Gabor Palotai, Sweden

AGI member since 2002

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Gábor Palotai took his MA in graphic design at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest. In 1981 he moved to Stockholm where he studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and Beckmans College of Design. He works on a broad range of design commissions in the field of visual communication, such as identity design, packaging, illustrations, poster art, photography, textile design, typography, book design, animations, and web design. Gábor Palotai’s playful and striking graphic design, where design and art merge, characterizes his studio’s output. His graphic design commissions and art projects are intermixed and displayed in different ways throughout his books: Maximizing the Audience (2000), AM MU NA HI (2001), 111 Posters (2007), and Odysseus – A graphic Design Novel (2007). Gábor Palotai’s long-standing experimental design and art project on patterns is also to be seen in his latest book ZOO (2017). His interdisciplinary art and design has been realised in different media. Gábor Palotai frequently exhibits his design and art, at solo exhibitions and group shows. He is an honorary professor at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest.

Design work by Gabor Palotai


    Gabor Palotai, Sweden (2002)

    Gábor Palotai took his MA in graphic design at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest. In 1981 he moved to Stockholm where he studied at the Royal Academy...

    Read full biography
    Gabor Palotai, Sweden (2002)

    Gábor Palotai took his MA in graphic design at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest. In 1981 he moved to Stockholm where he studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and Beckmans College of Design. He works on a broad range of design commissions in the field of visual communication, such as identity design, packaging, illustrations, poster art, photography, textile design, typography, book design, animations, and web design. Gábor Palotai’s playful and striking graphic design, where design and art merge, characterizes his studio’s output. His graphic design commissions and art projects are intermixed and displayed in different ways throughout his books: Maximizing the Audience (2000), AM MU NA HI (2001), 111 Posters (2007), and Odysseus – A graphic Design Novel (2007). Gábor Palotai’s long-standing experimental design and art project on patterns is also to be seen in his latest book ZOO (2017). His interdisciplinary art and design has been realised in different media. Gábor Palotai frequently exhibits his design and art, at solo exhibitions and group shows. He is an honorary professor at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest.

    Publications

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    Zoo

    • Artworks and graphic design: Gábor Palotai

    Text: Linda Rampell

    In the book ZOO, Gábor Palotai displays a different take on the depictions of animals in the arts. Far from being figurative illustrations, every animal is portrayed in an abstract art; sharply outlined in contrast with a mesmerizing pattern in light and dark. The effects of this white and black pattern enhances the impression that each animal is etched into the paper in a texure that evokes tactile sensibility.

    Odysseus

    (2007)

    • Artworks and graphic design: Gábor Palotai

    Text: Linda Rampell

    ODYSSEUS is an experimental graphic design novel by Gábor Palotai. Turn over the pages of the book: there are no longer any black words on white paper. In fact there is nothing to read, only to be seen. The verbal is replaced by the visual. Skirting the surface of the paper, the beat of the black-and-white tells of a story where the storyteller is you: you are your own ODYSSEUS.

    111 Poster

    (2007)

    • Poster and graphic design: Gábor Palotai

    Text: Linda Rampell

    The striking and subtile design of Gábor Palotai is epitomized in his posters, where letters and basic elements are transformed into images. 111 POSTERS is a retrospective of Gábor Palotai’s sharp and sensitive poster art. 111 Statements of his precise and recognizable graphic design. 111 documents of everyday urban life.

    AM MU NA HI

    (2001)

    • Photography and graphic design: Gábor Palotai

    Text: Linda Rampell

    The title AM MU NA HI is an abbreviation, derived from the American Museum of Natural History. Gábor Palotai photographed the stuffed animals at the museum, and thereafter computer manipulated his pictures – a modus operandi by which they were transformed into allegory. No longer recognized as they were once seen, they became a memento of a death which for them had already occurred. AM MU NA HI displays a mummified reality, embalmed in a poetic landscape, where death is no longer superficial.

    Maximizing The Audience

    (2000)

    • Graphic Design: Gábor Palotai

    Text: Linda Rampell

    MAXIMIZING THE AUDIENCE displays Gábor Palotai’s distinguished world of visual art made during the years 1985-2000. The book consists of two parts: The first part displays an in depth diversity of themes and topics, from death to play, deliberately crossing the disciplines of art and design. The second part shows his context bound art projects and client based graphic design commissions, from corporate identities to exhibition and web design.

    Agencies

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    Awards

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    • 2021

    Red Dot Design Award, Best of the Best. Skap, Poster Series & Animation.
    • 2021

    Swedish Meal Litterature, Best Design. Videgård: Berättelser och recept, Book Design.
    • 2021

    Knight’s Cross Order of Merit of Hungary, Lifetime Achievement.
    • 2020

    Red Dot Design Award. Videgård Restaurant, Poster Series.
    • 2019

    Red Dot Design Award. COSMOS, Illustrations.
    • 2019

    Swedish Book Art Award. Vera von Toth—Linda Rampell, Book Design.
    • 2019

    Swedish Design Prize, Designer of the Year. Videgård Restaurant, Identity, Interior Graphics.
    • 2019

    German Design Award, Special Mention. ZOO, Poster Series.
    • 2019

    German Design Award. Contempo, Visual Identity.
    • 2019

    German Design Award, Nominee. Galeria Neon, Visual Identity.
    • 2019

    German Design Award, Nominee. Livsdal of Sweden, Poster Series.
    • 2018

    Hungarian Design Award. Livsdal of Sweden, Visual Identity.
    • 2018

    Red Dot Design Award. Livsdal of Sweden, Visual Identity.
    • 2018

    Red Dot Design Award. Swedish Exhibition Agency, Poster Series.
    • 2018

    Red Dot Design Award. Neon Art Gallery, Visual Identity.
    • 2018

    The Golden Egg Award, Diploma. Livsdal of Sweden, Packaging & Identity.
    • 2018

    German Design Award, Winner. The Shopmodern Condition, Poster Series.
    • 2018

    German Design Award, Special Mention. Swedish Exhibition Agency, Poster Series.
    • 2017

    Red Dot Design Award: Best of the Best. Swedish Exhibition Agency, Posters.
    • 2017

    Red Dot Design Award: Best of the Best. Gabor Palotai - Zoo, Illustrations.
    • 2017

    Red Dot Design Award: Best of the Best. Gabor Palotai - Zoo, Poster Series.
    • 2017

    Red Dot Design Award. Contempo Auctions, Poster Series.
    • 2017

    Golden Drawing Pin, Lifetime Achievement Award.
    • 2016

    Red Dot Design Award. Poster design Swedish Exhibition Agency (Riksutställningar).
    • 2016

    Red Dot Design Award. Poster design for the book "The Shopmodern Condition" by Linda Rampell.
    • 2016

    Red Dot Design Award. Product design. Thriller (collaboration with Anna Kraitz).
    • 2016

    Swedish Book Art Award. Facing Heaven by Erik Videgård. Natur & Kultur.
    • 2015

    Swedish Design Prize (Svenska Designpriset), Gold medal. Book Design. Facing Heaven by Erik Videgård. Natur & Kultur.
    • 2014

    Red Dot Design Award. Poster design. Violin and cello concerto at Berwaldhallen.
    • 2014

    Red Dot Design Award. Record sleeve. Oddjob – Live in Bremen
    • 2013

    European Design Awards (Silver). Poster Reflex. Reflex Architects.
    • 2013

    Red Dot Design Award. Corporate design of the Mobile Exhibition Lab. Swedish Travelling Exhibition. Swedish Exhibition Agency (Riksutställningar).
    • 2012

    Red Dot Design Award. Poster design Reflex. Reflex Architects.
    • 2012

    Red Dot Design Award. Book design Claesson Koivisto Rune, On Yellow. Skandium, London.
    • 2010

    Red Dot Design Award. Record sleeve Leucocyte. Esbjörn Svensson Trio. The ACT Company.
    • 2010

    Red Dot Design Award. Book design Freud med Skalpell av Linda Rampell. GPP.
    • 2010

    Red Dot Design Award. Annual Report of the Swedish Exhibition Agency (Riksutställningar)
    • 2010

    Red Dot Design Award. Corporate design of the Sollentuna Shopping Centre in Stockholm. Steen & Ström.
    • 2010

    Red Dot Design Award. Corporate design of the Swedish Exhibition Agency (Riksutställningar).
    • 2007

    Red Dot Design Award. Book design Gábor Palotai Odysseus a Graphic Design Novel. GPP.
    • 2007

    Red Dot Design Award. Book design Function Rules. Veryday (former Ergonomi Design).
    • 2006

    The Golden Egg Award (Guldägget). (Swedish Communication Agencies) for the exhibition poster Estonia
    • 2005

    Red Dot Design Award. Poster design Made in Sweden. Svensk Form.
    • 2003

    Red Dot Design Award. OP Vodka. V&S Group.
    • 2003

    Red Dot Design Award. Book design Gábor Palotai AM MU NA HI. GPP
    • 2003

    Red Dot Design Award. Book design and DVD Gábor Palotai Maximizing The Audience. GPP.
    • 1985 – 2002

    Excellent Swedish Design Prize, approx. 25 different awards.
    • 2009 – 2017

    German Design Award, Nominee. 13 different nominations.