Chaz Maviyane-Davies

"Creating an alternate vision as my expression in a pervading regressive body politic has never been easy, but design is my weapon and therein lies the challenge I call 'Creative Defiance.'"

This week, i've chosen to focus on Chaz Maviyane-Davies. He does wonderful designs for social issues, mostly those of a global level. He also ties in nicely with the articles we read this week, specifically his poster titled, "Dissent is a Right". The piece is very direct without being in your face. If you were to view this poster without any context, you would not immediately think of Iran, but when informed, you can make the connection. For me, this kind of art is the most intriguing. It causes the viewer to think.

Another great poster of Chaz's focuses on UN Rights. It reads, "No one should be subjected to slavery or servitude". With this piece, it is not difficult to decide what t

he focus or subject is, but it is also very visually stimulating. He could have simply wrapped a pair of fists in chains, but manipulating the image to include chains

as hair is really cool.

It's not offense, or gruesome, but it is nothing to take lightly either. I'll admit, I am a sucker for happy mediums. I don't like offending people, but I don't want to create 'something pretty' either. This may be why I find Maviyane-Davies to be so intriguing.

I think my favorite works of his are the graphic commentaries. He seems to have discovered a right balance between visuals and text, something that I have always struggled with. How much do you say? Do you let the image/work speak for itself? Should you provide your audience with bumpers to prevent them from ending up in the gutter?

Chaz Mayiyane-Davies is a very versatile artist/designer. I only wish that more people would use their talents, whatever they may be, to do better. Not everyone can make a career out of changing the world, but you really have to respect those who do. The work they do, on the canvas and off, is incredible. For anyone who's interested, you can check out more of his work on his website.

We Automatically Control...

Upon googling graphic designers I came across a wonderful french illustrator, Stephane Massa-Bidal. He also goes by Hulk4598 and Rétrofuturs.

From what i've seen, Massa-BIdal uses his art to create commentary on social media. A lot of it, however, focuses primarily on social networking such as facebook, twitter, google, and so on. Some of the work is very aggressive, some a little more subtle, occasionally cute, and always eye catching.

I chose to look at one project, We Automatically Control, which contains 10 illustrations. This series revolves around Google and some of its byproducts. GBuzz, Gmail, GNews, GMap, GAnalytics, GAdwords, GTranslate, GEarth, GAdSense, and GChrome a

re all included. Each illustration appears to be a flag featuring a beige stained background, a colored stripe, an icon/image, and text. Each contains text beginning with the phrase, "We Automatically Control".

The designs lean more towards simplicity but they pack a punch. These illustrations compare Google to Communism. This is a bold statement, but not a difficult concept for anyone who has spent a decent amount of time exploring the internet. If you have access to the internet, you know what Google is and are probably a frequent user of it, or its extensions. I believe Massa-Bidal attempts to ask whether we've become too dependent on Google. Is it even a choice at this point? Or, as this designer is suggesting, does Google control what we see, hear, read, and possibly even think? Suggesting Google has taken over the world, or at least it's wide web, is not such a far-fetched idea.

I would encourage everyone to check out We Automatically Control, as well as his other work. It really is compelling.