The Core Principles of Modernism (images).

Jackson Pollock, Number 22, 1949 (oil & enamel on paper mounted on masonite).

Jackson Pollock’s expressionist painting exemplifies the rejection of realism within Fine Art characteristic of the early Modernist movement.

Poster for Fritz Lang’s film ‘Metropolis’, 1927 (colour litho)

Both the film itself and the poster exemplify the technological concerns of the Modernist movement. Firstly, the poster is a lithographic print. The invention of lithography, meant that letterpress no longer had to be used as the main form of printing and images could be mass produced meaning that Art and Graphic Design could now reach a much wider audience. 

Marcel Breuer, Club Chair B3 (Wassily) 1925 (bent steel tube frame, chromed).

El Lissitzky, Illustration to ‘The Story of Two Squares’, written by the artist, pub. in Berlin, 1922 (printed book).

Le Corbusier, Exterior of Villa Savoye, built c.1929-31 (photo)

Source:  http://www.bridgemaneducation.com

                                                                                                                                                                 

The Core Principles of Modernism (overview)

Modernism as a movement within art, design and architecture took place in the late 19^th and 20^th centuries as a reaction to various technological advancements and social upheavals experienced by Western society at that time. Particularly; the Industrial Revolution, which led the concept of mass-production becoming important within Craft and Design and the invention of Lithography changing the way in which art and graphic design was created. As well as, the effect World War Two upon the collective psyche of society, leading to a questioning of the value of all forms of established thinking and practice, extending to the field of Art and Design.

‘Modernism’ is a term that encompasses many sub-movements within Art and Design during this period, however I would argue that each one can be characterised by two core principles. The first being; a rejection of existing ‘traditional’ methods and principles, and the second; an desire to work towards something completely new or avant-garde.

Another running theme in most, but not all, modernist movements is the idea that art is and should be relevant to everyone, not just an elite few. One example of this is the development of an ‘international style’ in Architecture, Graphic Design and Product Design. This meant a visual language that was free of cultural, academic and historical references and thus was accessible to people of all nationalities, class and level of education.

Spring #1

After getting frustrated trying to generate ideas for this project by brainstorming the theme ‘spring’, and finding that I couldn’t get very far, I decided instead to reflect on the aim of the project. Described in the brief as ‘to locate your practice as a creative person’.

Wanting to fulfill this aim is one of the main reasons I applied to do this degree in the first place, so I’m excited to have seven weeks to spend putting as much effort as possible into learning about my own direction as a designer.

To begin, I asked myself three questions:

What do I like?

What am I good at?

What motivates me?

When thinking about what it is I like, or rather what it is that interests me, the overwhelming answer, as it often has been in the past, was Architecture, Landscape Architecture and public spaces for my interests within design, and food and the health and environmental issues that surround it for my interests out of design.

I believe that these answers also give clues about what my motivations could be. Firstly, I want to design things that are useful, but I don’t necessarily mean useful in the sense that a fork is useful that for eating food or a nuclear power plant is useful for converting thermal energy into electricity. And my want my work to have a conscience, but again, I don’t necessarily mean that in the sense that a beautiful sculpture is made from ethically sourced materials or that no third world labour was exploited during the manufacture of a chair. Not that I’m saying that these things don’t matter to me, they do, and I hope to to produce work that encompasses both these values. I also want it to be more than that. I want the conscience and the use to be the same thing, I want the object’s purpose to be what is ethical about it.

At least that’s what I think. I reserve the right to change my mind on any of these points.

As for the project, I’ve decided to limit myself to something in the genre of architecture or architecture-related for now. Hopefully that will make it easier to find some inspiration from ‘spring’.

 

Green Woodworking with Nic Webb

For this workshop, we were each given a piece of green (eucalyptus) wood and spent the day making it into a spoon using the techniques taught to us by Nic Webb.

I was completely new to working with green wood and found both the process and outcome extremely satisfying.

Some of my thoughts and observations throughout the day were as follows:

Working with green wood allows a greater freedom of form, in some respects, than with dry wood. Although a lot of the form of what you produce is dictated by the natural flow of the grain of the wood. This means you can’t predict the exactly what your finished product will look like whilst making it. The process of making itself, is fast and slightly improvised. You start with a general idea of what you want but everything else is discovered within the wood.
The aesthetic of a finished piece of green woodwork is characterised by an organic free-flowing form, and a greater ability to exploit the natural patterns within the wood for decoration.

I plan to buy my own set of green woodworking tools as soon as possible and continue to explore the possibilities of this material.

A Toy For Play #1

‘The toy should be for adults, to engage adults in play’

The first thing I did after receiving this brief was to begin to consider some of the ways in which adults and children differ in their behavior, as this would give clues as to how adults would differ from children when becoming engaged in play.

I looked to pedestrians, and the different ways in which children and adults interact with public space.

At the same time I looked up definitions of the word ‘toy’. One, in particular, seemed relevant;
‘something that serves for or as if a diversion, rather than for serious practical use.’

Whilst travelling on foot children seem to be naturally drawn to ‘diversions’, they will take interesting roots, walk on walls, avoid stepping on the cracks and become interested in and ask questions about their surroundings. In contrast adults are often uninterested in their environment and are simply focused on getting from A to B.

I decided that for this project I would create something that would exist in a public space in order to act as a ‘diversion’ for adults and to get them interested in their environment.

Inspiration:

‘Tweenbots’ by Kacie Kinzer

My initial idea is to build some small telescopes and have them standing at a height only adults can reach, to be left around London.

Of course, I will have to look into the legality of leaving these objects unattended in public and try to work around that.

Sheet Materials Project