The new year is rolling along like a dog wearing sunglasses on a well-greased skateboard. You keep staring at it, thinking "Aw, that's cute. Look at it go!" and then BAM! It's February. Wait, now it's damn near March? How the fuck did that happen? It makes one reflective, gazing off into blank white spaces, thinking about what could have been, what will be, what is. It was in this spirit, and the spirit of book promotion, that design master Stefen Sagmeister gave us "Things I've learned in my life thus far."
His lessons are pragmatic and simple: be confident, money can't make you happy, and drugs are fun at first but can be a drag in the end. These were rendered in a variety of ways including photographs, unripe bananas, video, and interactive projection, all spelling out the lessons word by word and all pretty awesome. This was a very fun show and a very crowded one. On ice was my own art opening beer-of-choice, the Grolsch swing-top bottle.
The Sagmeister himself barely moved all night, but he sure seemed like a happy fellow. He was constantly greeting people and signing books, with a little grin never leaving his face. This is how I imagine all Scandinavians are outside of the Norwegian metal scene. David Byrne was there, perfectly matching the giant gorilla in the middle of the room. Hanging around in the window of the gallery was Milton Glaser, writing messages to the people outside.
Back inside, one of the walls was covered with these hands reaching out, only a couple of which were real and occasionally moved. They all had on these golfing gloves with something along the lines of "Everything you do comes back to you in the end" written on them. Even with this warning, some dick stole one of the ones closer to the floor. Only time will tell that creep what ancient Norse curse Sagmeister put on those gloves. In the meantime, enjoy the book and his appearance in Helvetica (SPOILER ALERT: he's anti-Helvetica). Next up at Deitch's Grand Street Gallery is a show by Tim Noble and Sue Webster, who are currently setting up "Electric Fountain" in Rockefeller Center.
And now, we'd like to introduce what promises to be a long and distinguished series: Gallery!Baby!
