Writing and Research for Graphic Designers

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Writing & research for graphic designers

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CASE STUDY:

MonuMental

Excerpts from

Monumental: The Reimagined World of Kevin O’Callaghan

Deborah hussey

Managing editor, School of Visual Arts, New York

When Alexander Calder’s miniature circus was exhibited at the

Whitney Museum in the early 1970s, the public was captivated. For

fourteen-year-old Kevin O’Callaghan, the effects of seeing it were seis-

mic. The circus characters were made from found objects and offered

an amusing do-it-yourself quality, which Calder orchestrated through

whimsical performances using his three-dimensional constructions.

These creations were, in fact, intricately detailed and crafted with

precision. Though small in size, Calder’s “Circus” and its ringmaster

served as principal influences for O’Callaghan’s artistic evolution.

Working small or large scale, O’Callaghan always thinks big,

weaving together visual narratives that offer new perspectives

through the juxtaposition of the ordinary with the spectacular.

O’Callaghan’s mother, Mary “Buddi” Steller, embraced the

elaborate and the humorous, and had a flair for the theatrical

— traits that were endowed upon her son. She met Kevin’s

father at the 1939 World’s Fair, where Timothy O’Callaghan,

a well-known architect, had designed several pavilions. In one

of them, Steller, a showgirl for Billy Rose, was hired to strike

and maintain a pose within a big golden frame. (Sixty-five

years after the ’39 World’s Fair, O’Callaghan would create a

gold-leaf frame to surround a mammoth television monitor

that projects eclectic entertainment to its audience in the

heart of Times Square.)

The attraction to the monumental coupled with an innate

artistic talent are his father’s legacy. In his architectural

practice, which included contributions to the design of

the Mets’ Shea Stadium, the senior O’Callaghan strove to

emphasize a fine-art aesthetic. Timothy O’Callaghan also

created stage sets for producer Mike Todd, whose adaptation

of Around the World in 80 Days is an apt metaphor for Kevin’s

tenacity and success in uncharted territory.

Completing his studies at the School of Visual Arts (SVA)

in New York, O’Callaghan began searching for a career in

advertising, his collegiate major and intended profession.

Feeling disheartened by the perfunctory agency review process,

in 1982 O’Callaghan created a colossal 3-D portfolio case that

he drove around New York City, which gained him a two-page

spread in People magazine and several job offers.

O’Callaghan’s blossoming talent was cultivated at Dale

Mallie’s design studio, which specialized in making props for

TV commercials. Up against an impossible deadline, Mallie,

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section 3

the editorial role how to edit and be edited

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whose work O’Callaghan had always admired, was looking

for someone who could work all night to finish a job. Their

conversation ended with a suggestion that O’Callaghan bring

a toothbrush, since they would be working until dawn. In

O’Callaghan’s orbit, synchronicity is commonplace. He had

just finished making a ten-foot toothbrush for a toothpaste ad

and brought it along. He stayed well past sunrise, finishing

the job, and then he worked at the studio for two months

creating special effects for commercials and expanding his

artistic skills. Achieving these effects in a pre-digital environ-

ment meant constructing them. O’Callaghan became known

as the guy who could make huge objects and deliver them

overnight. His ability to produce at warp speed is unparalleled.

During a five-week period he created a carousel for MTV,

worked on the ninetieth anniversary exhibition for Grand

Central Terminal, and designed the AMC “TVs for Movie

People” extravaganza.

In 1999, O’Callaghan founded the undergraduate 3-D design

program at the School of Visual Arts, which he currently

chairs. Addressing his educational initiatives, SVA president

David Rhodes reflects, “There is nothing like it anywhere in

the world, as far as I can see. There’s a certain kind of playful-

ness about a lot of Kevin’s students’ work that just isn’t there

anywhere else, as well as his ability to get students to work

extraordinary hours in compressed amounts of time to bring

together an exhibition. Some of those things go on elsewhere,

but nothing like what he does.”

O’Callaghan conducts his classes in a large, open workspace

filled with “let yourself go” energy and believes this is the best

environment to foster creativity. While students work on proj-

ects individually, each is influenced by other students’ craft.

They see how well someone is doing something and then pick

up the pace in their own projects. Typically, O’Callaghan sees

the real learning experience in the final days before an opening:

If students don’t work together, rushing as a team to complete

the final exhibition tasks, the show may be a failure, and they

know it. His students leave his course understanding how to

get a job done.

As an educator, O’Callaghan possesses a rare combination

of indomitable fortitude and immeasurable tenderness. He is

a demanding teacher who gives his students all that he can,

and expects them to work at least as hard as he does in helping

them to achieve their visions. The wisdom of everything in



Monumental cover design by Mike Joyce.



Kevin O'Callaghan's first professional portfolio from Monumental.

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