Winter 2025
The perils of interdisciplinarity [EXTRACT]
The Masters Series: Stefan Sagmeister
SVA Chelsea Gallery, New York From 29 August to 12 October 2024 Reviewed by Alex J. Todd
The ‘Masters Series’, an annual award and exhibition celebrating one of the ‘great visual communicators of our time’, was first organised by SVA [School of Visual Arts] founder Silas H. Rhodes and has honoured graphic designers, illustrators, writers and photographers since 1988. This 2024 exhibition brought together many strands of work by Stefan Sagmeister, the latest award recipient. The exhibits ranged from posters and publications to film, interactive installations and elements of the designer’s previous shows. The exhibition space was divided into four sections distinguished by wall colour: light blue, deep purple, dark green and cobalt blue. In addition to the four ‘eras’, a long stretch of the right-hand side of the exhibition is devoted to an ‘Augmented Timeline’ of the designer’s life and career, which is installed above an equally extensive shelf displaying a selection of the designer’s sketchbooks from the past 30 years. The timeline, designed by Interval studio in collaboration with Sagmeister, runs a single thread through key moments in Sagmeister’s development, including his first visit to New York, his collaboration with Jessica Walsh (see Eye 100), under the studio name of Sagmeister & Walsh, and the sabbaticals he takes at regular intervals …
Alex J. Todd, design historian and educator, New York
Read the full version in Eye no. 107 vol. 27, 2025

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