Current paintings

BIO

Designer Alan Peckolick was co-founder of Pushpin Lubalin Peckolick and other noted design studios. The paintings in this collection are the most recent manifestations of Peckolick's decades-long fascination with the letterform. During the artist's graphic design career, he was well known for the typographic forms he created. For the past few decades, he has traveled the world photographing commercial signs in every language, savoring the rich palimpsest of meaning conveyed by a particular font, the bravura of an amateur sign-maker, or the evidence of age shown by peeling, stain and fading. To Peckolick, signs tell stories. The artist says of the signs created in the early decades of the 20th century, which have accompanied so many of us through life, "These signs are disappearing; so many are now gone." Peckolick's passionate pursuit is both a form of visual archeology and poetic reclamation, informing all his work. The earliest paintings (1998) were drawn entirely from the artist's photographic trove of signs. Among them are close-up depictions of a sign for an automotive garage in the south of France and a pharmacy in Santa Margarita, Italy. Later works introduce a psychological dimension in views that are framed as if in the long shot of a camera: a child's red, white and blue ball is spotted sitting on a window ledge; a man's profile can be glimpsed inside an apartment window; and a woman stares out from a darkened room. Peckolick portrays these mysterious vignettes of contemporary urban life as action poised within the framework of sky, building, and painted commercial signs that hint of other, lost times. In these more recent works, the signs express more optimism and vigor than do the human figures. The signs include one executed in a jaunty, cursive script for a Portuguese telephone company in the 1930s or '40s; another in which the Hebrew alphabet is inscribed upon the arch of a door of an old synagogue; and two in which the names of a milliner and a scissors maker are endowed with a pictorial flourish that speaks of another, perhaps more optimistic, era. (These last two are drawn from the street of the Village and SoHo in New York City). Born in the Bronx in 1940, Peckolick graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. After several years as an art director at McCann Erikson and Kenyon & Eckhardt, he joined Herb Lubalin's newly opened studio in 1964. In 1967, he was chosen one of the best young American designers by Gallery 303 in New York; this led to exhibition of his work in New York and Japan and the publication of article on his work in Communication Arts, Idea and Art Direction magazines. In 1968, Peckolick opened his own studio, working in all areas of design and designing four books that were chosen for the "best list" of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). In 1972, he rejoined the Lubalin office as Vice President and Creative Director. He served as president of Lubalin Peckolick Associates until March of 1982, when he co-founded Pushpin Lubalin Peckolick. In 1996, the artist formed his own design group, Peckolick & Partners. As the recipient of many prestigious awards, he is a frequent juror and guest lecturer at art schools and professional organizations.