That’s designer Ryan Waller‘s smart-behind entry, right, to the New York Times’ “Help Put A New Face on Freedom,” One World Trade Center logo design contest. Asked what it meant, the artist cryptically replied, “The design says everything (and it should say multiple things at the same time).”
So, I’ll take a stab at it: Stores in the 7-11 convenience chain are often run by Middle Eastern people, of the variety many Americans broadly hold responsible for the September 2001 catastrophe, hence the allusive smear. As well, the opening within the “9″ portrays the abstracted shape of a banking jetliner, rushing toward the viewer head-on, a la United Airlines Flight 175′s widely videotaped crash into the Center’s South Tower. All of which faintly suggest that Waller, and possibly someone at The New York Times, is an absurdist, a racist, or both.
Wednesday, April 15th 2009 at 1:32 pm |
Or, it could be a visual pun that’s a wee bit fun—or wicked if you prefer, or a visual commentary on how the contest is absurdly seeking to brand the site of a tragedy or perhaps an expression equating consumerism with the events of 911. I have to agree with the artist. This is a work that says multiple things depending on your point(s) of view and brings another whole dimension of inquiry to the conversation of “this can’t possibly be simple logo-making.” In other words, it does exactly what art does the best: makes ya think about things. Don’t it?