Hasta La Ideas

Seven artists tackle organizational and cultural systems

An innovative group exhibition, “Systemic” at Carolina Nitsch Project Room tasked seven artists to submit work representative of their relationship to process and organization. The result is a mixed bag of takes on systems and structures that range from the mathematical to the organic. Each personal approach has implications for collective behavior, with the exhibition functioning as a kind of societal meditation on the way we process our surroundings.

We recognized E.V. Day‘s “Pollinator” from Art Basel, and her three-dimensional reflective sculptures of mirrored flower organs held up the playful, free-form end of the organizational spectrum. Richard Dupont presents the strangely appealing “Head Head”, made from solid cast polyurethane resin. Dupont embedded the larger sculpture with masks cast from his own face as well as masks of random celebrities—ranging from Leonard Nimoy to Beethoven—that were sourced from the Internet.

Within the cast head, Dupont included aged epoxy rapid prototypes of himself and his wife as well as two antique glass heads. The work was especially interesting in the context of the show, providing a physical representation of mankind’s organizational system in real space. Dupont’s use of biography and pop culture in the masks created a narrative of memory and storytelling that informed other works within the exhibition.

Also of note are Tauba Auerbach‘s die-cut paper sculptures. Completely collapsable, “[2, 3]” is a series of giant pop-up books that unfold into wild geometric forms and can be closed to become books at any point. Another geometric work, “Spiral (for LB)” by Alyson Shotz is a life-sized hanging sculpture inspired by Louise Bourgeois’ “Spiral Woman”. The sculpture’s reflective surface plays with light in the space, changing according to day and season.

A floor-to-ceiling woodcut print comes courtesy of Aaron Spangler. Titled “Christian Separatist Home Birth”, the piece is constructed from basswood panels that were sourced from northwestern Minnesota, where the artist lives. Adjoining this piece was “Speech Bubble” by Jürgen Drescher, an amorphous silver-plated sculpture that distorts the viewer’s reflection. Spencer Finch exhibited “The River That Flows Both Ways”, a sequence of handmade paper panels that show the change in color of the Hudson River throughout the day.

“Systemic” is on view at Carolina Nitsch Project Room through 11 August 2012.

Carolina Nitsch Project Room

534 West 22nd Street

New York, NY 10011

Roger Excoffon (1910–1983) was the most talented French type designer of the 20th century and probably the most prolific in the whole of French typographic history. Being an admirer of Excoffon’s work myself I was happy to see that 2011 has brought a sudden re-appreciation of his work in the form of no less than two biographies, along with an interesting take on Mistral (called Nouvelle Vague) and Zizou.

In the words of designer Christian Schwartz, Zizou is his attempt to “draw Antique Olive from memory”. The name Zizou is a clever and witty reference to the city where Excoffon was born: Marseille.

When Antique Olive was released in 1960 it was regarded as the French answer to the rise of the highly successful neo-grotesques of the time, most notably Univers and Helvetica. It is interesting to notice that this style, and in particular Helvetica, has seen a gigantic re-appreciation (or rather over-appreciation) during the last five years.

Will a similar thing happen to Antique Olive? Probably not, since it is too outspoken in comparison to its contemporaries. A prime characteristic of Antique Olive is its play with balance and imbalance thereby breaking conventional rules for stroke contrast. Excoffon believed that by deliberately thickening the most important parts of a letter it would gain legibility.

Zizou appears to have swapped this radical idea for a return to a more conventional stroke contrast. Some critics might argue that means the design was watered down, but that’s too easy. Zizou immediately conveys this very specific Antique Olive atmosphere in a manner that is unique and highly suitable for today’s design. It does its job beautifully and admirably in the tightly tracked headlines of FastCompany which has exclusive rights to the typeface.

Now let’s hope 2012 will bring us more spiritual successors to Excoffon’s legacy executed so well.

French designer Mathieu Lehanneur and Harvard professor David Edwards have launched a filtration system which uses living plants to purify the air indoors. (more…)