NEW YORK — Design, like art — like life — is one of those words that can range very far and very wide. The three shows currently up at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum are a reminder of that farness and wideness. They’re also highly interesting and often, for lack of a grander word, fun.
That description also applies to “Hardly Harmless Drudgery: Landmarks in English Lexicography,” which runs at the Grolier Club through July 27. “An Atlas of Es Devlin” and “Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols” run through Aug. 11.
“Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection” runs through Aug. 25. That exclamation mark could apply to both the other shows, too.
There’s a reason “Atlas” has the name it does. Atlases cover more territory than maps, a lot more, and there’s a profuse, even over-spilling quality to the Devlin show. It can be a bit exhausting, but more often exhilarating.
Although Devlin was born in 1971, there’s a ‘60s feel to her work: the way it can seem liberated and unpredictable, energized and energizing. Advertisement Devlin’s best known as a Tony- and Olivier Award-winning stage designer. But that’s only the main course in a meal that’s more like a banquet.
She’s likely the only person whose LinkedIn profile could include work for the Metropolitan Opera, United Nations, National Football League (Super Bowl halftime shows), the Olympics, Beyoncé, and U2. If there’s a certain breathlessness to “Atlas” that ma.
