The Easel

30th June 2020

Milton Glaser: graphic designer who created the look of the Sixties

Glaser felt design differed from art, but with some overlap – both involve “a passing on of gifts”. He took ideas widely, from Renaissance art through to Bauhaus modernism (without its “puritanism”). Glaser’s work is influential and renowned, like the logo for New York City. Except, he said, “it wasn’t a logo. It was a cry for acknowledgement”. It certainly met Glaser’s aspiration for all his designs – to “open the heart “. An excellent interview is here.

Experiencing the shock of the old, fiber artists rediscover shows like MOMA’s pivotal 1969 “Wall Hangings”

An advocacy of textiles, or now, fibre art. One myth overdue for deletion is that the loom is essential. Off-loom techniques – “knotting, wrapping, and plaiting” – have an ancient lineage. They allow a more varied material palette that greatly expands the genre’s vocabulary. Colour can take a secondary role while previously mute attributes now speak forcefully – “structure, mass … tactile nuance”.

23rd June 2020

The Original Ballad

The fêted Ballad of Sexual Dependency chronicles a New York subculture. Its potency comes from its “incredible picture maker” (Nan Goldin) as well as the universality of its topic – relationships. “Who are these people? What’s happening to them? There’s the lush color. People have called [it] “operatic”. People’s Instagram feeds are their versions of The Ballad.”