Kirin Presents Go Font Urself* Chapter 4

KIRIN PRESENTS GO FONT UR SELF* CHAPTER 4
AN EXHIBITION OF TYPE BASED ARTWORKS

FEATURING:

ABOVE / RAZA UNO / ISTAN SZUGYICZKY / SARAH A. KING / ADRIAN GRAY / BLENDS / PAUL NOLAN / MARIN HORIKAWA / SAYNT / TIMBA SMITS / SUPER EXPRESSO / YOK / ROB ABEL / HELEN MYCROFT

Typography is at the centre of our everyday lived experience. It gives us a voice to express ideas, tell stories or articulate meaning. Proudly presented by Kirin© GO FONT UR SELF* is back for another round with Chapter 4 arriving on Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane shores in March and April 2010. The touring exhibition, which is a firm favourite in the wonderful world of type, brings you 14 artworks from the world’s most critically acclaimed typographers.

Outside the bounds of traditional typesetting, and beyond the scope of familiar media, letters can become the source of experimentation, taking on a personality of their very own. The restraints of legibility are loosened to the whim of illustrated characters, deconstructed forms or references to the vernacular.

GO FONT UR SELF* embraces letterforms as the inspiration for these works of art from international artists, designers and typographers. Whether it’s in the sweeping strokes and swashes or pixelated punctuation; the alphabet becomes the source for exploring lyrical modes of visual expression.

The GO FONT UR SELF* Typography Initiative is an ongoing showcase of typographic works presented by Kirin and produced by Peer Group Media.

HEADLINING ARTISTS:

ABOVE’ (CALIFORNIA, USA)
ABOVE has been creating public art since 1995. ABOVE is an international contemporary street artist who keeps his identity concealed and is widely known for his social and political stencils, wooden “arrow mobile” installations, and witty word play paintings. ABOVE started traditional graffiti of tagging freight trains in California in 1995 and moved to Paris at the age of 19 where he started painting his trademark arrow (pointing above all around the city). Since then, ABOVE has been consistently travelling around the world doing many large self-financed “tours” with each tour exploring a new medium or style of artworks.

YOK (PERTH AUS)
For some years now, the droopy eyes and twisted moustaches of Yok’s black-lined characters have been staring aimlessly from Melbourne alleyways, zines and gallery walls. They seem to sleepily go about their business like everyone else, either happy or resigned to a life they didn’t choose. Yok currently works from a home studio in Melbourne and has exhibited in Tokyo, New York, Berlin, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taipei. He also edits the independent art periodical King Brown.

TIMBA SMITS (MELBOURNE AUS)
From Melbourne but currently residing in London, Timba Smits is founder and Art Director of Wooden Toy Quarterly – a designer and artist of sorts who definitely likes to keep busy. He was awarded the Desktop 2007 designer of the year, winner of the 2009 Realise Your Dream Awards and was one of the guest speakers at the 2009 Semi Permanent conference.

SUPER EXPRESSO (BARCELONA SPAIN)
Superexpresso is Michele Angelo. He was born in Italy and studied painting, then visual and industrial design. Some years later he moved to work as a graphic designer in Barcelona. He currently works as a freelance designer, still giving life to his weird creatures full of love at night. Michele believes in a hand-crafted approach to design and loves the contrast between modern tools and classic “human” techniques. He likes to experiment with new ways more than following existing trends. This approach can be used in all fields and offers interesting new solutions depending on the project.

THE FREE 2009 GO FONT UR SELF* BOOK – AVAILABLE AT 2010 SHOWS

The complete year of 2009’s GO FONT UR SELF* shows has been archived into a 56 page book showcasing a retrospective of the first three chapters of the GFUS* typography series.

The front and back cover is black foil on 450 GSM Notturno matte black Stock
The sheets are 150 GSM Novatech.

This limited edition book is not for resale, but there will be a chance to take one home from the 2010 GO FONT UR SELF* shows.

There is also a chance to take home a complimentary set of limited edition postcards of 16 of the 44 artworks from GFUS* 2009.

Want to visit the exhibition nearest you? Here are the details:

BRISBANE / Thursday 11th March / Nine Lives – 694 Anne Street, Fortitude Valley, 4000 QLD / RSVP gofonturselfbrisbane@peergroupmedia.com
SYDNEY / Wednesday 17th March / Peer Gallery – 153 Bridge Road, Glebe, 2037 NSW / RSVP gofonturselfsydney@peergroupmedia.com
MELBOURNE / Thursday 1st April / No Vacancy – 47 Jane Bell Lane Melbourne, 3000 VIC / RSVP gofonturselfmelbourne@peergroupmedia.com

There will be drinks and food available, plus Bad Wives DJ’s spinning tunes for Sydney.

For more information, artist profiles and images from past GO FONT UR SELF* exhibitions visit www.gofonturself.com.au <http://www.gofonturself.com.au> .

-ENDS-
For images, artist interviews/Q&As and press contact Hannah Cooper / hannah@peergroupmedia.com / 02 9552 6333 / 0431 985 018