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Eye saw what you saw
4th June, 2009
An ephemeral exhibition held as part of Sydney Design 08, EyeSaw 2008 brought together some of Sydney's best designers. The EyeSaw 2008 Annual has been put together by Mark Gowing Design and serves as a beautiful documentation of the temporary exhibition. Mark Gowing kindly answered some questions about last year's exhibition and the pubication ahead of its release in a few weeks.
Can you tell me a bit about the Eye Saw 2008 publication?
The EyeSaw 2008 annual documents the ephemeral work from EyeSaw, an exhibition event which ran as part of Sydney Design 08. The project invited a number of leading graphic designers from Sydney to design a piece of visual communication that would elicit a ‘a smile in the mind’ from viewers. Their works were displayed in an inner-city Sydney laneway, Omnibus Lane, where the depth and breadth of the pieces attracted a lot of attention. The annual has been designed by Mark Gowing Design and features 17 custom designed typefaces that have been digitally foiled. At 92 pages of full colour illustrations, the book is a great insight into the design practices of some of Sydney's established and emerging studios.
There still seems to be a prevailing attitude that art in public spaces, particularly temporary wall art, is vandalism. What do you think about this? Do you think shows such as Eye Saw 2008 go some way towards changing this attitude?
I don't think that temporary public art can be considered vandalism. I don't think that EyeSaw is a part of changing public attitudes towards vandalism either. I think the public sees EyeSaw for what it is: an exercise in visual communication. I hope that most people see vandalism as something that damages property with no cultural gain - such as tagging. Our mission is very different. We hope only to move people in some way with ideas that might inspire them. In the end it all comes down and there is no harm done.
Why do you think the poster format is a preferred format amoung graphic designers?
The poster is a powerful and concise tool and has a long tradition at the forefront of visual communication. The poster has everything: scale, simplicity, power... I think most designers grow up in admiration of the poster craft and wish to contribute to that legacy whenever possible.
Can you tell me about some of the stand out pieces from last year's event?
It's hard for me to tell you about any work in particular without describing the whole event. Safe to say there is a lot of really interesting work. All the work exhibited is the designers' choice. There is no submission or judging process. Rather, the designers are invited to contribute and respond how they see fit. I think this makes for a more egalitarian event where designers are encouraged to express themselves through the design medium.
Where can people purchase the book?
The book is for sale through Published Art in Sydney and Metropolis Books in Melbourne. The release date is July 1. Hopefully by then we will have some more outlets and an online sales system as well.
For more information go to Mark Gowing Design.
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