Interview with Bez Ocko

Bez Ocko lent her collection of Rock n' Roll poster to The Galleries at Moore from Oct - Dec 2009. Her collection was on view during the screening of Died Young, Stayed Pretty as a NET Nights event on November 17. Bez was interviewed by BSA student Haoren Yu.

Bez Ocko is a graphic designer and educator who received her MFA from Yale University and bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College, where she found her passion for posters, which generalized later to a wider range of the art world. She was as an adjunct professor at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, PA, and has also held the position of director at the Rosenberg Gallery at Hofstra University in New York City, where she now works as an associate professor. At the Rosenberg Gallery, Ocko curated an exhibition of her personal collection of rock posters that she has accumulated of the years. This exhibition, Paper Rock ‘N’ Roll, traveled to Philadelphia and was on view in the Window on Race in The Galleries at Moore from October - December 2009.

I first learned of Professor Ocko and her poster collection during this exhibition and in preparation for this interview as part of NET Nights at Moore where The Galleries' screened the independent film, Died Young, Stayed Pretty, an homage of sorts to underground indie rock posters and the artists who create them. Afterwords, we spoke about her interest in poster art—with me asking questions from a beginner’s perspective and Professor Ocko answering from years of experience. Professor Ocko enjoys the process of printmaking; in fact, I would say that she is devoted to it. For people who get so involved in art, the real reason is not the final product but the process of creating the piece. Print is the one that fascinates Ocko the most. Just like traditional art-creating techniques, printmaking requires not only a sense of inspiration and creativity.

At Hofstra University, Ms. Ocko's interest in the subject is more than academic. In 2002, she curated a Swiss poster show. The exhibition presents posters of artists who rose to prominence after World War ll. These works, both individually and as a group, have a stunning visual impact. According to the exhibition catalog, "Among them were iconic examples of the Swiss International Style of the 1950s and 1960s, developed after World War II and adopted internationally as a universal language of visual communication, as well as more recent posters distinguished as innovative landmarks." This is the link to her exhibition: http://people.hofstra.edu/karen_t_albert/swiss/index.html. Bez Ocko in collaboration with Moore’s Graphic Design Department organized the poster show Paper Rock ‘n Roll and Window on Race for the opening of the film Died Young, Stay Pretty.