Octobre En Normandie

Octobre En Normandie

I have been experimenting with new typography sine 1994, after spending a year at the Villa Medici, the French national academy of art in Rome. I designed a series of alphabet (Architectonic typography) especially for posters that I used for the first time in “Octobre en Normandie” a dance and music festival in Normandie. Modern dance and minimalist art appeal to me directly, especially the sculptors’ work. How could I transform this principle into graphic terms? I tried to use the idea of movement and lightness, and to keep a poetic attitude. To design this posters, I have gone through a many stages, using the square and a grid system for the layout. My actual work is a maximalist geometric design as opposed to a strict minimalist expression because the type looks quite heavy and I use only color in big surfaces. As I am not looking at a pure functionalism, even if the message is not easily read, I like to play with arbitrary organisation of the printing surface. I look for balance, good proportions. The essential is to find the emotion in the design process.

Phillippe Apeloig

Graduated from the Ecole National Superieur des Arts Decoraitifs in Paris. Trained at Total Design in Amsterdam and in Los Angeles with April Greiman. He received a fellowship for the French Academy of art in Rome (Villa Medicis) in ’94. He has worked for many cultural institutions as the Musee d’Orsay, the Carre d’Art in Nimes, the Architectural Center [Arc en reve] in Bordeaux, the French National Assembly, the French National Printing… and for numerous publishers. His work has been on display at the French National Library in Paris, at the Centre Georges Pompidou, etc. His posters are collected in the Merril C. Berman collection, New York.