Lacko Finds Redemption - "Chewie is my Co-Pilot!"
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away Alt-Pick artist John Lacko grew up on a steady diet of Star Wars action figures and sugary snacks. An only child and a latch key kid, he spent an inordinate amount of time setting things on fire and freezing his tiny Han Solo mini in a Dixie Cup of water to replicate the climactic scene where Harrison Ford's Rebel Alliance hero is placed in suspended animation in carbonite and turned over to the evil Bounty Hunter Boba Fett.
"I can tell you that I absolutely wanted to BE Boba Fett - all my friends did - because he was the coolest..." Lacko recalls.
He's still obsessed with all things Star Wars and jumped at  a chance to participate in "Stitch WARS," a group art exhibition at the Bear + Bird Gallery in South Florida opening Saturday July 18. Wired Magazine has called the event "a must-see exhibit," and Maxim Magazine's Lisa Freedman dubbed it "the ultimate nerd exhibit." Lacko takes it all in stride. He's content to argue that you either like Star Wars or you just don't get it.
Graphic artist Amanda Magnetta established the Bear + Bird art space in her husband's Eisner Award nominated 6,000 square foot comic emporium as a haven for upcoming artists with a quirky vibe. "Stitch WARS" is an alliance of crafty rebel designers like Lacko who are so enraptured by the myriad characters of George Lucas' epic adventures they spent the better part of this summer crocheting, knitting, embroidering and sewing together goofy replicas of their galactic heroes.
John Lacko's dimensional entry "Chewie is my Co-Pilot," is based on Chewbacca, the Wookie first mate of the Millenium Falcon, Han Solo's space cruiser first seen in "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope." The piece comprises an intricately embroidered and quilted felt Chewbacca in the traditional pose of Jesus of the Sacred Heart. This is the second hand-embroidered piece created for Bear + Bird  and far more labor intensive than anything Lacko has ever completed.
"Embroidering a piece of this scale was WAY more than I bargained for. I created the design as a sketch, translated it to vector art in Adobe Illustrator and then carved the outline with an x-acto knife in colored felt. I pieced it together and secured it to a felt backdrop with adhesive and then hand stitch the entire piece in embroidery silk to create a raised effect to the outline. Once the stitching was complete, I built a wooden framework and stretched the felt around the sides and secured it to the backing with upholstery nails. The result is a 3D rendering of the character that really pops!"
Stitch WARS opens to the public Saturday July 18 at 7pm and will be available through August 29. Bear + Bird Gallery is located at 4566 North University Drive in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. See more of the exhibit at the following links

http://www.stitchwars.com

http://stitchwars.blogspot.com/

http://tinyurl.com/Miami-New-Times-Lacko

“Eig8t Point Fiv5” is an urban brand who's infinity symbol is the focal point of the brand’s cycle of life, death and rebirth identity. This years fall fashion line of screens focused on an urban jungle warfare theme. Taking inspiration from the elite fighting military forces, 8.5 clothing branded their screens
with twisting crests and insignias for their army of surf & skate customers. A call to arms for this fighting force 
who shred & thrash the streets pledges their "Allegiance to the Brand!" For more on about the brand visit them online: 8point5clothing.com

Mighty Glowbone - “The Rainbow Smasher” plush doll is part of my “Avatars of Mayhem” series created for the United Nations of Cupco show. The group show was organized by Cupco.net, who invited 100 international artists to participate in building felt characters from an existing template. The United Nations of Cupco exhibit was launched at the Damien Minton Gallery in Sydney Australia. Details about the exhibit can be seen at: cupco.net/cupcounitednations.html |

This project was developed for the Junior’s Department at Macy's Department Store. Based upon the fashion-forward merchandise and the faster-paced lifestyle of this customer, we speak to her "GIMME" attitude toward getting her hands on the latest fashions and add a playful perspective to the merchandise literally calling out to the customer, "Find Me! Buy Me! Love Me!" Keeping this theme light-hearted, graphics of cartoon comic strip were printed on bright metallic gold. The "24K ME" flying golden hearts depict the customers' genuine heart of gold and provide a golden opportunity to relate to the customer at every touchpoint.

Pod Design, an interactive media company commissioned me to develop a logo for their gaming portal based on their Uncle Squid character. In addition to the logo for the site they wanted the Uncle Squid logo to be a fully animated and interactive mascot. Included in the designs was an 80’s style 8-bit logo created to give a retro feel to their vintage titles.

All the characters on this page are currently in different stages of development for a variety of projects.

The toy collaboration with paper artist Shin Tanaka was created for his “Spiky Baby” series. Additional details about Shin Tanaka’s “Spiky Baby” project can be read in the press release shown above.

The “Sunshine Gang” cloud characters were developed and inspired by my travels from Miami Beach, Florida to Tokyo, Japan the day after Hurricane Katrina hit Florida. The cloud designs were later incorporated into the “Sketchel” project, customized messenger bags developed and sold for Australian company JeremyVille.com.

Fangoria Magazine’s Annual Chainsaw horror movie awards needed interactive content to cross promote their show. Pod Design developed an instant messenger / game for Fuse TV’s website and I was hired to illustrate body parts and blood splatters used as the decoder. Users on the site retrieved their messages from one another by throwing severed body parts at a wall that splattered to reveal a hidden messages.

All the characters on this page were developed for the Vans Warp Tour. The Warp Tour founder Kevin Lyman was illustrated on a flyer for the tour’s annual BBQ and drawn in the “Evil Toys” theme of this year’s tour. The Eco-Toy drawing was used as concert materials and commissioned through Alternative Press (AP) Magazine.

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Knauf Insulation developed a new form of pipe insulation that was created from naturally sustainable products such as sand and post-consumer recycled bottle glass. Their branding for the product features the three wise monkeys. The "See no evil, Hear no evil, INSTALL no evil" slogan was used with the wise monkeys to remind it’s customers of the benefits of installing a green product. My stylized simian characters were developed to incorporate into their graphic and marketing campaign.

Semi-Permanent is a design event run by the crew at Design is Kinky.com and their New York partners The Happy Corp, with the support of presenting partners Diesel. This years Semi-Permanent conferences was held in the US and hosted by New York City. Design is Kinky teamed up with an on-line networking site called Threadless.com to help promote the Semi-Permanent event. “Super Species” was the theme of the show.

The re-branding of the Macy’s Junior Women Department took place during the merger of Federated Department Stores/Burdines to Macy’s Incorporated. During this time the Junior Department was re-branded to incorporate the colors and icons of the Macy’s brand while using some elements from the company’s junior website to add playful movement to the store.

The Bunnymorphus character was developed for the “Future - Progress or Destruction” show at the Robocon Gallery in Los Angeles. The show’s theme focused on 27 different artist’s visions of the future. The concept for my design was taken from American’s need to consume less of the planet’s resources. The Bunnymorphus is a futuristic brain implant device to help protect consumers from subliminal marketing.

“Grafix Laboratory” was an in-house brand identity concept for Zero Degrees Clothing Company. This project was created as an alternative outlet for the development of designs, clothing, cartoons and other art that fell outside of the core brand artwork.

The building blocks of a child’s wardrobe inspired this series of three dimensional giant colorful cardboard alphabet blocks set up in all stores to spell out “Back to School.” The package was created flexible enough for future “Back to School” events.

The illustration developed for nationally circulated magazine “The Source” was created for an article entitled “Has Hip Hop Lost It’s Funny Bone”. The illustration was a spoof on the Milton Bradley board game “Operation” and was remixed with an urban theme to compliment the article.

The transient and infectious nature of pop culture, art and fashion inspired “Virus” street wear an alternative brand of young men’s street wear created for Zero Degrees Incorporated.

Additional details about the Adidas Adicolor project can be read in the press release shown above. The logo in figure 3 was for a special gallery show in Miami for the US Sneaker Pimps Tour. The Sneaker Pimps tour is a traveling collection of customized sneakers from artists around the world. This years tour traveled around the US before leaving for Africa. A larger version of my winning Adidas shoe appeared on tour in the US.

The “Saved” campaign was designed to illustrate the company’s three distinct services. The brand used a religious theme often seen and used in tattoos. Heaven, Limbo and Hell parallel the fetishes of body modification; tattoos, piercing and art offered at Saved on South Beach.

Macy’s Premium Denim Vendor Sign Artwork.