The desk calendar is seldom considered fine art; generally it garners no special consideration, regarded as general workspace paraphernalia of questionable utility. Yet with the artistic twist that characterizes much of his work, photographer and graphic designer Michael Gerbino has turned the desk calendar into an opportunity to showcase his distinctive design style and his evocative photography. Michael Gerbino: Twenty Years of Calendars covers twenty years of life around the world. A native New Yorker, Gerbino designed the earliest calendars as a tribute to his love of the city where he was born and raised. Small businesses–many of which are now shuttered–are carefully recorded, as well as the people passing by; storefronts mix with poignant portraits of strangers. Even as Gerbino moves beyond New York, beginning with 2007’s visit to the Dominican Republic, his photography maintains his fascination with the beauty of everyday life and the dignity of the people featured in his work. Later years see his journeys to London, Paris, and various cities in Italy–a particularly meaningful and personal project, as he explores the hometowns of his grandparents. Through clean landscapes and architecture are occasionally stand-alone features, the continuous thread running through the two decades featured in the book is people and the way they inhabit spaces - a fitting subject for Gerbino, who specializes in environmental graphics. By tying his photography to an item used daily, Gerbino connects a wide net of people around the world; the subjects of his images, his own personal story, the various recipients of the calendar over the years, and finally the readers of the book.
