Without doubt Paul Rand heads the pantheon of branding designers, having proved, a century ago, that “good design is good business” [his words]. If one looks only at his seminal work for IBM—that logo is still in use—you get the idea. But stop to consider a bit more about his process, then his contributions become more evident. 

In his definitive monograph on the designer, Steven Heller points out that Rand was one of the first American graphic designers to look to Europe for ideas. Among the commercial work produced between the wars, posters and typography by Cassandre, in France; the art of Paul Klee, in Switzerland; and ideas about form and function originating in the Bauhaus, in Germany, all informed the conceptual pictorial abstractions that populated Rand’s work.

Flash forward to today, the creative backbone of Rand’s practice—drawing—can now be appreciated through a new volume from Moleskin Books. With an introduction by Heller, along with drawings from his own collection, Paul Rand: Inspiration and Process in Design is personal portrait of a designer at work—further amplified by Heller's thoughtful commentary.

Among the informative snippets included are neatly typed statements by Rand, such as:
• The language of design is the language of geometry: point / line / plane.
• A contract is not a substitute of trust.
• Rhythm is in time what symmetry is in space.

The typescript of Rand’s essay, Twenty-four Hours a Day, also included, reveals ideas about art and design that were foundational to Rand. For example: “…according to Picasso the artist does not seek at all, he finds. This is because the artist ‘finds’ in a sense what he already knows. Picasso’s ‘finding’ is actually selecting and evaluating experience. And how the artist does this… depends on what he brings to the experience—his total personality. And since, being an artist, he selects and collects in order to make art, these very acts become creative in themselves.”

Paul Rand: Inspiration and Process in Design (Princeton Architectural Press/Moleskin Books 2019) will be on shelves and online in November. Info Photos © Peggy Roalf

Bill Saylor, Sunset Strip, 2019; closing this week at Magenta Plains

Talks / Book Events / Screenings / and Beyond

Wednesday, October 23

Optics: The Visuals of Gentrification, 6:30 pm. ICP presents at Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street, NY, NY. Info

Bill Saylor, book signing, closing reception, 6-8 pm. Magenta Plains, 94 Allen Street, NY, NY Info

The Right to Live in the World | Elizabeth Guffey on Design or Disability, 6 pm. Bard Graduate Center, 38 West 86^th Street, NY, NY Info

Thursday, October 24

Magali Duzant | The Moon and Stars Can Be Yours: Notes on Subway Psychics, book launch, 6-8 pm. Printed Matter, 231 11^th Avenue, NY, NY Info

Sophy Holland | Talking Pictures: an Artist’s Path, 6-9 pm. 30^th Street Studios, 1239 Broadway, NY, NY Info

Thursday, October 24-Saturday, October 26

PhotoPlus Expo. Javits Convention Center, NY, NY Info

Thursday, October 24-Sunday, October 27

Editions/Artists’ Books Fair. The Caldwell Factory, 547 West 26^th Street, NY, NY Info

Friday, October 25

John Reed | A Drama In Time: The New School Century, book launch, 6-8 pm. Printed Matter at Swiss Institute, 38 St. Marks Place, NY, NY Info

David Hilliard, Vapor, 2015; this week at Yancey Richardson

In Galleries / Lens-based Art

Jim Dow, Guillermo Srodek-Hart, Walker Evans, Fernando Paillet: Interior Influence. Janet Borden, Inc., 99 Water Street, Brooklyn, NY Info

Thursday, October 24

Frederick Sommer | Visual Affinities, 6-8 pm. Ricco/Maresca Gallery, 529 West 20^th Street, NY, NY Info

Michael Wolf | Metropolis, 6-8 pm. Bruce Silverstein Gallery, 529 West 20^th Street, NY, NY Info

David Hilliard | Just So, 6-8 pm. Yancey Richardson Gallery, 525 West 22^nd Street, NY, NY Info

Simen Johan | Conspiracy of Ravens, 6-8 pm. Yossi Milo Gallery, 245 Tenth Avenue, NY, NY Info

Emmet Gowin | The Nevada Test Site, 6-8 pm. Pace & Pace/MacGill Gallery, 540 West 25^th Street, NY, NY Info

Maroesjka Lavigne | Lost Lands, 6-8 pm. Robert Mann Gallery, 525 West 26^th Street, NY, NY Info

The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion, 7-8:30 pm. Aperture Gallery, 548 West 27^th Street, NY, NY Info

Hermine Ford | Toward the Beginning, 6-8 pm. New York Studio School, 8 West 8^th Street, NY, NY Info

Friday, October 25

Hank Willis Thomas | Exodusters, 6-8 pm. Gordon Parks Foundation, 48 Wheeler Avenue, Pleasantville, NY Info

Jason Rhoades; this week at David Zwirner

In Galleries 

Wednesday, October 23

Liz Craft | Escape From New York, 6-8 pm. Company, 88 Eldridge Street, NY, NY Info

Thursday, October 24

Celebrating Geoffrey Bawa | Five Artists, 6-8 pm. Callicoon Fine Arts, 39 Delancey Street, NY, NY Info

Alex Sewell | When I Wanted Everything, 6-8 pm. Totah Gallery, 183 Stanton Street, NY, NY Info

Jason Rhoades | Tijuanatanjier chandelier, 6-8 pm. David Zwirner, 519 West 19^th Street, NY, NY Info

Ebony G. Patterson | to dig between the cuts, beneath the leaves, below the soil. Hales Gallery, 547 West 20^th Street, NY, NY Info

Melvin Edwards | Painted Sculpture, 6-8 pm. Alexander Gray Associates, 510 West 26^th Street, NY, NY Info

Friday, October 25

Holly Coulis | Counter Space, 6-8 pm. Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery, 54 Ludlow Street, NY, NY Info

Li Songsong |One of My Ancestors, 6-8 pm. Pace Gallery, 540 West 25thStreet, NY, NY Info

Richard Tuttle | basis, ‘70s Drawings. Pace Gallery, 540 West 25^th Street, NY, NY Info

Waiting for Omar Gatlato | ontemporary Art from Algeria and its Diaspora, 6-8 pm. Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. 615 West 129^th Street, NY, NY Info

Saturday, October 26

Matthew Barney | Embrasure. Gladstone 64, 130 East 64^th Street, NY, NY Info

Duane Michels, Illuminated Man, 1968; this week at The Morgan Library & Museum

In Museums

Thursday, October 24

Hans Haacke | All Connected. New Museum, 235 Bowery, NY, NY Info

Bingyl, Zheng Chongbin, Sun Xun | Chinese Traditions Now, 7-9 pm. Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY Info

Friday, October 25

Rachel Harrison | Life Hack; Alan Michelson | Wolf Nation. Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street, NY, NY Info

Duane Michels | Illusions of the Photographer. The Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue, NY, NY Info