Andrew Schroeder

I’ll be honest. I have an ongoing love-affair with type. It doesn’t matter if it is digital, on a photopolymer plate, or cast metal… I love typography.

My friend and studio-mate Christopher dela Pole and I have been investing heavily in letterpress technology lately. We’ve both got the itch to make some new, dare I say, amazing text art projects in the very near future. One of our Ebay treasures has arrived today: this beautiful 72pt Sans Serif font. I can’t wait to get some ink on these…

Utopian Slumps - Ed Rucha

This morning has been a particularly productive one for me. I went to bed with Curtis at 8:30 AM and proceeded to sleep soundly for the first time in about a month. If there is one undercurrent to this blog, or my life in general, it is that I love to be unconscious… by whatever means necessary. Anyway, I’m finally to work, doing my little office-cockroach tasks and gazing out at the snow.

ROR (Revolutions on Request)

The white blanket that is dropping over the city at the moment makes me believe I could be anywhere at the moment.  And, why not take a second to think about being in a utopia of sorts. Back in 2003, I had the chance to see the “Utopia Station” exhibition at the Venice Biennale – a great exhibition of posters and designs relating to one of my favorite subjects.

Be sure to check out the project’s website for PDF downloads of all the posters.

Something shocking is happening in Minneapolis. A group of artists are undertaking a project to make art on the facades of unused buildings in the city. I was a bit skeptical when I saw the slickly printed, well designed signs for this type of work (I prefer guerilla style or ephemeral projects in public space). Intersecting artistic/private aesthetic interests with public space rarely works… but the Save Canvas project presented by Overproof Design Studio actually succeeds in its aims. It has been a pleasure to watch the empty structure along Nicollet avenue be turned into a work of art. Especially since this is the site of the unrealized Nicollet condo project (a 60 floor glass high-rise that never materialized thanks to the economic downturn).

Definitely check out their work.

On another note, I am reminded of something distinctly beautiful about the public sphere in Montreal. The city seemed to be predisposed to giving up automobile traffic for pedestrianized streets. In Minneapolis we have the “National Night Out” every year, during which certain blocks are closed to vehicular traffic. It takes a special event here to get people onto the street and walking around. In stark contrast, the above posters in Montreal indicate that the pedestrian is almost synonymous with the urban experience.

I couldn’t agree more.

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I’ve recently returned from Montreal with a small mountain of new images and resources. Ah… inspiration is a refreshing change of pace. All people who travel devour their destinations by acquiring different material goods as evidence of the attempts to understand the  place to which they have traveled. Some people acquire shotglasses. Others postcards. I personally get to know a city through the designs that permeate through its public and private spaces. I spent most of my brief parole from MPLS grabbing, ripping, and buying printed matter. Through the above materials, I came just a bit closer to getting acquainted with Montreal… a bit of typography obsession mixed with a love and fascination with 1960s Utopian ideals… that will (hopefully) equal some decent artwork.

My friend and librarian Steve Liska sent me the link to Rosenof/Lucas Landscape Design. There is some incredibly impressive and local work there… I especially like the work they did for Andrew Blauvelt.

LINK

Coming Spring 2009.