A Clash Between Worlds: the Ultimate Graphic Design of David Rudnick
British-born, American-educated, and self-taught graphic designer, David Rudnick has positioned himself to be one of the most exciting voices in the contemporary visual scene.
Deeply inspired by electronic music and its underground scene, he incorporates in his work photo manipulation, illustration, video, 3D modeling, and typography of his authorship. A style that has led the so-called "acid graphics" visual movement.
In his work, he explains the notion that individuals make sense of their world and define the meaning and value of things in relation to what they see. But with the creation of new "digital worlds" in our current era, these constructions of meaning can now exist solely in the digital realm, without any source of origin in the physical world. Value doesn't need a physical anchor to exist. This is what he calls the "digital-prime". A paradigm that has immense value, but cannot be accessed directly through the physical world.
On the other hand, the "physical-prime" maintains its conceptions of value and meaning anchored to the real world, but the boundaries between each other are becoming blurred. This movement of value, meaning, and even capital from the physical-prime to the digital-prime is going to be one of the most extraordinary ordeals in human history and the stakes have never been higher.
It is because of this that David Rudnick describes his work as "primacist." He tries to explore the difficult space between these primes to understand their compatibility, and how value is conveyed between them. Far from "accelerating" digitization or stopping it to the point of fully returning to the physical-prime, he hopes to preserve the meeting points between these two paradigms.
Trained in art history but with a deep interest in philosophy to shape his ideas, David Rudnick has collaborated on a wide range of projects. From album covers for Oneohtrix Point Never, Black Midi, Nicolas Jaar, and RL Grime, to visual products for VICE and ASUS.
