Joshua Davis is a New York based artist, designer, and technologist. He produces both public and private work for companies, collectors, and institutions. Since 1995, Davis has been using technology and computers as a medium to create infinitely interesting projects, and he also utilized Chaos Theory () to establish a new, unique perspective on visual communication and creative expression which had been an otherwise unexplored area in graphic design.
Davis was strongly influenced by abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock, and incorporated Pollock's random technique of splattering paint and other items across large canvases into his coding. He was also influenced by his love of classic video games, such as Space Invaders.
In 1995 at the Pratt Institute David began to delve into HTML, working under Thomas Noller, and afterwards began to experiment with Macromedia Flash and ActionScript programming. Davis' work became influential in graphic and web design in the Y2K era.
In January 2001, Davis posted an autobiography in K10k.net which revealed subjects on his personal life in the NYC art/club scene in the early 90's, his drug addiction and how he overcame it to pursue his goal of being a full time artist. He aspired to be a writer and illustrator of children's books.
From 1998-2001, Davis worked with the web production company Kioken. When the company folded, he became an independent web designer and artist.
In 2002 Joshua Davis teamed up with developer Brandon Hall to form a media development studio, The Department of Notations Studios. It was disbanded in 2006, but despite this Davis and Hall cobtinue to collaborate on various projects.
In 2003, Adam Jones from Tool asked him to take over their website. He designed an intro page, but the site has since been changed.
As of 2007, Davis resides in NY with his wife and daughter. He is a professor at the NY School of Arts, runs his own design studio, and continues to lecture and lead design workshops.
Annabel's opinion of his work:
Davis' work is very recognisable, as you see examples of his particular style on almost everything such as clothing and on the cover of notebooks/diaries/etc. It's easy to tell that he puts a lot of thought and effort into his art by his use of colour and pattern to create beautiful detail. I like that his work ranges from abstract to very abstract, and it's easy to keep looking at his art because whilst there are a lot of patterns and bright colours it's not too much.
Style
Joshua Davis has a very distinct abstract vector based style using geometric shapes along with the more commonly seen vector swirls and swishes. Joshua's artwork has that strong vector look using blends of colours to achieve extra dimensions to his work.
His design work appears on home decorating items such as bed linen, cushions, dinnerware and personal items such as backpacks and notebooks.
- Joshua describes his work as being "dynamic abstraction".
- Joshua sometimes calls his work a "beautiful accident waiting to happen".
Michelle's opinion of his work
I personally don't mind some of his work, but I think that you would have to use it and view sparingly as it is very strong. On the other hand his work has obviously been emulated often so there is a flood of similar style art on offer around the world.
I enjoy the blends of colours and the combinations of colours that he uses. He really shows what you can do with colour when you don't restrict yourself to any rules.
Ansel Adams
Born on the 20th February 1902, in San Francisco and died 82 years later on 22nd April 1984 in Monterey, California. Adams first interest was in music and he was a pianist before he became a photographer and an environmentalist.
Adams came from a conservative family both socially and emotionally causing him to be naturally shy, he had problems fitting in school mostly caused by the events of the earthquake in 1906 which left him with a broken nose which was a distinct feature of his entire life.
He became interested in photography when he first visited Yosemite National Park in 1916. Music influenced Adams photography greatly as it taught him to have substance, discipline, and structure. He loved nature and spent a lot of time exploring his surroundings.
In 1928 he married Virginia Best in Yosemite and had two children, during this time he lived in Yosemite and took many pictures of Yosemite National Park. He was encouraged immensely to pursue photography by Paul Strand, Adams work were based on landscapes and Nature.
Adams invented a method called the zone, which helped him divide the light of a scene into different zones. By doing this it allowed him to separate black and white and blend grey to give him his desired effect on his pictures.
Ansel Adams is best known for his black and white photographs of the American west. He is also known for developing the zone system. The zone system was a way of determining the proper exposure and adjusting the contrast of a final print. It is a way concluding the development and control for black and white in a photograph using 9 different variations of shade varying from black to white. These are called zones.
Ansel had a different way of looking at the process of taking photographs. One of his mottos was “as far as photographs are concerned beauty comes first”. He also advocated the idea of visualisation, which is seeing a photo in the minds eye before taking the photo in achieving all together unity and aethetics. Ansel has also received many awards including a doctor of arts from Harvard and Yale. He has recently been inducted into the California Hall of Fame. Some of his photographs such as the Yosemite national park images are one of the most recognisable pictures in the world today.
Animal LogicAnimal Logic was established in 1991, it quickly earned a reputation as on the worlds leading design, visual effects and animation companies. Animal logic continues to produce award-winning work for a diverse, international clientele, with studios in Sydney Australia and an office in Los Angeles California.
Animal logic has worked successfully with leading advertising agencies and television commercial directors which enabled Animal logic to expand into feature film work including, Babe, The Matrix, 300 and culminating in the release of Australia’s first digital animated feature Happy Feet.
Animal logic has done a lot of ads, some you might recognise as the Optus ad, the target colours ad, Honda jazz ad, Mars bar ad, Pure blonde ads, Carlton draught and Toohey’s ads. Animal logic is famous for their digital animation; I guess it’s why they are as famous and popular as they are. If I were to choose a company to do digital animation or commercials I would defiantly recommend animal logic.
Not only does the company Animal Logic have a vast client base throughout the world they also have a long history of developing and supporting software products. They have created and built on software products such as Mayaman, Maxman, Softman, PRman. By developing these programs and software animal logic has made 3D programs and software available to not only big businesses but one-man businesses from home.
Animal Logic has worked on many high end visual effects for commercials and television programs. They have worked and designed projects for clients such as Cartoon Network and Spicks and Specks they have worked on the award winning film Happy Feet. In November 2009 Animal Logic ranked 447 in the Top500 super computer sites.
Animal Logic's online presence is wide and varied. Information found on Wikipedia is the same as what is provided on their own website. Contact information is provided on the Fox Studios Australia website; filmography is listed on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB); and they have accounts for people to follow on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Their own website is quite impressive. It is a Flash based site with stills from movies and commercials they have made looping on the background; is quite interactive (particularly in the section where you can 'meet' some of the people who work there) and has a lot of images, film clips and information about the movies, commercials, designs, jobs and products (software) they develop.
Their style, based on their portfolio, is impressive, varied, interesting and memorable. Their work is different and 'outside the box' which is why is it is memorable, although most people would never have heard of them.
Animal Logic has several studios in Sydney, Los Angeles and Santa Monica.
Their work targets several different audiences from children with films such as happy feet, babe and legend of the guardians to adults with films such as 300, 28 weeks later and world trade center. It is hard to develop a single opinion on them as if there is something you don't like made by them then there will most certainly be something else that you would like. This is a result of several unique advertisements and filming effects that adhere to everyone's likes and interests.
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