Multiplicity
Blackness in Contemporary American Collage

Polymode collaborated with Marquand Books to design the exhibition catalogue for Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage, edited by curator Kathryn E. Delmez, celebrating the first major museum exhibition devoted to the subject. The exhibition, which originated at the Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN, later traveled to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX and The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC. The catalogue features contributions by Tiffany E. Barber, Anita N. Bateman, Valerie Cassel Oliver, Patricia Hills, Maria Elena Ortiz, Richard J. Powell, Rebecca VanDiver, Chase Williamson, and artist biographies written by Frist University students.

The catalogue and exhibition feature 80 major collages and collage-informed works by an intergenerational group of 52 living artists that reflect the breadth and complexity of Black identity. Our design choices highlight the vibrancy and complexity of the artwork exhibited. The cover design uses a black field to hold bold and vibrant color and a typographic layout that incorporates bright magenta and yellow typography set in Orientation and Karbon, with a painted deep blue edge to the book block. The vibrancy of colors and shifting orientations of type continue in the book’s interior to harness the energy of the collages within these pages, turning collage into a graphic strategy, where the layering of textures, colors, and text is most prominent.