Про Это

Oh my, I love this image. These are photostats of a design by the always amazing Alexander Rodchenko. This is actually, originally, the cover design for a book of poetry by Vladimir Mayakovski. For This or About This, as I understand it, is the translation into English. The woman there is Mayakovski's sweetheart, Lilya Brik, to whom the poem is written. I've seen this great design since appropriated by various concerns but for me and my friends, it was the standard for our band in 1985, Pro Eto.

Perpetual Dirty Things CD Concepts 1999

Some very early designs. Boy. Maybe I shouldn't even post these. Whatever. You only blog once.

My Other Side CD Cover 2008

Did I post this already? Well, if I did it was when I made it and that was like four years ago so who cares. I'm putting this up because I really like the illustration Kevin Belford did here. Donny Besancenez, who has me do a lot of work for his various music concerns, hired me to design the package for his My Other Side CD (which is pretty great, actually) and one of the lyrics sparked a concept that I knew would be best executed by Kevin Belford. I had no idea how right I was but a week later Belford gave me his file. It was absolutely perfect and integrated beautifully with the rest of the package. Thanks again, Belford, for a job well done.

Where I Fell Book Cover Concepts 2000

Ed and I go way back. He was my first roomie in art school and that was a pretty long time ago. We've shared a lot of adventures since then and he actually had the temerity to write about some of those in his memoir/novel, Where I Fell. Truth told, I hadn't read the book when I made up these covers for him and so none of them really worked, I guess. I have, however, since read it and I have to say it is not at all kind to my character, so I haven't bothered to come up with a design that does work. I'm in protest.

Fake Annual Report 1999

You've heard it before but it's true: simple is best, especially in design. Even when I was still at Forest Park learning the programs I knew that. This I did just for practice. The image is from the tank series I did in St. Charles.

Hard Feelings Book Cover Design 1999

Pandora Inspiratrice CD Art 1999

Perpetual Dirty things were the duo of Risky Teeth and Viva Plastic (pictured) that I had invented as a way to express my desire to design for music back when I was just getting started as a designer and hadn't yet earned any real clients. As you can see, this design is an extrapolation of a classical album theme and the cover star is, in fact, my sweetheart of that day, the lovely Miss Mary Hopkins.

Playback Print Ads 2003/2004

Don't get me wrong. Jim and Laura are great people but I don't think they ever made enough money off their magazine, Playback StL, to pay their freelance contributors. I did some design work for them here and there and they generally paid me in ad space, which I found an equitable arrangement at the time. I took advantage of the deal by announcing exhibitions and services, as you see.

Catchy CD Art 1999

Viva La Slip and Puncture CD Art 1999

This design was based around a series of photographs I did as a commission for the metal parts manufacturing facility of Dow Industries.

Illustrations for a Red Cross Annual Report 1993

When I lived in San Francisco, I was a Red Cross volunteer. I worked under a fellow named Andrew Rose in the public affairs department. As head of public affairs, one of his responsibilities was producing the annual report for The American Red Cross, Bay Area. I guess I had mentioned to him that I was trying to be a real artist and so he asked me to put together some sort of a visual theme for the project. I had just moved there and had nothing, but I got ahold of some chipboard and spray paint and did about fifty variations from these hand and cross stencils I'd cut, working out on the fifth floor fire escape of my building on Bush St. Andrew said he couldn't use the cross images (for legal reasons) but liked some of the hands and used them to illustrate the piece. I have to admit that this application of my work is not ideal but I am, nevertheless, proud to have been a part of any Red Cross project.

Avatar Dump Redux

I realize I already did a post like this but I found a few more profile images in my crypt and so, like everything else, they're getting added as PROOF I WAS HERE.

Almost 2008

This blog came really close to being called Perpetual Dirty Things, which explains why the URL is still gustavepdt.blogspot.com. In fact I think that's what it was for the first week but then I worried that it could be confused with some sort of pornography thing and changed it to PROOF.

In Print No.2: Sarah Cloud 2002

Here's some stuff that made it into the St. Louis Post Dispatch: a live shot that I don't remember taking at the Hi-Pointe and the album cover I designed for Sarah Cloud's Heavyweight based around a photograph I shot of her at the South Broadway Athletic Club.

MySpace Blotter 2007

I don't know about you, but my introduction to social media was through MySpace. I would dote for hours and hours on that thing, trying to entertain strangers.
This is but one of many attitudes I gave to my "Gustave Black" page. The graphic of the red, striped radio tower over my eighteen-year-old mug there is a shot from E. Berlin, ca. 1988.

In Print No.1: StL Sound, Dec.2008