January 21, 2013 - Comments Off on MLK’s ‘Merica

MLK’s ‘Merica

Happy Martin Luther King day. Today we honor the memory of a man who stood up for what he believed in spite of the colossal obstacles in his path. The timing of this holiday couldn't be better as we choose again to swear in the first African American President in our history, proof of the progress made. Yet the many issues now facing the President, and our government at large, remain a huge challenge. Yet all of us, from famous civil rights leaders to the everyday Joe, are given a chance with each new challenge to either flourish or fail. Such challenges are inspiring.

This week I sketched a quick portrait of today's hero, one of the best American's or our age.

This week I sketched a quick portrait of today's hero, one of the best American's or our age.

We recognize people who overcome great challenges with fame and celebrity. Their likenesses become representations for all that they have achieved. Who can forget the quintessential image of Obama by Shepard Fairey of "Obey" fame? That image alone represents Hope. Artist Charis Tsevis has taken on many famous personalities including President Obama in his pointillist-like works. They are part collage, part pixel art. He forms his images from abstract shapes or objects related to his subject. Though they may seem sparse in principle, Tsevis achieves amazing depth in his modern digital works.

We've Got His Back

Dancing with Circles

There are some characters who are admired for their ability to overcome any challenge: superheroes. This interesting animation experiment, the Good Man, explores the ideas of good and bad we think as a child. All done using modern web technologies, the style is minimalist and beautiful. Watch in Chrome for best results. While stunning, the hiccups in performance I experienced are representational of the current limitations of such technologies.

The Good Man

Life is a constant struggle, a whole series of challenges. This outstanding short, HEART, is a wonderful inspection of life through visual metaphor and symbolism. Though I'm still unsure what to take away from this animation, I can say it is undeniably a fantastic piece of work.

The Sketching Mechanism is a series of weekly posts, published on Mondays, containing the artistic musings of Mobile Designer/Developer Ben Chirlin during our Monday morning meeting at the NY Creative Bunker as well as his inspiring artistic finds of the week.

Published by: benchirlin in Government, The Internal Mechanism
Tags: , ,

Comments are closed.