224 pages Edited by Céline Remechido Text(s) by Rick Poynor Designed by Anne Odling-Smee 23,3 x 17,5 cm Language: French Paperback Publisher: Pyramyd 2002
In La Loi du plus fort, Rick Poynor reveals the ambiguous reality beneath the alluring surface of contemporary visual culture. From design and advertising to photography, publishing, and art, these incisive and entertaining essays challenge received ideas, dismantle preconceptions, and raise courageous questions about key subjects and trends — from the poverty of the “cool” attitude to cultural agitation, sexuality, and the death of the designer, not to mention the pleasure of imperfection. Many people are now becoming aware of the coercive power of commercial culture. La Loi du plus fort shows how designers and image-makers are both complicit in and resistant to the commercial control of the image world. Poynor visits the London Dungeon, the Bluewater shopping centre, and Diesel’s Italian headquarters. He meets futurists, trend forecasters, the agitator graphic designer Tibor Kalman, and photographer Martin Parr. He reads between the lines of Ray Gun, Wallpaper, and “magalogues,” examines the Chapman brothers’ Hell, and reflects on the significance of André the Giant.
