When John Shipman was explaining to me the process of curating and organizing Sweet: The Graphic Beauty of the Contemporary Rock Poster exhibition, two things he said let me know this would be far from the average gathering of pretty posters. One was the installation by Jesse LeDoux (more on that at a later date) and the other was commissioning Tim Gough to create custom signage for the gallery. LeDoux has been making waves in the design and art world and was a great addition but not an unknown quantity by any means. The choice of Gough however, struck me as particularly inspired.
Tim’s work had been progressing into a truly amazing burst of simplicity and color and shape but it was a recent phenomenon. I had been following his output and had acquired some art prints and when John threw his name on the table I knew right then and there he had the “eye” for assembling an amazing show. The proof is in the pudding (or the pictures) so let’s get to it!
As part of our continuing coverage of the Sweet exhibit running at the University of Maryland, I had a chance to sit down with the thin and hairy Mr. Gough.
I am familiar with your work and was excited to hear that you would be doing custom signage for the Sweet exhibit. However, I was totally unprepared for the size and amazing visual I was presented with in the gallery. How did you end up with the gig to do this?
John Shipman called me six months before the exhibit asking me to be in the show and inquired if I was interested in designing some signage for the gallery. I was very excited - I had been in a number of group gigposters shows, but I had never been asked to create a three-dimensional piece for a poster show.
When (and how) did you decide on using the big box in the middle of the room?
The big box was already going to be in the gallery, and John knew that he wanted me to put the signage for the show on it but that was really the only direction I was given. After that, I had total freedom.
How was the conceptual process - did you come up with multiple ideas or just focus on refining your first concept?
I had 6 months to work this out, so originally I had these really grand ideas of screen printing on the walls and wheat pasting prints directly to the cube, but the longer I thought about this, the more I realized that logistically, this was going to be a nightmare. Getting prints made and shipping all of these supplies from Philadelphia to Maryland etc… so I went back to the drawing board to rethink my approach.
How did that concept change when you were planning it out around the box?
After scrapping the screen print idea I realized I needed to focus more on the title of the show and use the art to draw your eye around to all sides of the cube. By putting the focal points of the design on the corners - it also encourages the viewer to step back and explore the rest of the piece, and take in the whole image.
How did you plan for the scale and dimensionality as one who regularly works smaller and flat?
The original idea was very detailed, but I realized that I needed to make this Bigger and Bolder. I also decided that I would be painting this directly to the wall and that meant I needed to simplify the image to make it easier to paint.
What was the process of actually getting your design up on the block?
A digital projector and a pencil. The image was designed in Illustrator in scaled down panels, each panel was projected on each side of the cube traced out with a number 2 pencil and then the painting process was like a group paint by numbers.
How long did it take?
It was about 3 days, luckily the Print Making Professor Justin Strom, lent me his students and I put them to work. Also on the last night Kevin Mercer (largemammalprint.com) and Kris Chau (www.krischau.com) came through for the final push.
see the whole process here:http://timgough.org/www/Sweetprocess/Sweet.html
How long did you plan on it taking?
Honestly I had no idea - this was my first time doing something like this and I had three days lined up to install so I figured/prayed that would work.
Who is your favorite poster designer in the show?
Is this a trick question? I have a lot of favorites were in this show, Delicious, Burwell, Jay Ryan, Patent Pending, Zach Hobbs, Large Mammal…
(This is indeed a trick question. The correct answer is John Foster.)
Who is your favorite poster designer not in the show?
Zeloot, Seripop…my brain is hurting, I know there is more.
(If anyone cares these are my two favorites as well for this show or any other.)
Your work quickly advanced from appropriated imagery to a really unique illustration style with these amazing single color rough figures (like the one in this project.) What spurred that process of growth and what can we expect from Mr. Gough in the future?
I discovered - why lift it from a book when you can just draw it yourself? I enjoy found art or appropriated art, but it isn’t as fun as getting your hands dirty and cutting loose with some pens and ink. Whenever I have a chance I try to get away from the computer and force myself to keep drawing. Keep your eyes peeled for the next couple months, I have and new screen-printed zine that will be available on my site and hopping to be making some new prints and T shirts this year.
Which weighs more - you or your beard?
Definitely the Beard.
Sweet: The Graphic Beauty of the Contemporary Rock Poster features twenty-nine of the leading artists/groups of silk-screened contemporary rock posters, on view Wednesday, February 6 through Saturday, March 29, 2008 at the University of Maryland Art Gallery.
March 5th, John Foster (that’s me) the author of New Masters of Poster Design, will lecture at the gallery on the contemporary gigposter.
