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June 23, 2011 2:40 PM

Daniel Eatock is a London-based designer known for his conceptual approach to solving traditional client problems as well as those of his own choosing.^[1] His projects include Spray Can Sprayed With Its Own Contents, Fixed Pen/Signature Book, and many others, including my favorite, One Hour Circles, in which participants attempt to draw a circle in exactly one hour. (Compare to One Minute Circles.) A brief interview with Eatock. Some selected work. An overview.
posted by shakespeherian (26 comments total)

Ooh, an Indexhibit site on the blue! There's a whole post in how this cobbled together little CMS has spread across the online art world over the past few years.

But I suppose that's not on topic. Oops. Carry on.
posted by tapesonthefloor at 2:50 PM on June 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Wow. I'm an idiot. That's where I recognize his name: Daniel Eatock is Indexhibit's co-creator.
posted by tapesonthefloor at 2:52 PM on June 23, 2011

Tim King drew a good circle.
posted by nathancaswell at 2:52 PM on June 23, 2011

I love how the Fixed Pen/Signature Book makes everyone's writing look like a preschooler's.
posted by zsazsa at 2:53 PM on June 23, 2011

Also, it's odd that this guy identifies as a designer when he seems to actually be a conceptual artist.
posted by nathancaswell at 2:54 PM on June 23, 2011 [3 favorites]

Yeah, Fixed Pen/Signature Book cracked me right up. Belly laughs at work. The further down you scroll, the more the sense of frustration and determination deepens. This is fantastic stuff.
posted by mindsound at 2:54 PM on June 23, 2011

Holley Portraits is quite a neat idea.
posted by Runes at 3:03 PM on June 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Spray Can Sprayed With Its Own Contents

I've been sprayed with my own contents before. Frankly, there's not much to recommend it.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 3:05 PM on June 23, 2011 [3 favorites]

Wait, people still believe that stupid Space Pen urban legend?
posted by kmz at 3:07 PM on June 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

For some reason, those balloons on either side of that glass table make me feel anxious.
posted by Kabanos at 3:07 PM on June 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

There's some great stuff here - I look forward to exploring more when I have time. Already I like the No Smoking Sign Library (especially the David Dufour one).
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 3:14 PM on June 23, 2011

His ongoing series of pictures of the week, altered the way I see and observe things. Eatock is a great artist.
posted by ouke at 3:15 PM on June 23, 2011

I've been sprayed with my own contents before. Frankly, there's not much to recommend it.

Well, it depends on who's doing the spraying.
posted by The Deej at 3:16 PM on June 23, 2011

I love how the Fixed Pen/Signature Book makes everyone's writing look like a preschooler's.

But...it's not just a fixed pen but also upside down AND hidden from view.
posted by DU at 3:23 PM on June 23, 2011

I think it's interesting how many people ended up writing their names backwards because of a misunderstanding of how the page moves across the pen.
posted by shakespeherian at 3:57 PM on June 23, 2011

What I would have done with the circle: Keep it very small and focused, so that the felt-tip pen's ink created a regularly-shaped circular blot.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 4:04 PM on June 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

I would just hold the pen stationary for 59 minutes and 45 seconds and then draw the circle in a few seconds.
posted by Justinian at 4:06 PM on June 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

That's where I recognize his name: Daniel Eatock is Indexhibit's co-creator.

I like how he uses just plain, stock Indexhibit for his own site. No fancy fonts or colours or formatting: letting the quality of the work stand on its own merit.
posted by Flashman at 4:51 PM on June 23, 2011

Neat!

Reminds me a lot of Tom Friedman's work.
posted by kitsy at 5:02 PM on June 23, 2011

The whimsy is strong in this man.
posted by stp123 at 5:23 PM on June 23, 2011

It's like a east coast art school version of cockeyed.com. Which is to say, excellent.
posted by alikins at 6:05 PM on June 23, 2011

Thank you for posting this--I probably wouldn't have come across it otherwise, and it is delightful!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 6:09 PM on June 23, 2011

Almost all of the concepts are interesting, striking ideas, but they are also very shallow one-offs. A sagging shelf of books that are neatly lined up at the top simply cannot be anything more than trivial next to a Jackson Pollock or even a Warhol Soup Can (their evil father). And, beyond the intellectual conceit, I am left with what? A moment of wonder I suppose. But just a moment, and I am not that starved of moments of wonder, because California and the Pacific Ocean and a few other things that provide this kind of inspiration exist every day and my relationship to them is far more interesting than a two balloons and a sheet glass table. Fizzy soda : the Next Morning
posted by wallstreet1929 at 5:54 AM on June 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Why do works of art need to be ranked?
posted by shakespeherian at 6:34 AM on June 24, 2011

Brilliant guy - here he is at The Walker Art Center (where he interned a few years before). I still have one of his excellent snailmail email post cards on my desk.
posted by specialk420 at 11:04 AM on June 24, 2011

Gah. Will the "NASA spent millions on a space pen while the Soviets used pencils" story never die?
posted by Zed at 11:29 AM on June 24, 2011