Thursday, October 15, 2009

I have no idea what happened.


I have no idea what happened but I am now part of a magazine that is part of a collective that is the up and coming art circle in new york city and that is exploding and growing exponentially. Today we moved into our new office on the fifth floor of Collective Hardware, a collection of painters, film-makers, actors and tresses, and all around exciting people. The founder of facebook Sean Parker ( a man worth 4 billion dollars) strolls in wearing a violet crushed velvet suit jacket and sash and hangs out for an hour. One of the members of the collective is dating Lizzy Jagger, Sean Lennon hangs out there, on Sunday his brother is filming in the building, tomorrow we are screening and hosting some filming of the work of actor and director Dan Fogler. Eventually I will start doing video for the site (scallywagandvagabond.com) as well as art directing, designing, and helping out with some of the writing. Things are shaping up in a very crazy way.

ian

Monday, September 14, 2009

Weekend Paraphernalia




Willy managed to get himself and I involved with the All Tomorrows Parties music festival in the Catskills which just wrapped up less than twenty four hours ago. What this means is I was able to see Sufjan Stevens, Autolux, Crystal Castles, Animal Collective, Black Dice, Deer Hunter, Deer Hoof, Panda Bear, Suicide, Eugene Mirman, David Cross, etc. while helping man reception, merch table, dressing room prep and other odd jobs they sent my way. I met two amazing artists there (and I mean like rock star amazing) one of which was gary baseman who is a painter, toy maker, traveller, and cartoon producer all in one. He gave me a sticker and his card so I reciprocated with my card and a sticker that I designed (just happened to have it with me.)

Michael Michael Motorcycle (which believe it or not, isnt his real last name) and I ended up eating a few meals together and talking about screen printing and poster making. On the last day i gave him one of my knife zines that Elliot and I had made over the summer which he seemed to have dug. Click on the link to see some of his pieces, they are phenomenal.



And the final piece (above) is a fathers day card Eugene Mirman thought would be a good idea. He had about five different messages but they were all printed on the same pretty butterfly. He read each one and handed it to an audience member and I got this one by telling him i wanted it. Strange how that works.

And there isnt a picture for this but on the last day I was eating dinner in the production team/artist catering area by myself when a guy in jacket and hoodie and a girl in tight black pants sat down at the table next to me. This vague description that matched a record cover and the fact that crystal castles were playing that night led me to ask about it and we got into a conversation about whoopi goldberg, patrick swayze, and a few other celebrities. I changed tables and sat with them, trying to keep up with stories about the klaxons, peaches, whoever wrote I Hate Mondays in the eighties, and who was getting who hooked on heroin. Normal conversation I guess. Well heres the record cover actually.


It was by far the best job i have ever had. Being surrounded by cute English (not British, I was corrected) and Austrailian girls is definitely something Im going to miss.

Ian

Sunday, September 6, 2009

sighting



You will never guess who I saw at Union Pool last night.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

the laddtter



it is so hard to tell whether these instances of intense self-doubt are moments of clarity or not. all the evidence is here to suggest the former. im getting kicked around out here.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

slow





Things in New York are pretty slow. Michael Jackson had a postmortem birthday party on Saturday in Brooklyn, thrown by Spike Lee. I went to the Frank Lloyd Wright retrospective at the Guggenheim. I emailed probably close to sixty eight hundred craigslist posters and have gotten two responses so far but they have both been good. I completed my first freelance job yesterday and realized I have never designed anything for eight hours in a row.



Right now I have a bunch of different projects going including a little book of drawings i did on scraps of paper, an illustrate bizarre headlines from the ny times project, in addition to the projects I ve finished so far (designed and printed a skateboard deck, personal business cards, redesigned my physical portfolio, did an icon set for a film making website, ordered a batch of stickers, and put together two magazine articles to go to press.) The only thing thats rough about all of this is the state of my bank account. But I am doing my best to be frugal.

I move into my permanent apartment on Tuesday with Willy as my roommate. We have access to two roofs and conjoined rooms and we are located above a diner with cheap pancakes. Speaking of rooves, i have to go watch the sunset on the Manhattan skyline.



V

Monday, August 17, 2009

link

Click Here for a quick link to my aforementioned democracy piece. If you have the time and inclination you should sign up (takes one minute) and say that mine is the best. Well Dylan's and mine are anyways.

The New York sun is murderous. I think it was 95 yesterday. No more leaving the house.

Ian

Friday, August 14, 2009

Democracy



My work is in another spot on the internet tube. My submission for the design competition run by Createdemocracy.com was accepted! Now some dumb voting goes on and then the favorite pieces get shown at an exhibition in Newcastle and are published in a legit book. So fingers crossed. www.createdemocracy.com

Im in Brooklyn these days, trying to chase down leads on jobs. Slowly but surely.

V

Thursday, August 6, 2009

New York on Saturday Night


I've been having bad dreams all summer but this morning I woke up exhausted. I move to Brooklyn on Saturday but I haven't been stressed about it really until today. And it isn't even me who is stressed, my subconscious is messing with me at night, making my stomach hurt during the day and it just is getting old. Hopefully after the move I will calm down.

I am still looking for a job but I think once I land in New York I'll be able to set things up more quickly and hopefully figure something out.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

living on credit

Four new projects on my website and I am calling it done. No more working on it, I forbid it. Next step is to line up interviews and find a place for Willy and Myself to live for relatively cheap. emphasis on relative. Willy is interning at J Crew at Astor Place in Manhattan (pretty sure of the location) which he seems to be enjoying. My friends Dylan and Derek moved in together (Platonic) recently, Derek i believe is taking an internship with Method and Dylan is freelancing and helping put together the music magazine Self Titled. Oh and Lydia is working at Graham (cracker) Hanson design. I feel like a slob.

This is a poster i designed and send to the people who run the Brooklyn Pool Parties. They liked the poster but already had one (which i knew) and had two staff designers (which i did not know.)

This is a sort of harassment poster in the works i think. well i am off to have lots and lots of fun.

V

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Back In New York, Stuck in Moline, Back in Iowa, Bought a Sweatshirt


Pointless waste of resources and time. If I wanted to see a slash I would draw a diagonal line on a page. I dont need to open a book to get my fix. Thanks anyways.

After being back in New York I realized I cant really imagine moving anywhere else. At least at this point in time. I need to fix up my portfolio. I just finished up a series of wallpapers for the new iPhones. If you are Richy Rich iPhone owner, you can download the designs here.

New Zine in the works, check back soon.

V

Saturday, June 6, 2009

uk thinks im cool.


http://www.dirtymouse.co.uk/design/ian-vens/

So I made the blogs yesterday! The design blogs are a staple in every designers daily browsing with new posts promoting the work of swell designers and I appeared on my very first one. Smart, cool. Take a look.

Ian

Monday, June 1, 2009

bird bird bird

Banana Bird\'s New Glasses - Threadless, Best T-shirts Ever


So the summer has allowed me to become attached to the internet and in doing so, I have decided I want to win at least one design competition before I die. (I actually did win a contest when i was in preschool for drawing the best Iowa City Public Library related drawing. Cant remember what the prize was.) Anyways.

I entered a threadless competition so if the judges think it isnt crap it will be in the running for getting printed. I will keep you updated and let you know when you HAVE TO VOTE FOR IT.



kidding. But not about you having to vote for it.

v

Monday, May 25, 2009

BACK INTO IT



I just found out that a national contest i entered last year declared me Honorable Mention and NOBODY decided to tell me about it. I found out by the superstar act of googling your own name.
Every student on the list of winners was from Iowa State was pretty cool, just wish i would have been informed i was on it.

http://www.design.iastate.edu/GD/happenings.php



My good friend Dylan is in NYC for the summer getting all the big jobs and I hate him for that. I plan on visiting in July and moving out there in August to find a home for my work. Speaking of which, I have super finalized my website at ianvens.com. Hopefully it will land me some sort of adult person job I enjoy.

Oh, and two of my friends are featured on the blog Form Fifty Five today. You should check them out here and here. Working hard to get ISU back on the map in the design world.

have a nice day! Ill try to keep the blog a little more up to date than it has been in the past...sorry.


Ian

Saturday, April 4, 2009

not much sleeping





i dont really know for sure what to write about, school is ending in four weeks and that is a real strange thing seeing as how i remember the first week of college like it happened a month ago. and now its over and i have to get a job that doesnt suck. a peer of mine got a job already and when i heard that instead of being happy for them i felt relieved that it wasnt me. i think a regular design job may be a terrible thing. but i dont know i suppose.

my new website is up at www.ianvens.com.



I found this photo the other day that Mike Perry took. Its the only evidence that I was actually there over the summer. Priceless! Im sittng on the floor, Jim Stoten is in the chair and Katy Levy is in the far space. Swell.

Tomorrow I model clothes for judging day of the fashion show followed by a preparty at club element. Hopefully i dont collapse or explode. fingers crossed.

I had a mug with rabbits on it until an hour ago when Franklin the cat jumped on the cabinet and smashed it on the ground.

V

Sunday, March 8, 2009

how long has it been, really.



The semester came and now is halfway done. I feel like time is moving fast and excruciatingly slow right now. The days and minutes alternate which one is the tortoise and which is the hare. My african american literature class is by far my favorite and philosophy 201 is the most pathetically slow-moving class ive had in a very long time.

Im trying to figure out where to go after school and right now Minneapolis isnt sounding as good as it once did. Im thinking more and more about New York, I mean I have friends there and some contacts I suppose. The field I used to lie on at night during the summer is now a giant hole with a box building starting to poke out. Cranes, steel, and garbage, ugh.

V