For his new album, musician Bruce Molsky commissioned me to create a portrait of him.

A discussion about the title “If It Ain’t Here When I Get Back” led to Bruce telling me a story about postcards…

Around 1980, before we were all hyper-connected by email and the internet, someone  in our group of friends started a postcard chain letter. We all sent cards requesting other cards containing certain items. I remember asking for Thelonius Monk, Carl Yastrzemski, 1953 Pontiacs (I used to have one) and damaged nuclear reactor rods (a popular item in the news at that time). In the mail, not on the internet. No instant gratification and immediate loss of digital interest. This thing went on for weeks and it was fun to go to the mailbox every day and see what would show up…

Based on that conversation I suggested that I attempt to make a portrait of Bruce out of actual postcards. I borrowed a collection of cards from a friend and laid out the face on the floor, which ended up at about 5 foot square. I then hand drew the additional lines to define some areas that were harder to represent with the postcards. I combined the elements digitally and suggested the typographic layout for the cover, which was then used by designer Robert Hakalski who designed the final package.

I’m honored that the art I created for the Occupy Wall Street movement was selected for the cover of the new book Occupying Political Science…

About the book: Occupying Political Science is a collection of critical essays by New York based scholars, researchers, and activists, which takes an unconventional look at the Occupy Wall Street movement through concepts found in the field of political science. Both normative and descriptive in its approach, Occupying Political Science seeks to understand not only the origins, logic, and prospects of the OWS movement, but also its effect on political institutions, activism, and the very way we analyze power. It does so by asking questions such as: How does OWS make us rethink the discipline of political science, and how might the political science discipline offer ways to understand and illuminate aspects of OWS? How does social location influence OWS, our efforts to understand it, and the social science that we do? Through addressing topics including social movements and non-violent resistance, surveillance and means of social control, electoral arrangements, new social media and technology, and global connections, the authors offer a unique approach that takes seriously the implications of their physical, social and disciplinary location, in New York, both in relation to Occupy Wall Street, and in their role as scholars in political science.

I created this cut paper illustration for the upcomingUS & China Typographic Poster Exchange 2013

It features a portion of a longer quote from author Walter Mosley’s What Next: A Memoir Toward World Peace, “Every day that we wake up is a good day. Every breath that we take is filled with hope for a better day. Every word that we speak is a chance to change what is bad into something good. We aren’t slaves, concentration camp victims, starving Koreans, or even inmates forced to live in an overcrowded prison. We are free women and men living in the richest and most powerful country in the history of the world. This nation is at least a potential democracy. We need to wake up from this walking nightmare and realize that the sun is shining.”

In March of 2013, 100 typographic posters by 50 American and 50 Chinese graphic designers will begin their tour of China. On June, 7th, 2013 this same collection will tour the United States. The mission of this exhibition is to expose two cultures to each another and hopefully come to some realizations about ourselves and our own use of language through the exposure to new approaches and ideas on typography. More about the show is HERE.

This piece is also available as an art print HERE.