Designblog

In this work you see influences of Design, Fine arts, Architecture and Graphic design.
A nice thing of this work is that the upper drawing can stand on his own, and therefore can be divided in Fine arts. What Lissitzky is doing in the painted photo below, can be compared with design. Almost all his work contains influences of Design, Fine arts, Architecture and Graphic design. For myself I see it back the most in this one.
I really like the composition and colour distribution and how Lissitzky combines the 2D/3D perspective, which makes the drawing much more architectural.
I think the later work of Kandinsky is in some way comparable. I’m talking about elements of composition, colour distribution wise and form contrasts.
What’s fascinating actually is that for example in these paintings ( K1, L1, K2, L2 ) the triangles, (half) circles, stripes and composition have so much in common. While the ideas of their work are so different. Kandinsky combines painting with music, which Lissitzky does with architecture.

What I appreciate is the modern way of exposing his work. I like the way he puts his drawing and his street-exhibition in one frame on the cardboard. And the fact that he paints on the photo. The street celebration design reminds me a bit of graffiti in legal manners. In Graffiti you have multiple meanings of doing it. Some do it for the adrenaline-kick, some for the group or competition feeling, some to show their design skills and others for  political statements or propaganda. This last example is what I see in a part of Lissitzky’s work.

I think it’s interesting to see how he uses his propaganda work in other work but then he integrates his in his autonomous work (proun. street celebration design).

All in all I think it’s a great work and a unique style. I really admire that Lissitzky makes so many different things, and still keeps it in one theme

Designing a book is not something that requires a lot more than just putting together some pieces of paper and binding them in a book cover. But in order to design a book that immediately attracts ones attention, a book that makes you look, it is necessary to re-think it to make people wonder and speculate. Something that surprises them, make them think, or reminds them of something else that they are familiar with.
Stefan Sagmeisters book “Made you look” from 2001 is a great example of a book that has been re-thought. Already by removing the plastic cover of the book you get surprised and fascinated by the simple transformation that takes place in front of your eyes. What seemed to be a sweet family dog appears to be a ferocious wolf, just by using red foil on top of a separated red and green color print. The technology is simple, the result overwhelming.

Already in 1923 El Lissitzky was thinking further than just a bunch of papers in a hard cover, when he published an interesting little book with poems of Vladimir Mayakovsky accompanied by graphics by him self, under the title “For the voice”.

To make it easy to locate a specific poem Lissitzky made the kind of index we find in phonebooks at the edge of the pages. But where in the phonebooks you look up a name by the first letter, Lissitzky made small abstract symbols or thumbnails of the graphic that accompanied the specific poem in the book.
This way Lissitzky moves the form of the book away from the formal form and at the same time he plays with an already known design, that doesn’t make people confused but rather triggers a desire to explore. I really think that this is a great way to stimulate peoples curiosity to look in the book, which is the whole point of making one. It’s very inspiring.

From Van Abbemuseums power point presentation I got attracted to a painting by El Lissitzky called “Proun P23, no 6”, in this presentation it has number 51. I have never really been into constructivism, suprematism or any of these kind of movements but I will try to focus on the things I actually like in El Lissitzkys painting. In general, I like the way he is able to leave empty spaces without making it comfortable. I always have to be alert so I don’t fall into the harsh abstractions of his work. The patina or aging paper makes it easier.

In this specific painting, “Proun P23 no 6”, I get the false illusion that he has done the same thing and left an empty space. But in fact the painting is packed. Trying to describe the painting, one can say that it has a fleshy colour in bottom, there are two deep red triangular forms almost meeting in the middle. Preventing them from coming together is a rectangle, a cube and two things that appear more flat, a stick and a square. The cube has a deep green coulor, the other objects are more neutral to the paintings colours. I like the colour composition and that it feels light even though it’s made in oil and on canvas. It’s a nice mix of painting and drawing. I also like the spacial aspect and the loose objects. It’s interesting the way he here presents the abstraction, I mean the space and volume is meeting some very basic shapes that seems easy to recognize and comprehend but makes an intriguing whole.

It’s hard to say anything about the texture of the painting from this point of view, but with the zoom site I attached it’s easier to get a feeling of it. From looking at other modernistic paintings, I really don’t like that dry texture from when the paint is not enough in one stroke or when the canvas is shown too much. These things create a very uncomfortable and also very physical feeling, just like some people don’t like and get chills when scratching your nails against a blackboard. This don’t seem to be a problem here with Proun 23, and I can understand that Van Abbemuseum must be very proud to have this painted Proun in it’s collection.

If I would come across El Lissitzky’s street decorations today, without knowing what they were, or who they were made by, I’d be wary of calling them decorations.

They just look too much like big paintings.

And calling somebody’s painting “decorative” is usually not good for your relationship with the person.

But that’s what interests me so much about his design for street decorations from 1921: It doesn’t look like any type I have seen before.

I’m actually not sure if the decorations would be terribly effective, the street in the photo does not look particularly festive. Lissitzky’s position seems to be not so much about creating objects that fulfill a purpose in the best possible way, but more about having them embody certain (suprematist) ideals.

It seems to me, that in his street decorations, Lissitzky is not looking for the ideal street decoration, but instead applying his ideals to them.

The Suprematists of whom Lissitzky was part, strived for suprematism as “embracing all aspects of the human spirit”  and thought suprematist forms to be applicable to all aspects of daily life. And you can see this when you look at a sample of Lissitzky’s work put together. It seems he really believed that this style, this way of working, could work for anything.

But there is more to these forms than meets the eye, they follow set standards and, if you know how to “read” them, communicate a clear story. A real form-language if you will. Unfortunately I do not speak this language, or know what the paintings mean, but in Lissitsky’s vision it would be omnipresent, and understood by all.

This really interests me,

is the reason the decorations do not work for me that I do not speak Lissitzky’s language?

Or would they, even if communism had worked out and everyone would understand, still miss something of the festiveness that we associate with street decorations?

I am inclined to think the latter

In 1913 Victory over the sun was firstly performed in Moscow. From aesthetic perspective, it was Malevich who was responsible for the costumes and decor, we may recall upon this happening as the start of Suprematism.
In 1920, this time directed by Malevich, the opera was performed again. During this period El Lissitzky made his lithographic designs for the nine figures from the opera. Instead of costumes he designed electromechanical puppets. Puppets that would be controlled by one person. Lissitzky deliberately left this concept at the stage of the lithographies, as he had made his mind up that he wasn’t going to be the one realizing the project. “You can do this”, was his vision.

In terms of fashion, there are many ways to encounter these designs. I myself encountered three major elements that can be related with contemporary fashion: technology,expression and giving emphasis to -suprematist- shapes by utilizing them in a different context.
The use of electro mechanism could have easily inspired the work of Turkish designer Hussein Chalayan. This element comes strongly back in his 2007 spring/summer collection, used as a tool to transform. The remote control dress as an interesting outcome of the same mentality.

Dutch designer duo Viktor & Rolf greatly succeed in establishing moods and characteristics through their designs. Making these -invisible- elements visible and more importantly visual. A resemblance that goes up for every figure from the opera designs by Lissitzy.

British designer Gareth Pugh touches on these elements too, though in a more abstract way. Abstract in the sense that clothing no longer hold on to the outlines of the human body, but -form wise- is completely free to go into any directions. Great representatives of these elements are Japanese fashion designers -or rather fashion sculptors- Issey Miyake, Rei kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto.

“subjective library” images and flickr tag-cloud

Read the reflections of students as A and C group journey into the Rietveld Library’s Design and Art section. A journey to investigate, making our fascinations, preconceptions and hidden desires manifest. How does a subjective book choice create a personal mirror and leave traces (tags), connecting Design to Art, exposing autonomy in both.

Read about the subjective, open and intiutive first book choices from the Design section of our library. Wonder about those tags connected to their accounts. Follow the continuing storiy after a second book is selected, based on those tags created. Witness the third posting in which those sets of tags lead us from Design to Art. A move that forces us to reflect upon the connection between them both.

Follow the continuing accounts of the three succeeding investigating postings by clicking on the yellow link. Experience the total list of tags created during this “Subjective Library” Project.

LIST OF TAGS:

3289 days, A4, cover, funky colors, television, unatractive, film photography : fauna, flora, interesting, lines, strange, fluffy, simple, horrible, brainwork, complicated, proud, “to know” : disorder, game, grid, systematization, “One Minute Sculpture” : library, swindler, breaking news, library loser, extraordinary, talented : space, absence-presence, framework, surrounding, returning : abnormal, rediscover, choice, plain, others : 1000, 754., direction, signs, city, direction, traffic, political, posters : blue Pinocchio, screaming, spine of book, blue, Pinocchio, blue fairy, eyecandy, contemporary, folk, mentality : not getting there, unknown, judging by covers, content, connection, strangers, subject : supermarket, theft, housewife, tiny, midlife crisis, multilingual : logic, question, reason, consciousness, interest, remarks, impossible, mathematical, perspective : attraction, strange, swissfolk, art, death, life, love, Maurizio Cattelan : cover, old book, unique, obsession, miniature : Anita, eyes, portrait, dominant, name, color, film : Wiener Werkstätte, characteristic, hand work, mass fabrication, original, process, realization, detail, photography, the nude : cheap fashion, funny, random, tattoo, tribe, weird, mysterious, tribe : attraction, new texture, action, quick, warning, a priori, new, amusement, choices, eye-catching, eyes, random : escape reality, library, overflow of impulses, fruitless reality, jostling time, absorbing force, déjà-vu : arrange, industrial, library, architecture, museum, self-made, Andreas Gursky, index : city, nomadic, reality, funky, colors, interiors : contrast, fat, texture, typography, culture, nudity : conceptional, distance, no image, steps, thinking space, braille : cat, compulsive, font, chaos, subjective, illustration, objective, random, Tadao Ando : airplane, airport, choice, structure, worldmap, 756, 80’s, human, machines, unique, flying : dot, jewelry, shapes & forms, yellow, children, fun, paint, playful, all colors, blue, green, theory : extraordinary, life, normal, objects, absurd : 80’s, desire, fashion, party, techno, desire, fabrics, orgasmatic : alchemy, identical, methaphysics, mysticism, mythology, Arabic, identical, inaccurate, ladies, naked, orient, sculptures, stereotypes : Canada, Indian symbols, kitsch, raven, Indian art, Mexico, Jeff Koons, porn : attraction, gold, meeting an old lover, recognition, cheap, irresistibility, not psychology, wrong, beauty, compare, contrast, couple, same, similarity, together, two books, ugliness : connection, embroidery, hundred years, death, funerals, general terms, invisible, object, spirit, visible : color, feeling, personal story, feminism, graphic : first sight, mystery, old-fashioned, bloody, mad, rituals, revelatory, Yin : oblivion, automatic lives, bottom shelve, eat, mantra, story-making, colorful, dogs, double-take, eat sleep, vases, vegetables : attracted, nothing, black, disturbing.

still curious read the books involved at the Gerrit Rietveld Library, (catalogue numbers are included).

Since I have chosen books in which the yellow color has been part of the content in different contexts, I took a book by Wassily Kandinsky for the last posting. The book describes a Color Theory according to Wassily Kandinsky, “Concerning the Spiritual in Art”. Here is his theory of the color yellow and the color that he thinks is the most opposite of yellow (blue).

Yellow means “warm,” “cheeky and exciting,” “disturbing for people,” “typical earthly color,” “compared with the mood of a person it could have the effect of representing madness in color […] an attack of rage, blind madness, maniacal rage.

Blue means “deep, inner, supernatural, peaceful “Sinking towards black, it has the overtone of a mourning that is not human.” “typical heavenly color”

Number: Kan 5

This time I looked for a book that would fit the previous two just as well as they fitted to each other. In connection to everyday life this book is about texture, colour and feeling of objects and scenes. It’s about the crackly sound of fabric, the smell of things, composition but also about life and death. It’s a book about modern still lives.

The under title is Objects of Desire; and now thinking about it, it is not a bad choice at all. It fits perfectly with the first book because they both represent the normal ordinary things. It suits the second one mainly because it’s as serious as the reality of daily life. It’s definitely a representation of the world in every aspect. Maybe the only tag word that is not so obvious is ‘absurd’, though it’s really there, just on a more underlying surface; subtler I guess.

Rietveld Library Code: 708.5-cat-43

The step from traditional Mexican textile patterns to (soft) porn seems to be quite a big one. How would can you link these too subjects? They don’t seem to have too much in common. For at least as far as I know there’s no fetish movement that is sexually obsessed with traditional clothing that is hand made by Indian tribes of Middle America. But ey. You never know…

Anyhow: One posibble solution to this riddle goes by the name of Jeff Koons. If you try to find a book with the tagword “kitsch” you will find almost nothing – if it wasn’t for Jeff Koons. With his work I have the same ambiguous love-hate relationship that is characterizing my affiliation to Indian art as well. I described this in my first entry. So to close this blog I chose a book titled “The Jeff Koons Handbook”. Since everyone is familiar with Koon’s Balloon dogs I want to invite you to take a look at his photographic “art” – or rather: bad, bad kitsch…

– koon – 3

The second book I chose is titled Mexican Patterns – A design source book. As the title suggest already this book is meant to inspire modern designers. Content wise the book is dealing with the very traditional and yet so vivid patterns of current Mexican textiles. Or in the words of the author Chloë Sayer: “Contemporary Mexican textile design derives its richness and variety from the fusion over centuries of decorative skills from both old and new worlds.”

This mix of traditional elements and modern influences makes the patterns so appealing and at the same time so open to the exploitation for kitschy designs. The patterns seem to be almost as vulnerable to this as the habits and customs of their creators are to the influences of the so-called modern world.

Again I have this strange mix of feelings: On the one hand there is the recognition of the craftsmanship and the tradition. On the other hand I can’t help getting the feeling that it’s all merely kitsch…

779.9 say 1

The Second Design Book I choose to read and write about is one I picked out because of its beautiful side containing the text “eternally yours.” Also on the cover picture you see a couple kissing caught my eyes. When opening this book you see more photos of couples in love. Also this book is a sort of edited version because its full of marks made by former readers. This gives me the feeling that the book is very interesting, without even reading it. In my last posting I wrote about my questioning about the Why? Now I found out what the most important reason is to pick one book over the others. It’s not about the texts cause I can hardly find the effort to read it. It’s about my unconscious mind. For people who are interested in this book and not in my personal bullshit you can find this book about visions on product endurance in the library of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy under the number 770,6 hin 11

In the first books I choose, everything was planned. Every stroke and detail. Design is a view of something. From something which is mostly they same in somebody’s mind as in reality.

My other book is about photography, photography from naked people. It is called: “The Nude in Czech Photography”

I was inspired by tags from the second book, originally, realization and process. Human body, every body is original. Every body is unique, there is no body the same. The product in my other books are all things were you can make more of the same.

I have choose nudes photography because it is always about process and realization. If you ask a person to pose, you have to read their body language. You have to understand the light and try to photograph the energy from the person. A photo shoot is a ritual where your ideas become really with your improvisation.

Process from the photo is just as important as by design. In photography are photoshop and the dark-room two of the most important items. In the end I think that this book “The Nude” totally is related to my other books but also totally different.

(from the personal library)

Browsing through the library for the last time, I thought it was time for a different approach. So instead of searching, looking, considering for at least half an hour or maybe even longer, I just run into the library and get the first big book I see. Without even wondering if it is about art or design (well, ofcourse I know it is about art, but there is a story to tell you know), I borrow it. Once outside the library I see the book is about the work of Tadao Ando. My conclusion is that you can not be objective or random towards anything. The reason for this conclusion is that when I tried to borrow a random book from the library, I still get back with a book about a person whose work I really like. This book about this person. I knew it before, but through this project I am more certain about it, no one can ever be objective. That can turn out to be pretty good, but also pretty bad.

I find myself in the library yet again, after waiting two hours for the library to open. Still not completely awake, I walk past the row of art books, not even bothering to touch them.
Some jump out, but on closer inspection they do not really capture my attention.
The other side of the bookcase then? Close to frustration, my eye falls on a book. Not only interesting typography –tying it, together with its width, to my fist post– but also chinese chracters! Or so I believe..
It turns out to be a book case, containing two books, both with a dull brown/beige color, but an unique texture. The pressing of the letters on the spine has made them lie a little deeper than the coarse fabric.

The books turn out to be Japanese and not Chinese. The text runs from top to bottom and right to left. But they are not entirely Japanese. The thinner one of the two books has english text added to it’s photo’s. They’re quite old fashioned and depict Japanese fabrics.The bigger book sheds a bit more light on what the books are about. Japanese book are read from right to left, and this book is read that way as well, but at the end (our our western beginning) there is a small english introduction. The first book, containing the photo’s, is a study of Okinawan textile fabrics. The book lying open in from of me contains a study of the cultural value of said textiles.
Though the subject is quite boring, the book is a work of art in itself to me. Unable to decipher even the smallest meaning from the beatiful characters, it gives me a feeling of helplessness. In a world where almost everything is understandble and rich in information, this is the opposite. It reminds me of China, where not a thing can be read or understood, and you feel like an outsider looking in, enabling you to see things you do not ordinarily see because you have to rely on other means of finding meaning in things.

The link between my two earlier choices is easy through my tags, alsmost all of them apply on these books; they are fat, have an interesting texture and typography, the inside contrast not only with our culture but through their dated appearance and sublect also contrasts nicely with these modern times. And at last culture, which these books have in abundance. The only one missing is nudity, but on the other hand, this is about textiles and fabrics, and what are those used for? Exactly clothes to cover our nudity 😉

The link between design and art is quite difficult to make at this point, because my two earlier choices (one book on sculpture and one on chinese art) where more art books, while this book is almost more a design book then those were.. Maybe I did things in a Japanese way; backwards!

779.1

How can one relate a name through/with art?

Once I entered the library I walked the same isle but turn my back into the one I had been looking at for the last 2 postings. Now, I had in front of me a cabinet full of names. Van Gogh, Warhol… among many others. So, how can I relate a name with another name?

– I found no solution immediately –

I remember having once a conversation about how names, days of the week, words, etc, can give a feeling of color to certain individuals. The whole theory also applies in a more scientific way when it comes to sound waves in music. I wonder if you have ever seen a colorful symphony…

Immediately I decided to think about Anita . I was sure there must be something that catches my attention, something special. It always seems to work that way when it comes to Anita .

So I searched, my eyes went up and down, side to side quickly through the archive. On the right hand corner a thin small booklet with what it seems like a paper cover sticks out from all the grey thick names. It was not only catching my attention due to its bright colors but also due to the physical position of the booklet; It was sticking half way out as if someone had started the job for me.

Once I took out the six page booklet and opened it I found inside several painted portraits of women. To tell you the truth, I was not surprised, like I said before, there is something special with this Anita . I then shifted my focus on portraits, leaving the first two posts behind, and moved again to my focus on the color of the cover.

Almost like a kids riddle I identify “orange on the outside, yellow on the inside… Can you guess what it is?” Interesting how these two colors remind me of Anita for some reason. At least reminds me of a certain aspect of the name.

Once at home I research on the meaning of colors:

-Yellow is the color of sunshine. It’s associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.

-Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.

It is not only Anita’s intellect, energy, creativity, attraction, success, but Maria’s combined fascination, determination, encouragement, and stimulation towards this assignment which gave color to what it is now for me a symbol.

-To my surprise, once I rented out the book, it was not identified by the computer. Hence, it has no reference number, just a reference color.

Searching for the last time with my tags I found another tiny book. Without noticing it when I borowed it, I now see (looking for inspiration) that the introduction of this book is in fact written by Sandberg. Writer of the first book I picked. This one is not about his work but I did notice in the library that the introduction is in four different languages, like there were many different languages in my first book. This book is about some kind of exhibition in 1965 in the Vondelpark. I know it’s a weak link to the housewives but because this is such an accessible way of showing art to a lot of people, this exhibition is perhaps also visited by some jewelry-making-housewives.

725.8 cat 1

When I open this book I was overwhelming because it was full of beautiful braille. Also the page color is white. It has no images. I can not read braille, but I tried to read it. First I closed my eyes. Then I felt full of braille, but it was very difficult to recognize different words. After I changed my mind. Let’s look at braille as a art. It has nice texture. Each page has different texture. Some braille parts are like foam, other parts are very complicated. I think the shadow makes it complex as it is also braille itself.  There is page a light number upside. It is different than in a normal book.  But I am still wondering about this book’s content. Maybe it is nice to let it be unknown. This book makes you aware of braille as an art.

book number.726.8 cat46