Following high demand, we have made Jonathan’s Biennale of Sydney artworks available to purchase as prints in the store section of virusfonts.com.

The images above show the artworks in situ at the 2010 biennale of Sydney. As well as designing the identity, Jonathan Barnbrook was one of the featured artist at the biennale.

These new limited edition prints of the artworks refer directly to artists, gallery owners and to the history of Cockatoo Island where the artworks are located. You can view larger images of the prints here.

A Cock or Two: They Continue to Preen
This artwork ironically refers to the birds that originally inhabited the island and the insular, self-congratulatory nature of art exhibition openings.

A Cock or Two: No Danger of Attack
This artwork is located next to the sea and parodies a shark warning sign. It is a reference to the white, rich private gallery owners that feed off the artists works but rarely are prepared to take a creative risk themselves.

A Cock or Two: Fatigue, Cynicism, Existential Pointlessness
Referring in a pragmatic and satirical manner to the experience of walking around a huge exhibition. This artwork offers a positive reminder of why we are all prepared to put up with the experience.

A Cock or Two: A Prison, A Gallery
Cockatoo Island once was a prison similar to Alcatraz. This artwork wryly compares the ‘confidence trick’ used by criminals in the past to the ones used by the artists to appear in the exhibition.

A Cock or Two: A Pilgrimage
There was once a shipbuilding facililty on Cockatoo Island. This artwork paradoxically portrays the artists as ‘empty vessels’ – a person without a brain who speaks loudly without saying anything of any depth. Taken from the English idiom “The emptiest vessels make the loudest sound”.

The Festival opened on Wednesday night with an Artists’ and supporters’ party in the Turbine Hall on Cockatoo Island. Check it out here .

Describing the exhibition as beautiful, challenging and memorable, Artistic Director Elliott said: ‘The 17th Biennale of Sydney aims to present diverse cultures on the equal playing field of contemporary art, where no culture can assume superiority over any other.

Situated in the heart of Sydney, in a country that has traditionally regarded distance as a disadvantage, this Biennale will celebrate distance by including art from all over the world.

Drawing inspiration from the work of Harry Smith, Barnbrook has created a unique identity that communicates the eclectic, multifaceted ideas that inform the concepts behind the Australia’s largest contemporary art festival.

More soon.

* The festival opens in 2 days time.

Barnbrook Design is currently fashioning the idenity for the 17th Biennale of Sydney entitled, “THE BEAUTY OF DISTANCE: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age” and set to take place in 2010. We’re creating everything from business cards, t-shirts, brochures (PDF download), a website (currently only a temp site is up), the exhibition catalogue and numerous other ephemera. The whole project is shaping up quite nicely and visitors to the exhibition are in for quite a treat.

   David Elliott, Artistic Director for the biennale, said this about the exhibition concept: “There is no more suitable stage than Sydney for this exhibition. It will take place against the iconic backdrop of the harbour and Sydney Opera House at the site where British explorers first encountered the local inhabitants. At that time, colonial powers believed western civilisation was invincible and that they had the right to collect and possess universal knowledge. We now recognise such an ambition is both infantile and dangerous. 

  ”In a land that has traditionally regarded distance as a disadvantage, the art specially chosen for this exhibition will celebrate the many different beauties of distance by showing contemporary perspectives from all around the world. It will be an exceptional experience – challenging, but above all enjoyable.”

  The design uses a modular system which is easily reconfigurable to accommodate all the applications necessary for such a large scale campaign.  The studio also drew inspiration from the source of the Biennale’s subtitle “Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age,” in addition to Harry Everett Smith’s compilation of historic recordings, “Anthology of American Folk Music.”