We’re no stranger to Nikolay’s work here at IWRI. He’s featured in a write-up / interview over at Future Shipwreck. Here’s a brilliant intro from them:
Like Geoff McFetridge, Nikolay Saveliev is a graphic designer who plays in the astral sandbox of 1970s homage. But while McFetridge is content to revel in goofy California vibes inspired by high-school sketches and new-age children’s books, Saveliev’s work feels more like the woefully forgotten output of an unsettlingly avant-garde Ivy League minimalist with a soft-spot for the thinly-veiled formalism of sociopathic corporate art. And somehow, that’s incredibly fun. Saveliev is like Paul Rand’s misunderstood child prodigy, huddled over drafting paper until the wee hours of the morning, trying to add an enigmatic touch of hysterical beauty to a pamphlet about genital herpes.
What caught us off guard was this comment from Nikolay:
I like the idea of a consolidated aesthetic totality; what you make looks like what you listen to, sounds like what you wear, and speaks like what you believe in. In simpler terms, my girlfriend might look like she’s in a band I’d listen to, my haircut looks like it belongs in the chair I’m sitting in, and the work I’m designing might be written about in a book that I would read. Even my cat has to figure in there somehow. It’s a meticulous thing to maintain, but probably comes from the fact that I’ve discovered mostly everything through music, whether it’s ideologies, writers, artists, designers, cultures, subcultures, or other music. So it’s easy to tie things back into your work, as long as you keep your eyes and ears open, and maintain a healthy dose of critical thought.
Articulated so well, strangely we’ve had similar thoughts and happen to agree. Our hair matches the bookshelves too.
Via Kottke. Via Future Shipwreck.
Tags: Bookshelves, California Vibes, Child Prodigy, Children S Books, Corporate Art, Drafting Paper, Eyes And Ears, Formalism, Geoff Mcfetridge, Graphic Designer, Haircut, Minimalist, Paul Rand, Sandbox, Shipwreck, Soft Spot, Subcultures, Totality, Wee Hours
