Great Googley Moogley! Sometimes I am late to the game. I can’t know everything, in spite of my advanced age. And maybe I’m not on the A-list of certain PR firms. But when the lauded Andrew Kirvine archive of Punk and New Wave design is being turned first into books, and then into an art museum show, surely this blog; 15 years going and featuring millions of words as written by a graphic designer, should be in the crosshairs to let the right audience know about such happenings?

We posted a few years back about “Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die,”‘ the first book to be taken from the Andrew Kirvine collection of Punk + New Wave design. And even then, there had first been an art museum show at the Museum Of Art + Design in NYC the previous year [2019, if you’re keeping track] of the Kirvine collection.

While I had written a post about the initial volume above, in 2020. I missed the quick as a shot follow up tome focused on New Wave Graphics 76-86 [dangerously close to the purview of this very blog] called “Reversing Into The Future” which was designed by design icon Malcolm Garrett and Chip Kidd for publication. Fortunately, a close, personal friend of mine gifted me with this for my birthday last year and it’s currently my nightstand reading in this period. [review to come]

ART WILL TEAR US APART

It was a fortnight ago when I heard from my good friend, the inimitable Mr. Ware [long represented in the comments here] that the Orlando Museum Of Art had been hosting an art show based on the Krivine archives called “Torn Apart: Punk + New Wave Graphics, Fashion & Culture, 1976 – 86.” The show was the third in the last two years that had first begun in 2022 in the Pacific Design Center Gallery in California, then moved to the Hawn Gallery @ SMU in Dallas beginning in February of 2024.

The third, and biggest outlay for the show thus far was at the Orlando Museum of Art and it was scheduled to run from September 21st of 2024 until January 5th of this year. Apparently, Malcolm Garrett himself and Photographer to the Blitz™, Sheila Rock were in attendance at the Orlando opening where my friend Sandra [who never misses anything] of course attended the opening [see photo]. Mr. Ware attended on what he presumed to be the last weekend of the show on January 4th and reported back to us offline with his findings. I had been in Orlando in November spending a day [well documented] with the Ware family on a rare trip to Florida for a friend’s memorial, but the show wasn’t mentioned and frankly, I really enjoyed catching up with Ray Ehmen at Rock + Roll Heaven for the first time in two dogs ages, so I was sanguine about the perceived missed opportunity.

Except that we learned last weekend from Mr. Ware that the show had been extended for a run that took it until February 2nd.

YOU -CAN- HAVE EVERYTHING

The first thing I did was to suggest to commenter Echorich that he should take advantage of the extension to mosey over to Orlando from the Tampa Bay area and perhaps attend the show and break bread with Mr. Ware. When Echorich lived in NYC he once ran a photo agency and worked with most of the great Rock photographers, including Sheila Rock, who has a separate gallery within this huge show. I was certain he would provide excellent color commentary even though Mr. Ware had seen the show once before.

Echorich and Mr. Ware had previously met when we all saw Simple Minds in Atlanta in 2018, so I like combining good people into the same time and place, and this team up would be the first time since then that they were at an event together. Echorich planned on seeing the show on the 2nd. when he had an opening in his schedule. I was pleased at this, and shared the news with my perceptive wife. Who then thought that I should be attending as well. I had thought about driving down and might have done it except that she found there’s an airline that flies out of Asheville to Sanford, Florida for just $30 more than the cost of gasoline for my car! Barely three figures. Not having to drive for 16 hours makes me a much perkier companion, so I will be attending the show with Echorich and Mr. Ware on the last day it’s showing in the Orlando Museum of Art in a fortnight [roughly].

Anyone else reading this blog who obviously would have an interest in seeing the show should definitely plan a visit to Orlando before this deep collection goes back into cold storage for who knows how long. Adult admission is $20 but if you’re as old as this Monk, you can get the Senior rate for $12! As for my friends and I, we’ll be there on the final day and I will, of course, report back with my findings! If you make it there that day; why not try to play Spot The Monk?

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