‘This is life’: New exhibition in Palm Springs showcases Mexican graphic design

Graphic design has the unique ability to both establish ideas and boost cultural value. In Mexico, graphics have played a key role in daily life for hundreds of years.

Examples of this going back to the early 20th century to the present day are displayed in the new exhibition “Eso es la vida/This is life: Graphic Design from Mexico," which opened Aug. 12 and will be on display through Nov. 27 at The Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center.

The exhibit begins with the invention of the popular print and the penny press, which rose to prominence through political illustrations by lithographer José Guadalupe Posada and the Mexican Revolution. The exhibition also features posters, typography, sign painting, video and digital media.

Some of the featured designers are Posada and Taller de Gráfica Popular (People's Graphic Workshop) to contemporary practitioners such as Estudio Herrera, Red de Reproducción y Distribución (Reproduction and Distribution Network) and more.

Last week, members of Red de Reproducción y Distribución were at the museum putting the final touches on a replica of its newsstand in Mexico City. Bruno Ruiz, one of the five founders, explained the collective produces magazines on subjects such as art history, architecture, gender issues and more instead of news magazines depicting violence in the country or gossip magazines, adding "It's not a healthy way to distribute images, and we try to subvert that."

"We conceived our kiosk in Mexico City as a public sculpture to distribute our works, not just books or magazines, but also use it as a tiny museum to display specific projects or installation project in collaboration between other artists in the city. We hope people in Palm Springs can understand how it (operates) as part of a collective and that our kiosk in Mexico City is part of a syndicate of street vendors in Mexico City," Ruiz said.

A focus on what images can do

The exhibition was curated by Robert J Kett, PhD, assistant professor of design at the Design Anthropology at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.

During a recent interview, Kett said there was an urge to provide a broad presentation of Mexican graphic design in a Southern California museum and relished in the curation process digging into archives, visiting studios and witnessing how designers are reinventing the medium.

“The exhibition shows what I think are some interesting intersections between the worlds of graphic design, youth culture and fashion today, and movements that are part of a real explosion of Mexico as an international center for art design. But it also shows where graphic designers are working across the boundaries of their own field to make exciting contributions to those conversations,” Kett said.

The focus is on social actions and the prerogative of designers than branding or traditional corporate designs one would expect in a traditional graphic design showcase, Kett said that's intentional because the examples in the exhibition offer a different frame of mind on what images can do and be used for.

For instance, one particular image in Mexican design that was showcased around the world is the logo for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, which is included in the exhibition. It was a collaborative effort by Mexican architect Pedro Ramirez Vazquez, American graphic designer Lance Wyman and President of the Organizing Committee for the Games, Eduardo Terrazas. The Mexican midcentury modern logo integrated patterns of the Huichol, an Indigenous people of Mexico.

“That’s an iconic manifestation of Mexican graphic design, even though it sometimes stands in for the discipline,” Kett said. “What I think is interesting about that story is how that design is repurposed and appropriated within protest movements and sign painting. It’s still being reworked by local designers today.”

Even though the logo is exemplary, the 1968 Olympics started 10 days after Mexican Armed Forces opened fire on a group of unarmed civilians protesting Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz' suppression of labor unions and economic unrest in the country. Original posters from the 1968 protests and a 2018 digital media sign inspired by the original Olympic logo are also present nearby.

But the purpose behind the exhibition is not to settle any questions or offer definitive narratives around the role of graphic design in Mexico. Instead, Kett hopes the exhibit can spark conversations around the role of the artform in public spaces, in political dialogues and in Mexico’s culture more broadly.

“We want to insist on two things,” Kett said. “One, to view graphics not just as a design field that operates in isolation, but instead as something that is part of daily cultural life and to read it in an anthropological perspective. Second, to contribute to a reckoning and rethinking within design fields around how graphic design has been a crucial presence far beyond the European and American world and understand the ways these tools are used in dialogue with local needs, perspective and aspirations.”

If you go

What: "Eso es la vida/This is life: Graphic Design from Mexico"

When: Through Nov. 27. Check website at psmuseum.org for operating hours

Where: Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center, 300 S. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs

More information: psmuseum.org/visit/psam-a-and-d-center

Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment for the Desert Sun. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Springs design center presents Mexican graphic design exhibit