50 and 50 at Ace Hotel New York

 

FIFTY AND FIFTY : THE STATE MOTTOS PROJECT @ ACE HOTEL NEW YORK GALLERY

OPENING: TUESDAY, DEC 18th, 7-10PM 

The show at Ace Hotel New York will be the first time all 50 prints have been seen together in physicality. Prints can be purchased at SOCIETY6.COM

Fifty and Fifty is a curated project by Dan Cassaro which attempts to construct a handsome new way of looking at our country. Fifty designers, one per state, will illustrate their state motto, creating something steeped in history but completely modern and unique: a kind of designer's atlas.

COLORADO / JUSTIN FULLER

Justin Fuller is a freelance designer from Boulder, Colorado, who goes under the alias Pencil + Paper. He also is a partner at the design studio, Good Apples.

INDIANA / JEREMY PAUL BEASLEY

Indiana's talented Jeremy Paul Beasley designs logos, letterforms, clothing and about anything else. He also the proprietor of the Lincoln Supply Co., a line of hand-dyed clothing, all designed by Jeremy himself.

RHODE ISLAND / THE MVA

The MVA is a creative studio specializing in design and art direction, image-making, and content development. The studio was co-founded by Rhode Island native, J. Namdev Hardisty and Kimberlee Whaley in 2003. Recent, the MVA completely their 3rd book on design, FUNCTION, RESTRAINT, & SUBVERSION IN TYPOGRAPHY, which is available for purchase now. 

Wyoming / Seth Neilson

WASA Industries is the design concern of Seth Neilson, a freelance art director-design-developer-illustrator-photographer. Primarily engaged with web-based interactive projects, he designs for both print and interactive mediums with aplomb. Seth lives, works, and plays near Jackson, Wyoming in Star Valley with his wife and four children.

NORTH DAKOTA / JEFF JOHNSON

Jeff Johnson is the founder and head of the excellent Spunk Design Machine, a creative boutique with offices in Minneapolis and New York City. Jeff also runs Design Smoke, an online show searching out innovators in the worlds of Design, Culture and Invention. As a proud North Dakotan, Jeff really did (or already knew) his homework on his state and had a lot to say. Make sure you check out the full size piece on Spunk's blog to see it all. 

CALIFORNIA / RICHARD PEREZ

Richard Perez/Skinny Ships is a designer/illustrator in California and one talented guy. You are probably already familiar with Richard's work but if not make sure to check out his Flickr (his portfolio site is in the process of getting a facelift). Mr Perez also started one of my favorite tumblrs, Meowoodle, where designers and illustrators send in drawings of their cats. I, of course, dutifully contributed. Make sure to check out the full size image of Richard's piece - my tiny web gallery is not doing it justice.

NEW HAMPSHIRE / JARROD BARRETTO

Jarrod Barretto is a designer and film maker from New Hampshire. Check out his portfolio here. 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA / OLIVER MUNDAY

No, it's not a state, but it's the capital of our Nation and I received more than a few petitions for it to be included in 50 and 50. Oliver Munday is a graphic designer, illustrator, and our special guest for District of Columbia. Along with his studio, he co-founded "Piece", a socially based design collaborative, with Bernard Canniffe and Mike Weikert. Make sure to check out another bit of excellent work Oliver did for Washington DC; 826 DC's "Museum of Unnatural History." 

ARIZONA / ERIK FINSRUD

Erik Finsrud is a designer and illustrator originally from Sedona, a small, majestic, hippy town in northern Arizona. Now working from Brooklyn, Erik runs the design collective Typcut, which features the creative experiments of budding artists. He's also a contributor to the digital art collective Depthcore, and does interactive design for Nike at R/GA.