A selection of 122 posters from the first decade of the new millennium, which focus on a broad range of topics were created by graphic designers from 32 countries.
Graphic Advocacy: International Posters for the Digital Age 2001–2012, on view in the
Court and South Galleries, showcases a selection of 122 posters from the first decade of
the new millennium. The posters, which focus on a broad range of topics, such as the
struggle for peace, social justice, environmental defense, and liberation from oppression,
were created by graphic designers from 32 countries, including Iran, South Africa, China,
North Korea, Egypt, Israel, Russia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the
United States.
“From the confrontational and political, to the promotional, persuasive and educational,
the poster in all its forms has persisted as a vehicle for the public dissemination of ideas,
information and opinion,” explains Elizabeth Resnick, curator of the exhibition. “Posters
are dissent made visible—they communicate, advocate, instruct, celebrate, and warn,
while jarring us to action with their bold messages and striking iconography.”
Ready access to broadband and mobile communications and to digital production
technologies has expanded the poster's role well beyond the limitations of the printed
surface, Resnick adds. “These new technologies promote truly global conversations
coupled with unprecedented opportunities for changing attitudes or showing defiance or
solidarity,” she says.
In conjunction with the exhibition, a panel discussion will be held on Thursday, February
6, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the University Galleries. Thomas Uhlein, a William Paterson
University professor of graphic design, will moderate a discussion featuring exhibition
curator Elizabeth Resnick, and artists Alice Drueding and Joe Scorsone, who have been
designing posters together since 1986. In addition, the Galleries will host an Advocacy
Fair on Tuesday, February 25 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. featuring local organizations and
William Paterson University student clubs. Both events are free and open to the public.
Resnick is professor and chair of the Graphic Design Department at Massachusetts
College of Art and Design, Boston, Massachusetts. She has developed and organized
design exhibitions since in 1991. Graphic Advocacy: International Posters for the Digital
Age 2001-2012 is the third in a series of socio-political poster exhibitions she has
curated. The first exhibition, The Graphic Imperative: International Posters for Peace,
Social Justice and The Environment 1965–2005, was organized with co-curators Chaz
Maviyane-Davies and Frank Baseman; the second, Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of
International AIDS Awareness Posters 1985–2010, was organized with co-curator Javier
Cortés. Resnick is the author of Design for Communication: Conceptual Graphic Design
Basics (2003) and Graphic Design: A Problem-Solving Approach to Visual
Communication (1984), as well as numerous articles for AIGA Journal of Graphic Design
and other publications. A member of the advisory board of the Boston chapter of AIGA,
she has received several awards, including the AIGA Fellows Award. Resnick is a
graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in
fine art.
The exhibition is one of two on view concurrently in the University Galleries. David
Shapiro: Cardboard and Gold, on view in the East Gallery, is a celebration of the artist,
art historian and poet David Shapiro, a William Paterson University professor of art for
more than 30 years. The exhibition includes collages and paintings, as well as many of
Shapiro’s volumes of poetry, art criticism, and literary criticism.
Funding for this exhibition has been made possible by the Puffin Foundation, as well as
by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. The William Paterson University
Galleries are wheelchair-accessible. Large-print educational materials are available. For
additional information, please call the William Paterson University Galleries at 973-720-
2654.
An opening reception for the exhibition will
be held on Thursday, January 23 from 12:30 to 2 p.m
Ben Shahn Center for the Visual Arts- William Paterson University
300 Pompton Road, Wayne
Hours: Monday - Friday, 10am-5pm Select Sundays, 12-4pm (Jan 26; Feb 2, 9, 23; Mar 2, 9)
Free admission