Trek: David Carson, Recent Werk

The latest volume featuring the graphic work of David Carson is full to bursting--nearly 500 pages' worth--of the color, splashy text and eye-catching design for which he's been termed""the most famous graphic designer in the world."" (He did commercials for Nike and Microsoft, designed for Ray Gun and Blue magazines and in general, for a while anyway, lived the life of a""graphic-designer-as-rock-star."") Slogans slash across computer-enhanced photographs (""Advertising is the art form of the 20th century""); captions clarify fuzzy pictures (""i left my camera somewhere in europe, spain i think, and someone found it and returned it....fotos had been taken. including this one. i dont think i recognize this breast"") and the occasional family photo (Carson's young children are charming, tow-headed subjects). His work for Nine Inch Nails and Quicksilver, reprinted here, will be familiar to some; real fans (of which Carson seems to have many; enthusiastic fan letters are included in the volume) will appreciate his casual musings on New York City, his son's name and other random topics. An exercise in self-congratulation? Perhaps. But for those who love him, this is a juicy and almost personal text.