Lauren Hoffen: The Hoffenton Times

MDCA

2012-01-18T23:09:00.000-08:00

Most of you might not know what cornhole is? Wikipediadescribes it to be also known as bean bag toss that is played as a lawn game inwhich players take turns throwing bean bags into a raised platform that isplaced a few feet away. This logo features the Maryland flag and hopefullycaptures some of the key elements of cornhole as a sport.

I was kind of inspired to make this from when I was in Baltimorearound winter break in ALL the shopping malls with the amount of Ravensmerchandise in almost EVERY store. Whomever is in charge of merchandising forRavens is doing a fantastic job! Seriously. It makes me realize how big of animpact a team or sport can become in giving people a sense of community. Eventhough I’ve never really been a huge sports fan there is an undeniable industryand market for sports merchandise that needs design. Go Ravens and Cornhole!

We Are Change

2012-01-18T23:08:00.000-08:00

There isn’t too much to say about this. I was thinking ofsubmitting this design to something, but I changed my mind and I still like theorganizations name. We Are Change.

STOP WALL

2011-09-26T23:22:00.000-07:00

America You Awake Yet?

STOP WALL. I liked that St. was running out of space on thesign.

Hi, My Name Is.

Street Protest Painters

Two police officers in front of two young female protesters,and then I’m the creepster standing behind them both. Ha!

I am writing this for anyone with a curious mind about whatis happening on Wall Street these past few days. Down around Wall Street I sawa lot of police officers guarding empty gated sidewalks. I actually wasn’t surewhere I was going and stopped to ask an officer politely where the protest was,and he kindly pointed me in the right direction. When I finally found my way toZuccotti Park it was very peaceful and inviting when I sat down and wonderedaround the signs and protesters. When I started to take pictures with my phoneI felt some the police officers stepped away and were nervous about havingtheir picture taken.

Some criticisms of the #occupywallst protesters have beenthat it is poorly organized, which I might agree with. If I had to say the oneoverarching theme and grievance is the current financial systemthat has become too big to fail and corporations that seem to be the only onesthriving from the economic crisis that has persisted overthe last three years.

“There are obvious reasons. We are watching the beginningsof the defiant self-assertion of a new generation of Americans, a generationwho are looking forward to finishing their education with no jobs, no future,but still saddled with enormous and unforgivable debt. Most, I found, were ofworking-class or otherwise modest backgrounds, kids who did exactly what theywere told they should: studied, got into college, and are now not just beingpunished for it, but humiliated – faced with a life of being treated asdeadbeats, moral reprobates.

Is it really surprising they would like to have a word withthe financial magnates who stole their future?” —David Graeber, The Guardian

Yes, Wall Street has stolen insane amounts of money from theU.S. Treasury with unregulated gambling games. Maybe some of the banks havepaid back some of the money, but really they’ve been the enormous beneficiariesof the financial collapse of 2008, which they designed and created. Genius! However,I don’t believe they have stolen our futures. At times I think America is one of the most backwards countries created, and other times I am deeplyinspired by people who have the courage and compassion to care about somethingother than their own egocentric predicament. I believe Americans have beendeeply hurt by this perpetual recession, and I don’t think anyone really knowshow deep down the wound goes.

What are the protesters hoping to accomplish,and what is the goal? To be honest, I’m not sure. Maybe it’s simply to beheard and seen as people and not vassals to be harvested for profit. Most ofthe occupants seemed a few years younger than me, but there was a mixgenerational crowd there too. It almost felt to me like they really didn’t haveanywhere else to go so why not occupy Wall Street?

Background Noise

2011-09-14T04:08:00.000-07:00

Background Noise

A few years ago I decided to entitle my blog The Hoffenton Timesas a way of using part of my last name and to parody to the more well-known blog The Huffington Post.Looking at other designs and trying to figure out how to recreate them has beena great way of teaching myself and sharpening my graphic design skills. Thisdesign is borrowing from another typology piece I had seen about a year ago atthe Armory show in New York. I don’t remember the artist’s name, but I believethey had either ripped or cut and collaged different pieces of textured papertogether. I really liked the piece as a design and using lettering tonegate and reduce different fonts and sentences into texture.

Also I just recently created a twitter account mainly to seeif I could conjure up some more irrational Internet rage from conservatives.(Just teasing!) I’m still trying to figure twitter out. If you have twitter and follow Tea Party USA you should find me here: http://twitter.com/#!/LaurenHoffen.

Triangles

2011-08-31T20:54:00.000-07:00

Triangles

Thetitle came from a story I heard a few months ago about the Triangle Fires thatmarked its hundredth anniversary this year. The fire was one of the deadliestindustrial disasters up until the destruction the World Trade Center in 2001.As smoke and flames filled the building no one could save the 146 young Jewishand Italian immigrant girls working inside the factory building that day. Thestory struck me for several reasons and leads me to realize how unaware I canbe to a lot of histories of buildings I pass by everyday. In a city that is sodense with people, events, and buildings it seems easy to forget a lot ofhistories and slowly it just becomes disintegrated pieces of information.

On agraphic design note, I was trying something I had seen in a book to create apixel piece using excel, and I have to say after using excel for graphic designpurposes I don’t recommend it. Some programs are best left forgotten.

New York City Clean

2011-08-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

Manhattan Skyline

Cherubs, By: Ernst Strassacker

Porcelain squares, By: Jen Poueymsou

Taking pictures of garbage just feels really honest to me. Piles of beer bottles at the recycling center.

This was taken on different weekend, but it’s New York City Clean.

I usually don’t post photos, but since I’ve been in New York I’ve made a habit of taking photographs if something strikes me at the time. I usually don’t why I’m taking the picture, but I like to try to figure it out after some time has past. These were some photos taken during BOS 2011. Some are just scenes I stumbled onto and two are of artists work. Hope you enjoy them.

2011-07-07T22:43:00.000-07:00

Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces
The first attempt to create and connect the puzzle pieces…

2011-06-28T17:23:00.000-07:00

Wii Trust

Everything will be okay. If you don’t quite recognize the photographic imagery used in the background it’s a picture of the U.S. Treasury. Standing tall outside of the building is a portrait of Alexander Hamilton, who was the first secretary of the Treasury in 1789. He is also on our ten-dollar bills for those of you who don’t pay attention like me. This piece might not be completely finished, and eventually I might try to transfer some of my digital pieces into paint. I’m not sure yet.

2011-06-28T17:17:00.000-07:00

Bing Bling

All about the Benjamin’s, and entertaining yourself with something silly.

2011-05-29T20:15:00.000-07:00

Draw from what you know…

For all two people that are avidly checking this blog you probably noticed my neglect in posting for a while. Above are selected drawings from a journal I kept right after high school. I partly posted these, because it’s always interesting for me to look back at things I was thinking and looking at, and I’m in the middle of actually designing a website with an animated gif. I kind of shocked myself that I finally figured it out. Hopefully it won’t be another great many months before I visit you all again soon.

Consumer

2010-01-06T04:24:00.000-08:00

Consumer
Acrylic and Latex on Paper, Spring 2008
Completed and Framed Winter 2009

iShop

2010-01-06T02:42:00.000-08:00

iShop
Acrylic on Wood, Winter 2009

2010-01-06T02:37:00.000-08:00

iShop Wrapping Paper

2010-01-06T02:36:00.000-08:00

iShop Wrapping Paper
Covering An Empty Box

Elves and Angels

2010-01-05T23:04:00.000-08:00

Elves and Angels
Cutout Christmas ornaments of my grandparents.
Acrylic on Wood Ornaments and Christmas Lights
Winter 2009

See What You Need To See

2010-01-05T23:01:00.000-08:00

See What You Need To See
In the Dark…
Angel or Other

Getting Into Heaven

2009-09-11T13:43:00.000-07:00

Getting Into Heaven
Sooner Than I Imagined

Acrylic on Wood, 18” x 18”, Fall 2009

In this painting the illuminated blue cross and blue shield logo fills the gap between the two looming towers. This painting is intended to proposition who will judge us when we have the possibility and dilemma of facing death. What “God” judges who lives and who dies?

iSleep

2009-07-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

iSleep
Acrylic on Wood, 9" x 12", Summer 2009

Baltimore Bus Stop

2009-07-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

Baltimore Bus Stop
Acrylic on Wood, 24" x 24", 2009

Night Light

2009-06-05T20:27:00.002-07:00

Night Light

Acrylic on Wood, 11”x 14”, Summer 2009

This painting was inspired after Obama’s speech in Cairo.

Staring into Emptiness

2009-03-26T20:34:00.001-07:00

Staring into Emptiness

Spring 2008
Watercolor study from Georges de La Tour’s painting
Of Mary Magdalene “The Repentant” 1640

Georges de la Tour did a series of four painting featuring Mary Magdalene which all have a similar pictorial objective in showing Mary’s gaze past pervious sin and mortality into enlightenment and purification. The skull in the Baroque era frequently represents mortality and inevitability of death, and the flame represents salvation.

Are we our everlasting “purified” self online and through the computer (one of man/woman’s greatest achievements to modern society)? In this study I tried to translate the shift in attitudes and values from society today verses western classical culture. What do we worship today? What do we value? Is our Lab Top computer offering us perfection and salvation from our mortal selves, or is it a void and a source of mindless wondering that can be overpowering?

Two Sided Dress

2009-03-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

Two Sided Dress
Toray Print, 9" x 11", Spring 2007
Selected for School 33 Lotta Art Benefit Spring 2009

Mother Doll

2009-03-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

Mother Doll
Acrylic on Wood, Spring 2009

2009-03-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

Last Birthday
Acrylic an Oil on Canvas, Spring 2008

2008-05-22T10:50:00.001-07:00

A few days before graduation...

2008-05-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

Painterly Studies, Self Portraits
Spring 2008, Acrylic, Oil, and Latex on Paper

2008-05-22T10:46:00.000-07:00

Consumer
Spring 2008, Acrylic and Oil on Paper

2008-05-22T10:41:00.000-07:00

Counter Cosmetics

Spring 2008, Watercolor on Paper

2007-05-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

Installation of Paintings on Studio Wall

2007-05-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

Underneath The Veil

Acrylic on Canvas Board, Fall 2006

2007-05-01T12:45:00.000-07:00

Grandfather & Self Portrait

Acrylic and Oil on Paper, Fall 2006