Corita Kent (Sister Mary Corita)

1. What it is — screenprint, 29.75 × 36 in, an original work from the IHC workshop. The slogan is from Del Monte tomato sauce; the secondary text is a long passage (signed „S Eisenstein" per the Corita Art Center transcript): „If we are provided with a sign that declares Del Monte tomatoes are juiciest it is not desecration to add: 'Mary Mother is the juiciest tomato of them all.'"
2. Composition — the word TOMATO broken into two lines, TOM / ATO, letters white (bare paper) cut out of a red field; ATO is larger than TOM and sits on the bottom half. Across the top third runs a yellow diagonal band that cuts through TOM — a quote of the band from the Del Monte label. The eye enters on the yellow band, falls onto ATO, stops in the O. The bottom left quadrant is orange and filled with small handwriting.
3. Colour — three colours on white: red, yellow, orange. All three flat, no gradients, no black. Orange is the „third colour" between red and yellow — the handwriting field gets a tone that competes with neither one nor the other. White is not a colour but the paper: the letters are holes.
4. Typography — a cut stencil grotesque modelled on the label, no named font (unconfirmed). The letters aren't typographically neat: the T is sans serif but with unequal arms, the O is a circle. The handwriting is small, fast, in negative.
5. Message — at three seconds: TOMATO, red-and-yellow, supermarket. From five metres: an advertising poster. From half a metre: a theological essay about the Virgin Mary in the language of advertising. The message only works at the second step — that's how it was intended („Mary Mother is the juiciest tomato").
6. Why exactly this way — the screen only allows flat colours and a limited number of stencils; the handwritten text goes onto the screen with glue, so it has to be white. The two reading speeds are a consequence of the technique, not just the concept.
7. What would kill it — if the word weren't broken up. The whole TOMATO in one line would be a sign; TOM / ATO is a form.

Principles: slogan-u-novom-kontekstu dva-rastojanja-citanja gest-rukom-nasuprot-rezu ravna-boja-na-daljinu To verify against the image: the exact proportions of the yellow band; whether the orange field is printed over the red (overlap) or separate.

1. What it is — screenprint; Corita Art Center 30 × 38.75 in, Hammer 24 × 36 in (edition 50, CAC 64-24) — see the discrepancy in „Notes on sources". Wonder Bread packaging. Secondary texts: a statement by a Kentucky miner's wife („five children … crying for something to eat") and Gandhi: „so many hungry people that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread."
2. Composition — a field of white circles (Wonder Bread dots) on a blue and red ground; across the middle a red inscription ENRICHED BREAD in a wide grotesque. The circles run off the edges — the frame is a cropped section of a larger surface, not the whole. Handwriting in the bottom left corner, within the red zones.
3. Colour — red, blue, white: the palette of the packaging, and thus of the flag too. The white circles are the paper. No third colour, no black.
4. Typography — narrow/wide grotesque taken from the packaging (a class; not named).
5. Message — the circles are dots from a bread bag and, at the same time, hosts. The title is from John 10:10 („that they may have life"). The image shows neither communion nor hunger — the packaging itself becomes the analogy for both. From five metres: a bread bag. From half a metre: the miner's wife and Gandhi.
6. Why exactly this way — Pacem in Terris (1963) and the right to food (Dackerman): bread is the theme, packaging is the only available „iconographic" language that the public reads in 1964 without having to learn it.
7. What would kill it — a drawn host or chalice. The moment a religious icon is added, the analogy turns into illustration and all the power leaks out.

Principles: analogija-umjesto-ilustracije slogan-u-novom-kontekstu dva-rastojanja-citanja To verify against the image: the layout of the red and blue zones (in the screenshot: blue on top, red below the inscription and to the left).

1. What it is — screenprint on nonwoven synthetic fabric (SFMOMA: „nonwoven synthetic fabric" — Pellon), 29.75 × 36.25 in. Wonder Bread logotype transferred by photo-stencil (Dackerman). Secondary text: Camus („Great ideas … come into the world as gently as doves") and text from the bag („Help build strong bodies 12 ways / Standard large loaf / no preservatives added").
2. Composition — four horizontal zones: at top blue with red ENRICHED BREAD (small) and WONDER (huge, fills the width), below it a red zone with packaging text in negative, bottom yellow, empty. The Camus passage is in negative, in two columns within the blue zone, around the letters WONDER. Eye path: WONDER → red zone → yellow empty band as ground.
3. Colour — blue, red, yellow: primaries, because they're primary on the bag. The empty yellow bottom is the boldest move — a third of the format left as colour.
4. Typography — logotype in bold, photo-stencil (class: bold grotesque); primary text positive, secondary handwriting white (Dackerman: „Primary text printed as positive image; handwritten secondary text rendered white").
5. Message — WONDER reads first as a word, not as a brand — a "wonder" in the blue of the Virgin. "Enriched bread" becomes eucharistic. From five metres: an ad; from half a metre: Camus on hope. The Camus heading and the packaging heading stand equally large in handwriting — parity of sources is part of the message.
6. Why exactly this way — Pellon allows large formats and cheap workshop printing; the photo-stencil transfers the logotype without drawing. Constraint: number of screens — three colours, three passes.
7. What would kill it — filling in the yellow band. Or setting the secondary text typographically instead of by hand — then it would be a footnote, not a voice.

Principles: slogan-u-novom-kontekstu dva-rastojanja-citanja gest-rukom-nasuprot-rezu jeftina-tehnika-kao-jezik To verify against the image: whether there is registration shift between the red and blue (not clearly visible in the screenshot).

1. What it is — screenprint, 29.75 × 39.25 in. Text: „Mary does laugh; and she sings and runs and wears bright orange today she'd probably do her shopping at the Market Basket." Eye: the central fragment refers to the Market Basket supermarket — source of material and inspiration.
2. Composition — the entire surface is covered with cropped bold letters from the MARKET BASKET sign (fragments MARKE / TOMA / BASKET), black and dark green, cut off by the edges of the format so that the word cannot be assembled. Over this, in the middle, red cursive handwriting „Mar / Bas" (or „Mary" — see to verify) in two lines, and an orange horizontal band with handwriting in negative over the top line. Eye path: red word → orange band → background fragments.
3. Colour — black and green as background "noise", red and orange as signal. Red and orange are adjacent, so they don't clash; red over green is a complementary collision that pushes the word forward.
4. Typography — bold grotesque from the supermarket sign (class; photo-stencil), cropped to the edge of legibility; cursive brush handwriting as the opposing register.
5. Message — the Virgin who laughs and shops at a supermarket. From five metres: the sound of letters, colour, nothing legible. From half a metre: the sentence in the band.
6. Why exactly this way — whether MARKET BASKET is recognised or not doesn't matter; what matters is that the letters take on the role of an abstract field (Johns, False Start — Dackerman documents her slides of that 1965 work).
7. What would kill it — a legible MARKET BASKET sign in the background. Then it would be an ad with graffiti over it.

Principles: citljivost-na-granici slogan-u-novom-kontekstu gest-rukom-nasuprot-rezu To verify against the image: what exactly is written in the red handwriting (screenshot: „Mar / Bas"); the arrangement of the background fragments.

1. What it is — screenprint on nonwoven synthetic, 30 × 36 in. Four texts: „get with the action" (Chevrolet, per Dackerman/Eye — a dealer's ad), „wine that rejoyces man's heart" (Psalm 104), „powerful enough to make a difference", „for emergency use soft shoulder" (traffic sign). SFMOMA exhibited it in 2016 in Get With the Action: Political Posters.
2. Composition — GET WITH THE / ACTION in blue bold grotesque, upright, in three lines, filling the upper two-thirds; letters are cut by the edge (G, N). Top right, yellow text rotated 180° and mirrored (readable only by turning the head). Bottom: a red band with white handwriting „powerful enough to make a difference"; bottom right white letters SOFT SHOULDER rotated 90°. Eye path: blue → red → only then the head-turn.
3. Colour — blue, yellow, red on white; one red letter E in ACTION is printed red instead of blue — a single accent that breaks the monolith of the word (screenshot: red E/edge in „THE"). Eye: „bright, nearly fluorescent inks with complementary colours".
4. Typography — bold grotesque from the ad, photo-stencil; handwriting; no typeset "composed" text.
5. Message — the car dealer's command („get with the action") becomes a call to action, religious and political; the Psalm and the sign „soft shoulder — for emergency use" become the same level of authority. From five metres: a poster that commands. From half a metre: a prayer.
6. Why exactly this way — hierarchy is made not by size but by direction: upright = primary, rotated = secondary, mirrored = tertiary. It's a cheap screen trick (turning the stencil) that replaces three type sizes.
7. What would kill it — all text upright. The piece would become a list.

Principles: smjer-citanja-kao-hijerarhija slogan-u-novom-kontekstu gest-rukom-nasuprot-rezu To verify against the image: which letter exactly is red; whether the yellow text is mirrored or just turned.

1. What it is — screenprint, 30 × 36 in. Text: „Give the gang our best — Now". Canada Dry slogan. NOTE: Dackerman analyses a DIPTYCH (give the gang) the clue is in the signs / (our best) reality proves very little (1966) with Berrigan, Seeger, a yellow band and a blue circle — this is NOT this sheet. This one (66-16) has only the slogan and NOW!.
2. Composition — the slogan in distorted black grotesque (a crumpled ad photographed — Eye/Dackerman method), rotated 90° so it reads bottom to top, in four "columns" over irregular yellow fields on white. Over the bottom, red NOW! in a cut handwriting, upright, the only thing readable without turning. Eye path: NOW! → yellow fields → only then you turn your head and read the slogan.
3. Colour — yellow fields as irregular plates (not following the letters), black letters, red NOW!. The yellow doesn't "colour" the letters but sits behind them as a separate layer — it's clearly two screens.
4. Typography — bold grotesque from the ad, distorted by photographing crumpled paper (class); handwriting.
5. Message — the only upright word is NOW. Everything the ad offers („our best") is background for urgency. From five metres: NOW!. From half a metre: the rotated slogan.
6. Why exactly this way — the letter distortion is not an effect but a consequence of the method (crumpled ad → photograph → stencil). The yellow fields are, by all appearances, cut pieces of paper (cut-and-paste), not drawn shapes.
7. What would kill it — aligning the yellow fields with the letters. Then it would be a neat two-colour sign.

Principles: smjer-citanja-kao-hijerarhija citljivost-na-granici slogan-u-novom-kontekstu To verify against the image: whether NOW! is cut from paper or brush-drawn; the relation to the diptych (which was made earlier).

1. What it is — screenprint, 23 × 35 in. Texts: „HANDLE WITH CARE!", Chevrolet „SEE THE MAN WHO CAN SAVE YOU THE MOST", „there is only one man", e. e. cummings („i met Christ Jesus my heart flopped over…"). Dackerman: the car salesman as saviour in a 60s suit — the dealer's slogan becomes a spiritual command.
2. Composition — orange ground, a green oval „balloon" across the middle (like a „handle with care" sticker), and over everything two layers of red text: HANDLE WITH CARE diagonal in a thinner grotesque, and SEE THE MAN WHO CAN SAVE YOU THE MOST large, in five lines, upright. cummings's handwriting small, white, left inside the oval. Eye path: red block → oval → handwriting.
3. Colour — orange, green, red. Red over green gives a darker, murky tone at the overlap; red over orange nearly disappears — the text reads ONLY where it sits on green. The green oval zone is a „reflector" that decides which words you see: colour does the job of framing.
4. Typography — two bold grotesques overlapping (class only); handwriting.
5. Message — two large commands overlapped so that both cannot be read at once: the viewer has to choose which to read — that is the message. From five metres: a red scream on green. From half a metre: cummings on meeting Christ.
6. Why exactly this way — two screens in the same colour over different grounds: one pass of red, two legibilities. Saves a screen and makes meaning.
7. What would kill it — spacing the two texts apart so they don't overlap. Then they're two slogans, not a conflict.

Principles: slogan-u-novom-kontekstu dva-rastojanja-citanja preklop-daje-trecu-boju To verify against the image: the actual colour at the red/green overlap (screenshot: brown); whether the orange is a frame or the whole ground.

1. What it is — screenprint, 22.5 × 11.5 in, tall narrow format; from the series heroes and sheroes (Boston, 1969). Text per transcript: ASSASSINATION / AMERICANICAN / VIETMANIAMIA / VIOLENCEIVIOLA / VIETNAMIMVIET / ASSASSINATION / AMERICANICAN / WHYWHYNOTVV.
2. Composition — eight lines of wood type filling both edges, no margins left or right, the top quarter of the sheet empty (signature). No image. Lines aren't justified — each starts with a word, then continues by repeating a syllable until the line is full (AMERICAN-ICAN, WHY-WHY-NOT). The eye reads top down, then snags.
3. Colour — blue, red and brown (blue over red?) — Frieze: a flag palette. Key point: the colour changes MID-WORD. ASSASS|INATION, AMER|ICAN — the colour break pulls SIN and NATION out of ASSASSINATION (Frieze explicitly).
4. Typography — wood type in the style of 19th-century wanted posters (Frieze; class only, not named), with a visibly irregular impression — looks like letterpress, though it's screen.
5. Message — a „sampler" is embroidery with patterns, so also a sample of America in 1968: assassinations, Vietnam, violence. From five metres: a red-and-blue block, a flag. From half a metre: words breaking apart into other words.
6. Why exactly this way — after 1968 there's no more handwriting or supermarket: just the word and colour. Closest thing to Indiana's LOVE — reduction to the word as a reformist move (Dackerman).
7. What would kill it — single-colour words. Without the colour break, SIN and NATION vanish and what's left is a list.

Principles: boja-cijepa-rijec ravna-boja-na-daljinu To verify against the image: the exact colour layout per line; whether brown is a third colour or an overlap.

1. What it is — screenprint, 31.5 × 23.625 in (Hammer: 35 × 23 in, edition of 150). Text: e. e. cummings, „be of love (a little) more careful than of everything". Work FROM BEFORE the turn — this is here to show what was discarded by 1964.
2. Composition — tall format, three zones: top dark grey/blue with orange trees and figures resembling candlesticks, green and purple stains; middle an orange band with handwriting; bottom a brown zone with two orange arches (vaults). Everything painted with a brush, no straight edge anywhere.
3. Colour — seven to eight colours, dense, oil-like: orange, green, purple, turquoise, yellow, grey, brown. An abstract-expressionist palette (Eye: „richly colored, painterly prints").
4. Typography — brush handwriting only, small, within the band. No borrowed type.
5. Message — a poetic quote as title; the image illustrates a mood. From five metres: a colourful picture. From half a metre: cummings. It works as a picture, not as a poster.
6. Why exactly this way — screen used as painting (hand-drawn stencils). This is the end of the road Corita left behind in 1962–64: too many colours, too much hand, no single word big enough.
7. What would kill it — nothing that wouldn't kill any painting. That's why it's weak as design: there's no single edit that breaks it, because there's no single decision holding it up.

Principles: gest-rukom-nasuprot-rezu (here WITHOUT the cut — as a negative case of the principle: gesture by hand without the opposing register doesn't work) To verify against the image: what the orange figures at the top show (screenshot: trees or candlesticks); the mismatch in dimensions between CAC/Hammer.