My Work in "I am Jugoslovenka!" Book

I recently received the Slovenian version of the book “‘I am Jugoslovenka!’: Feminist performance politics during and after Yugoslav Socialism” by Jasmina Tumbas.

‘“I am Jugoslovenka” argues that queer-feminist artistic and political resistance were paradoxically enabled by socialist Yugoslavia’s unique history of patriarchy and women’s emancipation. Spanning performance and conceptual art, video works, film and pop music, lesbian activism and press photos of female snipers in the Yugoslav wars, the book analyses feminist resistance in a range of performative actions that manifest the radical embodiment of Yugoslavia’s anti-fascist, transnational and feminist legacies. It covers celebrated and lesser-known artists from the 1970s to today, including Marina Abramovic, Sanja Ivekovic, Vlasta Delimar, Tanja Ostojic, Selma Selman and Helena Janecic, along with music legends Lepa Brena and Esma Redžepova. “I am Jugoslovenka” tells a unique story of women’s resistance through the intersection of feminism, socialism and nationalism in East European visual culture."’

I’m pleased that one of my posters and illustrations, which I created in former Yugoslavia between 1979 and 1981, are included in the book.

 

Below, you can see larger versions of the images from the spreads.

 

Poster for Erica Jong: Fear of Flying, a one-woman play by Rada Đuričin. 1981.

 

"The Ideology of the Hometown Girl," illustration accompanying an article in Start Magazine. 1979.

 

"Why Women Love Fairy-Tales," an illustration accompanying an article in Start Magazine. 1980
 

 

"Poster Thinking"

I am pleased to let you know that yesterday, I received this booklet from Spain titled Poster Thinking by Sonia and Gabriel Freeman, aka Sonia Díaz y Gabriel Martínez

The two head the visual activist group Un Mundo Feliz. UMF (A Brave New World) is a collective of designers interested in the creation, production, and distribution of committed images, both socially and politically.

The booklet is for the design school Artediez and uses work from some of the leading designers around the world, including mine, to discuss the importance of posters as a medium for information, not just as an art piece.

They also included a quote by me, although I’m not exactly sure when I said this:

“Content is very important to me. I am not particularly interested in pure design; I find it a bit boring. I have always felt that my design needs to push back against something. That is probably because of where I grew up. [...] Designers must have a logical explanation for their work. [...] I am not only a visual artist but also a designer. One aspect of that profession is information. The poster, as an informational device, must operate on two levels of information. The poster must convey the first level of visual information within four or five seconds. That is roughly the amount of time it takes for a person to walk past it. If that initial level of information succeeds, the person will stop—and perhaps look at and read the additional information.”

 

 

Tattooed

In the early 80s, I drew this drawing for the cover of the book "The Turning Point" by Klaus Mann, published by the Croatian publisher GHZ. In 1987, I used that drawing for the poster of my solo exhibition in New York. Then in 2012 Dejan Krsic used it on the last page of my monograph "Fist to Face". Then in 2012 they used it again to promote my exhibition in Montenegro. And yesterday I see it tattooed on this person's back. Some things just won't go away. 

Otherwise, this is not the first time that my drawing has been tattooed on someone's back. This is what my drawing looked like tattooed on the back of Timothy Robert Commerford, the bassist of 'The Rage Against The Machine'.

My Comics Featured in American Illustration 43

I just received the new American Illustration 43 annual book. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such an extravagantly designed book in the U.S., full of "printing special effects." The book is designed by Paul Buckley, with Brianna Harden.

On top of that, the book features two pages of my A.C. 2020 comics. I originally created this series to express the anxiety and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over time, within the same series, I also began to address my other anxieties and visual observations.

Each visual essay consists of self-contained single-page stories created in greyish-blue tones to reflect the subject.

You can see more of my A.C. 2020 comic pages here. 

 

A.C. 2020 selected winners by American Illustration book

The prestigious American Illustration has announced the selected winners for their AI43 book. I am happy to announce that two of my A.C.2020 comics/visual essays have been selected for inclusion.

I originally created this series to express my anxiety and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over time, I also tried to address my other anxieties and visual observations beyond the pandemic in the series.

Each visual essay comprises self-contained single-page stories created in greyish-blue tones to reflect the subject.

Here is a link to see, among other things, my other A.C.2020 comics.

My Work in a New Illustration Textbook

I just received the new textbook Illustration: A Theoretical and Contextual Perspective written by Alan Male and published by the English publishing company Bloomsbury Visual Arts.

Alan Male is an illustrator, academic, and writer. He directed the Illustration program at Falmouth University, UK, for many years. Alan has written and edited several books about illustration and has won a number of international awards for his work.

I was quite pleased to see that the book features quite a few of my illustrations, posters, and visual essays. 

You can see more of the work featured in this book here.

 

My Work in the New "American Illustration 42" Book

I am happy to let you know that the jury of American Illustration 42 selected two of my poster illustrations for their prestigious book. 

The first illustration is created for a poster that I designed for 11th Festival Miroslav Krleža in Zagreb, Croatia. 
You can see more of this project here.

The second illustration was my theater poster design for The Miracle in Šargan for JDP-Yugoslav Drama Theater in Belgrade, Serbia. 
You can see more of this project here.

 

The Best Books We Read This Week – New Yorker

'No art director’s work was more influential than that of Milton Glaser, the co-founder and original design director of New York magazine. But his real achievement lies in what this anthology reveals: a breathtaking empire of imagery that encompassed two decades and was felt in later years.' – New Yorker

More here.

One Thing Leads to Another

Recently, when browsing on Boo-Hooray, an online underground movement archive, to my surprise, I noticed that they featured my art created in 1979 in their "Record Dreams" catalogue.

I created that art on my kitchen table as the LP cover for the then-unknown Croatian punk band Dirty Theater (Prljavo kazaliste). I came up with the idea for this cover partly because the band was very young and didn't know exactly how to play. They wanted to sound like The Rolling Stones, but they sounded punk because of their lack of skills. Also, referencing The Rolling Stone's song "Some Girls", Dirty Theater had a song named "Some Boys". Because of all these elements, I created this image. The record became an instant hit in Yugoslavia. 

After that, I did many other things. I moved to the US and almost forgot about that project. 

Suddenly, in 2012, the Hayward Gallery in London created "Someday All the Adults Will Die": Punk Graphics 1971—1984 show. Among others, they exhibited my cover.

In the review of their show, The Huffington Post featured my art with the caption "One of the revolutionary graphics on show". 

Soon after that, Rizzoli published the book "Punk: An Aesthetic", in which they featured Dirty Theater's LP. I was extremely pleased because Dirty Theater's LP was featured on a spread with one of my favourite records, "No Exist" by The Clash.

In 2018, Jens Muller and Julius Wiedemann featured the cover art in a spread about my work in their monumental 2-volume book "The History of Graphic Design" published by Taschen.

Then, the cherry on the cake, in 2023, MoMA (Museum of Modern Art in New York) included that cover in their collection. 

Not bad for a 2-day work on a kitchen table.

 

Graphis Poster Annual Awards

Graphis Poster 2023 competition just announced the winners of their competition. I am glad to share with you that six of my posters got the Graphis Silver Award in the international Poster 2023 and they will be included in Graphis Poster 2023 book. 

 

You can see more images and read about these posters here.