Monday, 12 April 2010

Weston Frizzell Auckland Supercity logo

New Zealand's favourite contemporary pop art duo Mike Weston (pictured below, left) and Otis Frizzell (pictured below, right) are ramping up their campaign to subvert the Auckland Supercity Logo design competition today with their Weston Frizzell style Supercity logo being rolled out via a poster campaign throughout inner city Auckland in defiance of the "official" competition. 

Otis says about the Auckland Supercity Logo Competition that they "can't enter because my Dad [Dick Frizzell] is a judge, so Mike Weston and I plan to start our own campaign using our logo."  According to Mike the Weston Frizzell logo for the new Auckland council (pictured here) is "Pacific , Asian, Maori, Christian, pretty, sexy, masculine, feminine and green."

Mike warned Aucklanders to "watch the walls near you" when news of Weston Frizzell's subversion of the Auckland Super City logo competition process broke earlier this month and Otis confirmed over the weekend that "We've got 500 posters and we're gonna paste 'em up round the inner city…let's see if we can own something simply by doing it. We don't need a council to tell us what's good!" 

Will the Weston Frizzell Supercity logo "wind its way into the consciousness of the city" as judge Hamish Keith told TVNZ back in February? We think it should and we are urging all our New Zealand Art Print News readers to add their support for the Weston Frizzell Supercity Logo by joining their campaign on Facebook.
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Posted by Antony Ellis at 12:11 PM
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19 comments:

  2. Nice graphic, and I'm sure you will sell a few prints of this design (isn't that what this is really about), but aren't you being disrespectful to those hundreds of young designers who submitted their ideas for the new logo. It was a condition of the competition that the entries remain the 'property' of the Council whereas you are clearly marketing this version as your own.

    The winning design has yet to be decided, so how can you say that your idea is any more worthy of selection, regardless of who is involved in its selection, so how about giving another artist a break and be objective enough to view their work before shooting it down.

    It is clear you have issues with the competition and its rules, but your campaign of guerilla marketing your 'branded' design around the inner city seems to be more about ego than design aesthetics. To say that you "own something" simply by throwing a few posters around is no different to a tagger claiming to "own" a bus stop.
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  3. It looks a bit satanic!
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  4. Makes me want to drink Jagermeister

    http://www.rumoursultralounge.com/images/jagermeister_orange_logo_h3um.jpg
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  5. Nice icon, with the ring around the flower maybe signifying the encompassing of the AK natural area by a limit or control.

    Font, not so much

    Cool tho
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  6. i think its gay, but maybe thats what you're trying to tell us.
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  7. Definitely satanic, and scary looking ... almost like 'devil dressed up as a saint'.
    Great pisstake though.
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  8. Looking at your logo and the actual 'winner' I'm guessing you guys got to see the final pick before the rest of us?
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  9. What is specifically Auckland about a Pohutakawa? They are prevalent nationwide throughout new Zealand. I thought the whole idea was a distinct Auckland icon??
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  10. Otis Frizzell is going to be on Thursday's TVNZ 6 AD Show (it's being recorded tonight at 7:30 before a live audience) to talk about the controversy around the Auckland supercity logo competition and he is promising to reveal the true story behind the Weston Frizzell alternative logo as well http://tvnz.co.nz/content/the_ad_show_index_group/the_ad_show_index_skin.xhtml
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  11. Otis - are you now going to admit on TV that pushing your posters you have just released at $300 each is the real reason behind promoting your Auckland supercity logo entry? Otis Frizzell Auckland Council Supercity Poster on sale @ www.prints.co.nz
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  12. still looks like a girl scout badge.

    the clock is ticking on your 15 minutes. enjoy what's left.
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  13. Part 1
    Around seven weeks ago Otis drew my attention to the competition. He was going to enter a but couldn't because his father Dick Frizzell was judging.
    I'm not much of a fan of the way the Supercity thing has been handled, but we had a look at the brief and tossed some ideas around, and spent a day or two on it, and I felt we nailed it.
    I was confident it was potentially a winner.
    I look after the business side of Weston Frizzell so I checked the deal that was being offered..
    We considered making up a bogus name, but the the bloodline connection excluded us still.
    To get around the “no family” clause I could have entered our work just under my name, but reading between the lines, there was something really sinister about it.
    No way was I going to enter under the stated terms, for the prize offered. It was a stink deal.
    I was absolutely clear that we wouldn't be relinquishing copyright for the crap prize they were offering, or the ridiculous copyright terms. There wasn't even a guarantee that they would use the winning design, and they could fuck with the design without the artists consent, and the last straw was that even if you weren't the winner, they could make up a prize and take your logo to use for whatever they wanted....YEAH RIGHT!!
    We concluded that we could and should subvert the contest and try to jam the branding drive with a superior, independently controlled design , a Supercity resistance!

    We submitted our design through the on-line channel, , not as a competition entry, but clearly marked as a disqualified, non-entry. I have the acknowledgement email receipt .
    Anticipating cries of nepotistic meddling, (which of course is the reason why judges family members are excluded and I have no problem with that) we published our design to various locations on the closing date of the competition including NZFP. Anthony Ellis responded in support ,created this blog and circulated the story to Big idea as well . Nice work mate, and for that you get
    a nice signed numbered monographed print as a bribe! Its in the post tomorrow.
    We were mindful not to create a situation for Dick F that might bring his integrity into question. As far as I know Dick tried to pull out of the judging because the entries were weak.
    Otis has stated publicly already that he did see some of the entries, but this was well after the closing date of the contest, by which time we had circulated our version and commenced printing the posters. There was a bit of a holdup because I broke my leg really badly skateboarding, Tues 30th March 3:35pm, a date I won't forget in a hurry, requiring bionic surgery , hospital for a week.
    I’m writing this from my wheelchair!
    Our sexy posters were up 2 weeks prior to the announcement of the winner. We aimed to have them up 3 wks early but the winner was announced ahead of schedule I think . I don’t know why.
    cntd...next posting
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  14. part 2
    Weston Frizzell is an art/commerce experiment. The sale of prints will finance this strategy but its not leading it. Most of our work in socio-political in some way, and we are independent of political affiliation. Our intention is to stimulate debate , have some fun, sell some art.
    I'm a fan of the free market economy, so while the council dick around trying to impose some nancy budget identity on the city, we’ve provided another option, and the public can align themselves with whatever feels right. Truth is, so far I have yet to hear anyone say that ours is crap.
    SUPERCITY or not, its a pohutukawa, consistent with our earlier logo/brand oriented artworks.
    There are two art prints (Digital pigment prints editions of 50 ) on ,and the fine art quality version of the screen printed poster (ed of 100, signed numbered) for sale.
    Its a pretty picture, its a joke, it’s art. It’s a shit stir... Its a giant LOGGO, and yes its a publicity stunt, which could easily have backfired or fizzed.
    And It’s about the SUPERCITY not for it.

    Mike Weston for Weston Frizzell

    check the Facebook Weston Frizzell Supercity logo suport page for ongoing debate
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  15. No No NO do something original this suxs
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  16. I can't abide anyone who sits on the fence criticising and hasn't got the balls to put their
    name to it. Anonymous you are chickenshit.
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  17. What a lame ass logo. f*cken artists who think they can design.
    you are all idiots.
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  18. Idiot artists with major awards in multiple genres, including design, illustration and marketing, now laughing all the way to the bank and nobody remembers your name ...anonymous
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  19. Jesus that Otis dude has gotta be kiddin what a lame ass way of gettin publicity for himself (and sell posters) If ya gonna protest about a crap logo why is your pretty much exactly the same as the one you dislike your a dick get a life and some design kudos while your at it
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