Uncanny: Surrealism and Graphic Design

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Poynor, Rick (2010) Uncanny: Surrealism and Graphic Design [Exhibition]

Creators:	Poynor, Rick
Abstract:	Work featured in exhibition includes books and page artwork for Woman's World and The Wizard of Oz. Uncanny: Surrealism and Graphic Design curated by Rick Poynor at the Moravian Gallery in Brno was part of the 24th International Biennial of Graphic Design -23 June to 24 October 2010, and travelled to the Kunsthal Museum, Rotterdam, Netherlands - 24 September to 4 December 2011 Uncanny: Surrealism and Graphic Design uncovers the presence of an alternative tradition in graphic design. The Surrealist movement of the 1920s and 1930s focused on literature, painting, photography and the object, and the Surrealists' publishing activities provided only hints of what a fully conceived Surrealist graphic design or typography might look like. Many of the most suggestive early examples came from Czechoslovakia, where Surrealism would become a lasting influence. Subsequently, Surrealist ideas and images had a profound impact on image-makers in every sphere of art and design, and by the 1960s the effects of Surrealism were widely felt in international graphic communication. Uncanny traces this intermittent line of development up to the present. Work showing a strong debt to Surrealism emerges only when a designer appears who is attuned to this way of thinking, dreaming and imagining. Most graphic design conforms to an underlying grid, a sense of structure and professional good taste, which brings order but also imposes limits. The images and designs in Uncanny break free from these bureaucratic restrictions and follow the impulses of a wayward, subjective, dreamlike logic to arrive at their own kind of equilibrium and form. They show that graphic design, too, can sometimes be a place to encounter the strange, the fantastical and the uncanny, to rediscover our lost sense of mystery, and to experience the convulsive beauty and capacity for enchantment and wonder that the Surrealists called "the marvellous".
Official URL:	http://www.moravska-galerie.cz/moravska-galerie/vy...
Item Type:	Exhibition
Additional Information:	http://www.kunsthal.nl/en-22-689-Uncanny.html
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Surrealism; graphic design; Poster design
Faculties:	Faculty of Arts
Date:	June 2010
Funders:	Moravská Gallery and Barbican Centre
ID Code:	10295
Deposited By:	Graham Rawle
Deposited On:	06 Jul 2012 11:28
Last Modified:	11 Jul 2012 14:49

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