Influence

PUNK:
Punk rock has been an influence on me since I was about 8 years old. My uncle was handing me records by The Velvet Underground, Elvis Costello, The Stooges & Sex Pistols. My mother was either playing Rolling Stones tapes or listening to 50s rock n roll on the radio. Nirvana was really big in the early 90s and I got to see them live, front row in November of 1993. As I grew up, I listened to every single album I could get my hands on that had anything to do with punk; Dead Boys, Misfits, Ramones, The Damned. The loud, messy, DIY sound, style & aesthetic of punk has influenced my own music and design tremendously.

SUPREMATISM:
Suprematist design, heavily focused on geometric shapes, Russian Constructivism, with it's techniques of photomontage, The Bauhaus schools and also De Stijl, the Dutch art movement from 1917, have all been major influences on my work. I love to mix grainy photos with loud colors and antique fonts, delivering a simple, almost hypnotic message. I enjoy "Art for art's sake" on occasion but art definitely has it's place & function in society. The way it was used for propaganda has always fascinated me. The same techniques have been used for decades by major corporations in one way or another. A good design can either be used to serve society or be a total escape from it. Being of German/Russian descent, many of my designs take inspiration from past revolutionary artists such as Walter Heck, Kazimir Malevich, Sergei Senkin & Herbert Bayer among others.

1980s ADVERTISING:
I love looking through old magazine ads or watching old commercials from the 80s. There was something comforting and magical about how they marketed products back then. I grew up during that time period and I love the 80s aesthetic to death. Everything felt fresh, new & futuristic. Slogans from ATARI like: "E.T. needs your help!", "Don't watch TV tonight, play it!" or "Zero hour approaching, Skilled rebel pilot needed to battle Death Star." They had kids blasting off into space in their minds, expecting flying cars in the near future and every young boy trying to learn how to play guitar & skateboard. What a great decade to live in! Today's advertising lacks that excitement. As a designer, I feel It's my job to bring it back.