1. Installation shots from Word Jazz, 2013.

    About the work:

    Word Jazz is a couple things: its the title of an old jazz LP by Ken Nordine that turns the human voice into both communicator and post-modern musical instrument, and also the title of this exhibit of recent large calligraphic works. Jazz improvisation is high-stakes art in the sense that you constantly push your creative process while others listen along for the ride - to take melodic risks in front of an audience. Graffiti and Zen calligraphy are two writing systems that deploy similar sets of aesthetics and conviction in gesture as in jazz. I sought to explore the possibilities of mixing all three of these art forms together, to use Roman letterforms as the back beat while I solo the tale of each letter’s construction. Each piece’s content is a short-form poetic meditation on a variety of subjects, from loss to love to contemporary art. Ultimately the work is about untangling preconceptions about letters, form, writing and art, and recombining them to create new, pretty possibilities for writing to come.

    Drury Brennan (b. 1981) is an artist in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Originally a jazz drummer, he studied in photography before moving to ceramics, and upon graduating from School of the Art Institute of Chicago, became a senior editor at Flaunt Magazine in Los Angeles. Working in a variety of media, his most recent work explores the delicate links between calligraphy, street lettering and jazz music. This is his first solo exhibition of writing.  

    Come and check out this exhibit and also the wonderful selection of typographic books n’ ephemera Mota Italic has to offer. TschuB!

    Mota Italic

    Schliemannstrasse 34

    10437 Berlin, Germany

    Mon-Sat 12:00-18:00

  2. I am pasting these posters up all over Berlin today. Wish me luck and safe travels. 

    :)

  3. Details at Mota Italic, 2013. 

  4. Detail from a letter, TYPO Berlin 2013.

  5. If you happen to: -be in Berlin, Germany 

    -like dope artwork

    I invite you to check my solo show out at Mota Italic on Schliemannstrasse 34 in Prenzlauer Berg. It´s up ´till the end of June so please peep, don`t sleep.

  6. Another window at TYPO Berlin, 2013.

  7. Another window I did at TYPO Berlin, 2013.

  8. The windows at TYPO Berlin, 2013.

  9. The letters I did at TYPO Berlin, 2013.

  10. Another window I did live at TYPO Berlin, 2013.

  11. One of the window pieces I did live at TYPO Berlin, 2013.

  12. Various photos from Flickr of myself during Typo Berlin 2013. 

  13. This is a cover image and border that I did for a book on Afghan street photography.  The camera is made up of a poem I wrote in Arabic:

    The death of hand and image

    where once I crafted, now a screen

    overcome by false advancements

    a tragedy in the slow making

    art drying out like the chemicals

    we once used to make memories

    passed from hand to hand

    using the gift of the sun.

    وفاة اليد وصورة

    حيث وضعت مرة واحدة، والآن شاشة

    التغلب على التقدم كاذبة

    مأساة في صنع بطيئة

    الفن مثل تجفيف المواد الكيميائية

    نحن تستخدم مرة واحدة لجعل الذكريات

    تنتقل من يد إلى يد

    استخدام هدية من الشمس.

  14. Rae Spencer in the calligraphy blanket, 2013.

  15. Hi people, so I “soft launched” my calligraphy blanket site and i’m super nervous about it. Here we go! I will have color photos hopefully soon so we’ll get this ball rolling. :)