Nick Bax

Nick Bax at Park Hill Sheffield

Nick Bax (born 1970) is a British designer whose practice has spanned the fields of graphics, creative direction and art.

Early life

Nick Bax[1] was born in Huddersfield, England in 1970. He attended Maltby Comprehensive School from 1981–1986, studied art and design at Rotherham College of Arts & Technology from 1986–1988 and graphic design at North Essex School of Art (Colchester Institute) from 1988–1990.

The Designers Republic (1990–92)

In 1990 Bax became a member of The Designers Republic (TDR) and helped to establish it as one of the most influential graphic design companies in the world. Activity during this time was primarily for the music industry, including record covers for Pop Will Eat Itself, The Orb and Warp Records.

Mainartery (1992–93)

In February 1992 Bax was recruited by Mainartery, London, where he worked for 18 months, designing for artists signed to Sony, EMI, Phonogram and Simon Cowell (Arista).

The Designers Republic (1993–2007)

Bax returned to TDR in July 1993, designing covers for key British artists such as Aphex Twin, Pulp and Supergrass. He also produced artwork for record labels including Warp Records and React, and the groundbreaking video games Wipeout and Grand Theft Auto. Other projects included packaging for Sony Aibo, rebrand of Nickelodeon, design of a TDR Swatch, MTV Qoob project, a visual identity for The University of Sheffield and an invitation to design the flag of Slovenia.

During this time, Bax exhibited with TDR at various galleries and locations around the world including the Barbican Centre (London), Museum of Contemporary Art (Barcelona), Passage de Retz (Paris), Electraglide Festival (Tokyo), and Artists Space (New York). He also contributed to the TDR issue of Emigre magazine (#29, 1994),[2] which is now part of the permanent design collection in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.[3]

Humanstudio (2007–present)

In 2007 Bax founded Humanstudio (aka Human), a multi-disciplinary design team.

Human have worked with various music artists including Dubfire, Richie Hawtin, Deep Dish, Application, Supergrass and The Black Dog.

The team have completed design projects for organisations such as MTV, Roewe (China), Swatch, Kilgour, TIGI, University of Sheffield , Arts Council, The Hepworth Wakefield, Seaborn (USA), Channel 4 and Urban Splash.

Human have produced artwork for numerous music labels including SCI+TEC, CPU (Central Processing Unit), Shabby Doll Records, mau5trap, Virgin EMI, Deep Dish Records, Dust Science, Soma, Computer Club and Warner Music.

Live visual performances by Human, known as the HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) series, have taken place at various venues around the world.

As part of the 2010 Sensoria Festival, Human performed 'Music For Real Airports' with musicians The Black Dog at the Millennium Galleries in Sheffield, UK.[4]

The exhibition 'namuH: Humanstudio Selected Projects' took place at the Calm&Punk Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, in December 2010.[5][6]

Volume 4 of the GASBOOK Pop Series was dedicated to Human's work, published in English and Japanese.

From 2009–2012, Bax succeeded Peter Saville as art consultant for the iconic London tailors Kilgour.

'The Art of SCI+TEC', an exhibition of Human's designs for the SCI+TEC music label took place in Barcelona at Corretger5 Gallery, June 2011 and Blow Gallery, June 2012.

As part of Festival of the Mind, Bax curated the virtual gallery project 'Computer Love' which included some of his solo work.[7]

Human were commissioned by De Montfort University to create an animated film, a virtual gallery and 12x banners for the exhibition 'They Can Play'* (British House, São Paulo, June 2014).[8]

In 2014 Bax was appointed creative director for the reunion of Washington DC house duo Deep Dish, overseeing Human's design and film work for performances at festivals and venues across the world.[9]

Bax is co-founder of the Computer Club music label, which was launched in 2014.

Bax is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts (FRSA) and a visiting lecturer in design and visual communication at various universities and institutions. He is also a Director of the charity Recovery Enterprises and an advisor on cultural engagement for the University of Sheffield.[10]

References

  1. ↑ SHIFT – JAPAN-BASED INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE May 2011
  2. ↑ Back Issue:Emigre magazine #29 1994
  3. ↑ Emigre magazine #29 Museum of Modern Art 1994
  4. ↑ Music For Real Airports Sensoria Festival 2010
  5. ↑ EXHIBITION : 2010年12月17日〜 12月26日 namuH: Humanstudio, Selected Projects. Calm&Punk Gallery
  6. ↑ namuH : Human studio , Selected Projects GAS AS INTERFACE :: ガスアズインターフェイス, 28 October 2010
  7. ↑ Festival of the Mind 2012 20 September 2012
  8. ↑ They Can Play Exhibition
  9. ↑ Humanstudio work for Deep Dish 2014
  10. ↑ Recovery Enterprises Board

External links