The Send Help Project

2010-11-24T18:02:00.002-05:00

Show Photos are Up Finally

2009-04-14T20:52:00.002-04:00

Created with flickr slideshow.

Created with flickr slideshow.

Show Night: First Footage

2009-03-30T11:43:00.002-04:00

Thank you, everyone, for coming to the show. We are working on getting edited highlight footage of the show and afterparty up as well as pics. So check back & stay in touch. Look out for more from us in the future.

Send Help Project Recorded Stream

2009-03-28T19:47:00.004-04:00

Who's Who: angeL Gonzales

2009-03-28T14:00:00.000-04:00

Rounding up the Who's Who series before the big show tonight, here's AngeL gonzales...Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

State the facts: Name, Age, Hometown
AngeL gonzales, 35, Texas

What's your genre and where did you pick up your art?
Fine Arts - The School of Visual Arts, NYC

Tell us something about yourself...
A majority of my installations focus on the topic of immigration. I have been doing research in the southwest, mostly in Arizona, visiting communities and organizations that focus on the dangers of traveling through the desert in search of the "American Dream".

If you have to pick one of your best works, what would it be?
Three other works that stand out in my mind would be,

"no turning back" (2007),

"dancing rabbit" (2008),

"red wire" (2007).

If you could send help to anything, anyone, anytime, anywhere. what would it be?
During my visit to Arizona, I learned of an organization called "Samaritans." These are people who drive in the open desert and look for lost immigrants that are left behind by the "Coyotes" - which are supposed to be leading all immigrants into the United States. They usually travel in groups of about 30-60 people and only travel at night to avoid being seen by the Border Patrol. These groups are mixed with people of all ages and are not equipped to hike in the rough desert terrain. They are lead through the darkness by a long rope that they must hold on to in order to not get lost. The "Coyotes" move fast, so the elderly and the young almost always fall behind and are left to find there way in the night. I feel its my duty to "send help" to the people who fall behind by creating this installation. I hope to educate people of the tragedies happening everyday in our country.

Check out AngeL's works

Who's Who: Diane Wah

2009-03-28T12:39:00.007-04:00

installation artist and all around morally corrupt/incorruptable artist, Diane Wah is a force of her own. How can we not have a crush on her?

State the facts: Name, Age, Hometown
Diane Wah, 27,
Queens,NY
What's your genre and where did you pick up your art?
Photography, New School University B.A., Columbia University MFA

Tell us something about yourself...
Diane stumbled into visual art and is now an interdisciplinary maker of popular culture. Working in various mediums, fusing elements of photography, scuplture, printmaking and graphic design, she creates interesting, witty, political and always funny alterna-narratives.

If you have to pick one of your best works, what would it be?

"I Fall in Love Too Easily" by Barack Obama

"Je Gagner le droit pour chanter les blues" by Hillary Clinton

"I Fall in Love Too Easily" by Neruda Midnight Williams

If you could send help to anything, anyone, anytime, anywhere. what would it be?
Stop by tonight to find out what Diane says in a special secret project!

Follow Diane's vagina (yes, her vagina) on Twitter and her regular self here

We are speechless!

2009-03-25T21:33:00.003-04:00

So, I've been compulsively checking the stats on the blog lately because this project is our baby. And about 10 minutes ago I saw that we were getting referrals from NotCot. Now, this is a blog that we all look up to and definitely draw inspiration from. That is why we sent one of our bottle invites to them. But, honestly we were not expecting to get posted, we just wanted to show other cool people our work. Yet, we did get posted and we got a great write up. We are blown away and mostly speechless. I'm the one writing this because I was most coherent after seeing the post. I wish I could be more eloquent. But overall thanks for the love, NotCot and thanks to everyone else who has supported us as a group of young designers.

Show Info

2009-03-25T09:06:00.004-04:00

Who's Who: Freddy Lopez

2009-03-24T17:32:00.000-04:00

Freddy E. Lopez is a funny, funny guy. And that's pretty much it.

State the facts: Name, Age, Hometown
Freddy E. Lopez, 24, Santiago

What's your genre and where did you pick up your art?
Communication Design; Parsons School of Design

Tell us something about yourself...
I'm a lighthearted guy that strives to make his mark in the design/art world. In a nutshell, big city ambitions but ultimately an island boy at heart.

If you have to pick one of your best works, what would it be?
I can't say what my best works are because they don't exist yet. I like to believe my best is yet to come. Now, my favorite project so far would have to be my senior thesis project, the H&G novel.

If you could send help to anything, anyone, anytime, anywhere. what would it be?
I would like to send help to Al Gore circa 8 years ago. Maybe if he would've won we wouldn't be in the mess we're in right now.

Say hi to Freddy

Workshop Process Photos

2009-03-23T18:21:00.004-04:00

S.O.S

2009-03-22T18:18:00.008-04:00

A message in a bottle is perhaps one of the most desperate means of sending for help. It is also quite possibly one of the most eloquent. The sender has no means of choosing where the message will go nor how the recipient will respond. In a time when important information can be sent almost instantaneously through electronic means, it is easy to forget the impact of tactile communication. A few days ago we sent some of these babies out to sea, let us know if you've seen them around!

A little tune to add to your viewing experience.

Who's Who: Pablo Pineda

2009-03-22T16:54:00.002-04:00

For those currently watching us live on UStream right now (March 22nd on a bright beautiful Sunday in Brooklyn), welcome!

Less than a week to the big day and continuing on Who's Who for our participating artists, meet Pablo Pineda. He's been halfway around the world and back while photographing the journey for the past eleven years. The world in its entirety is what fuels his passion for life as he captures the places, faces and objects that are the collective visuals that give a personality to a country or city....

State the facts: Name, Age, Hometown
Pablo Pineda, 35, Mexico City

What's your genre and where did you pick up your art?
Graphics and Packaging, Art Center College of Design

Tell us something about yourself...
Happenstance has played a leading role in my life; it launched me out of my cradle and into our big world: Mexico-LA-Tokyo-NewYork. Happenstance has made me stumble into people who have changed my life and it will continue to point the way. My photography is purely a record of Her having her way with me.

If you have to pick one of your best works, what would it be?
I stumbled into the writings of Krishnamurti one day by opening a random book at the public library. This helped congeal many loose philosophies in my mind. What came out was a sketch for a poster i did while in school. The poster never lived up to the sketch though.

If you could send help to anything, anyone, anytime, anywhere. what would it be?
I would like to sprinkle magic dust to eradicate one thing from the world: Corruption. Without corruption the world would have a chance for all the good the people are already doing to have some effect.

See more of Pablo's works and photos

Workshop Stream

2009-03-21T18:36:00.002-04:00

Stream videos at Ustream

Who's Who: Juan Carlos Pagan

2009-03-16T12:00:00.006-04:00

Juan Carlos Pagan is a Designer, Typographer, Painter and other half of the duo behind the Send Help project. A designer at G2 Branding and Design by day, his curiousity for the written word and it's structural manifestations keeps him up at night...

State the facts: Name, Age, Hometown
Juan Carlos Pagan, 26, Poughkeepsie, NY

What's your genre and where did you pick up your art?
Communications Design, Parsons School of Design

Tell us something about yourself...
I'm gonna quote Gaius Benbow and say that the only applicable description of me is "creative".

If you have to pick one of your best works, what would it be?
Well I really had a great time working on my first typeface Malleable Grotesque. I also really love the Naked type posters, every project should be that fun and effortless. I would also have to say the Jena Six poster I created for Diane Wah's Thesis still moves me.

If you could send help to anything, anyone, anytime, anywhere. what would it be?
I would like to send help to young creative people, they need more outlets to express, collaborate, and create.

See more of Carlos's works

Who's Who: Cindy Rodriguez

2009-03-15T20:06:00.010-04:00

Cindy Rodriguez is one half of the dynamic duo behind the Send Help project. (To read the back story click here.) She proves to be just as much a force of nature on her own as co-founder of Hudson Valley Tours and helping out the Exhibition Management Department at the Guggenheim Museum.

State the facts: Name, Age, Hometown
Cindy Rodriguez, Age 24, Yonkers, NY (Y.O.)

What's your genre and where did you pick up your art?
I graduated with a BFA in Communication Design from Parsons School of Design in 2006.

So how did you end up on this project?
We crossed paths with Carolina and Frej, while catching up after some time had passed, and we realized we all really wanted to be around each other, and work on some projects together. They had this beautiful space they were working to define, and we had all these ideas about what we wanted to do creatively together. Out came this idea for a show, a solution where everything kind of converged at a point: collaboration, good friends, ideas exhanged, and great work - all for the sake of satisfying this urge to create something together. That's how I ended up here.

If you have to pick 3 of their best works, what would they be?
"Zombie Dolls" - packaging; "Apollo 11" - book design; and "Home" - 1 of 5 posters in a series. I feel these 3 works best represent what I've been most passionate about, and are a solid foundation for the kind of work I'd like to create. Each holds meaning for me in a different stage of my learning experience as a designer as well.

If you could send help to anything, anyone, anytime, anywhere. what would it be?
I think communication needs help. More specifically how we communicate and connect with one another. It's not that we need help communicating - there are endless ways to communicate with one another these days - I just think we need help connecting with one another. We live in a time where people resort to text messaging, and emailing before picking up the phone to call one another or making efforts to see each other. I don't claim innocence, I know I do it too. Part of me just wishes there was a way to shut off phones and the internet for one week to see (as a social experiment) how communication would play out between us. I think we would be pleasantly surprised to see how much better off we are without them, and how many more real connections we'd make.

Can you give us a sneak peek at your creative process?

Visit Cindy's portfolio

Epiphany

2009-03-11T23:51:00.004-04:00

So I've pretty much been running with the same concept for my contribution to this show since we came up with the idea. But, tonite thanks to a friend with a brilliant notion and an amazing new venture, I've modified my concept. I don't want to give away too much since her venture is in it's fledgling stages but I just couldn't ignore it and I can't think of a better fit for me and Send Help. So with my renewed enthusiasm and inspiration I leave you now so I can get started.

Who's Who: Niina Cochran

2009-03-10T18:26:00.009-04:00

Meet Niina Cochran and yes that's not a typo. As she puts it "my mom is from Finland and that is how they spell Niina, it is pronounced the same as Nina, it is just a cooler spelling. Of course there is the habit of saying my name like this: Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiina...."

State the facts: Name, Age, Hometown
Niina Cochran, 24, Kinnelon, NJ

What's your genre and where did you pick up your art?
Parsons School of Design; Majored in Illustration but mostly paint now

Describe yourself in a line
I have always and will always be creating. I am lucky enough to be in and know about this show because I am friends with one of the curators!

If you have to pick 3 of your best works, what would they be?
I like these pieces (see images) because I tried something new and experimented and I think it actually worked out.

If you could send help to anything, anyone, anytime, anywhere. what would it be?
This is too difficult for me to answer. Too much pressure! ha.

Check out more of Niina's works

Who's Who: Gaius Benbow

2009-03-05T01:07:00.006-05:00

With 3 weeks to before the show, we're kickstarting the countdown with a series of "Who's who" of our contributing artists and behind-the-scenes look as they gear up for the big day. First on our list is Gaius Benbow....

State the facts: Name, Age, Hometown
Gaius Benbow, 27, Tarboro NC

What's your genre and where did you pick up your art?
Communication Design; Pitt Community College - CDT, Parsons School of Design

Describe yourself in a line
"The only label that has ever stuck, or that I was willing to accept & wear proudly is 'creative'."I grew up in a "small town" and soon realized that small towns aren't big enough for me.

If you have to pick 3 of their best works, what would they be?
as of now my fave project still has to be my slavery "game". I am also partial to the MindTrap Identity system and hopefully whatever i put in the Send help show.

If you could send help to anything, anyone, anytime, anywhere. what would it be?
If i could send help to anything, it would have to be the public school system in this country. It's not just under funded, it's under-thought, under-noticed and under-respected. If we just focused on giving the young minds in this country a real education and a fighting chance to compete on a global scale, I have complete confidence in their ability to come up with solutions to most of the other issues/areas to which we should be "sending help".

Check out more of Gaius' works
Hit him up on Twitter

CREATIVELAB

2009-01-29T00:59:00.009-05:00

Hey everyone!
We've made some significant progress with our prep for the show. We now have for your viewing pleasure a complete floor plan to get an idea of the space we have available to showcase your work, along with photos of the space, courtesy of Frej and Carolina.

So if you have an idea of what your peice will be like / how much space you'll need, you can use this for reference.

Workshop

2009-01-25T21:36:00.003-05:00

We are happy to announce a CREATIVELAB Workshop for artists developing work for this project. The weekend before the show date, CREATIVELAB will host an open work session where we can all come together before we showcase. Details to come!

Promo Postcard

2009-01-22T23:22:00.016-05:00

Show Date

2009-01-05T13:58:00.000-05:00

The Send Help Project will open for 1 night only!
The official opening date is Saturday, March 28th, 2009.

Exhibition Space

2009-01-05T13:54:00.004-05:00

Thanks to our friends Carolina Garcia and Frej Hedenberg of CREATIVELAB for generously lending us their beautiful studio space and hosting the Send Help Project.

CREATIVELAB is located at:
68 Jay Street Suite 422
Brooklyn, New York 11201

[www.creativelabny.com]

Artists

2009-01-05T13:27:00.007-05:00

The following is a list of artists that will be contributing to the Send Help Project:

Gaius Benbow
Leslie Cain
Niina Cochran
Carolina Garcia
Angel Gonzales
Frej Hedenberg
Freddy Lopez
Deirdre Merrigan
Rory Mulligan
Juan Carlos Pagan
Pablo Pineda
Andres Rivera
Cindy Rodriguez
Diane Wah
Jay Woo

The Idea

2008-11-15T15:38:00.001-05:00

The words SEND HELP jumped out at us from the back of a road map on our way to Montreal. It's simplicity and immediacy stirred our thoughts and sparked our curiosities about the meanings behind the words, and the various images that are conjured up depending on the interpretation.

The Send Help Project is an art show that invites several artists to interpret the phrase "SEND HELP" in any way they choose, through any medium they choose.