Theory + Criticism

Alexandra Lange|Essays

Bad Taste True Confessions: Erté

True confessions about my own bad taste. I loved Erté. Did you?

Rick Poynor|Exposure

Exposure: Untitled Film Still #21 by Cindy Sherman

The photographer as performer

Rick Poynor|Essays

A Dictionary of Surrealism and the Graphic Image

An alphabetical guide to graphic designers influenced by Surrealism and to some key Surrealist concepts.

Rick Poynor|Essays

In Response to An Anatomy of Uncriticism

Alexandra Lange’s article in Print about the sacred cows of graphic design sidesteps the issue it raises.

Alexandra Lange|Essays

The Women

While Manohla Dargis rants about the lack of women in charge in Hollywood save for Nancy Meyers, Zaha Hadid similarly represents the dirth of women in architecture.

Alexandra Lange|Essays

Making A List...

The New Yorker has a rather expansive round-up of lists online and I particularly like Judith Thurman’s memorable fashion statements of 2009.

Alexandra Lange|Essays

Paper Revelations

Reading a lot of architecture criticism for those same classes, I also start to develop a running mental list of the writerly tics of critics like Paul Goldberger.

Mark Lamster|Essays

Ron Arad at MoMA

I'm not sold on Arad as an architect, but his material experimentation is certainly admirable

Mark Lamster|Essays

Delayed Gratification: On Architectural Criticism

Caught up in the formal design aspects of a building, critics like Nicolai Ouroussoff overlook the social context.

Denise Gonzales Crisp|Dialogues

A Critical View of Graphic Design History

Now comes yet another historical survey, Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide by Johanna Drucker and Emily McVarish. Denise Gonzales Crisp and Rick Poynor have been marking pages, making notes and exchanging views...

Matt Soar|Essays

Fail Again, Fail Better

Bread shop on Sherbrooke St. W., Montréal, 2008: Amateur mistake or professional flourish? Photograph by Matt Soar.The late magician and comedian Tommy Cooper made a lifelong virtue out of failure. Discovering early on in his career that …

Alice Twemlow|Essays

Some Questions about an Inquiry

Opening night of the “Forms of Inquiry: The Architecture of Critical Graphic Design” exhibition at Casco, Utrecht, January 2008The Audio-Tooth Implant receives digital signals from radios and mobile phones and transmits the …