Design Manager, based in New York City, with a very obnoxious Jersey accent.

Brooklyn-based designer Dean Roper creates objects for the “betterment" of daily life- drawing inspiration from junk food, popular culture, drugs, memes, novelty bongs at head shops, naive outsider art, sports, fashion, and growing up.

Bosco Sodi is known for his richly textured, vividly colored large-scale paintings. Sodi has discovered an emotive power within the essential crudeness of the materials that he uses to execute his paintings. Focusing on material exploration, the creative gesture, and the spiritual connection between the artist and his work, Sodi seeks to transcend conceptual barriers. Sodi leaves many of his paintings untitled, with the intention of removing any predisposition or connection beyond the work’s immediate existence. The work itself becomes a memory and a relic symbolic of the artist’s conversation with the raw material that brought the painting into creation. Sodi’s influences range from l’art informel, looking to artists such as Antoni Tàpies and Jean Dubuffet, to master colorists such as Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and the bright hues of his native heritage.

Writer

YuJune Park is a Partner at Synoptic Office, an award-winning design consultancy that works globally with leading cultural, civic, and business organizations to communicate ideas, build experiences, and cultivate new audiences. With over a decade of experience in creative direction, graphic design, and digital strategy, she leads the studio's vision and practice, transforming data into knowledge for diverse clients and contexts. She is a tenured Associate Professor of Communication Design at Parsons School of Design, where she teaches and researches global scripts, archives, and the manifold ways design can unlock human stories and reveal connections through language and information. Park's work has been recognized by Fast Company Innovation by Design, the Webbys, Design Week, the Art Director's Club, and the American Institute of Graphic Arts. She speaks and exhibits internationally, most recently at the Biennial of Design in Ljubljana, the Ningbo Museum of Art in China, and at Palazzo Mora in collaboration with the European Cultural Centre and the Venice Biennale. In 2022, Park was selected for Creative Review's Creative Leaders list, which celebrates global leaders advancing their field.