Needless to say, the senior staff at Overhead Compartment is a little bit “old school.” We still get the newspaper delivered, we take the bus to work instead of ordering a Lyft, and we don’t necessarily know whether something is “lamestain” or if “cool” is bad or...
Dr. Katz may just as well have been made using various arrangements of the same handful of looping GIFs. The atmosphere and depth achieved is inverse to the show’s feeble budget. This is an avant-garde child of constraint. As the wikipedia excerpt...
How badly I want The Criterion Collection’s tasteful packaging of artwork and critical essays to indefinitely trump the obsolescence of DVDs. The ephemerality of media vies against its substance. In any case, more than a few of my favorite original film posters and box illustrations are attributable to...
There is no model; there is only color. In order to change a color it is enough to change the color of its background. Why do two colors, put one next to the other, sing? Can one really explain this? No. White...
Why an artificial Mondrian? Perhaps there’s an obvious and immediate affinity between his iconic compositions and such computer-generated figures as those that appeared in Japan’s IBM Review in 1964. But Hiroshi Kawano did not simply digitize Piet Mondrian; it could be stated...
In 1995, the Windows operating system reached a certain threshold. Microsoft’s iterative design approach allowed for more cycles of prototyping and user-testing than a typical project span would allow. It became more refined before it went public, resulting in something that felt...
Smithe is a fresh-faced illustrator and graffiti artist from Mexico City whose work can be seen as far afield as lovely Brooklyn. His tangled comic book geometries and retro science fiction metamorphoses without end are appealing enough. But it’s the disparate love affairs...
That wistful moment just before takeoff—the cabin is still with apprehension, hushed excitement, the quiet shuffle of handheld diversions, an occasional release from consciousness. John Schabel’s voyeuristic Passengers masterfully collects these many faces of anticipation. Having captured his anonymous subjects with a telephoto lens, Schabel...
There’s a certain something about the paintings of Tom Wesselmann that we can’t quite put our finger—or our lips?—on. For one thing, it gives us the uneasy feeling that somebody’s about to be gunned down in front of a fruitstand or on...
Emory Douglas worked as the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party for Self Defense from 1967 until the discontinuation of the Party in the 1980s. He’s been called the “Norman Rockwell of the ghetto”, and is known for his powerful...
In 1974, Frederic Parke received a PhD in computer science from the University of Utah College of Engineering, where he also created the first computer generated physically-modeled human face. Parke’s original idea of virtual modeling has seen exponential advancements as technology that...
Martiros Saryan (1880-1972) was an Armenian painter regarded for his masterful selection and use of color. Inspired by the likes of Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse and Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin, Saryan captured a sentimental slice of Armenian life in his minimal landscapes, meticulous still...
The dawn of the age of personal computing in the late ’70s and early ’80s offered what may now seem like quaintly outmoded fancies. But so far, many of the basic principles formulated in those early days of small systems programming seem...
We’ve been admiring the colorful, curvaceous work of Berlin-based Icelandic designer Siggi Eggertsson for some time now. His artwork for Pólýfónía, our favorite album from fellow Icelanders Apparat Organ Quartet, packs quite a powerful punch, devoting a brilliant, iconographic vignette to each track, all the while...
With city transit at the mercy of what’s been dubbed “Frankenstorm,” we here in evacuation Zone C have found ourselves with ample time to remain indoors and contemplate the aesthetics of hurricane visualizations. Although an Ancient Greek mantle like Athena would’ve perhaps...
Emerson called New York City “a sucked orange.” We’ll take it as a compliment, because today’s an orange-letter day here at Overhead Compartment, wherein we offer some curated delicacies of a tart persuasion. The scent of citrus is in the air, a...
Stanley Donwood, which is the pen name of English artist and writer Dan Rickwood, has been collaborating with Radiohead on album covers and posters since 1994. In exploring his diverse body of work, which includes various types of prints, paintings and written...
This week we had the opportunity to hang out with the Analog Research Lab, a hidden gem of a screen-printing studio started by designers Ben Barry and Everett Katigbak which operates out of the basement of Facebook headquarters. Barry and Katigbak began...
Every dullard schoolchild knows the story of how pumpkin spice was introduced at the first Thanksgiving, leading to the economic expansion of the West and the widespread consumer franchise of assorted Fall flavors that we hopelessly depend upon to mark the changing...
Relentlessly cool, brazenly domineering, the heroism of unapologetic masculinity found a renaissance in the West during the Cold War years. America reveled in cunning, heavily-armed heroes who could thwart those Commie baddies, keep their wits against the seductive wiles of a buxom double-agent, and...
It’s been well over 40 years since its debut, and not only does 2001 stand firmly in cinematic history, but it still reigns supreme among decades of sci-fi films which came after and were more than likely inspired by it. Perhaps the...
An almost childlike appreciation of colors and shapes characterizes the work of Jonas Fredén, a Swedish artist and illustrator who has contributed some brilliant album artwork to Gazell Records. In spite of its simplicity, Fredén’s jazz-infused work mirrors the mood and movement of a...
Dear Comrades, We are pleased to welcome you with the inaugural post of Overhead Compartment, the latest New York-based mainstay of probably unhealthy cultural fixations and lamentations. Our lovely editorial staff will be working around the clock to ensure that your needs...
Lichtenstein: A Retrospective will be opening at Tate Modern early this Spring, showcasing 125 of the artist’s most renowned paintings and sculptures. With his ironical appropriation of comic book imagery, advertising, and cartoon illustration, Lichtenstein irreverently challenged the limits of how art functions within...