Ah, Christmas! That time of year when children around the world get to enjoy a month long sugar rush combined with that almost unbearable anticipation of presents. When adults, caught up in the festive cheer, lubricate their regression to childhood with various festive beverages (South African’s, being traditional sorts, just stick with beer. Also, mampoer makes eggnog look like a bad joke, so that eggy festive treat really isn’t going to catch on here). And when consumerism dons a big red coat, a fluffy white beard, and the nose of a man who has drunk far too much mampoer… or eggnog, depending on where you’re from.
But that big red man, now synonymous with Christmas, did not always appear as he does today. Throughout history, we have seen a variety of Father Christmas (or Santa Claus) type characters, some completely unique to certain countries and cultures. The number of beliefs and cultural nuances which have culminated in the modern day Father Christmas figure are innumerable, however, the effects of American media and advertising in shaping Father Christmas into what he is today have been far more profound.
Luckily for us, though, we have an artist who has seen Father Christmas. Naum claims that during one of his many journeys, in which he found himself in a land populated by what we can only describe as, based upon his vivid descriptions of horned helmets and liberal beer consumption, a people displaying elements of Germanic, Celtic, and Nordic culture.
Naum’s encounter seems to refute the Santa Claus stereotype of an overweight man who climbs down your chimney to leave store-bought toys under the Christmas tree. Naum instead recalls a myriad of arcane rites, drunken festivals, and harsh gods and spirits of the winter. While Naum’s Father Christmas (who was apparently unfamiliar with this title) was certainly benevolent, he did seem to be shrouded in a little more mystery and long forgotten lore than the department store Santa Claus of today.
Here’s one last though. Have you ever noticed how so many children are frightened by those run-of-the-mill Father Christmases who you find at shopping centres, invariably sponsored by a chocolate manufacturer? I’ll bet that were kids to meet this guy, they would be far more comfortable taking presents from him than some overweight, bearded, and possibly alcoholic old man. There’s just something sincere about Naum’s Father Christmas. It’s almost as though he’s been around as long as human memory has existed…
And seeing as we’re such nice guys, here’s an A5 version of our Nordic St. Nick which you can print as a Christmas card, just to ensure that you’re giving out the coolest cards this festive season.
Here are a few images of the UMT Consulting SA year end function, a client for whom we recently completed a Corporate Art Piece (which you may view HERE) The artwork, entitled “Architects of Change”, was unveiled at the year end function, and our Business Director, Craig Hazle, was kindly invited to the event and asked to speak about the piece.
Additionally, UMT Consulting SA required a medium by which certain employees could ‘sign up’ for the core values which UMT Consulting SA upholds. To serve this purpose, and as an effective tie-in to the fingerprint texturing of the primary art piece, we had a secondary, black and white art piece printed. UMT Consulting SA members were then invited to mark the canvas with their own fingerprints in black ink, and sign the prints. This innovative concept was well received by the UMT Consulting SA team.
This art piece was commissioned by UMT Consulting South Africa, a project management portfolio specialists company based in Irene, Johannesburg. UMT Consulting SA is a values focused business, and as such, they needed an artwork which would convey the principles and proudly upheld ideals which UMT SA carry into all their business endeavours.
The artwork positions UMT Consulting SA as architects, the visionaries who plan, manage, and control the building of the city. They are responsible for the creation of potential and opportunity where nothing stood before, and ensure that the new world which they have conceived will always promote sustainable growth and prosperity.
The city which comprises the majority of the piece is a well organized sprawl of interconnectivity, of shared ideas, mutual understanding and common benefit. UMT Consulting SA, as the creators of this prosperous city, have ensured that there will always be more room for conscientious growth, and the city will always be capable of expanding to accommodate an ever increasing population of individuals with innovative ideas and the desire to succeed, who seek to share in the prosperity which the city has made tangible.
Finally, UMT Consulting SA always strives to leave a unique and distinctive mark on the work which they do. This characteristic UMT Consulting SA signature comes through in the artwork as a subtle fingerprint texture, which appears throughout the entire canvas.
I was told I could write what I really feel today so this is my bio:
My name is Naum but some people call me Neli. I was born on Tepac, Quahutil on the 81st solar year in the Tetonyac prefecture – this makes me 28.
When I was a boy I found a star suit in the hills above our home. I don’t know what happened to the starman who the suit belonged to or what it was doing there in the hills but being a kid I thought it would be chalchi to climb into the damned thing. I found that It made me travel sideways, or actually everything moved sideways past me - I know this cause I get easy motion-sick and so far I haven’t up-chucked once. I don’t know what happened to make the star suit do this, but I have been travelling ever since and I have not been able to find my home again. Some places are cool but some are freeky-scary.
Over the years I have grown a Danny Trejo mustache (I am a fan) and learnt to be artful. Mostly: I learnt typescriffing and poster design in a dark city where everyone wears tuxedos and smokes too much; and I painted portraits on an island full of really big tattooed people who “coach” art with wrestling.
I usually don’t stay long, but wherever I go I like to leave behind a piece of art to share a bit of culture before I go.
All the scientistas I have met in my travels tell me how flexible time is, and most seem to think that time is really just another place that we are not able to see. This is very comforting ‘cause it means that every good time doesn’t disappear – its just a place that you can’t get to right now. It also made me realise that if you could look at space and time on a flat map even the greatest empires, with all their many centuries would look very very small. This is sad but it also makes every culture special, and we should honour them.
The guys at glyph seem to appreciate this and I think they understand that wherever there is life there will be expression, and this makes the universe wonderful to explore. So I will stay here for a while now and paint about my times, I am also good friends with Andy’s dogs and I like Riki even if he thinks I am full of tlazo and none of this is true!
Throughout time, there has been a recurrence of styles, elements, and themes which are consistently manifested in designs and artworks, and proof of the popularity of these reoccurring developments can be seen in the overall anthropological history of humankind: Realising that more organic designs are an Anthropopular response to the mechanization of today’s world, Glyph has used them as reference.
‘Aquilo’ is a brand integrated corporate art piece which was developed for the financial advisory division of Momentum, a large corporate who deal primarily in financial advise, based in Pretoria, South Africa. ‘Aquilo’ was inspired by Aquilo, the Roman deity of the wind, as well as the Aquilofers, the administrators of the Roman army.
As a manifestation of the wind, Aquilo was able to bring life-giving rain, full sails, and remind humankind of something greater than themselves. Aquilo is also symbolic of both direction and change. Aquilofirs were the financial planners of the Roman army. They carried winged standards, and ensured that all administrative and economic issues were dealt with effectively and competently. By marrying these two closely related concepts, we have been able to develop a corporate art piece which communicates the Momentum Financial Planner ideals of excellence, competence, leadership and movement, all housed within a financial theme.
‘Aquilo’ is a superb example of how more abstract concepts, corporate subtleties, and cultural idiosyncrasies can be effectively and comprehensibly communicated through artwork. The result is a bold, inspirational, and evocative art piece which has become iconic of the individuals who belong to the Momentum Financial Planning division. Similarly, each individual instance of derived brand collateral stands as a mark of excellence for the division.
We began the process of developing this corporate art piece with pen and ink. Contrary to our usual approach, we progressed very quickly into detail, as we wished to attain a richness and fineness in the appearance of the artwork.
On our initial canvas, we worked in some rock texturing and washed out colours to prime the artwork for the contrasting ink, which would be heavily layered. Up close, the ink would look as though it had been set in stone.
This is the finished artwork. Many layers of mixed media have been worked onto the canvas, with the intention of more traditional media and techniques forming the base of the artwork, enhanced by numerous affects applied to each individual element. The finished artwork will ultimately serve as an award for top Momentum financial advisors.
During every step of developing this piece, we have been careful to record everything we have done, and we also maintained a digital schematic version of the artwork. This has enabled us to translate the wing structure into a 3D CAD model, which was then digitally sculpted into a floating trophy. It has also allowed us to have the entire painting animated as an AV sequence for the official Aquilo launch.
The Aquilo Seal signifies the seriousness, confidentiality, and sophistication with which all of the Momentum Financial Planners conduct business. In true Glyph style, the dynamic nature of our approach to visual communication allowed us to surprise our clients with a signet stamp of their own, which Momentum’s own Aquilofirs could use on certain documents. The iconic nature of the seal also lent itself to the creation of a simple graphic icon for the Momentum Sales Division.
One of the most beneficial aspects of our balance between traditional and digital art is that we were able to keep a record of every layer and every colour we utilised to establish the hierarchy of this brand division. Only certain individuals will be exposed to the full detail of the finished product, but we have been able to alter colours for Gold, Silver, and Diamond certificates. We have also developed a very simple line work version for further brand collateral.
Another fantastic artwork completed by the talented artists at Glyph, this was delivered under a tight deadline, but quality, concept and execution remains the phocus of the team! Please see Zananda’s awesome feedback in our client testimonials.
