Crime and Punishment poster | Jesse Lee Stout
Crime and Punishment is a one-night group show that takes place tonight at CalArts and features the work of approximately 20 current graphic design students. The event caught our attention at 24700 because the show’s promotional poster was quickly vanishing from Institute’s corridor walls and bulletin boards–before the show–a testament to the artist (but not great for publicizing the show).
Designed by Jesse Lee Stout (Art MFA 11), the poster contains elements that evoke the work of designer Jonathan Barnbrook. Stout says that he tried to connote authority through the use of black and gold, and play against architect Adolf Loos’s 1908 essay “Ornament and Crime”–that posits that appreciating ornament is tantamount to a criminal act–by using flourishes like the ASCII characters on the poster’s left side.
The comparison to Barnbrook’s work holds true because Stout interned at Barnbrook Design in London this past summer. For the poster, he admits with a smile: “I did use a couple of his typefaces.” Asked how he secured the internship, Stout says that when the designer gave a guest lecture at CalArts last year, he “accosted” Banbrook into taking a look at his portfolio. He was already a fan of Barnbrook’s work, and the internship that followed was icing on the cake.
Though Stout thought he would be doing office cleanup and coffee runs as an intern, Barnbrook had other ideas. “He let me design an exhibition catalog for Saatchi. It was an amazing experience. I didn’t want to come back to school.”
Crime and Punishment Group Show
Gallery D 300-301
Reception and show tonight (Oct. 8 ) at 7 pm
Additional photos from other graphic design students in the Crime and Punishment group show:
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