(From left to right) Gary Keown, professor of graphic design; Richard B. Doublesday,
assistant director at Louisiana State University’s School of Art; and Jeffrey Mickey,
associate professor of sculpture, pose in front of Doubleday’s work displayed in the 
Contemporary Art Gallery. 
The Lions Roar / Maria Goddard
 

The Contemporary Art Gallery explored new exhibition approaches, presenting for the first time a single-artist show, which focused on poster designs. 

Students, faculty members and locals arrived to the opening ceremony of the “Visual Telegrams” exhibit, which featured the work of Richard B. Doubleday, an internationally acclaimed graphic designer and professor.

The ceremony was held in the Contemporary Art Gallery on Thursday, Sept. 9. 

“The show is largely a documentation of the work I’ve been doing for the past five to 10 years,” said Doubleday. “It’s not all of the work, but it’s my attempt to try to include as many of the pieces that I can.”

Doubleday is the assistant professor at Louisiana State University’s School of Art and travels around the world to attend various art exhibitions displaying his work. 

Dale Newkirk, gallery director and professor of sculpture, invited Doubleday to feature his works in the exhibit. Doubleday was on a graphic design panel as the educational director through the American Institute of Graphic Arts. Gary Keown, professor of graphic design and faculty advisor for AIGA, also served on the panel. 

William Purcell, a colleague and British historian who also writes on graphic design and visual culture, wrote an overview of the show.            The exhibition was meant to document Doubleday’s existence. Doubleday used these posters to express his experiences in life.

Doubleday was originally trained as an illustrator and fine artist. He wanted to join together his roots as a fine artist with graphic design.

“Mr. Doubleday has created these posters from around the world to show to our students,” said  Keown. “He’s called upon to create these.”

His work has been shown in China, Mexico City, Japan and various places in Europe. He specifically creates posters for different exhibitions and enters in competitions to see how he compares to other designers.

In addition to viewing Doubleday’s posters, attendees also enjoyed complimentary food and refreshments. 

“I find it extremely interesting. It’s not a very typical style of graphic design and a lot of them are simplistic, but they get the point across very well,” said Brandon Pursifull, a senior majoring in computer science. “It exceeded my expectations, and it was definitely really cool to see an actual professional graphic designer’s work; it’s really inspiring.”

Other students slowly made their way through the art gallery to see over 40 posters  Doubleday designed.  

“I’ve seen some of Mr. Doubleday’s work before in shows and publications, and I think this shows a nice representation of it. I think it’s both unified and diverse and has a nice display of what we call ‘Swiss design,’ which is nice, but also has some personality,” said Caleb Holloway, a senior graphic design major.

“It’s always good to step back a little and see the work in context,” said Doubleday. “I love the idea of being able to show [my] work. All serious designers and artists are always concerned about the next piece that’s not done. You never look back, but always look forward and not be concerned with merits. Graphic design can live within the context of a gallery.”

The show will continue to run until Oct. 1. For more information regarding future events, contact the Contemporary Art Gallery at 985-549-5080.

Brandon Pursifull examines the artwork on display.
The Lions Roar / Maria Goddard