80s ESPRIT

Michael Callaghan tribute

Tribute reproduced courtesy of Art & Australia, Summer 2012, volume 50, number 2.

Michael Callaghan: Merchants of War, 13 November – 1 December 2012 at Damien Minton Gallery
61-63 Great Buckingham Street, Redfern New South Wales, 2016

Get. There. Pronto.

From the archives: Joan Miro

Yesterday at the Alphington Primary School Fair I tackled trashless treasure with a sense of purpose, only to walk away with a broken jewellery box, the kind with a twirling ballerina, and a small tupperware container with pretend lego. It was slim pickings. Later, buoyed by a cup of tea, I ventured into the book hall. I was too late to pick up a good book but propped up against a wall was a 1984 mounted reproduction of Joan Miro's watercolour Huile Sur Toile from 1948, printed in France in 1984. It's a lovely print: colourful, whimsical and cheerful. I remember liking Miro (1893–1983) as a teenager but cutting him loose about the same time as Marc Chagall. They seemed too lyrical for teenage torment. While I am still ambivalent about Chagall, I am happy to welcome Miro's Spanish charm into my home. His kooky lines and symbolic abstracted illustrations are fun. Try as I might I can't find a jpg on the net. So I will photograph it. In the meantime here is another of Miro's paintings, for a bit of atmos.

From the archives: Adolf Loos

One of the things I admire about my husband is his knack for packing. He can work a rubik's cube like no one I know. And he brings the same logic to organizing objects into confined spaces. Taking a squizz at Czech architect Adolf Loos's (1870-1933) now iconic Muller Villa, I thought Loos and Mr Zagala have something in common, something I would describe as a particular kind of spatial intelligence. It's interesting puzzling over Loos's approach to planning interior spaces. For an early modernist who embraced clean geometric lines, his interiors contain a surprising counter-movement. They are strangely complex, sort of like an Escher print, but more stripped back. And what about the luxe, surfaces and eclectic furniture? This photograph is of the children's room. Without squirts in it, Loos's room reminds me of a cross between a motel and a doll's house. And colourful though it may be, there is no denying its severity. With my own kids room looking like a fricken bomb site today I have to admit to a longing for the an epoch before China agreed to supply capitalism with piles of plastic crap, some of which has found its way to our place. I need a Loos-like solution for makin' it disappear.

From the archives: Anni Albers

Anni Albers, Study for B, 1968
Gouache on Blueprinted Graph Paper. JAAF: 1994.10.25
44.133 x 35.243cm (17.375 x 13.875 inches)
©2003 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Anni Albers, C, 1969
Screenprint. JAAF: 1994.11.9
61 x 56 cm (24 x 22 inches)

©2007 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Anni Albers, Fox II, 1972
Screenprint. JAAF: 1994.11.24
61 x 50.8 cm (24 x 22 inches)
©2007 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

It's been a while since I dipped into the archives. But two things – a long and fruitless search for a rug, and the triangles post – got me thinking about Anni Albers (1899 – 1994). It's often the way in my head: two things bump together and shake something loose. I can't even recall how I was introduced to Albers' work. I'm pretty sure it was on a visit to the down at heel Bauhaus Museum in Berlin, where the work of students and teachers of the German design school were on display. Up until then I'd thought of the Bauhaus as a bit on the S&M side. You know, chrome and leather. But amidst all the hard lines and tough materials were works from the textile workshop. Unlike the other more forcefully forward-looking furniture department the textile arm of the school was like a little oasis of fuzz. Sure they displayed the Bauhaus' interest in geometry but the fabric fragments and floor coverings were soft, even a little folk. Anni Albers studied weaving (and fell in love with Josef, one of the teachers). They must have been something. I know Josef gets most of the kudos in their partnership but I prefer Anni's work. When I look at it I think of a wood pecker, just chipping away at the tree. Different decade, same project. The lady loved triangles.

The Albers Foundation is worth checking out.

From the archives: Takeo Takei

illustrated by Takei Takeo
Building Blocks
"Kodomo no kuni" 1927.6

illustrated by Takei Takeo
words by Saijyo Yaso
The Song of Chocolate
"Kodomo no kuni" 1929.

I'm pretty certain that childhood was celebrated well before the twentieth century. But modernism introduced magazines to the world and its people, big and small. My own grandfather was a long-time editor of the Polish children's magazine Swiersczczk. In Japan Kodomo no kuni (1922-1949) was a dedicated children's journal that published the works of a slew of wonderful Japanese artists and illustrators who documented Japan's rapidly changing urban landscape, train stations to tractors, from the perspective of its littlest citizens. I love their optimism, their wonder at modernization. One of its illustrator's, art school trained Takeo Takei (1894-1983) stands out. Why? Well, there's something about the way he combines collage, abstract shapes and vibrant colours with compositions drawn from the playful place of the imagination. Entire worlds conjured in building blocks and chocolate. A man after my own heart.

You can see more of his work, and that of his contemporaries here.

Catholic Nun, Activist, Artist

Did you do a double take? I did. Isn't this a splendid sight! I can't believe I hadn't heard of Sister Corita Kent (1918-1986) before last week. This lady was a powerhouse. In a nutshell: Catholic Nun, Activist, Artist. Her devotional posters and anti-Vietnam War sentiments recall a ballsy, pre-iPad era. Make no mistake this is trippy God art and while it's not a language I personally speak, Kent's idiom – vivid colour, bold symbolism, winsome hand-cut lettering – is totally persuasive. I can't help it. I just like it.

Melbourne gallery Neon Parc in association with the Corita Art Centre and Third Drawer Down are staging an exhibition of her silkscreen posters this month. She is one sista to get behind.

Neon Parc

May 4 – June 4 2011

53 Bourke St

Melbourne VIC 3000

From the archives: Tibor Kalman

I have a couple 'go-to' designers when I get stuck for ideas. Few have, or had, as many ideas as Tibor Kalman (6 July 1949 - 2 May 1999). A Hungarian migrant, Kalman lived in America for most of his life before moving to Rome in the early 1990s to head Colours magazine. He did most of his recognisable work – a long collaboration with the band Talking Heads, identity, book, interior and architectural design with his wife and collaborator Maria for their company M&Co– in the 1980s. That was a decade with a lot of UPPERCASE and wide k e a r n i n g. He was a designer who understood typography, identified as a modernist but combined it with a genuine love for the vernacular. I was not surprised to discover recently that he was a rabid socialist as well. A lot of his design for Colors magazine – who can forget a black Queen Elizabeth? – was on the pointed side. From today's vantage Kalman's work looks of its time. I don't mean dated. Clean layouts, a clear message simply delivered and a passion for indigenous cultures. Not long before he died tragically of cancer still in his 40s, be published a book about his work: Perverse Optimist. Now he was someone who knew himself well.

From the archives: Paul Rand

Some individuals loom so large over their profession its difficult to get their full measure. Paul Rand (1914-1996) defined the field of graphic design in the 20th century and while he didn't do it single-handedly, its difficult to name others who could come close to touching him. Over summer I've been re-reading Steven Heller's excellent book on Paul Rand published in 1999, three years after his death. It's an inviting book, full of examples of his prodigious output – from early advertisements to his publication work, children's books, critical writing and corporate identity design. There's nothing the man didn't do or excel at (except marriage I take it). Heller's book was released when design discourse was in a war zone, postmodernism vs old school modernism. Some of that casts a shadow over the last years of Rand's life and this project. He clearly felt disrespected by the pot shots and narky criticism levelled at his work. Now, a decade on with the dust well and truly settled I think history favours Rand. His fine sensibility, joyous feeling for colour, conceptual but intuitive approach speaks for itself. Is there a lesson there? Be cool.

From the archives: Earthworks Poster Collective

Christmas, it's a time to look back, no? I was going to look way back at the great American Paul Rand, but a devilish mood took me. Is the end of the year anytime for that kind of sunny optimism? I don't think so either. Too much shit has gone down. We can start afresh come January 1. This poster by Chips Mackinolty for Earthworks Poster Collective (1971-1980) was for one of their Christmas parties. Earthworks was based at the Tin Sheds on the grounds of Sydney University, where a loose group of students gravitated to make posters and hang out. They made posters for political causes and events. The year before they opened up the workshop to community access and classes. It was one happenin' place. Frankly it's hard to believe this is already 33 years old. This was the year that Mental As Anything formed. Mackinolty's posters always had a certain point of view and confidence. Looking back at their posters you always got the sense they knew how to have a good time.