What the Beep?
Our very own Patrick Fenton, one half Swayspace partner and one whole design fanatic, was interviewed for the online article What the Beep? Why Digital Sounds Are so Annoying appearing on the blog LiveScience. Check him out!
We Made It!
You may recall that last year we were involved in the Art of Craftsmanship Revisted in conjunction with LVMH and Parsons. Out of that lovely curated show on Governors Island, we were picked as one of the subjects of a new book of artisans in New York that was recently featured in the New York Times. Swayspace is the "letterpress print shop" whose wood type is featured in the Times article:
We are so pleased at the book that Nathalie and Ted Sann have created and so excited to be included with so many skilled artisans. Made in New York is a reminder of the craftsmanship still being made today in New York City (especially in Brooklyn!). We've already got our copy, but you can pick yours up on Amazon right now!
'Tis Wedding Event Season
We did it BIG this year!!
Over the past couple of months, we've been getting ourselves sorted out to present our work at two of New York's premier wedding events: Wedding Crashers and New York Magazine Weddings. We've shed blood, sweat and tears (well, not tears but...) designing and printing pieces for the events. One piece is a 5 color, 2 sided recipe card and acts a guide for couples looking to order wedding invitations
(we'll be sharing blog posts on both of these soon).
We conceived of two different booth designs that represented us well and suited each event to a tee.
Here are a selection of photos from the two events, starting off with Wedding Crashers:
...And now to New York Weddings:
After all that preparation, each event really went swimmingly. We made some great contacts with other folks in the wedding industry, met some lovely brides and grooms who were very complimentary of our work and we're ready to get on with all the designing and printing we have lined up.
Printin' @ MoMA
Whether we're translating a photograph from digital to polymer media, printing with chocolate powder or on wood veneer, we’re always interested in combining the old and new, marrying the tradition of letterpress with modern innovations that suggest new expressive possibilities.
Printed from photopolymer plate at Swayspace
Detail of dot pattern created for translation from digital to polymer
For more inspiration on how to creatively push the medium, check out Printin’, one of two print exhibitions currently on view at MoMA as part of their twenty year survey of the role of the print in contemporary art.
Curated by the artist Ellen Gallagher, Printin’ displays Gallagher’s epic print portfolio DeLuxe alongside works by artists of varying disciplines and time periods, all of whom use printmaking in ways that both celebrate and challenge the medium. Filmmakers, sculptors, collage artists, print makers and designers appear side by side in this show, linked by a shared drive to push beyond the perceived conceptual and physical limitations of the print.
Gallagher's print portfolio, "DeLuxe"
Ellen Gallagher
Two (of many) favorites from the show include Alois Auer’s bat and snakeskin impressions, created by pressing the objects between two lead plates and inking them, and a spread from Rodchenko and Stepanova’s USSR in Construction. But there are plenty of inspiring and curious works in the show, on view through May 14 in The Paul J. Sachs Prints and Illustrated Books Galleries, 2nd floor.
Ed Rusha + craftspeople = kick ass
It sometimes seems like the contemporary art world is intent on spreading the word that hand work, craft & technique are not only beside the point of fine art, but actually stand in the way of it. Budding artists are often encouraged by their MFA'd mentors to either eschew the development of hand skill altogether or to look forward to employing assistants or craftspeople as executors or surrogates for their carefully nurtured concepts.
While artists like Warhol and Koons made themselves famous by advertising and celebrating their physical detachment from their work, others commission outside experts only when their ideas reach beyond the limits of their own native physical skills.
The artist Ed Rusha, who first gained art world cred in the 1960s his text paintings and artist books, combines high concept and high craft, hiring experts to take over when his projects demand it.
Check out the making of Ruscha's 2002 artist book, Me and The, produced at USF Graphicstudio in Florida. The team was challenged to innovate contemporary adaptations of the ancient tradition of fore-edge painting to complete Ruscha's book. Their attention to detail and the complexity of the process is pretty inspiring to watch.