Party Aphorisms (For David McDiarmid)
2014-2015, 2017
Displayed at Typeforce Chicago, February 14 – 25, 2015
Displayed at Flair, October 5 – November 3, 2017
Screenprints on chipboard, vinyl on mylar balloons, digitally printed party hats
Party Aphorisms is a continuation of David McDiarmid’s Rainbow Aphorisms, a series of acerbically witty and raucously angry prints he produced during during the AIDS crisis. McDiarmid was a visionary graphic designer and artist in his own right, but sadly, his life and work were in danger of being lost to time. At the time of this series’ creation, information about him was scarce, retrospectives were limited or inaccessible, and I truly believed the spirit of his agitation was missing from contemporary discourse. Party Aphorisms is a critical re-imagination of his work and also the concept of the archive as a sealed tomb. Each photograph below is gleaned from social media- images Typeforce visitors posted of their own accord through their own re-contextualization process.
Typeforce:
Flair Chicago:
