January 18th, 2006
Peter Max’s heyday as an artist ended some time ago, but his psychedelic, pop style dubbed the “Cosmic 60’s” lives on in the form of vintage prints, posters, clothing and even ornamented fondue sets. Some collector pieces are available, but prices for the good stuff may have you trippin’. In the upcoming months keep your eyes peeled for new consumables channeling the artist’s work. If my suspicions are correct, you’ll be able to find lively patterns and motifs a la Max popping up on everything from t-shirts to blank books to rescue us from the winter muck. Look for floral and celestial scenes made up of rounded strokes, rendered with thick outlines. Groovy.
Peter Max was Bill Clinton’s designer-of-record for his first inauguration. Now that really takes you back, doesn’t it? I remember at the time wishing he had picked Art Chantry instead. Now, it seems pure luxury to even imagine a pres with a design brain. Make love.
Here’s one of the inaugural pieces Lupton is referring to. I don’t find this later style of Max’s very unique, and agree that electing Chantry would have been a better choice.
I don’t know; I kind of like the idea of the White House on fire.
And why limit Chandry to the Clinton years? This one seems relevant now: http://www.gigposters.com/posters.php?poster=8522
Speaking of political design (okay, slightly related to this topic), I heard a really interesting talk a few years ago by a design team from Texas who worked on a campaign for the Denver mayoral candidate John Hickenlooper, former beer entrepreneur. http://www.hickenlooperformayor.com [Check out logo & “Ad Clips” link]. From what I’ve seen (my former employer did design work for the Kerry campaign) and what I’ve heard, designing for a political figure is horrid. There is a group of people that make all the decisions and they are all stuck in old-world techniques. Is it in our future to have a president that thinks about design? I sure hope so but it seems very far off at this point. Please rescue me from the winter muck.