Archive for April, 2011
April 26, 2011
3 Comments
Mike Natalizio, CEO of HNI Insurance sent me this photo. A framed cartoon I did a year or two ago for his company. Thanks, Mike!
He’s got a few of these gapingvoid cartoons in his office. “Social Objects” designed to start conversations when people come to visit etc etc.
This is what I meant when Paul Barron asked me, what’s next for gapingvoid, in that terrific video interview he did earlier this year [Towards the end, about 19’15″ into it].
Art, not as pretty decoration, nor as an existential howl from Tortured Artist Genius Dude, nor the smart-ass, sychophantic, postmodern shit from New York and London.
But Art to articulate real meaning. Art that helps move businesses forward. And hopefully helps move REAL people forward along with it. Right here. Right now.
Not advertising. Not telling people to buy.
That’s what the Cube Grenade idea is all about. Creating work that articulates the stuff that ACTUALLY MATTERS to people. Work that articulates Purpose-Idea. Right here. Right now.
But hey, most people reading this are also trying to do the exact same thing with their stuff, so at least I’m good company. Heh.
April 23, 2011
3 Comments
We had a lovely time at our second gapingvoid salon the other day. Thanks to Everybody for coming.
Thanks to the Internet, you can quite easily talk to thousands of people a day.
But as anyone who has spent far too much time on the Internet will know, there’s no substitution for face-to-face.
So I sent word out on the newsletter, Hey, there’s a party at gapingvoid Central on Friday. Downtown Miami, near the Miami Heat Arena. Why don’t y’all come along?
And so people came along. Some I knew well, some I hadn’t met before. We had wine, we had food, it was good times all round.
And people just talked and hung out. I gave a little two-minute speech (the photo is people watching me give it), but mostly is was just abut people meeting up.
Like-minded people.
All looking for the same things as me. Ideas. Purpose. Conversation. That kinda thing.
Thanks to blogging, I know a lot of people. A TON. So why not get them to meet each other? Why not hang out all together?
And so that is what we did. Exactly.
We’ll be having another one soon. I hope y’all can make it this time…
April 21, 2011
11 Comments
Rob Taylor over at Rackspace sent me the picture above.
His nine-year old son wearing that Rackspace t-shirt I did for SXSW 2011.
“Life is short. Make it amazing”.
The kid just liked it, Rackspace or no Rackspace.
“I want life to be amazing,” he told his father.
Yes, even nine-year-old kids want their life to be amazing. Of course they do. Why wouldn’t they?
This is much bigger than Rackspace. This is much bigger than the Internet or web hosting or cloud computing or whatever it is that Rackspace does.
And it’s ESPECIALLY much bigger than gapingvoid or cartooning.
I may not be the most talented or famous or disruptive artist since Picasso. That’s fine; you’re not either.
But I’ve always believed, even before I started doing my work seriously, that art– that cartooning– can change lives for the better. Either individually or at a corporate level. Right here. Right now.
And you don’t have to be as big as Peanuts or The Simpsons or Dilbert in order to do so. Especially now that we have the Internet.
And what’s true for cartoonists is also true for your job.
You don’t have to be a rock star or a billionaire. We can all change the world, one small meaningful intervention at time.
Which is what the t-shirt was. A small meaningful intervention. No more, no less.
The power is within us. Now all we have to do is teach ourselves how to believe it.
April 18, 2011
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April 16, 2011
10 Comments
April 15, 2011
3 Comments
[Drawing from 1993. 9 x 6 inches. Click on image to see enlarged etc.]
I really don’t like the word “creative”. It’s kinda wooly. Kinda meaningless. Kinda grating.
That being said, “creative” is also kinda the reason we’re here.
We are born creative beings. We are born to create.
And knowing this, we can either act on it, or spend the rest of our lives sitting on our butt.
That is our choice. And that is our burden.
Make of this what you will.
1 Comment
That was probably the best line in Evil Plans:
“Treat it like an adventure. An adventure worth sharing.”
Whether we’re talking about a business plan, a career, or something far more important, something that actually matters… that’s what we’re here for, no?
The adventure.
To live it. And to be able to share it with others.
If you can’t do that, you’r not really alive. Not really.
Hell, you’re not even really marketing.…
“Treat it like an adventure. An adventure worth sharing.”
That’s what having an Evil Plan is really all about. That’s what gapingvoid is really all about.
And even I forget that sometimes…
April 13, 2011
3 Comments
1 Comment
“Come and join Hugh & the gang for our gapingvoid salon in Miami on Friday April 15th Email us at director@gapingvoidgallery.com for an invitation (space is limited!)”
Yep, we’re having another Salon on Friday evening. Downtown Miami at the gapingvoid world headquarters, Friday at 7.30. Hope to see you there!
2 Comments
Hélène from Paris sent me this picture: A hand-knitted chair covering she did for her husband, Richard’s birthday. Based on my “Goldfish” cartoon. Awesome! Thanks, Hélène!.
April 6, 2011
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April 5, 2011
1 Comment
[Download the printable version here etc.]
Another Rackspace-sponsored cartoon…
I like this cartoon. It’s something that Scoble would would say.
Scoble works for Rackspace, too. Do the math.
[Commission your own cartoon here…]
1 Comment
[Download the printable version here…]
Hola. Yes, another Rackspace-sponsored cartoon…
Like I said on Twitter earlier today, yes, you can work for a large company and not be a #slavebot. But you have to decide, before somebody decides for you.
Rackspace doesn’t want #slavebots working for them. Hell, Rackspace doesn’t even want #slavebots working for their customers, ideally.
#Slavebots are bad. Don’t be one. Best avoid them like the plague, both at work and at play. Exactly.
[Commission your own cartoon here…]
2 Comments
[Download the printable version here…]
Another Rackspace-sponsored cartoon, this time for 37signals, the amazing software company.
The idea comes from a core value taken right off the latter’s homepage. They use a lot of blue and green in their graphic design, so I went with something blue-greeny.
The little “Love from Rackspace” symbol is right there in the bottom left-hand corner. A little secret hallmark, as it were…
Love it. Rock on.
[Commission your own cartoon etc…]
3 Comments
[Download the printable version here etc.]
There ya go. On behalf of my client, Rackspace, a free “Cube Grenade” for y’all to download and print out and hang on your wall etc.
A Social Object. Exactly.
It’s not rocket science. It’s common sense. Less theory, more action. Less talk, more doing. That’s what it means to have a startup. Part of the Rackspace “We Love Startups” riff. Exactly.
[More Rackspace cartoons here…]
April 4, 2011
2 Comments
[One of my more successful “Social Objects” of late: The SXSW t-shirt I did for my client, Rackspace. We printed 3,200 of them, and they all went REALLY quickly. The just FLEW off the table. It was stunning to watch…]
I’ve been talking about Social Objects for a while now. And using cartoons to create social objects i.e. “Cube Grenades” is the main way I make a living.
Whatever your social media strategy is, it needs the object. It needs that thing that people socialize around.
Because people socialize around objects– a product, an idea, a movement, a person– people don’t socialize in a vacuum.
Creating cartoons is my way of creating social objects, but of course, there are other ways.
gapingvoid is basically a little Social Object factory.…
April 3, 2011
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Jeff Sandquist, Robert Scoble’s old boss at Microsoft’s Channel Nine, commissioned me to design this business card for him.
He wanted a design that worked for both techies and non-techies alike. Something that made him appear both good at his job, but still a human being etc.
Fun! Thanks, Jeff!
[Commission your own Cube Grenade here…]
April 2, 2011
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April 1, 2011
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![[Download the printable version here…]](http://gapingvoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/slavebot-1104-1600.gif){kind=link}
![[Download the printable version here…]](http://gapingvoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/37signals-1104-1600.gif){kind=link}
![[Download the printable version here etc.]](http://gapingvoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/theory-1104-5501.gif){kind=link}