Current and Upcoming Exhibitions

May–June 2017

Everything Counts in Large Amounts

Works by AIGA Philadelphia 2017 Fellow Award Recipient, Allan Espiritu. Open now through June 30, 2017 at the Center for Architecture + Design.

Allan Espiritu, founder of GDLOFT PHL, is a Philadelphia-based, award-winning graphic designer and educator. Espiritu recontextualizes and reinvents his current and past work in this exhibition at the Center for Architecture + Design.

A longstanding member of AIGA Philadelphia for twenty years, Allan Espiritu, served our chapter as President from 2011–2013, after serving as Programming Director and Vice President. In his tenure, our chapter opened our first headquarters, SPACE, a gallery in Old City. He was also instrumental in bringing the AIGA Leadership Retreat to Philadelphia in the summer of 2013. We are grateful for Allan Espiritu’s continued support and involvement in our chapter and the local design community.

Espiritu heads the Graphic Design concentration program at Rutgers University-Camden. He received his BA in graphic design from Rutgers University-Camden and his MFA in graphic design from the Yale University School of Art. He has been published and acknowledged by AIGA, GDUSA, UCDA, Graphis, Communication Arts, Print Magazine, HOW, STEP, the Barnes Foundation, and the Art Directors Club. His work has also appeared in Gestalten and Rockport publications.


May–June 2017

Underground Images: SVA Subway Posters 1947–Present

AIGA Philadelphia is proud to present “Underground Images“, an abridged version of the original 50+ poster collection created for display in NYC subway stations. The exhibit will be on view through June at Bluecadet’s gallery in Fishtown.

“Underground Images” brings together more than 50 of the myriad posters created at SVA for display in the vast New York City subway system, offering a glimpse of the history of the College and the collective talent of its acclaimed design and illustration faculty. The exhibition was curated by SVA Executive Vice President Anthony P. Rhodes, who has served as creative director for the posters since 2007.

Beginning in the mid-1950s, SVA was in the vanguard of academic institutions in the U.S. to recognize the need for alternative marketing strategies to attract new students. SVA took to the platforms of New York City’s subway with advertising posters that were both thought-provoking and eye-catching, featuring the work of legendary artists like Ivan Chermayeff, Milton Glaser and George Tscherny. All practicing professionals on the faculty at SVA, they used the poster commission to explore what it means to be an artist and hone their own artistic voice. Like the College itself, the SVA subway posters have become in some way inseparable from the city as incitements to creativity and risk taking.

The 30 artists in “Underground Images” include Gail Anderson, Marshall Arisman, Gene Case, Ivan Chermayeff, Paul Davis, Sal De Vito, Louise Fili, Audrey Flack, Nathan Fox, Bob Gill, Robert Giusti, Milton Glaser, Phil Hays, Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, Viktor Koen, Stephen Kroninger, Marvin Mattelson, Clay Patrick McBride, James McMullan, Jerry Moriarty, Tony Palladino, Stefan Sagmeister, David Sandlin, Paula Scher, Yuko Shimizu, Eve Sonneman, George Tscherny, James Victore and Robert Weaver.

“Underground Images” is organized by SVA faculty member Mirko Ilić and Francis Di Tommaso, director, SVA Galleries.

Thank you to our generous partners!