News

Javier Mariscal goes to the Academy Awards

4 February 2012

For Years Javier Mariscal has been working on a feature-length animated film, Chico & Rita.
Now Chico and Rita has been nominated for the Academy Awards. It is the first time that an animated feature film from Spain gets this nomination. The ceremony will be held on February 26th in Los Angeles. This nomination comes after a lot of awards and great recognition from all over, like a Goya and an EFA from the European Film Academy among others.
So keep your fingers crossed for Javier on that big night!
See more about the film here.
Theo Dimson 1930-2011

4 February 2012

On January 18, I received news from Nicole Dimson that her father, Theo Dimson, had died earlier that day:
"We three daughters spent last night taking turns reading him his favourite author F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. He had read the novel at least 50 times in his lifetime and we thought he should hear it one last time.
[...] His passion for art, movies, football and fashion spanned decades from the Big Band Era in music to the rapper fashion style of today's youth. Making a statement wherever he went. He always stayed contemporary which kept him young at heart. I'm sure it is with much sadness that he was never able to see his beloved Buffalo Bills win the Superbowl although they got awfully close a few times.
"As my father always said… you can Google him as long as you respect him in the morning."
Theo was a friend of mine via the internet although sadly, I never met him in person. But I have no doubt that the feisty, energetic and funny man I knew by email was true to his personality. In September 2010, I wrote an article for the AGI website about Theo and his bold, graphic work, steeped in the history of Art Deco, with a glorious evocation of '70s illustration style. That article will serve as my personal obituary for Theo.
Meanwhile, at AGI, Bob Appleton sent out a request to designers for memories of Theo, and we have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of insightful, funny, wonderful anecdotes and essays from AGI members and Canadian designers and friends who knew him (including the Eulogy from his daughter, designer Nicole Dimson). We got enough for a small book, so I have had to edit and eliminate, or this post would be several thousand words long:

"I remember him so well, his character, his mannerisms and the beauty of his work will remain for ever in my memory. I am sure that all our friends at AGI will miss him too. How appropriate to read the Great Gatsby on his deathbed"
—Massimo Vignelli

"Theo had a strong flair for the dramatic. In his facial expressions. In his body language. His speech. His thought. His dress. And he was always a practising thespian. He was a man of many parts. He appreciated and delved deeply into history, astronomy, politics - especially of the United States – and literature, film, music, architecture. His questing intellect ranged over the whole spectrum of human endeavours. A contemplative inspection of Theo’s work reveals this intellect, which, along with his visual perceptions, formed and powered his work – it was not just surface manipulation of colour, line and form. It was challenging both visually — and intellectually!"
—Allan Laing, who knew Theo for 68 years, from his beautiful 1,200-word Requiem to Theo.

"During the time I spent working with Theo, which was around three years ['63–66], I turned out some of my best work ever. A very exciting art department and a very exciting time! […]
Theo was an extraordinary individual: a perfectionist, intelligent, gifted, funny, generous, and loving. I feel extremely lucky to have had him for a friend. The world won’t be quite the same without him.
— Arnaud Maggs

"Theo will likely be known for his posters, but when I arrived, as someone with experience developing graphics for large retail department stores, I saw and loved how a designer, Theo, was the reason Eatons became a retail brand like no other in the world. I loved the combination of illustration and graphics he epitomized. In a sense Theo became Eaton's visual brand. Remarkable. He created graphics and ads with a unique, timely and appropriate sense of beauty resulting in a winning brand that worked so well for the store."
— Rod Nash

“Theo Dimson was a passionate football fan (his favourite team was the Buffalo Bills), a flamboyant and engaging individual with a unique, if always evolving, sense of personal style and a superb designer with great taste and talent. He was a good friend and colleague for more than 50 years. I will miss him.”
— Jim Donoahue

And in Theo's own words, posted to his Facebook page:
"It is with great sadness that I leave this Earth. I enjoyed my time on this planet and have no regrets. Take away memories… London ON, Family store on the Danforth, Allenby Theatre, Danforth Tech, OCA, Lis, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Erté, Buffalo Bills, Stan Kenton, Frank Sinatra, Dr. Jay, Fred + Ginger, TCM, Fashion, Admiring the universe through my telescope, as well as all the beauty in the world"

And finally, from Nicole Dimson, a piece her dad loved from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:
And when he shall die.
Take him and cut him out in little stars
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
Louis Silverstein 1919–2011

4 February 2012

Louis Silverstein, long time innovative design director of the New York Times, and AGI member since 1969, died on December 1, 2011.

From the New York Times obituary by Douglas Martin: "In 1976, he helped devise a bigger, more visually expansive and, to many, more appealing New York Times…. It was a rethinking of the paper that was as important to its future then as the Internet is today, and one that influenced newspaper design nationwide…. Tom Bodkin, the current art director and an assistant managing editor of The Times, said Mr. Silverstein elevated newspaper design from a trade to a profession."

The full obituary can be read at The New York Times
Deborah Sussman "Eames Words"

4 February 2012

The much praised exhibit “Eames Words” is currently on view through February 20 2012, at the A+D museum in Los Angeles. It is a participant in the behemoth program, "Pacific Standard Time, Art in LA 1945–1980".
Deborah Sussman spearheaded and curated this show, in collaboration with graphic designer Andrew Byrom, and a
team of passionate designers and fabricators, including former long-term Eames staff members.
Its concept is based on Charles Eames’ quote, "the uncommon beauty of common things". Its design is deliberately not "as though Charles and Ray would have done it", but instead, presented with 21st century eyes and spirit.
“The onslaught of the county museum show finds a highly focused counterpoint in “Eames Words” at the fledgling Architecture and Design Museum, in a climate-control-free storefront across the street. All but devoid of art, the show succeeds on sheer curatorial imagination. With quotations from the Eameses displayed across walls, a few films and some alluring displays of everyday objects and raw materials, it is like being inside the designers’ heads.”
– Roberta Smith, The New York Times, November 13, 2011
More at:
The New York Times, November 2, 2011
The Architect's Newspaper
KCRW
Dwell
George Tscherny's Wordless Poster

4 February 2012

Communication in the Digital Age: The WORDLESS poster
New York City Subway; December 2011
Designed by George Tscherny for the School of VISUAL ARTS
Ronald Searle: 1920–2011

8 January 2012

"Ronald Searle, the British cartoonist and caricaturist whose outlandishly witty illustrations for books, magazine covers, newspaper editorial pages and advertisements helped define postwar graphic humor, died on Friday, December 30th in Draguignan, in southeastern France, where he lived. He was 91.
"His family said in a statement that he had died in his sleep after a short illness.
"Lampooning the foibles of the English class system as well as clerics, politicians and even other artists, Mr. Searle was often described as a latter-day version of the 18th-century British graphic satirist William Hogarth. His cartoons combined an ear for linguistic nuance with a caustic pen and brush. With just a few well-placed lines, he pierced the facades of his targets without resorting to ridicule or rancor."

—Steve Heller, an excerpt from the full obituary in The New York Times

There is a blog for Ronald Searle here, which contains images, references and links to many other obituaries, including The Guardian, The Independent, Creative Review, Eye Magazine ...

His war drawings are collected here at the Imperial War Museums site.
Oded Ezer in two simultaneous solo exhibitions in Brazil

8 January 2012

"Oded Ezer: Tipocriaturas " (Oded Ezer : Typocreatures) are two solo exhibitions, both take place simultaneously, in Sao Paulo and Brasilia, starting last week. Curated by the wonderful Ruth Klotzel, they a show wide range of his commercial and experimental typographic projects from recent years, including Typoplastic Surgeries, Biotypography, Typosperma, I (heart) Milton… and many more.

Some words from curator Ruth Klotzel about the Typocreatures exhibition:

"Oded Ezer's work take us to wonderland, to a place where inanimate objects gain the right to be part if the living world. Letters can be generated in a biological system and raise up from the surface becoming live creatures.

"Working restless, he reveals the real meaning of experimentalism, so banalized nowadays, discovering new paths, new meanings, new attitudes. Summarizing, as he himself affirms, he plays seriously, like a 6 year old boy."

And here is a video of Oded Ezer.
Oded Ezer's new Hebrew Typography blog

8 January 2012

"Hebrew Typography ", edited by Oded Ezer, contains short articles, links and posts that are related to traditional and contemporary Hebrew typography and type design. It shows the beauty of Hebrew letters to non-Hebrew speakers. As Armin Vit of Underconsideration wrote, "great type is universal, regardless of whether you read Hebrew or not."
Fons Hickmann m23 exhibited at the ISRAEL MUSEUM in Jerusalem

8 January 2012

Curious Minds: New Approaches in Design

December 16, 2011 - April 30, 2012

The exhibition presents about 30 international designers from Europe, Asia, and the US whose works map out new territories and encourage a new discourse about the role of design in shaping the world of tomorrow. Some of these designers also address – under the umbrella of Critical Design – social, political, and environmental concerns. The three invited Graphic Designers are Sagmeister, KarlssonWilker and Fons Hickmann m23.

Location: Israel Museum, Cummings Building for Modern and Contemporary Art

Curator: Alex Ward

The Image: The "NEW BERLIN FLAG" at the Israel Museum.
"Rambow's Point of View"

14 December 2011

Gunter Rambow has an exhibit at Muzeum Plakatu W Wilanowie in Warsaw, Poland
December 8, 2011–February 5, 2012
also in
Galerie der HBK SAAR in Saarbrücken, Germany
December 15, 2011–January 21, 2012
Dan Reisinger

14 December 2011

120 posters by Dan Reisinger

will be showing at the Hungarian Jewish Museum in Budapest
Dec 12, 2011 – Jan. 12, 2012

Exhibition opening: 12th Dec. at 17.00 hours.
New book about the German AGI members 1954-2011

14 December 2011

AGI Alliance Graphique Internationale, German Members, Deutsche Mitglieder, 1954-2011
publisher: hesign (Berlin)

ISBN 978-3-9810544-4-6
For the first time, the 46 AGI-members living in Germany are introduced in a book of 384 pages in the order of their appointment to the AGI since 1954. We owe this tryst to the German AGI member Jianping He from China. In 2010, he had the idea to publish a book about the German AGI members’ doings on the occasion of the founding anniversary in 2011. The book shows the different forms of expression of graphic design and visual communication of the last 60 years in Germany with 682 images. With the help of the autobiographies, work samples and texts about the respective members' works, one is now able to realize their influence on the history of graphic design in Germany. Each member, "dead or alive" is represented on 8 pages. A more or less long "short story" (by the author) reports on the history of the German AGI and the identity and aims of the AGI in general. Paula Scher was kind enough to write a short foreword.

By the way: The collecting of data and facts, the selection of the images, editing the texts and credits in English and German and not least the design of the book was not only a lot of work, but an endless imposition. So I am happy now that it is finished and is printed and if you like to buy it: Just do it.

– Uwe Loesch
President of the German AGI members
Tassinari/Vetta Silver Medal

14 December 2011

GRAPHIC DESIGN AWARD 2011 TRIESTE, 29 November. Tassinari/Vetta received the silver medal of the International Taiwan Graphic Design Award for the graphic design for the two Venice exhibitions 'The world belongs to you' and 'In Praise of Doubt', at Palazzo Grassi and at Punta della Dogana centre for Contemporary Art. The international jury of the Taiwan International Graphic Design Award, organized in cooperation with Icograda, decided to assign the Silver Medal in the Corporate Identity section to the identity and editorial project for the two exhibitions curated by Caroline Burgeois for the Francois Pinault Foundation. The identity and communication project was designed by Leonardo Sonnoli with Irene Bacchi and Anna Dalla Via, while Paolo Tassinari with Lucia Pasqualin designed the catalogues.

The project is based on a three languages message - the tri-lingual title of the exhibitions - in which letters and words switch in order to reflect the actual meaning of the title. In the exhibition 'The world belongs to you', which proposes - as Bourgeois recalls - ''a reflection on the dizzying upheavals of the modern world, fed by nomadism, cosmopolitanism and miscegenation'', the visual combination of the Italian, English and French reads 'Il world appartient to you', 'Le mondo vi belongs', 'The world vous appartiene'. In the exhibition 'In Praise of Doubt', "opening as a route on the strength and fragility of the human condition'', the graphics designed by Tassinari/Vetta works out the idea of doubt by flipping the letters of the title.
István Orosz exhibit in New York

1 December 2011

István Orosz has an exhibit in New York at the Hungarian Cultural Institute

Opening: December 14, 7:00PM
December 14 – Jan 21, 2012

447 Broadway, 5th floor.

http://culturehungary.org/index.php/events/upcoming
FHK Henrion DESIGN

1 December 2011

That’s the title of a small book full of big surprises. At least for me, and I have known ‘Henry’ for some thirty years.
Just over A5 size, only 96 pages and yet bringing a huge wave of most interesting, fine works, many of which I’d never seen before. The other day it has been published by the Antique Collectors’ Club in Woodbridge, Suffolk, and is part of a series, with titles about Paul and John Nash, Edward McKnight Kauffer and David Gentleman, all names with the same ‘prefix’: DESIGN.
Henrion doesn’t need any introduction in his own AGI and Icograda circles, nor in the world of corporate identity programs, in which he pioneered. These books (I haven’t yet seen David Gentleman’s issue, but I am sure that will be another gem), simply can’t be missing on our bookshelves.
(Henrion ISBN 978-1-85149-632-7)
And the good news is: there is much more to be come about him; This one is, however, a tasty starter.
— Ben Bos
traces: on the road again

1 December 2011

In Traces: On the Road Again, anothermountainman (Stanley Wong) explores the persistence of the past in the face of tumultuous change. Images of the desert landscape around Dunhuang in Gansu Province, China, photographed in 2010, are juxtaposed with images of Chinese characters taken around the world over a period of fifteen years. The exhibition suggests that history can never be erased, while attempts to impose an order on the present will always be disrupted by what has come before. Dunhuang was once a thriving commercial and spiritual centre on the ancient Silk Road leading from the north China plains to Mongolia, Southern Siberia, Tibet, India and further Westwards to Europe. Although it may feel remote today, these images remind us that the desert is alive with memory and meaning: tracks, roads, telegraph wires, satellite dishes and fading signage are the traces of an enduring human connectivity.

11am - 8pm, Tuesday to Sunday, 18 November - 18 December
Address: 21/F Ho Lee Commercial Building, 38-44 D'Aguilar Street, Central, Hong Kong
Isolde Monson-Baumgart: 1935–2011

22 November 2011

by Gunter Rambow
Isolde Monson-Baumgart died on 3rd November 2011. One month ago, on 2nd October 2011 I had the honour to open Isolde's last exhibition in my gallery in Guestrow. This was also the opening of the "Guestrow Art Night".

We had wonderful autumn-gold weather and in front of my gallery the Guestrow Jazz Bigband consisting of 30 youngsters, played their new pieces of jazz and occupied the complete street. The Guestrow Art Night is quite popular and we had approx. 300 art-interested visitors during the opening. Isolde arrived here one day earlier and so she was relaxed and smiling she joined the crowd. I try to remember the keynotes of my speech at the opening:

“I feel as it was yesterday, a young first-year student going on a pilgrimage to the cinema, it must have been 1959, they showed the films of “Neue Filmkunst Walter Kirchner”. A great many students in whole Germany, at least in university cities did the same. In the cinema lobby we could see posters we had not seen before. These posters forced everyone to look at them and were studied most intensively. I’m talking of the posters of my teacher Hans Hillmann and of Isolde Baumgart, and they did these posters for many years.

"Even today I can still discuss the strong feelings we had in front of these posters with many fellow students of the fifties and sixties all over Germany. These posters formed some kind of visual homeland, they were something like a poster school. Isolde's posters had a very special effect on me, I think because her work had a female, gentle and sensitive handling of drawing, photography and typography. Of course the Hillmann school was her background but her works nevertheless had a different and very independent position.”

During the whole night we had visitors coming and going, a really good Jazzband performed and then Isolde's nephew joined in—he is a famous pianist in Munich. It was a great poster party and there were six German AGI-members admiring Isolde's work.
Isolde Monson-Baumgart has left us now but her posters will remain and will comfort us in our grief.

—Gunter Rambow
AGI Porto Special project in EXD Lisbon design Biennale

20 November 2011

The exhibition “Mapping the Process”—the special project from Porto's Congress 2010 with members' visual maps of the creative process—is in the well-known biennale “Experimenta Design” in Lisbon, Portugal.

After its exhibition in Porto, during AGI Open 2010, with 1000 visitors, and in Coimbra, in February 2011, “Mapping the Process” makes a new stop at Lisbon, in Palácio Quintela, a beautiful palace in the heart of the city. It has registered about 6000 visits.

This important biennale is dedicated to design, and includes street interventions, lectures, special projects and a cycle of exhibitions. The show will stay till 27^th November 2011.
Ruedi Rüegg 4.8.1936 - 14.10.2011

31 October 2011

Word reaches us today announcing the sad news of Ruedi Rüegg's passing.

Ruedi, a outstandingly gifted designer, had exceptional educational
credentials, from Design School Zurich to Nippon Design Center to Paul Rand.
His office Designalltag was a beacon of Swiss Design, serving clients who
ranged from Zurich Airport to SwissMail to Westinghouse. In many ways, the
most impressive aspect of his practice emanated from his attitude. Neither
brash nor stylish, always honest and to the point, he exemplified Swiss
design at its best, with a truly international touch.

Beside his family and profession he had a great love for AGI. Ruedi served
as International Secretary from 1996-2000. He fulfilled his function by
bringing to the equation a unique understanding, at the same time powerful
and demure. In 2000 he was awarded the first ³AGI Henry². And rightfully so.

Ruedi suffered from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) an illness which is
difficult to understand and even tougher to accept and live with. Ruedi was
a giant in how he dealt with such a burden. His wife Anni and his children
supported him in every way. While his health became increasingly frail, his
mind and natural enthusiasm remained impressive and strong.

I last saw Ruedi and Anni a few weeks ago. I found him in excellent spirits,
still at work in his beautiful studio in Feldbach. His body was clearly
growing weaker but, his wonderful designer mind still looked toward the
future. At that meeting, Ruedi gave me a copy of his penultimate book
³Spuren 2 (Tracks 2)². Ruedi, Anni, my wife Ilse and I shared a glass of
wine together.

I recall so many good times with Ruedi, in all four corners of the world. In
my mind I remember one particular canoe trip in Northern Canada, perhaps
thirty years ago, in the dark days before cell phones! The two land bobbers
paddled off into the wilderness, the breeze behind us, easy enough on the
way out, near impossible as we struggled to get back against the wind. We
almost didn¹t make it. However, Ruedi¹s natural determination carried us,
like in life or in design. Afterward, we congratulated each other on the
dock.

Dear Ruedi, a truly wonderful human being, you are already missed, and so
well remembered.
We send all the very best to your wife Anni, children and grandchildren.

Fritz Gottschalk
Zurich, 19/10/11
Hans Peter Hoch 1924–2011

27 October 2011

Hans Peter Hoch died October 16, 2011 at the age of 87 in Baltmannsweiler-Hohengehren, near Stuttgart, Germany. Born 1924 in Aarau (Switzerland), he studied in apprenticeship as repro photographer at the "Höhere Fachschule für das Grafische Gewerbe" (Higher University for Applied Sciences for the Graphic Industry) in Stuttgart and at the "Bernsteinschule Sulz am Neckar", working group for visual arts. In 1950 he started his own "Bureau for Visual Communication" and in addition he worked in free painting, photography and graphics. In 1974 he became member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale. He was a member of the well-known "Deutscher Werkbund" and the "Verband Bildender Künstler" (Association of Visual Artists). In 1985 he was appointment as professor by the state Baden-Wuerttemberg (one of the 16 states of Germany), and in 1988 he was laureate of the Stankowski foundation “Kunst und Design”.

Since 1964 he designed many publications, catalogs, posters, as well as exhibitions for the Stuttgart Institute for Foreign Affairs on behalf of the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany. Since 1983 he was responsible for the concept and realization of the memorial "Deutscher Widerstand Berlin" (a permanent exhibition about the resistance to National Socialism) as well as topical updates, special exhibits and publications. He worked his life long for many museums among others: the Hegel-House in Stuttgart, the Georg Elser memorial in Koenigsbronn, the Bert-Brecht-House in Augsburg and the Martin-Heidegger-Museum in Messkirch.

His work correlated to his high demands of himself. In 1988 Peter von Kornatzki described the work of Hans Peter Hoch, as follows: "Wether stamp or exhibition, poster or signage system, signet or brochure – none of his visual concepts appears to be unsubstantial or glutted, formalistic or compliant in any way. On the contrary: all of his sketches are unusually balanced with regard to semantics, syntax and pragmatism, and seem coherent. This is also the source of their high intensity and aesthetic quality."

Few months ago I talked with Hans Peter about his work on the occasion of a book about the German AGI-members. So I am sad at heart, that he won't be able to see it. We will miss him.

– Uwe Loesch, president of the German AGI-members