Can you fall in love with eight hundred & eighty seven feet of armored steel. Nine 16" guns that can propel 2000lb+ projectiles over 20 miles. Drive through the ocean at 30+ knots. Has three, just as beautiful, sisters. I sure can. If any one ever makes a detailed plushy of the last American battleship, the U.S.S. Missouri, I'll buy it.
Since most humans love Peace ("Can't we all just get along"). And even the ones with hatred in their hearts love their Peace ("Your God is Insecure, Our God is Bogus Slogan™"). A tool like the "Mighty Mo" should not exist.
And though air power made this battleship obsolete before its keel was laid in January 1941 (read the fates of the Yamato and the Bismarck), the men and women of its crew used its war making capabilities to stop aggression for nearly fifty years. Thank you.
Here comes the launch; Bogus Slogan will make sure everyone has a good time.
Bogus Slogan Poster #14 - Inside View
Our Complicated World
Here is a lovely picture of a sunset over Goff Island, Laguna Beach, California. A man-made barrier prevents the ocean from surrounding this spit of land. In the Laguna Beach soap opera opening credits, a helicopter run over the island is used to show the beauty of the coastline. They got one thing right.
ZenithPointStudio placed this pic as a backdrop for a Bogus Slogan Concert Poster.
Vertex World Crime League
Vertex can be defined as "the highest point of something." In this case, the something is media promotions. All the mechanical things necessary to put on an event. Venue, play date, permits, stage crew... The Vertex World Crime League covers, clears & collects. In a world, where no one wants to be responsible, but will still attempt to skim or skirt; Vertex imposes it's corporate will. It's business records division is legendary. Go ahead, try them, we dare you, really. Dare.
Before a concert, VWCL doubles its onsite working staff, so that no problem goes unsolved. A staff attorney attends the performance. In all the years, Bogus Slogan has used the Vertex World Crime League, not one extra cent has been necessary. We love these peoples.
Bogus Slogan Poster #13 - Inside View
The "Jubilee" is one of the more rare of the Bogus Slogan posters. Raymond "Open Pockets" Barden promoted the concert with all the mis-mangagement capabilities you would expect from a pathological liar. The band, "A Truth Disguised," did not exist; "the Ragged Joy Boys" was a single musician named Blind Davey. "Problems with Duane" was an all girl semi-pro quintet that borrowed their instruments from Bogus Slogan.
As for the poster, ZenithPointStudio sent the separations to Barden's Kansas City "printer" - Wheelock Print & Pattern. When Terri, of the advance team went to pick them up, she found herself in a residential garage, 30 miles east. The printer did not "remember" the order. Three hours later, the templates were found, unopened, in a 55 gallon trash barrel at back of the property. Terri stopped crying.
With the payment lost in Barden's open pocket, Terri only had enough cash to afford the printing of 50 posters on a moldy cardboard rag, 7 still exist. The best condition is poor. The last public sale was in March 2005. Probable value: $215.
Pacific Trust Collection
As America began to fill in its physical spaces, an artist colony developed on the coastal edge of the Pacific Ocean. Later to be an incorporated city, Laguna Beach was home to a collection of artists who gained international fame depicting the California Region. Founded at the turn of the 20th Century, the Pacific Trust Collection of Laguna Beach originally was a small co-operative involved with local art promotion.
Starting in 1909, the PTC, organized the annual American Natural Objects Competition to expand the scope of artistic expression on the West Coast. The success of these events led the PTC to become a repository for artists, national and international. Works from all medias are procured and protected in the Pacific Trust Collection's museum quality archives. The PTC has continued as title sponsor, exclusively retaining ZenithPointStudio to create posters to publicize the ANOC.
Located in Laguna Beach's Capitol Building CityView Gallery, the American Natural Objects Competition is presented in the 8,000 sq. ft. A.R. Powell wing. The Pacific Trust Collection also maintains a permanent installation from their holdings in the CityView Gallery's main salon. Gallery hours are 10am - 4pm, Monday through Friday; 1pm - 5pm, Saturday; Gallery is closed Sundays. Admission is free, photography is not allowed.
Bogus Slogan Poster #12 - Inside View
Bogus Slogan's preferred method of travel is the railroad. In the early days, the band would rent a whole sleeper car from Amtrak, and like the Duke Ellington Orchestra, used the railcar as a central base in touring America & Canada. When abundant record sales and tour revenues arrived, the band assembled their own 7 car private train. All the band members lobbied for a steam engine, but the FRA said no.
The Jumping Puppets were on a BS playbill this one time only. Their lead singer, "Fledgling," planted his feet on either side of the microphone stand, began a slow circular sway of his hips, and warbled unintelligible lyrics, nonstop, for the next 35 minutes. His bandmates started and stopped their songs as best they could.
From the print run of 250 posters, 53 are known and registered. 75 "Southern Winter" posters burned in a delivery truck fire. The last public sale was in November 2005. Probable value: $325.
Bogus Slogan Poster #11 - Inside View
1967. San Francisco. The Filmore Auditorium. Bogus Slogan's setlist included "Good World Outside" for the first time. GWO, a 30 minute epic that left, anyone brave enough to dance, lying quietly on the floor. No encore was needed.
The poster uses the difficult to read HENDRIX font. "BrightHand" coloring (a ZenithPointStudio technique) brings a sheen to the lettering. Even in its original size, (27" x 40"), the viewer needed a minute or two to decipher the names of the bands. Bogus Slogan spent the summer of 1967 touring North America pursuing the hip ideal of "free love". Of course, they brought their own. Drummer Benjamin Owen met his first wife at the Denver, CO concert. The supporting bands were not signed to recording contracts. All were local SF bands, trying to make their music a success during the Summer of Love.
Of the original print run of 450 posters, only 83 are known to be in the hands of collectors. The last public sale was in July 2004. Probable value: $850.
Bogus Slogan Poster #11 - Inside View
Media, Marketing & Sales Growth; Politics, Spinning & Votes. Nothing new. Humankind has sought power, control & wealth from it's first steps. Bogus Slogan, the rock band, now that is new! Actually... the original members have been touring worldwide for over 40 years.
BogusSlogan.com is revisiting history, by pulling from the ZenithPointStudio archives, long treasured rock posters created to promote the band's concerts. Using cultural initiatives, these works of art were meant to get bodies through the door. Commercialism at its best. Each week another poster is uploaded. Come back to Physical Distractions for the inside view.
Music
At the end of 2004, long time friend from high school and fellow musician, Peter Day, gave me a homemade music CD. Combine that event with Apple's GarageBand loop based music software and I now had the inspiration and tools to create and record music without a traditional music studio. The first EP is Trial Balloon.
The second EP is Attractive Moments. Both are 30 minutes of adventure - rock & jazz & experiential instrumentals in nine individual songs. The musical results are complex sound collages that swing.
Abstracts
Abstracts - usually two feet by three feet - are color rhythms in a contained space.
Haven't Got a Worry (2004)
Black Pool, No Bottom (2004)
Such a Pill (2004)
Vibrant graphical images in motion.
Photos
You have to be lucky. Light will not remain. People & places & human emotion will move on. Your available time to take photos will end. Releasing the shutter too late. Not quite in focus. My photo choices are American railroads, vintage signs and abandoned structures. And the occasional landscape.
Expressions
The Expression series, at six feet by four feet, combines color with architectural shapes. Providing touchstones to return to after an uninhibited exploration of the body of the artwork.
Washes
Washes, are color based artworks, nine feet by six feet, that were designed with the back wall of my home's staircase in mind. I used David Nagel's brushes to generate a distinctive style for each piece. Washes combine a strong color palette with untypical brush strokes in an attempt to overwhelm the human perspective.
ZenithPointStudio
Zenith Point Studio Is the umbrella under which I put my artistic efforts. Its website showcases current projects, providing links to subsidiary websites. The enclosed image is from the series of Posters done for the Pacific Trust Collection of Laguna Beach, California.
Each year, since 1909, the PTC holds an artistic competition based on American natural objects. ZenithPointStudio is the exclusive creator of the annual poster used by the PTC to advertise these installations. I use the studio logo as a starting graphic for the original fine art piece from which the poster is based on.
This first foray into Photoshop allowed me to learn the tools of the software. The vast number of fonts that are available as freeware helped to make each poster unique. PS filters and blending techniques were extensively used.
Basics
In May 2003, Hacknthebox introduced me to PS. I met him through my friendship with Sherry Cooper in Laguna Beach. Hack is an original independent. An excellent artist and a better person than you or me. He is currently hanging out on the Columbia River in the Northwest.
Since grade school, I have been doing some type of art. In high school I took an elective class in drafting. Drafting by hand - no computers. I was slow, so I had to take the drawings home to finish the assignments on time. If you think normal school work is boring and a waste of time, imagine copying drawings of doorway construction details. I loved the work. Sorry, none of these drawings have survived.
After college, I did a series of pen and ink abstracts. Three rock music albums. A whole bunch of audio collages. Although, I was occupied with earning a living and family, I tried to keep involved with creating. My limitation has been a physical space big enough to set up a studio.
PS just needs a regular size desk. ZenithPointStudio is the view from that desk.
Acknowledgements
I want to thank the Photoshop community for creating fonts, brushes, patterns, styles, tutorials.... everything I could want to express myself in the digital world of art is somewhere on the internet thanks to the selfless efforts of thousand of other artists. In particular, I need to thank Hacknthebox for kicking open the door to PS and David Nagel from CreativeMac for providing his outstanding series of PS brushes.
Hopefully, their talent will show through the art that I have created.