The work of Argentinian book cover designer/illustrator Juan Ángel Cotta is now a book, Cotta & Los Libros Del Mirasol by Leandro Castelao and Francisco Roca of Flecha Books. I wrote the Prólogo in which I admit not knowing a thing about his work and stated, “Designers remain unknown for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is geographic. Graphic design history is always changing, in large part because there is so much of it and most of the record is United States and Eurocentric.” This material was a very pleasant surprise.
Through books like this perhaps work of other South American designers will be rediscovered and integrated into to the expanding history of design.This beautifully designed and packaged volume is an essential addition to this not-so-ephemeral field. Learning about his work has given me an even better of a perspective on how the language of modernism appealed to commerce, culture and ultimately to audiences from around the world.
