HELLO?! Hello? hello… is there anybody out there?!
HELLO?! Hello? hello… is there anybody out there?!
A small, quiet moment installing the murals at The Arbory.
Allow me to reintroduce myself
My name is Hor (ah), H to the O-R-A
But you can just call me ‘Jesse’
My work focuses on creating vibrant and engaging visual experiences that evoke emotion and provoke connection. Through the use of bold colors and expressive forms, I strive to create pieces that are both aesthetically pleasing and conceptually engaging. By combining my fine art training with my experience as a designer, I am able to develop artwork that is not only visually striking, but also communicates a story. I am inspired by the world around me, drawing upon the beauty of nature, the energy of cities, the power of music, and the stories of everyday people. With each piece I create, I aim to challenge the viewer to think more deeply about our collective experience and to discover the beauty of everyday.
BKB Chicago: Mural Process
Brooklyn Boulders has something insanely unique going on. They are a hybrid rock climbing facility; part fitness center, part yoga studio, part co-working space, part event space and some seriously mind-blowing bouldering! They offer 'progressive climbing and fitness experiences while providing an unconventional platform to bring the arts, music, culture, and entrepreneurial communities together.' And they recently extend from — as you might guessed — Brooklyn to unveil the newly constructed BROOKLYN BOULDER CHICAGO.
With an emphasis on integrating art and culture into the physical interior of their space I was asked to create a large-scale, hand-drawn mural. See the full project.
Made By Few Conference & Designed By Few
Look at that dumb-face.
I know that design conferences are all the rage these days and that a plethora of designers jump at the chance to fawn over 'celebrity' speakers — even going so far as to pay $$$$ to attend — but honestly I have never really seen the point. If you want to get better at design, do design until you get better. The 'pay-to-network' structure like AIGA, STA and many other subscription based associations always rubbed me the wrong way. Somehow sitting in a room, checking watching someone talk about design and perusing your Facebook timeline doesn't seem like it's going to do too much for your design skills. So when my good buddy Gabe Couch and the fine folks at Few invited me to be to take part in the Made By Few — luckily not to speak but to judge Designed By Few — lets just say I had my reservations.
When I decided to head down to Little Rock I was mostly looking forward to catching up with my filipino brother Shane Ermitano (whom was also judging DxF), some southern fried food and, oh yeah, to see what the deal was with this conference shit.
Now, even with my slightly skeptical outlook heading into it, I am happy to report that my conference needle has moved more than a little. I must give a round of applause to the team at Few for more than exceeding my expectations. Every detail was accounted for, from important things like bringing in some top-notch speakers and putting together an entertaining itinerary to fun freebie giveaways and fantastic barbecue foods (extra brownie points from this guy!). I am happy to say that I had a blast, met some amazing people and may have actually even come back (dare I say it) inspired. IN-FUCKING-SPIRED!?!! I know, hard for me to believe too. ;)
I am not doing a full conference wrap-up — Few is going to have to fork over some greenbacks for that :) — but there are two people specifically that stood out to me. First being the third judge for the DxF competition, Jeremy Teff. This guy is flat out insane. I had a blast hanging out with him and after looking into his work there is no question he is one hell of a talent. He helped design the 2014 conference look and feel, loves hand-drawn lettering and will show you adorable videos of his kids hurting themselves. I am happy to call him a brother from a southern mother.
Lastly, but certainly not leastly (not a word), I'd like to shout-out Mr. Marc Hemeon. Hands down the best speaker of the conference. His charisma, confidence and playfulness on and off the stage was well worth the price of admission. He may have been the highest profile person there — having worked for Google/Youtube, been the design director for Oakley, had multiple companies 'acquired' and a slew of other ventures — but you would never have known. He is one of the most down to earth, goofy and intelligent people I have ever met. A combination you don't often find. His ability to share his stories while just being honest and open, showed me first hand what the entire design conference experience is all about: not networking but forming friendships.
*UPDATE* Here is another conference recap set to jammin' ass music.
The 3rd Annual Prime 8 Art League Event Recap
Shout-out to the random girl for the little 'vanna white' of my work, and to the dude next to her who couldn't care less. It is so interesting observing people view/interact with and respond to a piece of your artwork, when they don't know you're the artist. Such a pure form of feedback (for what its worth). It was also really fun seeing the mean muggin' gorilla commission, from the 2012 Prime 8 Art League, projected huuuge in all its detailed doodle glory!
A big, giant THANK YOU to one Mr. Andrew Vitale and all of the wonderful folks at Gorilla for the opportunity to be part of such a fun event. And thank you to everyone who bought prints, I got the warm and fuzzies being able to raise some duckets for such an amazing organization like Marwen.
Adobe Youth Voices Presentation
A few weeks ago I was invited to speak as part of the Adobe Youth Voice TechXPO. AYV's purpose is to ignite young people’s Creative Confidence – the ability to harness creative skills to solve problems – using advanced digital media tools and tested storytelling techniques. I was asked to give the students a look at what I do, how I got to where I am (where am I?) and a couple obstacles along the way. I covered a bit about me, showed some silly work from college and hopefully distilled the underlaying message of WORK HARD & HAVE FUN. Below are a few select slides from the preso.
But, I didn't want to bore the kids to death in the hour long session. So I decided to put actual pencils — yes, those funny yellow things things your grandpa is always looking for — in their hands and let them actually play a game. CHAINDRAW! The fine folks of ChainDraw were nice enough to donate supplies for the entire 50+ student group and the students had a blast with it.
A big, huge THANK YOU goes to Laura Vogel and her team at Adobe for the opportunity and to ChainDraw for supporting my talk. Looking forward to next time!
Apple Talk Time!
On Thursday, November 21st at 7pm, Abigail and I will be speaking at the Apple Store in Lincoln Park. Event description below, RSVP here, hope to see you there.
"The artsy folks behind Make and Co. are a team of creatives who specialize in design, illustration, and art direction. They’re also people who like to make things—messes and friendships included. Together they’ve learned that the tiniest thing can turn out to be a jackpot, and the seemingly biggest thing can be a total bust. Join us as they share the stories behind some of their favorite creative successes and unforgettable failures."
I didn't know there was a JHDC Fan Club?
So, I was randomly googling myself (don't lie you do it too) and looksy what I found. Some poor kid crudely tracing over my work, and doing a great job of passing it off as their own. Nice! Can you taste the sarcasm? Seriously though, I'm not even mad. I'm sort of impressed the way credit for copying my work is feverishly taken in the comments. Just too hilarious. Well, at least I know the JHDC Fan Club is in good hands!
“A quick lesson for the kids: INSPIRATION NOT IMITATION”
I've been there, we all have. When you're just starting to discover the world of design and getting so excited about all of these amazing artists & designers that are out there. And then you find the one. When a specific piece or persons' work, just grabs you. You can't seem to get it out of your head.
For me it was UPSO and Si Scott. I was obsessed with their work, I'm talking almost daily visits to their sites. I literally looked at every project, in details, everyday for a week straight. That is totally normal. Take a look at their work, you can probably see the influences in some of my work.
But, you're only halfway there. The next step is to get inspiration from their work. You need to look at their projects, their process and truly learn from what they do. Then take what you learned, and go out there and try to create your own work. Simply copying someone's work and passing it off as your own, will get you nowhere.
Holy Wow! Finally, An Update!
Ummm... better late than never, right? After about 4 years of hemming and hawing around, I finally carved out time to update this beast. Take a look around, there are some still some of the older work with a variety of new projects sprinkled in. Lots more to come, please stay posted. And feel free to let me know what you think. Haters welcome.
Also, a big thank you to Ms. Liz Gilmore for the pretty photo of my ugly mug!