Tag Archives: graphic arts

Avant Garde

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After reading the Avant Garde manifesto, I have deduced that they thought very highly of themselves within their work/practice and belittling anyone else who uses their ideas without crediting them. We can tell this from the following quote “but they have forgotten that all attention should be concentrated on the experimental labatories, which show us”. Within the manifesto they have only used three colours: black, red and ivory, perhaps to show the correct hierarchy of the information given to us: black being the most prominent and important information, red being just below that and the ivory being the colour of the paper which the manifesto is printed upon. They have also used the same margin size across all the pages except the contents page which they used a rectangular thin shape to fill the space and also as a page breaker so you can clearly see it’s a contents page.

In particular I like how they have used small and subtle illustrations within the heavily text based pages, showing squares and lines the demonstrate parts of the sentence. Furthermore, they have used a variety of different typefaces and different sizes with some that work and some that in my opinion make It look a bit untidy. They are very heavily against the use of technology which they describe it as the “mortal enemy of art” this can also be backed up by the quote “previously- Engineers relaxed with art, Now- Artists relax with technology”

Counter Culture

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This image shows an illustrated idea of the effect of taking ecstasy, this isn’t the right message to be putting out as it makes it look fun and crazy to be taking drugs, the whole image doesn’t have any sensibility about it and is quite playful, especially as it uses different typefaces alongside many, many colours. The spirit of this piece shows that drug taking was a culture of the time making it common practice and not against any laws to create posters and advertisements like this to promote drug use. The meaning of this poster/book cover is to illustrate the ins and outs of taking ecstasy by the author Timothy Leary. The design of this is very true to the time using lots of bright colours and shapes, the layout also doesn’t have a uniform to it, this could relate to the use of the drugs in question.

I quite like this piece as it is very simple and effective, using only three different colours, this was a logo that could be recreated very easily. On the other hand, this was the logo for the Acid drug taking group/culture which could be seen as a bad image. The circle in the middle of the square is very uniform and sensibly placed. This image shows a happy spirit which could be conveyed as the same as being happy when taking the drugs.

This photo above from the 1960’s shows a group of teenagers in protest of war in the very popular hippie movement. There Is sensibility in the photo as it seems to be a very peaceful protest, even including the peace symbol in the word Love on their poster. The people in the photo look very spiritual with the hippie movement and are quite content with the peaceful protesting to forward their opinion. In particular, the whole image taken in black and white, is aimed to focus on the poster in big black letters with the background mostly grey in colour to distract the viewer focus onto the centre and read the only type in the image.

references:

Terminal Bar

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This video has demonstrated a popular bar on the corner of a busy New York street.

The quality of the video is typically quite poor but that references well to the theme/ era of when the video is set. Throughout the video is a constant piece of jukebox style music being played quite loud over the top of the narrator so it becomes hard to hear them.

In particular I find it really interesting how this video was created using many stunning portraits of the bar users and how they all change over the course of ten years whilst heavily drinking thus changing their faces.

It became a very popular bar for a variety of cultures and had many regular visitors as this was a place they could all gather without any bother from each other. In the video, the photos mainly focus on people doing things, whether that’s mid conversation, walking down the street, drinking, laughing, looking ahead, it works really well that the photo subjects are very well thought out yet seem so candid and swiftly taken in the moment. There a few slight pauses in the video showing newspaper articles about the Terminal bar, specifically about how it was the toughest bar in New York city. These pauses were very typographical with a very old-style newspaper, relevant to the time, showing heavy serif fonts.

The man narrating was the owner of the bar and worked there through the ten years to which he tells the whole story of his time there.

“Technology is the mortal enemy of art”

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Rodchenko’s manifesto of the constructivist group states that “Technology is the mortal enemy of art”. I believe this statement to be untrue my main reasons being.

“Where would impressionist be without the invention of portable paint tubes that enabled them to paint out doors? Who would have heard of Andy Warhol without silkscreen printing? the truth is that technology has been with new ways to express themselves for a very long time.”

This quote I feel sums up my views against Rodchenko’s. That the continual invention of newer technologies can only open up new pathways to explore in the world of art. New forms of camera allow for higher quality photographs letting us see in more detail, new computer software’s allow us to edit in new before unimaginable ways. technology creates new tools for artists to utilise into their own craft.

So in short I don’t think that technology is the enemy of art. I think it is the friend to art. Technology helps to push and drive art into the future guiding it to unforeseen destinations, making it constantly up to date and exciting. Also the more new technology over takes the old forms of art the more it is appreciated as a craft. Older art is still marvelled at in today’s society so I believe they will never lose their shine.

    Bibliography

  • Website

    @randyrieland, F.

    7 Ways Technology is Changing How Art is Made

    Bibliography: @randyrieland, F. (2017). 7 Ways Technology is Changing How Art is Made. [online] Smithsonian. Available at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/7-ways-technology-is-changing-how-art-is-made-180952472/ [Accessed 20 Oct. 2017].

Comparing

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pulp fiction

 

for my comparison I will be starting with this illustration on the right. It is a fan made poster for one of my favourite movies ‘Pulp Fiction’. The way this illustration is done is in a very minimalistic style. Although I couldn’t find the artist behind this particular piece it looks and feels very similar to the style of Craig Drake as he also creates movie posters in a minimalistic way. This piece uses a handful of colours to create the image which is a notable scene from the film.

 

 

 

black and white photoThe piece of Photography on the left is a black and white image of a mixed raced girl. This is a high quality detailed image. It perfectly captures both the softness of her skin and the frizziness of her hair without needing the use of colour. Each highlight and shadow is emphasized by the use of the black and white photography making this a very strong image

 

although both pieces are of a woman’s face they are quite drastically different from each other  with the most notable difference being the detail or lack there of. The photography captures the realistic details of the face whereas the illustration is abstract giving just enough detail for you to see what it is portraying. Another key difference would be the colour in the illustration being vibrant and eye catching utilising bold blocks of colour to draw attention to itself. On the other hand the photography’s  use of black and white make it more subtle.

Terminal Bar

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The short film/documentary Terminal Bar (2002) directed by Stefan Nadelman follows a ten year period in which the directors father (Sheldon Nadelman) took photos of customers that entered the bar that he owned, Terminal Bar. The Terminal Bar is located on eighth avenue in New York and was named so as it was across the road from the bus terminal.  These photos stretch from the year 1972 to 1982. Each portrait Is numbered and is black and white. The film is narrated by Sheldon Nadelman as he commentates on different situation that are happening behind the scenes of his photos. The way this film is laid out is very interesting as it is mainly made out of still images which move in various way to the beat of the backing track and the narration. Sheldon’s narration is an in depth look into the lives of his customers for this ten year period . From gays to junkies, pimps to prostitutes. Some of his customers were even in the bar everyday until they died which is probably why Sheldon seems to remember so many of them as he saw them so often and heard all of there many stories.  In the end of the film they take a trip to where the Terminal Bar used to be and get some final shots of what is now a video store. In some of the final minutes Sheldon says the reason he took all these photos is because if he didn’t who would? all these memories would be lost into the city.

In order to recreate a film like this it would take a fair amount of time to gather the right amount of photos to fill the allotted time. Not only the photos but the stories behind all of them.