Judas Preist Logo

One of my favorite designs has to be the Judas Priest logo they introduced on their Stained Glass LP. The design was created by Roslav Szaybo who was a designer at CBS Records at the time. A much more concise history of the bands graphic design can be read here:

I had the idea to incorporate it into my own graffiti name way back when, and this piece in San Francisco was the result.

Taco Bill

My family and I lived in Australia for a couple of years and this was mid-1970's, so, the place was literally like living on Mars. Aside from a few cross cultural items like surfing for my older brother, we didnt have a lot in common with our new home.

One thing we missed more than anything was Mexican Food, which was nowhere to be found until my dad came home one day and was excited to about a new spot he'd found called 'Taco Bill'. The ONLY Mexican restauraunt in the country at the time. It was a bout as exotic and finding a Burmese Cusine anywhere in the states. I remember the food being pretty good, but the salsa was embarassingly mild. My dad called it Ketchup with chilli powder. We were ultimately greatful, and even got to take home some iron-on's, which I still have.

Talkover Dub

I've always been a big fan of ska and reggae (as is evidenced here). Jamaican music went through numerous changes over the years, including the dub years, which is how reggae music spent the 1970's. Dub consists of a sparse, minimal, bass heavy groove, likely fueled by marijuana intake of studio musicians.

Talkover was a component of Dub, but actually had it's roots in the 1950's. Talkover consisted of a reggae DJ playing the instrumental (or 'version' as it came to be known), and saying nursery rhymes over the music. It was much more of a live experience than most other Jamaican music, and didnt translate to record too well. Some artists who made a career of sorts out of it were names like Dennis Al Capone, i Roy, and the legendary King Stitt.

Symbolism

Often times on this blog, I get into symbolism, and it's relation to graphics and visual art. Being, it's such big part of what we as visual artists, of any sort do. Symbolism is something I think we all take part in even if we're not aware.

The election symbolism was not lost on me, and it got me to thinking of some larger ideas that are at play. It's not lost on me at all that Barack Obama's logo is circular.  Classically  the depiction of the "O" symbolizes to the ovum, the egg, the female unit. The motherly figure.

American presidents reside inside an Oval Office, but, have often times been symbolized by a phallic or fatherly figure. Until recently, the president was always seen as Dad. Something Ronald Reagan had  tried to re-instate (after the political castration of Richard 'Dick' Nixon).

If Obama somehow symbolizes the first 'female' president, what does that mean for the country? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Whether or not I'm looking way to deep into this, I think it's interesting.

SC24 Drape Puller 2

Cleaned up and animated by the always amazing Mike Hollingsworth!