Exhibition Review: Friendly Fire - Jonathan Barnbrook

When I went to this I should have mentioned that I also went to Friendly Fire - Jonathan Barnbrook.

I don't like Jonathan Barnbrook's work. I find it too style driven and Ray Gun for my liking. I don't like Adbusters either.

Still, he's a very good graphic designer and he does lots of interesting work. Squeezed behind the Hadid exhibition is an exhibition of his work and I really enjoyed it. It helped that lots of the work was explained better in the 'exhibition' context. Do yourself a favour and make a visit to both exhibitions soon.

There are some more pictures here.

Comments

[Richard]

I do that all the time, take a closer look at work I don't like and like it a lot more. Or at least respect it more.

I don't like Barnbrook either but I've got that book he did for Damien Hirst - it's amazing.

Ref. What to in London...so far the IWM and Tate crack are top of our list. Thanks.

[Ben]

Barnbrook has now finish sadly. There's a Matthew Williamson one on now. Hadid is still there though.
http://www.designmuseum.org/exhibitions/2007/matthewwilliamson

The IWM one looks fantastic.

[John]

I liked this exhibition a lot, having wandered in from the Hadid show with no preconceptions or knowledge, and I agree that the explanation helps. But for me, that applies to the majority of exhibitions given my lack of design background which is a point worth debating given that the majority of "consumers" of design are in a similar state of ignorance. Any thoughts Ben?

[lauren]

i felt about the same about the barnbrook as i did about hadid - pretty good after a second look, but not something i lose my shit over. and i have to agree, richard - i liked the damien hirst book/ID the best. the louise bourgeois show at the tate is also ace.

[Patricia]

The pictures are really quite interesting. And the exhibition is rather original. I wouldn't be against visiting it if I were not so busy.

[techboy]

so...you dont like john barnbrook's work, but you enjoyed the show?doesnt make sense. and richard you dont like him? either but you think the book he did for damien hirst is amazing. whats going on here? some kind of childish personal grudge against him?
you either think he is a good designer or you dont.

as for your comment about it being like ray gun i think having spent at least 10 minutes in the show you would have seen that is not the case- ideologically and stylistically its completely different.

by the way i went to the show, knowing only a little bit about his work and was blown away - the way the exhibition was designed and the issues raised in the work, it was really refreshing. if only a few more designers (me and most probably you included) had the balls he has, then design would be a much more interesting and socially relevant profession.