Cut and paste

Now that designers splashing computer lettering all over exhibitions has become commonplace, they’ve come up with a new design hazard: wallpaper. Ok, it was fair enough seeing it used in Brisbane’s Warhol exhibition because it followed AW’s own concept for his Whitney show all those years ago. But since then, and we are only talking two weeks we have seen two more wallpapered shows, the Murakami survey at MOCA and Dali and Film at the Los Angeles County Museum. Murakami may well have been tipping his paste brush at Warhol, but the four or five differently papered galleries were about three or four walls too far. As for Dali, he not only got eye wallpaper, he also got his signage made from plastic ants (true). Dead artists can’t speak up, “er, no wallpaper for me thanks” – you’ll have to imagine the Spanish accent – but Murakami should have. It’s just a matter of time for the first artist to get papered in NZ. Who will it be? Richard Killeen must be thanking his lucky stars that he has already been surveyed.

Image: Top eye wall paper at Dali and bottom at the Murakami exhibition.