MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- The Minneapolis Institute of Arts presents the vivid and witty posters of contemporary Swiss graphic designer Niklaus Troxler in a new exhibition. “Hot & Cool: The Jazz Posters of Niklaus Troxler” features twenty-five posters that convey the improvised spirit of jazz with the artist’s crisp and bold graphic style. Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Arthur Blythe, the Roscoe Mitchell Quartet, and Sam Rivers Quartet are but a few of the renowned jazz musicians represented in this exhibition.

Drawn from the postwar poster collection acquired by Wells Fargo Minnesota (formerly Norwest Corporation) in 1991, this suite of posters is a recent gift to The Minneapolis Institute of Arts in celebration of the museum’s new wing that is currently under construction.

Among the most prolific and talented graphic designers worldwide, Troxler is best known for his extensive series of jazz posters produced for an annual jazz festival he and his brother initiated in Willisau, Switzerland, in 1966. Throughout his work, pictorial simplicity, bold color fields, rational order, and compressed spatial compositions are the primary ingredients, all expressed with an underpinned by wit and playfulness. Influences of Pop and Op Art are apparent in Troxler’s designs, as are typographical innovations. The posters also reveal elements borrowed from artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, René Magritte, Henri Matisse, Fernand Léger, and Joan Miró; however, Troxler recasts selected imagery into a signature style that often hovers between the figurative and the abstract. He’s particularly adept at distilling images and colors into instantly legible and compelling formats. Given the uniform size restrictions for posters in Switzerland, the collective diversity of the posters over the years is all the more remarkable.

“The secret is to concentrate, and to rely on my curiosity, to let myself be carried away by the improvisation, trusting that my taste, or sensibilities, won’t allow banalities,” Troxler said. “The message has priority over form, creativeness over aesthetics, and expression over perfect design.”

Born in Willisau, Switzerland, in 1947, Troxler trained as a typographer from 1963 to 1967, and studied graphic design at the Lucerne School of Design between 1967 and 1971, and in Paris in 1972. Since then he has worked from his attic in what is known as the “Atelier Hollenstein,” a wooden chalet located between the railroad station and the town center.

Troxler will present a lecture at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts on Thursday, January 20, 2005. This event is free and open to the public. Please call (612) 870–3131 for more information.

“Hot & Cool: The Jazz Posters of Niklaus Troxler” is organized by The Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The exhibition curator is David Ryan, curator of design at the Institute.

This exhibition acknowledges the generous gift of Niklaus Troxler jazz posters from Wells Fargo Minnesota. Generous annual support is provided by Haworth Marketing and Media.