Dec. 1, 2017 – Jan. 20, 2018
Sponsored by Chuck & Robbie Breaux, Rob & Lou Jenkins, Jeremy R. Franklin, and Lancer Livermont
First Friday reception Dec. 1, 6:30pm 

co2 is the premier poster exhibition on the Western Slope. With the inaugural co2 in 2013, the show’s growth now requires two locations. This year’s exhibition opens simultaneously at 437CO, CMU’s downtown art gallery, and the Western Colorado Center for the Arts on the first Friday in December. The event will include not only a diverse exhibition of graphic design from around the world, but also four internationally known designers: Richard Bailey and Lukas Paltram from London-based design firm Dalton Maag, Christopher Scott from Ecuador, and David Voss from Germany will all make the trek to Grand Junction!

The co2 exhibition is possible due to the hard work of MED (Mesa Emerging Designers), the graphic design student group at Colorado Mesa University. Over twenty students reached out directly to designers around the world to announce the open call for submissions. With the global design community being one of support, the response has been superb. Learning from past efforts, MED students were able to double submissions from two years ago! The students work for over a year to bring co2 to fruition, and are enthusiastic about the 2017 exhibition.

The show does not have a theme, nor is it juried. From its inception, co2 is a poster show about graphic design for the sake of graphic design. You’ll see political posters, event posters, different languages, styles, and varied schools of thought. Color, letterforms, and hierarchy all tell a bit of the story when it comes to the visual communication that posters perform. Says Eli Marco Hall, faculty advisor for MED, “The most valuable aspect of co2 is the diversity of the posters. It helps all of us become more understanding citizens of the world.”