Generous warm, very Family of Man. Scathing startling. Slippery. Impetuous. Also: naïvemundane sophistimuhkated. Anti-iconoclastic. "Less pretty." Silly. Still. Dizzying. Inquisitive. Relentless. Frenetic. Relentless. "Fuckitup, fuckitup." Relentless.
All of these terms describe designer Tibor Kalman and are refracted in Tibor: Tibor Kalman, Perverse Optimist, created by Peter Hall, Michael Bierut, and Kalman. (Due for release in November, the Princeton Architectural Press monograph includes the images at left and on the preceding page.)
If it is common enough to refer to an admired figure as a force of nature, Kalman, who is such a force, is not common. He is, by all accounts, a demanding creative partner: "If there is a path of least resistance," says collaborator Bierut, "he goes in the opposite direction. This leads him to do things he doesn't know how to do, like music videos, children's books, urban planning, magazine editing." If most designers flourish in their area of expertise, Bierut adds, "Tibor seems to thrive - brilliantly - in his area of incompetence."
ELECTRIC WORD
The Unabridged Tibor
Illuminators
Luft Waffle
Orifice 98
