Woodmere Man Saw the Signs

Ever notice the arrow in the FedEx logo, or the way the shapes and colors form in many common road signs? Seymour Levy has.

Levy, who resides in Woodmere, recently retired from his position as art and graphic director at Oglivy Advertising in New York City. One day while stuck in traffic with a FedEx truck in front of him, Levy noticed something he had never seen before: The white arrow in between the orange upper case "E" and lower case "X." Always having a camera on hand, he quickly snapped a picture of his discovery.

"As a graphic designer, I am always intrigued and motivated by the shape of objects, how they interact with one another in a given space," Levy said.  "I see the interplay of the E and X forming an abstract design shape resulting in the subliminal arrow."

The FedEx logo spring-boarded Levy's quest to find art in popular company logos and signs that we see every day. His latest collection, "Signs of the Times," is on display at the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library through Jan. 17 and he hopes it will "Test your powers of recognition," as the slogan of the exhibit says.

Levy's 58 piece "Logo Game" exhibition captures the essence of negative space and positive shapes in many common company logos and road signs, Levy said, using what he calls a "select crop" technique.

For the six months after spotting that now famous FedEx arrow, Levy began taking pictures of every logo he could find, from gas stations to public places to street signs and department stores. 

"Each time I took a picture and cropped it, I found a pleasing design," Levy said. "I would zoom in on certain places of the logo and find the white space and shapes — that is 'pure design.'"

A total of 65 pictures were taken since May of 2010. To narrow down his choices for the collection, Levy said he looked for those that consisted mostly of colors, shapes and design elements, which when put together formed interesting portions of the logo.

"The art of typography, the many variations of typefaces and styles come into play," he said. "The mere shape of the letter form is a contained design."

This keen eye for details has earned his exhibits time in the Smithsonian Institute, The New York Historical Society and a few art galleries in Manhattan. A photo he took of the many terrified and dismayed spectators on Sept. 11, 2001, was selected to be a permanent fixture in the 9/11 Memorial Center, which is scheduled to be open in 2011.

This is Levy's third exhibit at the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library. An open reception will be held on Jan. 8 to honor the collection.

Levy hopes to "entertain the audience in a challenge of sight perception," he said. "Fun and games is what it's all about. The entire 'logo game' exhibit is an exercise in visual entertainment." He added, "If by any chance the close select cropping of these everyday signs and logos influence the viewer to view an object and relate to it in an abstract form, I would deem the showing successful."