DON'T PANIC

DON'T PANIC

Posters are part of a city’s skin, like temporary tattoos they parade attitude as much as content. Whether advertising for commercial opportunities, cultural events or political protests, this medium has won its place as a new template for social engagement and sometimes even recognised as a new branch of art.

The credit for this is attributed to Jules Cheret, who pushed the lithographic process to enable the progress of the posters as a modern medium of expression. With his help 19th century club promoters with an artistic inclination commissioned the likes of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec to design the Moulin Rouge promotional posters. More recently, but certainly in this tradition, Don’t Panic, a small advertising publisher started by club promoters, has produced over 90 posters in the last 6 years, designed by emerging talents and established masters of the art.

Don’t Panic usually set a theme or interest for the designer. As they declare in their mission statement their desire is to “encourage dialogue and communication, raising and addressing issues that affect contemporary culture with mind to bring change to the industry and global society.” Themes often relate to social interests and protest, such as environment, war/bush, social participation and creativity. The disciplines that are invited to partake are diverse and include photography, fine art, graphic design, graffiti, copywriting and model making all constrained to the A2 format.
The exhibition will display 90 posters by known (and not yet known) designers and will include work by:

James Goggin, Banksy, Neville Brody, Pentagram, Kerr Noble, Pete Fowler, Kitsune, Airside, Neil McFarland, Andrew Rae, Elliot Thoburn, Kam Tang, Kid Acne, Shepard Fairey, Jon Burgerman, Will Barras, Stanley Donwood, Kai and Sunny, Jamie Reid, State, Michael Gillette, Zip, Blue Source, Iwantdesign and others


Exhibition curated and designed by Daniel Charny

Gallery Director: Zeev Aram

The Aram Gallery,
110 Drury Lane (near Aldwych), Covent Garden, London WC2B 5SG.
www.thearamgallery.org