Andrzej Klimowski: Transmitting the Image

Andrzej Klimowski has long held a special position in British graphic design and illustration. His outlook, artistic frames of reference and manner of making images bring together influences from both Britain and Poland. Of the two nations, it has often seemed to be the Polish sources and experiences that most durably define him.

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J.G. Ballard's Terminal Documents

In J.G. Ballard’s The Atrocity Exhibition (1970), a collection of experimental fictions, the central character, Travis, assembles a group of images described by Ballard in the text as “terminal documents.” This is a speculative visual interpretation of that list of images.

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The House That Design Journalism Built

Design writing and criticism courses are in vogue, while the design magazines that would once have provided a platform for new writers continue to fail and close. Without high-quality, properly resourced outlets as bedrock and training ground, how — and even more to the point where — is this new “higher-level” criticism going to emerge?

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The Dictionary as Art Concept

How important is originality when it comes to book design? A while back I wrote an article about the prevalence now, particularly within the art world, of books based on the editorial structure of the dictionary. The device has turned up again in a new Magritte exhibition catalogue. Far from finding this an obvious or overused conceit, it strikes me as a perfect device for exploring the painter’s brand of Surrealism.

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Rick Poynor is a writer, critic, lecturer and curator, specialising in design, media and visual culture. He founded Eye, co-founded Design Observer, and contributes columns to Eye and Print. His latest book is Uncanny: Surrealism and Graphic Design.

Recent Book

Uncanny: Surrealism and Graphic Design
Rick Poynor
Moravian Gallery, 2010
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