–In this raucous piece (above) titled Bête Noir #2, if one were to meditate on it long enough it would reveal the text “Now Is The Time,” a reminder to be present, to be in the NOW regardless of all the confusion going on around us. In EGO I used two collaged ‘T’s, one truncated into an ‘L’ to form the word LET. Zen Buddhism has the seven essential qualities of Zen art:AsymmetrySimplicityAustere SublimityNaturalnessSubtle ProfundityFreedom From AttachmentTranquility These paintings are constant reminders for me to continue the practice.

It’s a graphic depiction of the word THOUGHT, starting and ending with the same ‘T.’ Thoughts are our greatest asset and our greatest weakness. Once I realized this was happening, I began making aspects of meditation the subject of my work-mindlessness, being fully present, an altered state of being-using the constructs of various Buddhist principles.įor example, this piece (below), Taming The Bull 2000, is based on a Buddhist 10-step process to control one’s mind through taming one’s thoughts leading to enlightenment. I consider painting to be a form of meditation-making my work takes me out of my body into a painless state of being. Other text-based works tend to be informed by various tenets of Mahayana Buddhism. Louis Sullivan used it in architecture ( Kindergarten Chats), Rand in design I use it in design as well as painting. Much of the earlier text-based work comes from paronomasia, a play on words.įor example, the Lover/over piece is a constructed example of what I call the Golden Rule of Design: “The solution to the problem lies within the problem,” another direct connection to graphic design thinking. Typography, and words, remain an obsession of mine. Yes, a direct influence, however it took me decades to make the connection. Obviously, your graphic design past is an influence, but what else are you saying with these works? This exclusive DH interview is a step toward sharing his-story.īefore we talk history, I’ve noticed that you have been doing some great paintings using type and typographic forms. And yet he is not as well known as contemporaries of his era because he turned to making art as the digital Turks were coming to the forefront. His collaboration with April Greiman introduced the Postmodern ethos to graphic design - a marriage of fragmented, object-based photographic collage and asymmetric typography that set the stage in the brief pre-digital moment for the digital age. In the late 1970s, during a transitional time in graphic design history, Art Center grad Jayme Odgers helped establish a new look for California design, dubbed The Pacific Wave.

Graphic style steven heller