Intended as a timeline view of two careers, “Two Lines Align: Drawings and Graphic Design by Ed Fella and Geoff McFetridge” explores the ways in which graphic design has evolved into an acceptable form of individual artistic expression. The show officially kicks off today at the Redcat Gallery, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA. Stylistically, Ed and Geoff’s distinct works play well with one another, which is astonishing considering their unique backgrounds and age difference.
Geoff McFetridge is a graphic artist and director in Los Angeles. His artwork has graced magazine covers, clothing, posters, and furniture. He designed a series of t-shirts and home furnishings for Mini, a division of Xlarge Clothing. Geoff’s “mini-poster packs” won a Design Distinction Award from International Design Magazine in 2000 and are part of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts (SFMOMA) Permanent Collection. Also, he created artwork for Dazed & Confused Magazine’s “Boycott Esso” campaign, which included stickers and an animated video. His distinctive, and highly personal, visual language, built around “logofying ideas,” reduces graphical narratives to the point where meaning is largely derived from the viewer’s own imagination.
Ed Fella is an artist, educator and graphic designer whose work has had an important influence on contemporary typography. He practiced professionally as a commercial artist in Detroit for 30 years before receiving an MFA in Design from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1987. He has since devoted his time to teaching at the California Institute for the Arts and his own unique self-published work which has appeared in many design publications and anthologies. In 1997 he received the Chrysler Award and in 1999 an Honorary Doctorate from CCS in Detroit. His work is also on permanent display at MOMA’s New York branch.