Jordan Swartz- The Rad Times #3

I remember years ago watching Jiro Dreams of Sushi and being envious of someone having such a singular pursuit. Everyday you’re perfecting the one thing that you do, continuously working on your craft, inching ever closer to perfection.

Not for lack of trying, I have always been a jack of all trades. I’ve always done many things, across a variety of mediums, styles, subjects, etc. It can be difficult sometimes, even now, when people ask what I do. I’m an artist is what I usually say, which is the mixed media of answers (this drives me crazy, tell me what fucking media!)

Then other times I couldn’t be more stoked that I’ve lived so many lives already and done so many things. Last weekend I went to the New York Art Book Fair, a fair that I vended many times when I was co running a publisher. I ran into so many friends and acquaintances I haven’t seen in 8ish years. I got to catch up and hear about the lives and accomplishments of these people that I used to see on a regular basis. The best part is this isn’t the only time and place that this happens. If I’d stuck to whatever one thing I liked at 16, there’s so many people, places, and experiences I’d had never gotten to see.

Thanks for hanging!
Be good to each other.

I met Carla Rodriguez when we both did a semester studio program in New York. Her work has always come from a place of care and wonder that I deeply appreciated. Over the years I’ve watched her wet plate work progress and it’s been so rad to see her succeed. It’s a tedious process that takes a lot of patience and time and her work in recent years has been beautiful.

“Road trip work” as it is deemed has always been my foundation for photography, but as a straight white male that reads differently for a lot of people. Published annually from 1936-1966, The Negro Motorist Green Book or Green-Book as it is often known was a guide to services and places relatively friendly to African Americans in a time when segregation and discrimination were legal. Amani Willett’s “The Parallel Road” explores the Black experience of driving in America over the past century. Comprised of photos, archival images, and screenshots, the work challenges the ideals of the great American roadtrip.

Your thoughts on Fall Out Boy aside, this deep dive into the design of their first record, is one of the best examples I’ve found of the design process. A non direct ride through many iteration’s, experimentation, client feedback, and even changes to the work years after it’s done and living in the world.

I love movies and have always been interested in the myths and legends that surround the industry. Two articles below cover the topic; the first about, opulence, image, and the legend itself- The Chateau Marmont. The second article is about the current financial situation of the tv and film industry at large, and it’s current teetering on the brink, of what we don’t know.

The Celebrities Have Returned to Chateau Marmont

The Life and Death of Hollywood

Main title sequences are one of my favorite forms of media, an encapsulation or window into what’s to come, or often not, often it’s just setting a tone. While watching the new series Manhunt the title sequence gave me the same feeling as one of my favorite intros of all time, True Blood. In doing research I found they were done by the same studio, Digital Kitchen. They were a huge influence on me & the video work I did in college, it’s great to see them still making awesome work.