RENOWNED DESIGNER MICHAEL BIERUT AT ESTHER MASSRY GALLERY AT SAINT ROSE

ALBANY (August 24, 2011) -- The Esther Massry Gallery at The College of Saint Rose presents “Michael Bierut 30 Years 90 Notebooks” by one of the leading graphic designers in the world today, known for his identity design, environmental graphic design, marketing strategies and editorial design solutions for major corporations, museums, education institutions, advertising and print media.

The exhibit opens Sunday, September 25, and continues through Sunday, January 22, 2012, at the Esther Massry Gallery in the Massry Center for the Arts, 1002 Madison Ave., Albany. Gallery hours: Monday-Thursday 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Friday 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Sunday noon-4 p.m. The gallery will be open for 1st Friday (October 7, November 4 and December 2) from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. and closed November 23–27 (Thanksgiving break) and December 13–January 16 (winter break).

In addition, a gallery reception will be held Friday, September 30, from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. The artist will present a talk at 7 p.m. in the Saint Joseph Hall Auditorium, 985 Madison Ave., Albany. Both events are free and open to the public.

A special commemorative poster designed and signed by the artist will be on sale during the exhibition and September 30 events. The artist will sign copies of his book, Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design, from 4:30 p.m. until 5 p.m. preceding the reception. Copies will be available for sale.
  

In this exhibition of work stretching over three decades, Bierut has recorded his work and thoughts in a series of identical notebooks dating back to 1982. Today there are more than 90 such notebooks. The exhibit presents a selection of completed pieces that are juxtaposed with an assortment of Bierut's notebooks. Viewers can make connections between original, very rough sketches and finished work and gain insight into the design process as a result.

Bierut studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, graduating summa cum laude in 1980. Prior to joining Pentagram in 1990 as a partner in the firm’s New York office, he worked for 10 years at Vignelli Associates, ultimately as vice president of graphic design.

Bierut’s clients at Pentagram have included the Alliance for Downtown New York, Benetton, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Alfred A. Knopf, the Walt Disney Company, Mohawk Paper Mills, Motorola, MillerCoors, the Toy Industry Association, Princeton University, Yale School of Architecture, New York University, the Fashion Institute of Technology, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Library of Congress, the Museum of Sex and the New York Jets. His projects have ranged from the design of “I Want to Take You Higher,” an exhibition on the psychedelic era for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, to serving as design consultant to United Airlines.

Bierut’s recent activities have included the development of a new identity and signage for the expanded Morgan Library and Museum; the development of environmental graphics for The New York Times Building; the design of an identity and public promotion for Philip Johnson’s Glass House; the creation of marketing strategies for the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation; the development of a new brand strategy and packaging for luxury retailer Saks Fifth Avenue; and the redesign of The Atlantic magazine.

Bierut has won hundreds of design awards, and his work is represented in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, all in New York; the Library of Congress in Washington; the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany; and the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Montreal. He has served as president of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) from 1988 to 1990 and is president emeritus of AIGA National. He currently serves as a director of the Architectural League of New York and of New Yorkers for Parks. In 1989, Bierut was elected to the Alliance Graphique Internationale; in 2003, he was named to the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame; and in 2006, he received the profession's highest honor, the AIGA Medal, in recognition of his distinguished achievements and contributions to the field. In 2008, he received the Design Mind Award in the National Design Awards presented by the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Bierut is a senior critic in graphic design at the Yale School of Art. He is co-editor of the anthology series Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design, published by Allworth Press, and in 1998 he co-edited and designed the monograph Tibor Kalman: Perverse Optimist. He is a co-founder of the blog “Design Observer” and his commentaries about graphic design in everyday life can be heard nationally on the Public Radio International’s “Studio 360.” Bierut’s book Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design was published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2007.

For additional images and information, visit http://www.pentagram.com/partners/#/20/. For more information about the exhibition, visit www.strose.edu/gallery or contact Jeanne Flanagan, gallery director and curator, at 518-485-3902 or flanagaj@strose.edu.

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