This poster was inspired by Paul Rand’s book cover, Origins of Modern Sculpture (1946). Rand’s work is usually characterized by bold shapes and saturated colors, however, this piece was black and white and drastically minimal. The concept was to adopt Rand’s compositional style and some visual elements, such as similar fonts and weights, composition, and the grayscale theme. The selected sculptures in the original by Rand include a woman in a horizontal view and an egg that seem to bleed off the cover. Relevant to the context and subject matter, Identidad Geometrica is a sculpture that can be found outside the main entrance of the El Paso Museum of Art. The sculpture was made by Oswaldo Sagastegui and was gifted to EPMA.
This poster was inspired by Tchichold’s Phoebus Palast (1927) Programm. Tschichold was known for his precise and untraditional compositions with unconventional griding, geometric images, and varied fonts. Similar to the original Phoebus Palast, this exhibition poster mimics his composition with concise type intersection. In the original Palast, there is a circle with a horse leading, what seems to be, a race carriage. The image in this poster is unique to El Paso and its historical significance to the horse drawn stagecoaches and trails throughout Texas. The original Palast was printed on a letterpress and the paper aged with time, giving it a yellowed and weathered texture. This effect was also mimicked by dyeing and photographing thinned antique paper.
