Safwat Saleem (thankfully) isn't throwing in the towel any time soon. The local designer said he was on the edge of giving up personal projects last year, but we've been lucky to catch his work during Phoenix Design Week at an exhibition at monOrchid and at Regular Gallery for You Are Here, a map show we hosted in November.
Oh, and he also raised more than 1000 percent of his pledge goal (and will now be busy printing for the majority of 2012) for his latest project, Oh Shit! .
Today, we're catching up with Saleem, who won the Big Brain Award for visual art last year.
1. What have you been up to for the last year?
Since last year's awards, I've been making more mediocre and completely forgettable work. I worked on a series of illustrations called "Oh Shit!" which I later adapted into t-shirts and screenprints. And I am also currently working on a sequel to A Bunch of Crock. I suppose I can now called it the "Big Brain Award winning exhibit A Bunch of Crock."
2. Who would you suggest for this year's award?
Too many people. There is so much good work happening in the Valley. Off the top of my head, I'd say Sebastien Millon (visual art), Jon Ashcroft (design), Tunnel Bravo (design), Carol Roque (visual art), and Lindz Lew (visual art).
3. The Phoenix creative community needs less:
I can't think of anything. I think we need more of everything (including the negative things).
4. The Phoenix creative community needs more:
places/venues/reasons to collaborate with each other.
