Designer pain

[imomus]

Graphic Masochism is my latest piece for Voice: American Institute of Graphic Arts Journal. It seems to be provoking a few comments, which is more than the last one did. If you find the theme (more to do with things like ambivalence, negotiation and collaboration than actual sexual masochism) interesting you might want to read Metaphysical Masochism of the Capitalist Creative, the 2000 essay where I first broached this theme. Earlier this year I re-wrote that original essay for Amsterdam-based design magazine Dot Dot Dot. Issue 8 will appear shortly; you can check out the contents here. (I'm looking forward to reading 'The English Breakfast as a Modular System'!)

We decided to illustrate the AIGA Voice piece with the sleeve for Etienne de Crecy's Superdiscount album (1996), designed by H5 (Antoine Bardou-Jacquet and Ludovic Houplain). Which is funny, because I've just turned in a 1000 word piece for the November issue of Index magazine casting Paris musicians like o.lamm and Hypo as dragon-slaying knights -- the dragons being such 90s figures as Mirwais, Air, Phoenix, Cassius and... Etienne de Crecy.

Comments

[sparkligbeatnic.livejournal.com]

Speaking of power centres, dominant elites, signification, and advertising, has anyone wondered ever wondered what the "XP" in Windows XP might stand for?

A clue: the initials take on quite a different shade of meaning if they are read as Greek, not Roman, letters.

[(Anonymous)]

Chi-ro ? (http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/carolrb/christianity/christian_symbols.html) :

Some kind of Christo-Gates power centre? Wow, that's, very, um... very. :-)

Jim

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, I seem to have made a mortal enemy of Art Chantry now on the AIGA Voice comments thread (http://journal.aiga.org/content.cfm?ContentAlias=%5Fgetfullarticle&aid=%23%2FN%5F%2A%0A&r=0294BDBC%2DD0B7%2DB8E1%2D9D641D3702DC626A&msgda=fin). Let's hope he has a thick skin rather than a thick neck.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

I'll put the china in the cellar.

Chantryfication

[(Anonymous)]

Wow, he does seem a tad insecure and defensive, doesn't he? I read about 11 interviews with him and while he seems to be quite knowledgeable about the technical aspects of printing, he takes pride in not having any sort of conscious process to his work and on top of that admits to being totally retro-fixated, going as far as to say he doesn't look at any design work done after 1965. Confronted on his confrontational nature, he calls himself "honest" and right afterwards adopts a gunslinger-like "take it or leave it, treat me badly and I'll treat you badly" attitude.

I mean, he rips on you in a completely ad hominem way for being British, as if that makes you incompetent to understand American vernacular / faux-naive graphic design? A couple of decades worth of UK rock and punk posters (certain Buzzcocks sleeves come to mind as predating his style by 15 years), a vital comics tradition (I mean, could Carl Giles have come from America??), and Hammer Horror films seem to put paid to that argument. It's just that UK designers don't go around lifting it wholesale.