Chank Diesel
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Contact Information
contact name: Chank Diesel
mailing address:
P. O. Box 580736
Minneapolis MN 55458
Pseudonym: Chank
Similar Artists:
Peter Max, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Matt Groening, Picasso and Joan Miro.
Related Organizations:
AIGA
NEMAA
Type Director's Club
Experience
Chank Diesel was born in Canada, raised in Florida and educated in Minnesota. In addition to his painting skills which are showcased on this site, Chank also makes fonts for computers. He runs his type foundry Chank Fonts from his home office in Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Chank strives to make fonts fun and accessible for both the average computer-user and professional designers. He distributes a diverse collection of display fonts through his website Chank.com and also creates custom fonts for corporate clients who want exclusive rights and a specific design for a typeface. Chank’s Go Font Yourself! service is popular with individuals who want a custom font of their own handwriting.
Chank began making fonts in 1992 when he worked as creative director of the alternative music magazine, CAKE. Making the most of his connections in the music industry, he road-tripped across America and visited designers at record labels. He earned a reputation as “The Travelling Font Salesman” and also snagged some high profile font appearances on album covers.
Exhibitions/Performance History
Chank’s fonts were featured in the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum as “important examples of contemporary typography” in 1996, the same year as he established Chank.com. He has also showed his artwork at Art-A-Whirl many times over the years and also at other venues in the Twin Cities, including Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Macalester College, Gallery 360, Frank Stone Gallery, California Building Gallery as well as the Third Coast coffeeshop in Chicago.
Collections
Macalester College Art Gallery
Galleries
Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Arvada Center for the Arts, Colorado
Atomic Testing Museum, Las Vegas
Publications
In 1997 Chank was profiled in The Wall Street Journal, complete with etched portrait. More recently he was featured in the New York Times article entitled “Down With Helvetica: Design Your Own Font.”
Biographical Information
Country of Citizenship:
United States
Birth Place:
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Birth Date:
February 6, 1969
Gender:
Male
Active Place:
Northeast Minneapolis
Minnesota County:
Hennepin
Artist Information
Roles
Painter