The fusion of influences in Ryan McGinness' paintings, prints, sculptures and installations establishes his unique language as a multi-faceted reflection of contemporary visual culture. Heller talks to him about the place his new work has in his overall blurring of the lines between art and design languages.
Design Culture
Weekend Heller: Machiavelli on a Well-Ordered Republic
Jack Summerford recently found this beautifully designed piece, which carries with it a certain sad resonance today and was originally gifted to Stanley Marcus (of Neiman Marcus) and his wife by Texas screenwriter Bill Wittliff.
Will Burtin in the Present
R. Roger Remington has already published a book on designer Will Burtin, whose intellectual and creative powers allowed him to function on an epic scale; a new volume to be published by Unit Editions is now in the Kickstarter fundraising process. Heller talked to Remington about the advantages of this new volume.
Head To Head In Germany
The 1930 German manual titled How To Design A Career provided commercial artists all the tips they needed to know to become a solid working one in pre-Hitler Germany. Published in four volumes, the samples here come from the book on designing letterheads, billheads and logos.
Parting With A Lifetime’s Collection
A new film, How To Steal A Chair, follows 72-year-old Stergios Delialis as he realizes he has become a ghost in his own life and contemplates parting with his collection. Meanwhile, he undertakes to produce a retrospective of his own design work in the building of his lost museum.
Magazine Heaven
With Stalin in his grave, the Polish Communist government "approval and allocation of paper" led to the creation of a radically designed periodical titled Ty i Ja (You and Me). The first issue was founded in 1960 by the journalists Teresa Kuczynska and Roman Jurys, and designed by the great Roman Cieslewicz.
Andrzej Krajewski’s Book Covers and Jackets
There seems to be no end of amazing talents who live in or emigrated from Poland. Among the masters is Andrzej Krajewski (b. 1933), who was somehow unknown to Steve Heller until he found a book of his book covers and jackets edited by Tytusa Klepacza
Contemporary Brazilian Design with Frederico Duarte
PRINT talks with curator, design critic and doctoral researcher Frederico Duarte about the local impact and global appeal of contemporary Brazilian design, and how Brazilian designers are showing us how to create a future that is larger than a country.
Hungary’s Leading Grafikusmüvész
Tibor Gönczi Gebhardt was a Hungarian grafikusmüvész and poster artist whose art deco style was his meat until after 1945, when with the rise of Communism he turned to socialist realism.
Extra! Extra! Get Your Novel Here!
If you were living in an American city such as Philadelphia or Pittsburgh in years past, one of the pleasures of picking up your Sunday color sections would be finding a "Complete Novel" in a tabloid format similar to the Funny Pages. Pretty interesting method of getting readership. But not that unusual.