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I’m going back in time again to part where I attended Pratt Institute’s BFA program in Brooklyn and this was a SOLIDARITY poster from sophomore year using a pipe wrench. The PLUMBING wasn’t really CONSCIOUS yet. I just knew the objects.

This is a student project from junior year—I’ll just call it an ENCOURAGED use of MONTAGING CLICHES to create NEW METAPHORS. Maybe I went TOO far with the interpretive pun. But I think book covers and posters have the TENDENCY to fall into the category of what I’ll call “A FART JOKE”, meaning the INFORMATION gets SUPERFICIALIZED for the SAKE of GETTING NOTICED, although I’ll agree that sometimes the joke REVEALS more than ANY words can.

After getting my BFA in graphic design from Pratt, I spent four and a half years working mostly in the corporate world, applying my BIG IDEAS. This is an internal poster for Mobil Oil where I worked for a year. But I had a craving for the academic life and also felt the need to FURTHER DEVELOP my UNDERSTANDING of design. At least at a more ACCELERATED RATE than I had been moving at, so I DROPPED OUT OF THE WORKING WORLD, and applied to graduate school.

Among a number of graduate programs, the one that INTRIGUED me the most was a program at Cranbrook wAY OUT in Michigan chaired by Kathy McCoy. This is some of Elliel Saarinen’s later, more heroic architecture for the campus he designed. The graphic design, or 2-D department accepted SIX students a year, and SOMEHOW I managed to get in, and be part of a great class. The STUDIOS and DORMITORY ROOMS, of Saarinen’s were more reflective of his arts & crafts background from Finland.

I was introduced, for the first time, to CRITICAL THEORY. In 1986 POST-STRUCTURALISM and DECONSTRUCTION THEORY were HUGE influences and really DROVE the design department. Those readings led to projects like this student initiated piece created by four second-year design students I’d just met. They hung them on the walls of the eight other, mostly fine art departments, AND after a day or so, they were recollected, complete with SCRIBBLED rants for a long design crit. The words DESIGN and ART had been cut-out and flopped with one another, one was crumpled into a ball and repinned to the wall, sculpture lit theirs on fire. The fiber department was mostly UNTOUCHED.

The FIND poster was designed for a Saint Valentine’s day party. The theme, I was told, was going to be water, as in BUCKETS OF WATER at the party—everyone was going to GET WET they said. Very appropriate for a Valentines’ day party, AND FOR ME TO WORK ON. This was the first instance where I deliberately incorporated PLUMBING IMAGERY into my design. The perfect opportunity really— a kind of SEXUAL HOLIDAY with a water theme. I threw in some egyptian hieroglyphs to not only coordinate with the blunt language of the FIND LAY at top and FIND IN LOUNGE February 13, 10pm, but I also figured water was an important element to egyptian existence. I gained a lot by realizing this idea of having a depth-of-reading from a perceived FLAT, ONE-LAYERED surface. The printmakers, painters and sculptures from the other departments really acknowledged this piece which helped me realize that I was onto something all-around.