• This exhibition had originally been mounted at ggg. By clearly verbalizing the abstract processes by which design is created-something long considered undefinable Rhizomatiks has attempted to bring into sharp relief the creative aspect of graphic design production. To do so its members exhaustively analyzed the vast bodies of poster works of four luminaries in the pantheon of Japanese graphic designers: lkko Tanaka, Shigeo Fukuda, Kazumasa Nagai and Tadanori Yokoo. By examining their works in terms of three elements-color schemes, composition and sensitivity-and the graphics derived from those elements' hybridization, Rhizomatiks probed for a new graphic design process unlike the conventional workflow: the "blind spar of graphic design. For the exhibition in Kyoto, content was added to the "sensitivity" booth visuals and brush up was performed to the final graphic designs.

• ID

  ddd_208

• Exhibition Name

  Rhizomatiks: The Blind Spot of Graphic Design

• Period

  May 26, 2016–July 09, 2016

• Exhibition Type

  Traveling exhibition from ggg to ddd

• Venue

  ddd Uzumasa, Kyoto

• Featured Designers

  Rhizomatiks

• Poster Designers

  KIMURA Hiroyasu

• June 17, 2016
  Gallery Talk 1
  ACTIVE Studio (Knowledge Capital, Grand Front Osaka North Building, 2nd Floor)

  • Participants: KIMURA Hiroyasu、HORII Satoshi、TANAKA You、TOMOTO Yusuke
  • Emcee: SAITO Akiko

  The discussion first addressed the question of why Rhizomatiks, a group that undertakes digital works onscreen, accepted the invitation to hold an exhibition at ggg and ddd. The said that from the outset they decided that given the nature of those venues, they thought they should focus on graphic design. Ms. Saito, who is a writer, asked what work process each of the four Rhizomatiks members had been in charge of with respect to their involvement in the three display booths dealing with "color Schemes," "composition" and "sensitivity." They said they analyzed data of the vast body of outsize posters by four luninaires in the pantheon of Japanese graphic designers ー Ikko Tanaka, Kazumasa Nagai, Shigeo Fukuda and Tadanori Yokoo ー and focused on their respective methods of artistic expression. They related how the exhibition had conveyed the significance of knowing works of the past today as a link to the future.

• June 24, 2016
  Gallery Talk 2
  Kyoto Art Center Audiorium

  • Participants: SAITO Seiichi、KIMURA Hiroyasu、KODAIRA Masayoshi

  This Gallery Talk was a joint undertaking with Kyoto Art Center. It proceeded with Seiichi Saito, Rhizomatiks' principal, serving in the role of facilitator and graphic designer Masayoshi Kodaira and Rhizomatik's Hiroyasu Kimura responding to his questions. Mr. Saito first explained how Rhizomatiks engages in a combination of "art" and "commercial work." This was followed by a slide presentation by Mr. Kimura explaining the exhibition at ddd. Mr. Saito then remarked that today graphic design, digital design and architectural design are gradually coming to overlap in scope, and he asked what role graphic design should fill. Mr. Kodaira, referring to his own works, explained his own design style, which he said focuses exclusively on neither digital nor analog. The three speakers lastly noted that although professional graphic designers continue to exist today, their work is changing, and going forward exchanges transcending the conventional lines between design realms will be of great importance.

Gallery

Photographer: YOSHIDA Akihito

Notes