I’m happy to say I was in attendance for last night’s Long Lunch talk from Fernando Gutiérrez at the Edinburgh College of Art. These talks are a great source of inspiration and I’m happy to see that the organisers have returned with vigour after a bit of a quiet period. For the price of a ticket, they are a real bargain and I just can’t recommend them enough.
Gutiérrez himself has had an interesting career and, although not a captivating speaker, he warmed as time went by and I was very taken with his work at El Pais which went quite against the grain at the time. It was also good to hear him talk about his time at Pentagram which sounded like a very demanding place to be. A massive weight of expectation was placed on all members and seemingly the disproportionate remuneration available in one discipline over another – regardless of creative input – loitered as something of a divisive spectre. The reward, of course, was to be part of a community of creatives, all highly driven and able to help each other generate and develop ideas through healthy debate. It’s the sort of thing that anyone with a love of the creative process would dream of doing in their lifetime.
There were a good number of questions from the audience at the end and he responded well to these – in fact I was left wondering if an interview format might have extacted more from him.
The next speaker will be Morag Myerscough at the end of November and I for one, will be present – and I’ll make sure I get a poster next time as well!
