State of the Art 2020 is the exhibiton for which this publication was created, that took place at Crystal Bridges Museum. It represented a cross-section of artists working today covering themes of world-building, sense of place, mapping, and temporality, that included a showcase of 61 artists along with accompanying essays and interviews.
Client: Crystal Bridges Museum
Bentonville, AR
Editors: Lauren Haynes, Allison Glenn & Alejo Benedetti
ISBN: 978-0-9834665-1-2
crystalbridges.org
156 Pages
9.5 x 12.25 in.
Softcover with Flaps
Edition of 3000
Printed in Canada
With a wide ranging set of artists, it seemed necessary to find a design element that could be utilized throughout, that ties all the spreads together, aside from the usual type treatments and repeated layout prompts. A vertical axis line was introduced to always set two columns within on a page. It slowly morphed in a curved line for ‘chapter begins’ to set itself apart and break from a thought. Initially these lines also ran on the artists imagery to full hit the concept home, but was ultimately removed.
Knowing that the publication was set to be soft-cover, a certain amount of heft was important to me to ensure the book carried weight when held. This was resolved in usage of matte uncoated sheets for the essays and front matter, and much heavier 100lb gloss sheets were chosen for the artist’s images and brief essay texts.
I think there are some successful parts of the publication, but other parts would be treated differently if given more time than was initially allotted on a such a quick turn-around project as this one.
Jacket with inside front cover
Inside back cover flap