Happy is as happy does
Bobby McFerrin would have approved of the retrospective currently on show at the Design Museum Holon (DMH). McFerrin is a seasoned multi-talented, multidisciplinary artist, who spreads his God-given vocal gifts across a broad spread of musical genres, but is probably best known for his sunny countenance and outlook on life. Stefan Sagmeister and Jessica Walsh subscribe to the same positive view of the world about us. That much, and more, is palpable throughout the exhibition in Holon that is due to run through to October 20.
Austrian-born Sagmeister and American-born partner in creative crime Walsh have been in the commercial design business for quite some time. Walsh, at 31 the younger of the twosome by some distance, has been in the profession since 2008, while 56-year-old Sagmeister, who relocated to New York 25 years ago, has been following his design mojo for nigh on three decades.
Sagmeister and Walsh run one of the best-known creative agencies in the world. Their New York base produces a wide spectrum of market-oriented aesthetic works for commercials, websites, books and all manner of products. The chronologically senior of the twosome would like us to take a longer harder look at what we are being offered and, thus, at ourselves and our view of our surroundings.
“Beauty is really not just skin deep. It’s not just living on the surface. It really is very much a part of what it means to be human,” says Sagmeister. “We want to take something that people traditionally see as ugly and show the beauty to them,” adds Walsh.
In an image-based world in which, according to the exhibition textual backdrop, “we need only 39 milliseconds in order to form an opinion,” Sagmeister and Walsh manage to get the public to spend far longer pondering the messages they are trying to convey with their exhibits at the DMH.
There is ne’er a dull moment in the show, which pulsates with sparkling vibrancy, splashes of eye-catching and heart-warming color. There are items that have the spectator smiling, while others induce roars of laughter. Some are definitively thought-provoking, while others are simply moving. Take, for example, one large work with the legend Beauty = Human. The lettering and decorative elements across the rest of the rectangular creation curl, ebb and flow in a harmoniously charming dynamic. It is a simple message conveyed effectively and succinctly.
The bottom line as far as Sagmeister is concerned, as simplistic as it may sound, is that we are constantly in search of happiness. That is front and center throughout the Holon layout. He has also put in the hours, days, months and years himself, in the field. Among a slew of aesthetically intriguing, entertaining, disturbing and striking creations over the years, including album covers for such rock and jazz icons as Lou Reed, The Rolling Stones, David Byrne, and Pat Metheny, the lauded graphic designer and typographer produced what eventually turned basically into an autobiographical documentary which – surprise, surprise – he called The Happy Film.
“It took a long time to do,” he notes, when we settle down for a chat and a coffee after a tour of the Holon exhibition. “It ultimately became a film, not about general happiness, but a film about my own happiness, because I felt that was something I could talk about with some confidence, because I know myself, or at least I try to.”
SAGMEISTER CUTS an impressive figure – tall and lean and with a thick mop of hair. With his talents, professional success and creative pursuits, one could easily point to him as someone to admire with a lifestyle to aspire to. Then again, all that glitters is not necessary bliss-inducing gold.
“Out of that film came an exhibition called The Happy Show; it’s at its last location, now, in Lisbon. It traveled through 10 different locations and had over half a million visitors.”
Clearly, the Austrian has struck a nerve here, and the proof of the pudding is in the global attendance figures.
“I think The Happy Show is the most visited graphic show in the history of the universe,” he deadpans. “In that sense, it really worked. What is more important than the numbers is the fact that we got an incredible amount of feedback – from every location, on all levels. Some people just said they enjoyed it and were entertained by it, and others said it triggered something that made them change their life.”
That rang true, and was very gratifying for Sagmeister, on a personal and a professional life.
“As designers, you want make things that have meaning and be involved in something with meaning. We find our work meaningful when it can either delight or help somebody.”
That’s quite a goal to aspire to, and that line of thought evidently runs the length and breadth of the retrospective. It would be hard, for instance, to observe the image in the exhibition, with a lean black woman – possibly a fashion model – removing a couple of fish-shaped cutouts from over her eyes, to reveal a 500-watt smile, without, at the very least, having a fleeting sense of fun.
Then there is the quizzical door sign which reads: Gone inside my head to freak out over things I can’t control. The door also sports a Will Return clock square, indicating that there is hope of resolution being achieved. As we grow older, hopefully, we get to know ourselves a little better, and can begin to divest ourselves of needless physical and emotional flotsam and jetsam.
One tongue-in-cheek exhibit features an envelope with the address “I’d like to cancel my subscription to your bullshit”, lodged in a mailbox. Next to the letter there is a spiral-shaped object which looks suspiciously like canine droppings.
WE ARE told in The Happy Film, there are three main thoroughfares that lead us to that most elusive, and generally transient, of emotional states – happiness: meditation, cognitive therapy, and prescription drugs. Sagmeister experienced all three.
“At the beginning of the film, my thesis was that it is possible to train my mind in the same way as I can train my body.”
Judging by his imposing physical presence, achieving that might very well generate that most sought-after individual state of affairs. A Chinese saying posits,: “If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone else.” Sagmeister would go along with that.
“As a designer, ultimately, you want to make things that have meaning. You want to be involved in something that has meaning. We found that, if we find our work meaningful, then we can either delight or help somebody.”
As cheesy as that may sound, that is a truly noble goal to aim for and the show in Holon indubitably conveys that ethos. Sagmeister does not go along with the sober observation of his illustrious compatriot, Sigmund Freud, that “All we can hope for in life is a transformation from utter misery into common unhappiness.”
“I don’t believe it,” says the designer.” I don’t see my life going from the one to the other.”
Can happiness really be achieved? Sagmeister is certainly serious about it. He takes sabbaticals every seven years, when he abstains from anything to do with work. He makes forays to natural beauty spots, such as Bali, where he engages in meditation. Not a place to search for inner tranquility. At the end of the day, even with Sagmeister’s financial and temporal resources, it ain’t so easy.
“I found that my life interfered. The whole thing became a little bit muddy,” he says. “Trying to chase after something more meaningful became a big pain.”
Still, nothing tried nothing gained. Right?
For more information: http://www.dmh.org.il