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two new posters for the metropole orkest, which we have recently completed
GD
…in that moment the designer was the client and the designer at the same time. They could express themselves in a way which was inspiring. This, was for me, a pure laboratory where the designers could go really very far. This was also the period where we worked together with Cranbrook Academy in Detroit which was at that moment the most avante-garde art school in America. The Head of Graphic Design Catherine McCoy visited me and was so impressed by the way we approached our work that she asked if she could send some interns. I said ‘of course’ and there is a lot of influence from Cranbrook Academy in this work as well…
an interview with gert dumbar and my buddy graham sturt from VBAT, well worth a read even if you know the dumbar story and his opinions already… nice job graham!
well-travelled &…
nice little project from the starshaped press: the well-traveled ampersand
although i must admit that to me; the typeset composite itself, made up of hundreds of small lead type pieces; looks a lot more interesting than the print which it is used to create
km
…I don’t have a premeditated plan when I’m making prints. It’s more of a reflection on what’s already there: The paper motivates me to do something, to react to what exists. In the case of this new series, which has a lot of circles, I’m curious to see them in combination with the background color of a found card or in relationship to the rhythm of each card’s typewriter typography. My method takes time: I print one color, then wait for at least a day for the drying process; on the next day or whenever, I react again to what there is now…
The influential Dutch graphic designer Karel Martens is most strongly associated with typography: He even developed his home country’s gold-standard master’s degree program focusing on the discipline. But Martens isn’t just a serifs-and-kerning guy: He works across video, installation and sculpture, too, having spent nearly 60 years developing a practice that reflects his persistent inquisitiveness…
…there are a few of these cards that I found in the same place. It’s a ‘specification card’ for income and expenditure. It makes me think of my father, who entered his costs into a similar ledger book every day. The card shows formal columns in combination with human handwriting. The print on it is very simple, just one metal shape repeated. I found that piece a while ago; it also has a kind of ‘list’ character, but from a different world than what’s in the card itself. The print was motivated by my curiosity to see the two things together…
on the eve of his show in new york karel martens talks about his work and the process involved
…the white on the right-hand circle is printed perhaps seven times, until it gets really white. And the blue is printed with a white on top of it, but that looks gray, because it’s only overprinted two times. In offset printing, this effect is almost impossible, but you can do it in letterpress if you repeat it many times using opaque ink. It was my intention to take the closed yellow circle and make an opening in it. By overprinting the white ink, it becomes the same ‘color temperature’ as the background, matching the white color of the card. And then the yellow dot pops out — a surprise that you can’t plan for. Perhaps this is the best motivation to make work…