swiss-modernised, digitally produced, ornately displayed typeface "Hero" was formed.
Having worked with Kai on various projects when we were classmates at University of Minnesota Duluth, I am familiar with his interest in cultures and designs that are much more uplifting and refined. Seeing the influence of the typeface Din Schriften is also no surprise, and is a beautiful attempt to somewhat standardize the origin of metal typography. It humors me to imagine Kai researching metal logos for hours. Perhaps a mood board and playlist from the network of metal music hosted on myspace assisted his process!
Lastly, as I was listening to my gifted itunes playlist of Om this morning, I was pleased to see more of the metal influence spanning in to the professional realm of design with Wieden+Kennedy's promotional material for World Cup soccer enthusiasm. The "Group of Death" surrounds the notion of fierce play and underground attitudes. As their myspace page states, the cult following of the marketing metal band is "creating synergy with the football universe."
Similarly, in the last year, I have realized that as a designer with a daily heavy(metal) workload and a duty to provide varied cultural influence in aesthetic and conceptual compositions, music is a necessary mental escape. From psychedelic garage rock, to 80's hair metal, to modern psychedelic doom, I am pleased to know that other designers are under the influence of music that is responsible for transforming our perception of the world.
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