Lecture: Massimo Vignelli

Last Monday I attended a Graphic Design lecture featuring Massimo Vignelli. Vignelli is one of the biggest names in design - he created the signage for the D.C. Metro and New York subway system, the National Park publications, American Airlines' identity, Cat and Dog books, and many other designs I was familiar with. Massimo's motto is:

"I see graphic design as the organization of information that is semantically correct, syntactically consistent, and pragmatically understandable. I like it to be visually powerful, intellectually elegant, and above all timeless."

Massimo is a hard-core Modernist - He believes in design that is systematic with structure and standards. To him music is like design; it is limited to 7 notes, but those notes can create endless combinations. Design should be treated in the same manner with guidelines and a minimal text options to provide structure and consistency. He believes the blank page is a frightening thing. Where do you start? The opportunites are endless because there is not starting point. Massimo also thinks design should not always be considered art because art poses its own problems, while design provides a solution for a problem.
I enjoyed Massimo's lecture and appreciated his work for its clean lines and timeless appeal. But regardless of how popular his designs are, there are a lot of graphic designers who believe him to be discouraging for the progression of design. Massimo was disguisted when computers became popular because they created endless options and numerous fonts to be uses without understanding of what they were for. Though I can understand that argument, I do think modernism is appropiate in some design especially for things used that appeal to the masses like the D.C. Metro system.

Recognize!

This past weekend, my Mom and I went to the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery to see a new exhibit called Recognize! a collection of hip hop and contemporary portraiture. The artists highlighted were Tim Conlon and Dave Hupp, graffiti artists, David Scheinbaum, a photographer, Kehinde Wiley, painter, Jefferson Pinder, video artist, Nikki Giovanni, poetry, and Shinique Smith, installation/collage artist. It was a great exhibition - especially since such a profound and highly respected Gallery acknowledged hip hop culture as an established art form and not just street-art. It was also the first time the Smithsonian exhibited graffiti art which I thought was a very bold and daring thing to do, seeing that it is illegal and looked down upon as a professional art form. I am not very familiar with graffiti or "street" art, but I know it to be a vital component of hip-hop culture, (other components include Mc-ing, Dj-ing, and break-dancing.) I am also very aware of the fact that it is a Richmond no-no. In AFO, we were given the run-down of the consequences of graffiti and even the simple use of spray paint.
I'm not sure how I feel about graffiti - I think it has its time and place, and can understand how it is appropiate in urban evironments where some find it difficult to express themselves and see it as the best way to appeal to the masses. But I also see the difficulty in distinguishing between graffiti art and taggers, who merely want to deface public property just because they can get away with it. It's like the walls in the elevator in my building. No one has anything of importance to say - they just want to write dirty things because no one is monitoring them and they can get away with it. I commend the Smithsonian for putting together a great show that displayed hip-hop on a new and different level to be critically disscussed in a positive light.

The Death of Postmoderism and Beyond

Good article: http://www.philosophynow.org/issue58/58kirby.htm

Anthony Goicolea

Anthony Goicolea's work deals with issues in indentity and adolesence - similar themes I have touched on in some of my work. I have always been interested in my childhood and how normal events at that time seem very strange and uncomfortable to me now. It would have been interesting to have Goicolea lecture right after Justine Kurland to compare and contrast their work. The first series she showed dealt with female adolesence, but her images came off as less obtrusive as Goicolea's. His images are definitely more literal, humorous, and in your face. There is no mystery as to what is going on, specifically in the series You And What Army. Goicolea captures awkward events, that become strangly elevated due to the similarities between characters. While going through his series, I was surprised to see how sexual his work was. It seemed like he sensored his images during the lecture, because there are some images that are more provactative then others, refering heavily to childhood sexuality.
I feel like the first image I posted from the series, Dentention Center, is a clear reference to Henry Darger and his female fairies with male genitalia. Goicolea becomes a life-like version of those fairies - odd and fascinating. The minute he mentioned Darger, I could see him referenced in a lot of Goicolea's images.
What I think is both a success and failure of Goicolea's images, is that individually they can stand on their own. They do not need the other images to supplement them, there is no need to reference another photo in order to understand one of them. This is great because it means he can create a narrative within a single frame, which I find very difficult to do, but I also found myself wanting to see an image not so grand - a detail shot, a close-up of an important aspect of the narrative- something intimate and interesting. I think that is why I was so drawn to the last image I posted from the Detention Center because it was completely different from the majority of Goicolea's images. Even as a close-up I think it can stand on its on - it reveals a lot about the narrative and is visually interesting.
Overall I think Goicolea's work is amazing - each shot is carefully planned out, with lots of attention to detail. You cannot just glance over his work because there is so much to take in and engage with. Also, not one image is the same. Each one tells a different story, even if in the grand scheme of things it is telling a single story, coming from an individual series. I am also blown away by his craft, his amazing photoshop skills and the ability to print in such enormous scales.
Though I can appreciate his work, I surprisingly did not find it very inspirational. I did not leave the meeting with a new sense of hope about my work, even though I felt we shared some similar prevailing themes and work habits. I have a very difficult time just going out and shooting - I have to have something in mind, a plan of action, and a system. Though he said he gets bored with routine, I think it is difficult to create such complicated images without knowing ahead of time what you want to do. I also can appreciate when Goicolea said, "I photograph things that I am attracted to, then figure it out later." Though he is obviously very well informed about the themes he is referencing, it's still nice to know he simply photographs things he just merely likes.