Graphics with Grit

Chicago’s Lyric Opera called on print shop ER2 Image Group (www.er2image.com) to collaborate on its January gallery exhibit, “Dictated by Fate.” Based on the Lyric’s production of Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s The Passenger, “Dictated by Fate” follows former Auschwitz SS officer Liese as she travels to her new post and is haunted by a former prisoner.

With only a month between the original concept for the project and its two-day installation, ER2 collaborated with design partner Classic Color to create somber graphics that would provide a reverent display for artifacts on loan from the Jewish Museum Milwaukee and the Polish Museum of America, as well as photographs of Weinberg’s life and the first-ever production of The Passenger. For a gritty feel that would recall 1940s wartime, ER2 printed the graphics on Korographics Abaco Beach wallcovering with a Vutek GS3250LX Pro. The shop also created signage on 1/8-inch black Sintra foamboard with their HP Scitex LX850.