La Più Grande
La Più Grande (Graphic Design Worlds – Print 1/5)
2011
H 1189 x W 841 mm
4 colour screenprint on 120 grams/m2 Natronkraft paper
20 signed and numbered prints out of 50 prints total
One out of five prints for Graphic Design Worlds, an exhibition about diversity in the current world of graphic design at the Triennale di Milano, the largest design musuem in Italy.
In this groupshow, I wanted to address different aspects of popular, everyday life culture as a source of wonder and inspiration to designers. At the same time I wanted to make fun of the high expectations that usually are connected with large projects like these. We’re doing our ‘trick’ for the audience here in Milan, but it’s not a friendly world at all…
You hardly see them anymore these days: long rows of circus posters pasted along crucial road into the city. Fortunately the Circus Museum in Best has published their fantastic collection of circus poster online.
Photo © QU Chronicle
I thought it might be an interesting idea to mix this type of imagery with material from the world of sports. Since I discovered Chris Creamer’s blog sportslogos.net, I’m addicted to work with ‘anonymous’ images from the US and Canada.
If you look at subjectmatter, style and line treatment, it’s fascinating to see the high level of general consensus about how teamlogos for ice hockey, baseball and American football should be designed. Who started this? This is going to be subject of future research…
Instead of a lion or a tiger, I used the mascot of Quinnipiac University’s ice hockeyteam, the Quinnipiac Bobcats, mixed with other aggressive animals from various teams like the half machine, half monster Hartford Wolf Pack Club (now Conneticut Whale?) below.
Logos © Hartford Wolf Pack Club
Often, it requires heavy research to find out who actually designed these images. There’s a whole hockey jersey subculture out there… Johnny Griswold, a designer specialising in sportslogo’s, runs a very informative blog on this topic, called Sportsdrawn.
If you know who designed any of the logo’s I’ve used in my work, please contact me!
