Last night was the opening reception for Kit Hinrichs' gallery exhibition at my alma mater Art Center. He is a partner at Pentagram, and a recipient of the prestigious "The Medal" award from AIGA, and I enjoyed all the work Kit put up for display in this retrospective of about 200 works (out of over 2,000 that he has done in his lifetime.) He said a few words to introduce himself, and I was a little disappointed that he didn't tell more stories, but I liked the story of how he met his wife at Art Center, as they were classmates, and when she borrowed his orange crimson lake gouache paint, the rest was history, as this particular color is very special. There were a lot of his classmates from '63 in the audience as well, even someone who had flown in from Hawaii, and it was a full auditorium. He also said that out of the things he's taken from Art Center, he remembers one particular instructor who quizzed them the first day of class about cultural icons and trivia, and he said it's important to keep up with culture and what's important to the people to whom you're trying to advertise. And he remembered one life drawing class where the instructor tore up a sketch from a student who was sketching small scratch marks with a 9H pencil, and told her to "Say it with strength!" and he says that's always stayed with him, and that he's always strived to say things with strength. The exhibition is really nicely set up as well, and I really loved the exhibition poster, where type is composed to look like Kit's face, and his face becomes iconic with his black round glasses and white beard. Parts of the gallery space are sectioned off with large accordian like dividers, onto which his work has been printed. I also liked the large panorama photograph of cultural icons and figurines from around the world which included such lovable characters as Tintin, the Pillsbury dough boy, and Lucy from Peanuts. They were also giving out posters of the exhibition and I was happy to get one. Before he spoke they played a short montage tribute film with a collection of his work and photographs of when he was younger and at Art Center, and I liked one of the quotes, which said a good idea becomes dust and doesn't turn into magic until it brushes up against a great designer. Kit really does take a good idea and execute it really well, which is the hallmark of a great designer. My props to a designer who has stood the test of time and continues to contribute his talents to the world!
Last night was the opening reception for Kit Hinrichs' gallery exhibition at my alma mater Art Center. He is a partner at Pentagram, and a recipient of the prestigious "The Medal" award from AIGA, and I enjoyed all the work Kit put up for display in this retrospective of about 200 works (out of over 2,000 that he has done in his lifetime.) He said a few words to introduce himself, and I was a little disappointed that he didn't tell more stories, but I liked the story of how he met his wife at Art Center, as they were classmates, and when she borrowed his orange crimson lake gouache paint, the rest was history, as this particular color is very special. There were a lot of his classmates from '63 in the audience as well, even someone who had flown in from Hawaii, and it was a full auditorium. He also said that out of the things he's taken from Art Center, he remembers one particular instructor who quizzed them the first day of class about cultural icons and trivia, and he said it's important to keep up with culture and what's important to the people to whom you're trying to advertise. And he remembered one life drawing class where the instructor tore up a sketch from a student who was sketching small scratch marks with a 9H pencil, and told her to "Say it with strength!" and he says that's always stayed with him, and that he's always strived to say things with strength. The exhibition is really nicely set up as well, and I really loved the exhibition poster, where type is composed to look like Kit's face, and his face becomes iconic with his black round glasses and white beard. Parts of the gallery space are sectioned off with large accordian like dividers, onto which his work has been printed. I also liked the large panorama photograph of cultural icons and figurines from around the world which included such lovable characters as Tintin, the Pillsbury dough boy, and Lucy from Peanuts. They were also giving out posters of the exhibition and I was happy to get one. Before he spoke they played a short montage tribute film with a collection of his work and photographs of when he was younger and at Art Center, and I liked one of the quotes, which said a good idea becomes dust and doesn't turn into magic until it brushes up against a great designer. Kit really does take a good idea and execute it really well, which is the hallmark of a great designer. My props to a designer who has stood the test of time and continues to contribute his talents to the world!
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