The poster is a means of expression that has evolved with society and culture. Therefore, in addition to its temporal communication function and its ornamental use, it can be considered as a document where the history and development of the society that created it are captured.
The poster is a means of expression that has evolved with society and culture. Therefore, in addition to its temporal communication function and its ornamental use, it can be considered as a document where the history and development of the society that created it are captured.
In the course of this decade, the world has been transformed by covering itself with an invisible network of communications. With the development of other media - video, television, cinema, radio, internet - the role of the poster has changed and it seems destined to disappear. However, the poster continues to undergo changes, entering museums and galleries, it has gone to rooftops, underground areas - the Metro - and bus stops, consolidating its permanence in various ways and maintaining a prominent role in contemporary graphic communication. It is enough to see the importance that the biennials of Warsaw, Bern, Colorado and Mexico have acquired, where this medium is presented as an artistic object.
In accordance with the global transformations, in the Mexico of the nineties a series of economic, political and cultural events have been registered that have influenced graphic design and particularly poster design, the development of computers and globalization the markets that demand promotion of their products, the large number of cultural events, particularly art and design; the proliferation of publications, the diversity of young designers graduated from professional schools entering the field of work, as well as the development of groups of poster artists who meet to make productions with specific themes.
It is from this decade that the International Poster Biennial takes place in Mexico, which has already been held five times; This has led to the exhibition of posters from around the world, has promoted the participation of designers in conferences, courses and workshops, and in the publication of publications and catalogs of the poster production of Mexico and other countries.
In May 1997, promoted by the International Poster Biennial in Mexico, an exhibition of young poster designers under 35 years of age was presented at the Casa del Poeta in Mexico City. During the call, pieces made between 1993 and 1997 were requested. Due to the diversity of the themes and the variety of solutions, this sample is characteristic of the contemporary Mexican poster and allows observing the work of young professionals who design posters.
Alejandro Magallanes, one of the organizers and participant, pointed out in the presentation of the sample: “The main objective of this exhibition is to be able to see the posters of Mexican designers under 35 years of age, as well as the search for each of the authors . The exhibition ranges from the most conservative to the most experimental and from the most cultural to the most commercial. In all cases, designers are generators of Culture ”.
On that occasion, more than 150 posters from 54 designers gathered. The selection of the material had as a requirement that at least one poster of each participant appeared, which had not been exhibited at the Poster Biennial in Mexico and that had been used publicly as a poster.
It was suggested that although not all posters are "beautiful" it is necessary to point out that their design is not exempt from assessment and aesthetic categories; Consequently, it is up to the designer to contemplate the aesthetic character of the medium, although a poster is not always given with characteristics that we could call, within the aesthetic categories, as beautiful. Sometimes, due to its drama or its form of representation, it does not provoke enjoyment in that concept of beauty. In addition, the set was representative of the spirit of this generation and eloquent in terms of the thought of their work practice.
The exhibition, said Leonel Sagahón, designer and promoter, “was an act of encounter, where we met and recognized each other, assuming a generational-union conscience. It was also the first public act, in fact our presentation in society as a generation, where for the first time we said what we were doing and implicitly what we thought ”.
The moment that this profession is going through is one of gestation and search that will be achieved in dialogue between different generations, considering projects and events where their ideas coincide and confront each other. The most recent project was the production of posters for an exhibition that took place in the Netherlands, last May, where, promoted by Matiz magazine, 22 exhibitors - offices and individuals - representing various aesthetic trends were presented.
After the exhibition and other events carried out by these young people, it is possible to name some participants of that generation in the design of posters: Alejandro Magallanes, Manuel Monroy, Gustavo Amézaga and Eric Olivares, they are the ones who have worked the most on the poster, although the work in this field of Leonel Sagahón, Ignacio Peón, Domingo Martínez, Margarita Sada, Ángel Lagunes, Ruth Ramírez, Uzyel Karp and Celso Arrieta, not only as creators of posters - since there would be a few to name - but as promoters and interested in the development and evolution of this medium. Also, mention should be made of Duna vs Paul, a couple of designers who did not participate in the exhibition, but designed the posters for the Palacio de Bellas Artes, and José Manuel Morelos, who is currently carrying out important research on the political poster in Mexico.
Some designers carry out collective works such as La Baca, la Perla, El Cartel de Medellín developing themes about tolerance, for Cuba and for democratic freedoms; In their works they make a rigorous criticism, thus learning from each other, some groups arriving at the production of series whose posters are not signed by individual authors but as collectives; they have taken up - the vast majority - with enthusiasm the new technologies, the new trends, the influences that come from outside, through the Internet and other means of communication. Through the process of reflection on design and collective work, they want to make a poster with an experimental sense and that serves as a future proposal to preserve and conserve the artistic, in addition, of course, to its function as a means of communication.
The generation of designers, born in the sixties and the first half of the seventies, has already acquired a professional maturity, and although they cannot be located as a homogeneous group, according to Leonel Sagahón, there are some traits that characterize them as generation : search for a language with a different aesthetic, concern to update the way in which issues of national interest can be addressed and want to update that discourse, search for new technological resources and new symbols.
Young people take up much of what was done before, they also pose technological and aesthetic breaks; we are living in a time where the processes have accelerated and it is necessary to make an adjustment of accounts with the tradition and the modern. Designers must clearly consider themselves, use all existing and future modern means to continue filling this social need for the graphic communication icon.
In conclusion, it should be noted that this generation is in search of its own language. In their constant work, in the analysis of the work, in the promotion and dissemination of this medium, they will maintain their topicality and permanence.
Iris Salgado. She has a degree in Graphic Communication Design. Graduated from Uam-Xochimilco, she took a master's degree in Creativity for Design at the School of Design of Fine Arts. He is currently working on the Interactive catalog on "Not all posters are pretty."
Source: Mexico in Time No. 32 September / October 1999
