The University Art Museum welcomes Brian Stauffer, School of Art alumnus and international illustrator.
UAMA Artist Talk with Brian Stauffer, Exhibition Preview and Reception
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Talk, 4 pm; Preview Reception, 5 to 6:30 pm
Stauffer's illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, TIME, The New Yorker, The Nation, The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Esquire, GQ, and over 300 other publications worldwide. Brian Stauffer's illustrations often depict and explore the dark side of the human condition. Beginning with hand drawn images, he builds mixed media collages using traditional and digital processes, painted elements, and scanned found objects and surfaces.
Stauffer was born and raised in Arizona and graduated with a BFA from the University of Arizona School of Art, in 1989, with an emphasis in design. His body of work is a fine example of the philosophy of the program (now called Visual Communication), which approaches design and illustration as a means of critical inquiry, documentation, interpretation, expression, and communication, as well as powerful vehicles for social change. Stauffer is recognized as one of the leading practitioners in this genre of illustration, because of his strong political and social commentary, distinctive visual voice, incisive concept development, focused visual problem solving, and clarity of communication.
Most of the works in the exhibition are the result of assignments from a wide range of clients and art directors. Some of them began as personal responses to world events that were later "pitched" to art directors. The concept for "A Very Long Tunnel" popped into his head, without a specific assignment. He submitted a concept sketch to the art director of The New Yorker and it became the cover for the issue the week after President Obama was elected.
In 2005, The American Society of Magazine Editors named Brian's "Worry" cover for The Nation magazine "One of the Top 40 Magazine Covers from the Past 40 Years." His images are in the permanent collections of the Museum of American Illustration in New York City, The American Institute of Graphics Artists, The Newseum of Washington D.C., and The Art Directors Club of New York.
