View from the Zoo

I put togther my birthday tea party invitation (it says «come and celebrate my
5(0) years with me») with animals that I had drawn recently. Except these guys thought they were posing for a five year old’s celebration - until my main monkey came in with the zeros that were missing. The design challenge : to find a look that was adult and masculine using funny animals. The party theme was inspired my my preschool mad hatter tea parties I had with my friends, complete with little dishes and tiny tea cups. However today, instead of water and crackers, there will be real cucumber sandwiches and homemade scones topped with whipped cream and jam. Yummy!

I found Jeremy through his t-shirt website amorphia-apparel.com and his surreal animal designs thoroughly intrigued me. So I wrote him a few questions to satsify my curiosity and here the results, true to his form. Thanks, Jeremy!

Other Jeremy websites: wearscience.com and controversy.wearscience.com (T-shirts); jeremykalgreen.com (personal website); newstereotypes.blogspot.com (New Stereotypes to Teach your Kids, a satirical blog).

Q : Who is Jeremy?
A : I’m a professional slacker, former OSU photo student and general ne’er do well living and working out of beautiful Columbus, Ohio.

Q : What were you thinking about when you came up with the Angler and the Morningator designs?
A : I honestly have no idea what inspires me, and my designs often tend to be non-sequiturs. One day I was just pooping around at this or that when I heard a little singsong voice in my head chirping «mornin’ gator!», and the image of a grumpy alligator getting ready for a long day of gatoring with a cup of joe and his morning paper just popped into my head. Luckily, since I am my own boss and my overhead is virtually zero, I can just throw new ideas out there without trying to justify or rationalize them. And that was just one of those totally random ideas that apparently seems to connect with people.
    This last Valentine’s day I just wanted to offer a few different shirts with different tones, so I made a design I thought was cute but weird (octolove) one design that was a little more cryptic (gearheart) and one that was a bit more cynical (which was where the Angler design originated). Continue reading »

Noah’s Ark, a permanent exhibition at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles that opened last year features a huge wooden ark designed by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects filled with 186 species of animals made from repurposed objects.  Part of the fun of the exhibit is identifying what objects were used to construct the animal. Most of the animals were designed by Alan Maskin, the leader of the design team who is a former children’s educator himself. 30 pairs of animals are puppets that were created by Christopher Green of Red Hook, Brooklyn. The New York Times published this wonderful article about the making of the animals and the conception of the ark. Watch the slide show and video if you can’t visit the real thing! Photos : Skirball Cultural Center.