Karen D'Amico - London Artist and Designer

I have written about my friend’s blog before – see Fluid Thinking – Karen D’Amico’s Artist Blog – but I have not covered her graphic design and art so here are some thoughts. She has a new site for her graphic design work, D’Amico Design. I think the entry page is a great example of focus as there is an interesting image that takes a minute to figure out and then a simple objective statement below that draws your eye after seeing the banner.

The “about section” covers her 18 years in the design and print industry including Karen’s technical and design capabilities, as well as her services. She also mentions that she is a practicing artist, and maintains a studio in Hackney. I certainly agree with Karen’s statement, “I like the fact that the boundaries between fine art and design are often blurred. I consider both professions to be innately creative, requiring lateral thinking and the ability to find unique solutions.” Too often fine art looks down on design work. I see them as peers and the ability to create just the right simplicity required to convey a message through good design is something I have great respect for.

In Karen’s portfolio I especially like the Glitter and Grime series in Portfolio One. It is design for an artist’s book with many street scenes. Karen said she had complete autonomy on the design effort. I think the text and the illustrations work as equals with neither fighting the other. I also like the design work in her own ezine, Tangent Projects, seen in Portfolio Three. Here you also see a balanced relationship between text and images. The art of occupation invitation makes a strong conceptual statement and then you notice the balanced design that drew your attention to the conceptual centerpiece.

Karen’s art site contains the statement that her “art practice focuses on the devising of various groupings and systems as agencies of connecting and interpreting notions surrounding identity/legacy, accumulated histories, and sense of place. By incorporating maps, text, assemblage and the photographic image in her work, she juxtaposes and manipulates objects and images in an attempt to order, contain and re-present them in various contexts.”

One project that conveys this message is the collaborative Travellers Secret Box 2005- 2007. It “sought to explore, locate, identify and perhaps dissolve some of the seemingly undetectable territories existent in terms of art and culture, social inclusion and the ever-shifting locality of identity as well as notions of home.” In 2008 this concept was extended to the Sandwich Box, another group effort that Karen is the co-curator. Karen often works at boundaries and her champagne army is another wonderful example I wrote about before. I find her work a nice balance of accessibility and complexity.

The images section presents a wide variety of work. I was struck by “Outpouring,” a mixed media work; “burnt offerings,” an assemblage; “time trap,” another assemblage; “no such place,” a digitally manipulated photograph that looks like an aerial image but is really a micro-world. There are many others but I will stop here and recommend that you take a look.

Comments

[marja-leena]

I've been reading your blog for some time and now I'm so thrilled to see this excellent article on Karen and her work! We've "known" each other for a few years as artist bloggers so I'm delighted for her that you have done this.

[Bill Ives]

Maria-Leena

Thanks for your comment. I passed it on to Karen. I liked your site and added it to my list of art blogs. I have been to country and it is beautiful.

Bill

[Mick Mather]

While I visit Karen's blog on a regular basis, there are a few things you mention here that I hadn't been aware of. Thanks for the nudge to spend a little more time with her this week.

[Bill Ives]

Mick - Thanks. I really like her recent work. Bill