Another article from the original and straight-shootin’ Art Chantry.Graphic designer par-excellence. The introduction is an abstract from an interview with Lonnie Staccato:
Lonnie Staccato: Do design students nowadays know how to work without computers as you have done?
Art Chantry: Absolutely not. N-O-T. This modern technology and graphic design is only a few years old but still I’m always meeting designers who are shocked and confused by the idea of doing graphic design without a computer.
L: In which ways, stylistically, does it restrict them as artists?
A: Well, it’s a tool. If you have a solid gold hammer you can pound nails, but it’s still just pounding nails. It’s the idea that counts. If you’re doing design, you can succeed with a stick in the dirt, just as easily as with a computer.
L: During your lean, alcoholic years when you were doing punk rock posters for peanuts, did you ever think you’d make a living doing this?
A: No, and I still don’t. I mean, I’m not capable of flipping burgers.
L: You’ve turned down offers from Coca-Cola, IBM…
A: Not IBM, but Microsoft several times and Nike…
L: Are you a principled independent thinker or are you a fool?
A: No, I just don’t like getting screwed. The one thing I’ve learned about the corporate world is they don’t get rich by giving money away. Once you get through this enormous butt-fuck process you end up earning the same as you would from a small outfit that won’t fuck you.Read More: http://www.estrus.com/interviews/hothead.html
ART CHANTRY. Art can be reached at art@chantry.com
Art Chantry:…This one even struck ME speechless. I showed this to a couple of friends, and the responded with a moment of stunned silence and then either nervously laughed or expressed shock. I mean, I love adult humor chotchkies and ‘dirty’ gag items as much as the next guy. maybe even more (because i’m a trash culture fan). but, this one? I… dunno. it’s shocking even today. pretty weird, maybe not even funny. Just crude and tasteless. eh?
http://www.artchantry.com/
This came from an old magazine I found in the goodwill store.I love picking up these magazines that were as common as mud in most lower class American homes from about twenty or more years back. They are always full of surprises. It’s so interesting to look at them and realize how different people were even such a short time ago. We really don’t think like we thought even half my lifetime ago. It makes you realize how much and how quickly we change.
This is from the December, 1974 issue of “True Story” magazine. the title tends to shove it into that ‘men’s stag action’ sort category when I say it out loud. but, in fact, it’s a ‘women’s’ magazine – and a rather conservative one at that. The cover image is simply the face of a pretty girl – all made up with Maybelline’s latest products (which is well noted.) the zinger headlines on the cover are things like “glamorous holiday clothes for under $35″ and “11th hour miracle: the Christmas I’ll never forget.” however, there are also some headlines like: “to keep the man i loved – i became a nude model!” and “I was a prisoner of devil worshippers!”
So, the demographics for this magazine, though seemingly confused – are actually crudely aiming for the middle of the 18-35 single women crowd (with a few young wives tossed in for easy pickings). This was not some sleazy tabloid pulp item, but a serious magazine trying to be a real business and reach as broad a readership and thus claim the bigger advertising dollars as possible.In other words, this magazine was no cheezy slouchy quick buck item. This is the result of careful consideration and strategic marketing.
The ads are full of major league make-up, perfume, toiletries, cigarettes, perfume and fashion. but, in the back, it’s also chock full of those crummy sleazeball ads you might see in a “men’s magazine” with the same name – personal ‘massage’ units, ‘bigger beautiful bustline”, swap photos, instant facelift, secrets of sex. It’s the only magazine I’ve ever seen that has catalog advertisements for both Spiegels’ AND Frederick’s of Hollywood.
This ad is (of course) from the back pages section. Is that a vagina joke? Or is it some sort of ‘grab the penis by accident’ joke? or maybe ‘ice-princess’?Is this aimed at men or women? It’s seems to be an adult ‘host’ gag for the “little lady of the house” – to be purchased by some sportin’ gal with a bawdy sense of humor (a sort of feminism gone sour?), or perhaps by a husband with a perverted abusive sense of humor (ala ‘madmen’). dunno, really. But, it’s pretty awful. This is the humor of the baby boom generation when it tried to become “grown-ups” like their p
ts.meet the new boss, same and the old boss. www.artchantry.com
Art Chantry. 1993. "Art Chantry designed this AIDS awareness poster as a pro bono project, which was commissioned by the Washington State Department of Health and Social Services, U.S. Aimed at gay men, the poster employs what Chantry describes as "satirical and pompous authoritative information to create an otherwise false sense of community." Chantry's design work has become synonymous with the use of vernacular pictorial references that are drawn from technical and instruction manuals and cheap illustrations from the 1950s and 1960s. The poster depicts the image of a policeman from a public information poster and reworks the message into a humorous instruction on the use of condoms to prevent the spread of sexual disease."...Read More: http://observatory.designobserver.com/slideshow.html?view=1328&entry=15768&slide=24
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