First Weblog

I was fortunate enough to have the chance to attend the opening night reception.

Not having had any expectations, the exhibit was a complete surprise. It seems extremely comprehensive to me. So much so, in fact, that I'd be hard pressed to comb my memory for a sociopolitical poster that isn't included in the exhibition.

Hey Randy:

Was James Victore's work ibncluded?

I didn't see him in the catalog.

Hey Randy:

Was James Victore's work ibncluded?

I didn't see him in the catalog.

Hi Robynne,

James Victore chose not to participate in The Graphic Imperative although he was invited to submit several of his most memorable posters. The 80 page color catalogue that Robynne is referring to is available for purchase, and includes essays by Steven Heller and Carol Wells, and 121 amazing poster images that make up the body of the exhibition.

Hello,

I feel like one of those people you sometimes hear on radio call-in shows: "long-time listener, first time caller" in that this is my first post to Speak Up.

First of all, I am quite pleased to see a discussion about The Graphic Imperative on Speak Up--thank you. Of course, as one of the three curators (along with my friends and colleagues Liz Resnick and Chaz Maviyane-Davies) I am biased. I do think this is a special exhibition. But, please do not take my word for it--go and see the exhibition for yourself! The Graphic Imperative is currently on display at the Massachusetts College of Art through Nov. 11. After that, the exhibition will travel to the Design Center at Philadelphia University, spring 2006 and AIGA National Design Center, NYC, summer 2006.

I will echo Liz's comment that the work of James Victore (regrettably) is not included in the exhibition. He was approached--but he chose not to participate. As designers and curators we did not go into this project thinking that we needed the work of any "particular" designer per-se. Rather, after searching, scouring and reviewing literally thousands of posters produced during this time period, we were attracted to particular pieces of work more than by who designed them.

This exhibition was "by invitation only" (we purposely did not do a Call for Entries) and thus when we did get around to approaching individual designers, we asked for specific pieces rather than saying "please send us what you think would fit." In this way, yes, the exhibition represents the collective view of the three individual curators.

In fact, there may be sociopolitical posters that were produced during this time that we missed, that should have been in the exhibition. Either we tried and couldn't get certain work (several posters by the Polish/French designer, Roman Cieslewicz), or we were just not aware of the work. And surely, there are "famous" designers whose work is not included in the exhibition, who probably produced extraordinary work during this period, but may not have produced work within this realm.

One interesting thing that I feel about this exhibition is that very few of the posters in the exhibition were actually produced for clients. Rather, they were produced by the individual designers because they felt a need to express themselves about issues that were imporatnt to them or that they believed in. Read the article on the AIGA website Voice, "The Designer/Citizen" by Milton Glaser in his recent address to the AIGA National Design Conference in Boston.

Link

PLUG: The Graphic Imperative exhibition is available for travel and we are currently entertaining any and all interest. Please contact Liz Resnick.

FUTURE NOTE: The Graphic Imperative exhibition website IS in the works but unfortunately not ready to launch just yet.

The address is: www.thegraphicimperative.org

But, please do not "go there" as there is nothing there at the moment. I will send out a notice when the site is live.