m space

Masks of Mexico

In 1939, Ruth D. Lechuga (translation: Ruth D. Lettuce) arrived in Mexico City as a political refugee from Nazi Austria. She was fascinated by the local culture and indigenous crafts, and went on to amass one of the largest collections of Mexican folk art, including over 1,200 masks. Some of the finest examples of Ruth's collection are on view now at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, DC.

Tiempo (Mask of Time) 1985, Herminio Candelario. In ancient Mexica culture, 3-faced masks alluded to the cycles of life, depicting the young, the middle age and the skull.

Mexico's multicolored tourism logo is beautifully translated into the institute's brass sign, vulnerable to unfortunate rip-offs (far below), and inpirational for multimedia applications.

Logo victim (ie, "what can go wrong if we do it ourselves?").

A typophile's dream of image meets type in the video below.

Mad about Multiplicity

One of the many perks of the Washington, DC area is the stunning array of top-tier art museums, many of which (thanks to our federal government) have free admission, encouraging "pop-ins' without knowing what's on beforehand. A recent swing-by to the American Art Museum to take in Annie Lebovitz' latest photographic masterpiece "Pilgrimage" unearthed a concurrent printmaking show called "Multiplicity". Totally culled from the museum's permanent collection, the exhibit features some of the most innovative contemporary prints. Aside from the impressive lineup of screenprints, I fell in love all over again with the work of Judy Pfaff, whose work I first encountered at Tandem Press in Madison, WIsconsin. The Drummer and the Dance (above), is one of 12 prints inspired by a trip to Japan. Outside her gorgeous and gifted mingling of text, imagery and color, Pfaff often creates her frames. Here, she gives us a hand-stenciled and silver leafed construction which propells the print to object.

Dots Nice!

Puppies, pie and polka dots. Who doesn't love 'em? I don't sew much, but browsing around a fabric store always makes me happy. I was especially drawn to these spotted bolts of cotton.