Monday, September 29, 2008

Silence Is Golden


 I wanted to make an outside box for a candle that would diffuse the light better than the basic candle holder. I decided to use golden paper that I  had found at Paper Presentations. I went along with the gold theme and cut the word "Silence" out of it from the adage "Silence is Golden" it is more like Silence is glowing but the outside paper provides the gold.


Can you guess the Typeface?


Thursday, September 25, 2008

Scubanaut







Scubanaut

30"x 40" Ink On Canvas

Pssst.. you see the face profile?


Better pictures coming Soon

Friday, September 19, 2008

Scubanaut Concept



Hey This is my next concept for a painting,

I completely support NASA and money put towards exploring the unexplored, but do you ever wonder how many species and unidentified creatures that have yet to have been discovered here on Earth? 

Over 70% of the earth is water and much of it is unexplored.
Who knows what can be living miles below us, and I bet we have a much better chance of finding ET down there too.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Computer Sketches



Hey,
Just been playing with some sketches on the computer that I will end up painting. not sure if I should keep it all in halftone like the others or go more in these directions, just playing with ideas.

The hairline is courtesy of my friend Lauren Aka LoLo
and inspiration from underoath

-Csal

Monday, September 15, 2008

the raindrops the raindrops the raindrops



Raindown
30"x40" Paint on Canvas

To me their is nothing quite like listening to music in headphones under an umbrella while it's pouring. This was my inspiration to my latest piece Raindown.

It's been a little while since I have added to the painting pixels series but I had doubts on the sketching stages of this piece and kinda put it on the back burner. It photographed really well and looks great on a wall, I am pretty happy I didnt bail on this piece and I ended up sticking it out.


Vinyl 1 - CD - 0




So another win for Vinyl records!

I picked up Coldplays X&Y Vinyl from Virgin the other day and was blown away.
The artwork is so simple and bright this definitley goes on the long list of things I wish I had done. The poster has the alphabet chart of what the shapes actually mean and the otherside has the front cover blown out big.

On a side note this is the first time I have ever seen a CROWD at the vinyl section in a non record specific store. The  small niche of  Vinyl believer's seems to be growing, more bands are releasing Vinyl and more stores are carrying them and I could'nt be happier about it.

IS THIS REALLY NECESSARY?



So I was in Staples the other day looking to get paint markers and a magazine holder, They had neither but they do have an aisle dedicated to "Office Snacks" and assorted collection of DVD's to rent.

Dear Staples,
Please stick to what your good at and actually carry the stuff you are supposed to, leave the snacks to Duane Reade and Gristedes and the movie renting to Itunes and Netflix.

Thanks,
Your Friend Chris

thoughts?

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Mom's Papers



So As I wrote in an earlier post, my Mom has picked up her paintbrush where she had left it.

This has led her to numerous Art shows, commissioned paintings and now the front cover of Dans Paper! (www.danshamptons.com)

My Friend Kelly Merritt who I met in one of my many Art classes Senior year at Bellport Highschool is the Art Director over at Dans. Kelly saw one of my mom's paintings and wanted to see more for the possibility of being in the Paper. The Painting she chose is in my hometown of Bellport Village. It is what used to be called the Chowder House and Is now called Porters.

All I can think about when seeing that place is being one of the first bands to play there. We played a 45 minute set to a bunch of our Highschool Teachers and got 3 noise complaints not too shabby.

The Paper is a weekly community newspaper for Long Island/Hamptons residents. More than 57,000 copies are distributed to the Hamptons,Shelter Island,Montauk, the North Fork,Port Jefferson,Stony Brook,Setauket and select neighborhoods in Manhattan and it is published every Friday.

The Paper is officially out Tomorrow September 5th. Congrats Mommalooch!

Checkout more of her work on her Website www.JeanneSalucciArt.com

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Still Searching



So I have been design freelancing/working on personal projects for the last 3 or 4 months now and enjoy it when it is busy but it can and does get super slow.

Their are only so many friends or friends of friends that need logo or design work done. I would definitley like to freelance or start my own company down the line (who wouldnt) but I have been looking back into full time postitions at a design firm. 

I just interviewed at Orange32 out on Long Island specializing in a little bit of everything with a lot of high end printing (you should see their fancy business cards) I am looking at other places in the city as well, so we will see how the adjustment back to the 9-5 goes. I definitley feel a lot more confident as a designer though. I feel my Portfolio is on a higher level then it was, my business cards and self promotion have matured and my website (chrissalucci.com) has helped me grab much more attention from clients and firms.

I am heading in the right direction I just am hoping the perfect job will just come along but maybe that's further down the line.

What do you think it cost to get this image placed at the beginning of a movie? :)

Monday, September 1, 2008

Radiohead,Vinyl,Greatest Hits and a bit of Rambling


To all you Vinyl and Radiohead Fans out there today should feel like Christmas. Capitol records decided to re release most of Radioheads albums under the name "From the Capitol Vaults". The records are all remastered on heavy weight vinyl and they come out today! 

I got my hands on The Bends a couple of years ago I had to specially order Ok Computer from the UK  and I bought In Rainbows the day it came out. That left me with a large hole in my collection. I found Pablo Honey at Virgin Records Yesterday and am looking forward to hearing Kid A, Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief remastered. To those who are skeptical on a difference in sound, I dare ya, actually I triple dog dare you to listen to any album (especially Radioheads) on Vinyl and I guarantee you hear guitar parts and vocal harmonies you never heard before, even on songs you've heard a million times.

I haven't read much on the re-release of these albums and I know Coldplay's albums are getting the same treatment but I cant help to think that this has something to do with the fact that Radiohead is no longer on Capitol. It just seems like Capital is trying to make as much money off of Radiohead in as little time as possible.

Capitol recently released a greatest hits record of Radiohead's music that the band was against being put out. I am sure the band is making a buttload (lots and lots) of money from all of this but Radiohead isnt a band that tries to crank out "Hits" they are one of the few bands out there who still make concept albums that have a flow from start to finish, so you can understand why a greatest hits album wouldn't be part of their plan. 

Greatest hits albums have also always confused me especially for bands that are still touring heavily and putting out great records, are you trying to say you wont have anymore "hits"?  at least 311 titled their Greatest Hits album "Greatest Hits 93-03" letting everyone know they are far from being done as a group.

The Beatles released a Greatest Hits album 8 years ago which was about 30 years after their last release,But maybe thats a bad example considering just about any one of there albums is a Greatest Hits album. 

I could ramble on all day about why I can't wait to hear these albums on Vinyl. Ok Computer is one of my favorite albums of all times and I must have listened to it from start to finish over 500 times since first receiving it from my brother in 9th grade. I know my copies got pretty abused and scratched up so I am on what must be my 3rd copy of Ok Computer. There is also something refreshing about having your favorite piece of music on a thick piece of molded Goo and not having to worry about hairline scratches that can completely destroy your favorite CD. Luckily now the CD just has to last long enough to get into your computer and hopefully onto a stable enough hard drive to be able to pass on down to future generations. I cant even wrap my head around the fact that Parents will be passing down Harddrives full of music to their kids or they will have to repurchase the record on itunes or (whatever is popular then). Arent they going to miss the smell of a Vinyl record?, or The Awesome Artwork,the wear and tare or any real physical interaction with the Album?.

My mom told me a story about when she was growing up her and a bunch of her friends would ride their bikes down to the local record store.One of them would buy the album or they would all scrounge up their money to buy a record. They would all go to one of her friends house's surround themselves around the record player and pass the Album in a circle, dissecting it and reading along with the lyrics. What Happened to that? 

It might be the same thing that happened to screaming and crying fans, fans that couldn't control themselves during a Beatles or Elvis Presley concert and physically threw them at the members in the group. I would have hated to have been a Security guard to any one of those shows. Those fans probably knew more about those band members then they knew about their own best friends and to think, now they are our parents. What Im trying to say is that the majority of people are not as attached to albums as they once were and I think that the loss of the Vinyl record is a large part of that. 

Our physical interaction to album artwork was cut in half by the CD and was completely destroyed by the MP3. The physical interaction of a record plays a huge part in your first impression of the band or the album and how you may interpret that particular album. This can be a good or bad thing depending on the artwork but now it barely exists. This is all another thing that Radiohead has a grasp of, every one of there albums has all new artwork as well as hidden artwork , prints of the Artwork and music videos that are DIFFERENT.

Music today just seems so disposable, everyone is looking for the next best thing, while great records are collecting dust.
.......Sorry to rant but doesn't it just bum you out?

I will just finish by saying:  
When first listening to Ok Computer on Vinyl in Headphones I felt like I was hearing the album for the first time, their was so much I had missed in the compressed recordings I have heard for so long on CD's. If you are at all interested what I am saying Checkout The posted Video, This man know's what I'm Talking about: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmHLETTEfx4