Gallery [2]: Garth Walker: Confessions of a Design Thief

October 23rd – November 18th, 2012

Curated by Liz DeLuna. The first retrospective of works by South African graphic designer Garth Walker, courtesy of the Dr. M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery at St. John’s University, Queens, New York.

Opening Reception: Tuesday, October 23 | 5 – 7 p.m.
Artist’s Lecture: Thursday, November 15 | 3:30 p.m.

Garth Walker, Front and back cover for ijusi issue #6 (The V8 Power Issue) ,1997, printed material

Widely regarded as the pioneer of post 1994 ‘South African rooted graphic design’, Garth Walker has taken the gospel of African creativity to conferences and workshops in more than 20 countries on all 5 continents. His image archive on South African vernacular street and township design is the largest extant, and covers literally everything from gravestones to type, signage, and architecture.

Garth Walker founded two of South Africa’s best-known graphic design studios. Orange Juice Design in the early 1990s (acquired by Ogilvy South Africa), and more recently in 2008, Mister Walker. Both studios work in the corporate sector for many of South Africa’s best known brands–on both large and small projects across a wide range of disciplines. But Walker’s real interest lies in “what makes me African – and what does that look like?” This forms the basis for much of his personal work. Since 1995, he has published his experimental studio graphics magazine, ijusi, to world-wide acclaim. The non-commercial magazine provides a platform for creatives globally to explore their own personal views on the African experience.

Garth Walker has exhibited or is represented in the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Minneapolis Art Institute, International Center of Photography, National Portrait Gallery (UK), Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, Biblioteque Nationale de France, Victoria & Albert Museum (UK), The Smithsonian, and numerous university and academic collections worldwide. His work has been featured in well over 100 books and magazines. Garth Walker is a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI), British Design & Art Direction (D&AD), The Type Directors Club (TDC NY), and The St Moritz Design Summit. He is a founding Trustee of the South African Brand Design Council (BDC).