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No More War!

Herbert F. (Herb) Lubalin was a prominent American graphic designer. He collaborated with Ralph Ginzburg on four of Ginzburg's magazines: Eros, Fact, and Avant Garde and was responsible for the creative visual beauty of these publications. He designed a typeface, ITC Avant Garde, for the last of these; this distinctive font could be described as a post-modern interpretation of art deco, and its influence can be seen in logos created in the 1990s and 2000s.
Lubalin spent the last ten years of his life working on a variety of projects, notably his typographic journal U&lc and the newly founded International Typographic Corporation. U&lc (shorthand for Upper and Lower Case) served as both an advertisement for Lubalin’s designs and a further plane of typographic experimentation; Steven Heller argues that U&lc was the first Emigre, or at least the template for its later successes, for this very combination of promotion and revolutionary change in type design. Heller further notes, “In U&lc, he tested just how far smashed and expressive lettering might be taken. Under Lubalin’s tutelage, eclectic typography was firmly entrenched.” Lubalin enjoyed the freedom his magazine provided him; he was quoted as saying “Right now, I have what every designer wants and few have the good fortune to achieve. I’m my own client. Nobody tells me what to do."

posted by undersign @ 9:56 AM 1 comments

Lowbrow is Underground

Lowbrow or lowbrow art is probably the most widely used name describing an underground visual art movement that arose in the Los Angeles, California, area in the late 1970s. Lowbrow is a widespread populist art movement with origins in the underground comix world, punk music, hot-rod street culture and other California subcultures. It is also often known by the name pop surrealism.
The first artists to create what came to be known as lowbrow art were also underground cartoonists: Robert Williams and Gary Panter. Early shows were in alternative galleries in Los Angeles such as La Luz de Jesus run by Billy Shire. The movement has steadily grown since its beginning, with hundreds of artists working in this style, moving it in various directions. The creation of the lowbrow magazine Juxtapoz by Robert Williams in 1994 gave the movement a large boost, bringing it to the attention of people across the world.
Mark Ryden, Marion Peck, Todd Schorr, Elizabeth McGrath, Tim Biskup, Gary Baseman, Gary Taxali, Anthony Ausgang, Camille Rose Garcia, and Raymond Pettibon are some of the more well-known artists currently working in this style. Lowbrow continues to grow in popularity - the movement has more web sites, galleries and fans devoted to it than ever before.

posted by undersign @ 9:23 AM 1 comments