Fred Eversley: Parabolic Lenses

Polymode collaborated closely with David Kordansky Gallery and the artist Fred Eversley to design a publication on the occasion of the exhibitions Chromospheres (January 2 – March 12, 2019), Chromospheres II (online, May 20 – June 17, 2020), and Recent Sculpture (March 20 – May 1, 2021). The book features essays by Eversley, writer and curator Helen Molesworth, and a conversation between Eversley and art historian and writer Danielle O’Steen.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Ian Byers-Gamber

11 unique typographic gradients

22 parabolic lenses

Archival imagery

Our book design embraces Eversley’s past as an aerospace engineer before embarking on a life’s work as a sculptor engaged with exploring light, space, and energy. The typographic language of the book uses the most minimal state of Polymode Sans, which is a revival of a 19th Century “jobing face” or “workhorse typeface”. This rational type interacts with custom gradients informed by the artist’s resin parabola-based lenses. The underlying grid of the book allows for a sense of floating display typography, but also grounded structure in the heavily illustrated biographical interview section.

As the designer for this project, I helped design, produce the publication, and approve the printing. I worked closely with the production team to ensure the colors were vibrant and iridescent.