Mike Ming: Trendy Illustration Meets Commercial Industrial Design
By Megalongcat • Sep 2nd, 2008 • Category: Drawings, Illustration, Industrial Design, Painting, Print design, Product Design, Recent Posts, Street Art, Traditional ArtThe mainstream and the underground have been merging at an exponential rate in the past two years, and to put things into perspective lets take eclectic, trendy hip hop singers Santogold, and M.I.A. Both are known for their unique beats, melodies, and vocals which sets them apart from mainstream hip-hop. But just how underground are M.I.A. and Santogold? Not too long ago Santogold’s music appeared in a beer commercial, and then M.I.A. featured their song “Paper Planes” as the trailer music for the movie: Pineapple Express. The trendy underground is quickly moving towards the mainstream; part of this is due to the failing American economy, and part of it is simply because artists can no longer afford to starve (go figure). The question that remains is can these artists who become apart of the main stream retain their essential values and stand out from the rest of the muck. Mike Ming, a creative illustrator stands as a shining example that this is indeed possible.
Lets get a short background of Mike Ming out of the way before discussing his work:
“Brooklyn-based artist Mike Ming (born Michael Miyahira) brings fascination with popular culture and life experiences to the canvas.” - Dell.com
He graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1995 with a BFA in Illustration and has since taken his artistic creativity and honed it into a personal and expressive style which he can call his own. Ming was contacted by Dell to provide illustrations for their new inaugural Special Art Edition Inspiron 1525 laptop.
“I want to create a sense of energy, playfulness, sophistication and psychedelic momentum when I started this…This new technique from Dell brings my inspiration—water and the energy it produces—to life and gives computer aficionados their own display of style.” - Dell.com
But what is the technology that makes it possible to have Ming’s creative artistic talent showcased so vividly? Dell describes it best:
“A new Dell manufacturing technique brings alive every color and brushstroke on the laptop’s cover, creating a fluid, graffiti-inspired tattoo effect that lets style pioneers add another level of individuality to everyday life.” - Dell.com
Ming’s work has been showcased in a series of galleries, festivals, and art shows all across the country and if you like the laptops, I highly reccomend visiting his website for more of his ecletic design style.
www.mikeming.com
Megalongcat is also known as Fred McCoy and is commonly referred to as "A Man among Men". He is a third year Communication Design and Technology student currently pursuing his BFA degree at Parsons, The New School for Design. This eclectic designer resides in Jersey City, NJ. Fred’s design work is usually focused towards print and graphic design, yet despite this his work spans across a multitude of new media art forms ranging from motion graphics and animation, all the way to GUI design.
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