Robert Finkel: Designs and Photographs
Greenville Tech College Benson Campus Galleries
Event Types: Visual Arts
Aug 26, 2024 9:00 AM — Sep 27, 2024 5:00 PM
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Department of Visual Arts, Greenville Technical College
8642015683
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Robert Finkel: Design & Photography is an exhibition that speaks to the symbiotic relationship of graphic art and fine art. This symbiotic relationship applies to both the production process and the ultimate goal of them both. The study and realization of all art begins with the basic principles and elements of design. Design is essential to the process that results in a completed photograph, painting, logo, sign (any final product of graphic or fine art). Design provides the tools for any designer or artist to achieve their ultimate goal, communication of a message or an idea or an experience. Finkel states “The best design speaks to both the head and the heart.”
Robert Finkel’s Design & Photography, with multiple 15 x 22 inch panels, narrates Finkel’s process in developing an identity for a historical foundation, developing a brand identity for a restaurant, and editing the collection of IBM’s in house posters created during the 60s, 70s, and 80s at its Design Center in Boulder, Colorado. All three projects begin with historical research and a study of place. Finkel explains, “This dialogue always involves the project stakeholders, their audience, and myself to help clarify concrete project goals. However, the process also engages with history and culture to identify shared values and traditions. The sum of this knowledge becomes the foundation for a meaningful design that avoids the pitfalls of contemporary trends or surface aesthetics.”
Finkel’s appreciation of cultural history and its utilitarian objects, plus his sense of place are integral to his design practice. They are also integral to his instant print (Polaroid type) photographs. Robert Finkel: Design & Photography includes 30 instant print photographs framed singly or in diptych or triptych formats. According to Finkel, “This body of work is inspired by two major artistic sources: the photographic sense of place created by photographers such as William Christenberry, William Eggleston, and Walker Evans and the collecting and recontextualization of vernacular lettering by graphic designer Ed Fella and the painter Ed Ruscha.”
Robert Finkel is an Associate Professor and Program Chair of Graphic Design at Auburn University. His creative work has earned recognition from Communication Arts, PRINT Regional Design Annual, Creative Quarterly, Graphis, GDUSA, and UCDA. He is the co-author of the book The IBM Poster Program: Visual Memoranda, published by Lund Humphries in 2021. Robert was awarded a design fellowship from the Alabama State Council for the Arts to pursue lettering and type design based on his photography of vernacular signage. He is a graduate of the Portfolio Center in Atlanta, GA, and holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Florida. His career began as an intern at Pentagram with Michael Bierut, then as a designer at Slaughter Group in Birmingham, AL, specializing in brand identity.
