May 2013

Happy birthday Mr. Kelly

Ellsworth Kelly, the renowned artist and brilliant explorer of color, shape and line turns 90 today. Thank you Mr. Kelly for giving us years of inspirational, innovative and provocative art. We also love that to mark the occassion, the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation has awarded $300,000 to help continue its efforts to build permanent endowments of the Arts and Humanities Funds for six public school districts in upstate New York. A beautiful gesture and best wishes for a very happy birthday…

currently on view
Ellsworth Kelly, Singular Forms 1966 – 2009
Mnuchin Gallery
45 E 78th Street

Ellsworth Kelly At Ninety
Matthew Marks Gallery
522 W 22nd Street
523 W 24th Street
502 W 22nd Street

Ellsworth Kelly: Chatham Series
The Museum of Modern Art
11 W 53rd Street

Personal success defined… American Express releases its LifeTwist study looking at what makes a successful American. Most Americans today define their own success based on being healthy (85%), having a job they love (75%), having time to pursue passions (69%), continuing to learn and do new things (65%), and being able to make a difference in people’s lives (62%). All of these factors scored much higher as contributors to success than simply having a lot of money (33%). Good example of larger companies like Amex that engage both consumers and professionals on social media, sharing expertise, insights and research with their target market(s). Always a positive to become a thought leader or an ambassador for a particular business segment, improve your brand standing and hopefully, increase propensity to do business with you. Package it well while you’re at it…

Bicycles for the Citi… New York rolls out its bike sharing program, Citi Bike. The controversial bike network launches today for roughly 15,000 annual members who will have one week of exclusive access before daily and weekly memberships start on June 2. The programs caps off Mayor Bloomberg’s extensive investment in cycling, for which the city has added more than 350 miles of bike lanes in recent years. Citibank will be the primary sponsor of the “citibike” bike share program, with a $41 million, 5-year contract. Mastercard will also kick in $6.5 million, and will operate the payment system for the bikes. The volume of (mostly positive) press has been staggering, and the 500+ stations will all be branded Citi colors and logo. Citibank will not only benefit from the massive visibility of the system as 500 bikes zip around the city every day, they will also associate their brand and their message with 60,500 professionals, students and visitors each year who engage over and over again with the system, the website and the conversations on social media. Publicis Kaplan Thaler, Citi’s primary advertising agency provided design and advertising services for the effort. All clean, tidy and very Citi…

Identity evolution… As part of its most recent update, Instagram has rolled out its new logo. The redesign obviously was more of a modification or evolution vs. complete rethinking. It preserves everything instagrammers have grown to love about the photo-sharing app while at the same time streamlining its overall look for a cleaner and more refined appearance. A customized, simpler script replaces the older more whimsical Billabong typeface. The capitalized “I” now looks more like an “I” and less like a “J” and the “s” now fits better with the logotype as a whole. Overall, it is much more fluid and easier on the eyes. Compared to the older version, the new one comes across as less frilly but more elegant. The retro quality was understandably retained to evoke the craftsmanship or artistic ideals of the brand (as well as those beloved or despised filters). The new logo was designed by Mackey Saturday. Happy instagramming to one and all…

Thoughts and prayers are with the people of Oklahoma (photo Sanjay Gupta, CNN)

Speaking of Tumblr… Ogilvy takes does a quickie on what makes the Tumblr. 93,000,000 blogs and counting. Oh my…

The poetry of James Maitland Stewart… This is one for the record books. Light-hearted crescendoing into something much more (especially coming from the dignified Mr. Stewart. Hard to imagine anything that approaches this on late night television today. Dog lovers beware…

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

Monday mornings… Yves Klein – The Void (Empty Room), 1961

(Mario’s) peas for everyone. tgif…

Month: May 2013

Happy birthday Mr. Kelly

Let’s go rent a bike