| The gift of John Maeda's art is his ability to turn the tools of graphic
design upon themselves. Maeda was a pioneer of the digital revolution in
graphic design and throughout the past decade he has explored new possibilities
for using and manipulating graphic programs and computers for creative work.
This exhibition contains a broad selection of Maeda's output of the past
ten years. Works on display include videos, Java Applet's for mobile phones,
computer machines, software, sculptural installations and interactive sound
and image programs. Also on display are some fabulous examples of his graphic
poster designs. Maeda's poster for the Shiseido Company (1995) is a masterpiece
of contemporary graphic design. The minimal text and rhythmic linear design
combine to create a fluid, spacious and elegant poster. Maeda's parents
were born in Japan and emigrated to the United Sates in 1957. His father
owned a tofu shop in Seattle. Long hours of hard labor in the tofu shop
encouraged the young Maeda to study. An interest in computers at school
led him to the MIT Design School where he is now Deputy Director. Maeda
uses the colors, styles and programs of graphic design to create works about
them. His best pieces, often technologically simple, involve plays on text
and fonts. For instance in 'Tap, Type, Write' the program prints a random
flow of the word 'BLACK' across the screen. The viewer is able to interact
with the piece by moving and clicking the mouse. This produces the word
'WHITE' over the top. The works power is in the ambiguous onscreen play
-- are you writing or erasing? Is this just a designer game or is there
a wider moral message? Maeda's digital interactions are not games to amuse
for hours but rather graphical statements with a visual poetic edge. More
recently Maeda has explored a hybrid of graphic and screen imagery in his
art. The small painting 'Cow' is a hybrid work composed from wood, black
and white paint and a palm computer screen. His most recent works are even
more physical and sculptural. In a series of works from last year Maeda
has made optical sculptures from a block of Lucite crystal. In 'Backbone'
(2000) he glued rows of matches onto the side of the crystal block. The
brick like crystal acts as a lens to create a multiple images that appears
digitally created. From other angles these works take on a solid sculptural
appearance and from other angles they appear as graphic illusions. Maeda
describes this as his 'post digital' research. The design of Maeda's 'Post
Digital' exhibition itself is stunning. Designed by his friend Naoto Fukasawa,
a product designer, it is starkly modernist white. Screens are secreted
flush with the walls, images are projected onto suspended Perspex sheets,
and cool designer industrial stainless steel fittings are used throughout.
Such sleek exhibition design is unprecedented for the display of new media
arts. The art of John Maeda's is a dramatic reminder of how computers and
software, are tools to be manipulated for creative solutions Ðnot solutions
in themselves. Maeda gives us an elegant and very human perspective on new
media-graphic arts. |
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