Rebeca Mendez
Encyclopedia
Rebeca Méndez is an artist and designer living in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is professor at UCLA Design Media Arts Department in Los Angeles, California.
in Pasadena, California.
Her art and design work has been exhibited and collected by institutions such as the SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]), The Stedelijk Museum
in Amsterdam, Museo Jose Luis Cuevas in Mexico City, and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
in New York. She has her own studio RMCD: Rebeca Méndez Communication Design in partnership with writer and strategist Adam Eeuwens, who is also her husband. Through her studio, she has collaborated with video artist Bill Viola
, architect Thom Mayne
of Morphosis, architect Greg Lynn
, GLFORM, artist Ruben Ortiz Torres
, and with film director Mike Figgis
.
, NY and Los Angeles (1999–2003), Rebeca lead global brand identity projects for clients such as IBM, Motorola, BP (British Petroleum), AT&T Wireless, and Mattel. In 2004, Méndez was invited to, and won, a competition to design the user interface to the Microsoft Home — the premier venue for communicating what Microsoft sees as possible for technology in the home of the future. In collaboration with architect and 2005 Pritzker Prize Laureate Thom Mayne of Morphosis, Méndez created two permanent installations for Mayne's new building: The Recreation Center at The University of Cincinnati. Her work was exhibited at the Centre Pompidou as part of Thom Mayne and Morphosis retrospective: Morphosis: Continuities of the Incomplete in 2006. In addition, Méndez recently designed a wayfinding masterplan for Caltech, with architect Richard Weinstein and Cooper-Robertson Architects.
, ‘Women Designers in The USA, 1900–2000: Diversity and Difference, 2001’, ‘The National Design Triennial: Design Culture Now, 2000’, curated by Ellen Lupton, a solo exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
, curated by Aaron Betsky
, 1998, and ‘Mixing Messages: Graphic Design in Contemporary Culture’, 1996.
’s National Design Award program, 2005. Méndez has served as jury member in numerous graduate academic reviews, among them for architects Zaha Hadid
and Greg Lynn at Harvard University School of Design, and Hani Rashid at UCLA, Architecture Department. She also served as chair of the Design Jury for the Art Director Club of New York Annual Awards, 2007.
Rebeca Méndez is in the advisory board of the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts), Los Angeles Chapter, Peace Over Violence, Los Angeles, and in the Institute for the Future of the Book.
Biography
She was born and raised in Mexico City and received her BFA (1984) in Communication Design and her MFA (1996) in media art and design from Art Center College of DesignArt Center College of Design
Art Center College of Design is a private college located in Pasadena, California, and was cited by BusinessWeek as one of the 60 best design schools in the world. The college’s industrial design program is consistently ranked number one by both DesignIntelligence and U.S...
in Pasadena, California.
Her art and design work has been exhibited and collected by institutions such as the SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]), The Stedelijk Museum
Stedelijk Museum
Founded in 1874, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam is a museum for classic modern and contemporary art in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It has been housed on the Paulus Potterstraat, next to Museum Square Museumplein and to the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and the Concertgebouw, in Amsterdam Zuid...
in Amsterdam, Museo Jose Luis Cuevas in Mexico City, and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
Cooper–Hewitt, National Design Museum, a subsidiary of the Smithsonian Institution, is the United States' national museum of design history and contemporary design and the only museum in the U.S. whose collection is solely focused on contemporary and historic design...
in New York. She has her own studio RMCD: Rebeca Méndez Communication Design in partnership with writer and strategist Adam Eeuwens, who is also her husband. Through her studio, she has collaborated with video artist Bill Viola
Bill Viola
Bill Viola is a contemporary video artist. He is considered a leading figure in the generation of artists whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in New Media...
, architect Thom Mayne
Thom Mayne
Thom Mayne is a Los Angeles-based architect. Educated at University of Southern California and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1978, Mayne helped found the Southern California Institute of Architecture in 1972, where he is a trustee...
of Morphosis, architect Greg Lynn
Greg Lynn
Greg Lynn is owner of the Greg Lynn FORM office, an o. Univ. Professor of architecture at University of Applied Arts Vienna, a studio professor at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, and the Davenport Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Architecture. He was the winner of the Golden...
, GLFORM, artist Ruben Ortiz Torres
Rubén Ortiz Torres
Rubén Ortiz Torres is a Mexican photographer, painter, sculptor, film and video producer. He was the subject of the mid-career survey show Desmothernismo at the Huntington Beach Art Center, a show which toured to the Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Arte in Mexico City. was shown as part of the...
, and with film director Mike Figgis
Mike Figgis
Michael "Mike" Figgis is an English film director, writer, and composer.-Personal life:Figgis was born in Carlisle, England and grew up in Africa. Figgis for several years had a relationship with the actress Saffron Burrows and cast her in several films...
.
Featured works
Rebeca Méndez Communication Design’s clients include The Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, The Guggenheim Berlin, The Getty Museum and MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) in Los Angeles. As creative director of Brand Integration Group, Ogilvy & MatherOgilvy & Mather
Ogilvy & Mather is an international advertising, marketing and public relations agency based in Manhattan and owned by the WPP Group. The company operates 497 offices in 125 countries with approximately 16,000 employees.-History:...
, NY and Los Angeles (1999–2003), Rebeca lead global brand identity projects for clients such as IBM, Motorola, BP (British Petroleum), AT&T Wireless, and Mattel. In 2004, Méndez was invited to, and won, a competition to design the user interface to the Microsoft Home — the premier venue for communicating what Microsoft sees as possible for technology in the home of the future. In collaboration with architect and 2005 Pritzker Prize Laureate Thom Mayne of Morphosis, Méndez created two permanent installations for Mayne's new building: The Recreation Center at The University of Cincinnati. Her work was exhibited at the Centre Pompidou as part of Thom Mayne and Morphosis retrospective: Morphosis: Continuities of the Incomplete in 2006. In addition, Méndez recently designed a wayfinding masterplan for Caltech, with architect Richard Weinstein and Cooper-Robertson Architects.
Works
Rebeca Méndez lectures nationally and internationally—from Tijuana to Taipei—and her work has been subject of numerous publications and exhibitions such as ‘Clean New World: Culture, Politics and Graphic Design], 2002’ curated by Maud LavinMaud Lavin
Maud Lavin is a nonfiction writer and cultural historian. She is a professor of Visual and Critical Studies and Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is a recent recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts grant.Her most...
, ‘Women Designers in The USA, 1900–2000: Diversity and Difference, 2001’, ‘The National Design Triennial: Design Culture Now, 2000’, curated by Ellen Lupton, a solo exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art...
, curated by Aaron Betsky
Aaron Betsky
Aaron Betsky is an architect, critic, curator, educator, lecturer, and writer on architecture and design, who since August 2006 has been the director of the Cincinnati Art Museum. From 2001 to 2006 Betsky served as director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam, Netherlands....
, 1998, and ‘Mixing Messages: Graphic Design in Contemporary Culture’, 1996.
Awards
Among numerous awards, she was nominated as a candidate for a Communications Design Award of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design MuseumCooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
Cooper–Hewitt, National Design Museum, a subsidiary of the Smithsonian Institution, is the United States' national museum of design history and contemporary design and the only museum in the U.S. whose collection is solely focused on contemporary and historic design...
’s National Design Award program, 2005. Méndez has served as jury member in numerous graduate academic reviews, among them for architects Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid, CBE is an Iraqi-British architect.-Life and career:Hadid was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. She received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.After graduating she worked...
and Greg Lynn at Harvard University School of Design, and Hani Rashid at UCLA, Architecture Department. She also served as chair of the Design Jury for the Art Director Club of New York Annual Awards, 2007.
Rebeca Méndez is in the advisory board of the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts), Los Angeles Chapter, Peace Over Violence, Los Angeles, and in the Institute for the Future of the Book.