"What happens when a professional is simply at play, free of assignments and left to their own creative whims? In the case of the legendary late designer and SVA faculty member Ivan Chermayeff, the answer is everything from finger paintings to mixed-media collages filled with a wondrously wacky assortment of collected and found objects". SVA archivist Beth Kleber asks this question as she takes a closer look at the late designer and faculty member’s work on view at ‘Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff’ in the SVA Gramercy Gallery. 

I could not agree more, having worked with Ivan, his partner Tom Geismar, and future partner Steff Geissbuhler back in the day. In their formidable design practice, Chermayeff & Geismar Associates, they brought wit, wisdom and warmth to the highly structured world of corporate design. For example, at the launch celebration of CGA’s design program for the Mobil Oil Corporation, Ivan had the caterers drop red Lifesaver candies into the glasses as the champagne was being served. The human touch was central to their approach to solving the highly sophisticated and complex problems of corporate communication design. 

In the process, the firm became known for revolutionizing the field of visual communication and designing hundreds of recognizable corporate and institutional logos. In ‘Copy, Cut + Paste’ the pieces on view are largely personal works. A lifelong mixed-media collagist and collector, the objects Chermayeff accumulated invariably found their way into his work, both personal and professional. Chermayeff’s art in this arena is notably playful and mischievous. His collages were his own form of drawing, by which he could both exploit the meaning held by the items and create new, unexpected associations. 

“I love the idea of discovering that two things that have no relationship are the same size and color. It’s like a chef who discovers that bananas are perfectly okay with fish—there are new relationships that when made, come to life,” he once said. “Collage makes it possible for everything to be something else.”

Before he passed away in 2017, Chermayeff had a long and impactful connection to SVA. He taught at the College beginning in 1959, and notably created some of its iconic New York City Subway posters. In 2010, he and his partners introduced the Visual Identity and Multimedia honors course in the BFA Design program. Among the many distinctions of his career, Chermayeff was the subject of SVA’slong-running Masters Series Award and Exhibition in 1995, which included some of his most beloved work for brands like Pepsi, Chase, Showtime, and Mobil, and institutions and corporations like the Smithsonian, MoCA, HarperCollins and PanAm. 

So run to ‘Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff’ if you can—it will close on Tuesday, October 1, 6:00 pm. SVA Gramercy Gallery, 209 East 23rd Street, NewYork, NY Info