What I have learnt from Constellation

Throughout the past two terms I have been learning more about how I can best use my practice to good use, which included learning from a range of topics in the world of art and design. These topics included the philosophy of design, subcultures, objects and their meanings, deeper thinking into how I can best use my practice, what influence my practice has on the present and future world, and how and why to create deeper meaning within my practice and what I produce. From learning about putting theory to my practice, therefore putting my practice into context, I have earned a greater understanding which has influenced my work, and the way I think about graphic design, profoundly.

After an incredibly mind opening start in term one with the subject of ‘New Materialisms’, it had prepared me to think more deeply about my next subject, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. This was about subcultures throughout the 20th and 21st century within the younger generations. A recurring theme within this subjects was referring to old styles and fashions to create new styles by combining different cultured objects and clothing. By using past styles, these new styles had created new and very different meanings and signification for these past styles. For example, the first week we had learnt about Jean-Paul Gaultier’s use of a corset and trousers as a costume for Madonna in her Blond Ambition world tour in 1990 for the song ‘Express Yourself’. The corset was a style that had become popular during the 18th and 19th century to make the waist look thinner and the bust bigger. With the feature of the trousers underneath the corset, it had created a juxtaposition with traditional views of the male and female gender; therefore creating a new gender along with a new meaning. This also expressed the title of the song. I had discussed this design further in a post I had written, talking more about the deeper meaning behind the design of the costume.

From learning about what deeper meanings and ideas have been created with a revolutionary design to the fashion world, and even in promoting the LGBT community, this had lead me on to think further about what I have produced in the past that has been based on old styles, where I have created new meanings from combinations of styles, and what effect this has had on my present and future work. Many designers work in certain styles that they have combined from old styles, proving to influence other designers’ and artists’ work.

In the second week we were presented with the subculture of Goth in the late 1970’s. The Goth culture was largely based around Gothic literary and cinematic tradition from the Victorian era, such as Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker. I had a brief read at Gothic and Victorian literature at an article written by Joseph Bowen at The British Library. The article explained what it meant to say that a text is Gothic and what themes recur in Gothic novels, which were described as dark, mysterious, romantic, and macabre. Through looking at style that was featured in the Goth subculture of the late 70’s, we found that religious symbols and representations of teachings and moral were present in the majority of the styles.

Then we had learnt about the subcultures of hip hop, punk, and the Ted boys. I found recurring themes into what meanings can be created, and how and why these subcultures pick up their styles. I’ve learnt that these subcultures can:

• change in associations with brands
• change the functions of any object
• use history and heritage to influence a style
• appropriate anything into any style
• turn subculture trends into ‘parent’ culture trends
• constantly change style

The subculture I found most engaging, interesting and broader in context was the Punk subculture. The gender map had radically began to alter social acceptance. Women were feeling freer to express difference, whereas before the mid 1970’s this was seen as misfits. By drawing on subcultures they contravened the norms of mainstream femininity. It changed the way women operated, giving women power over their own rights which promoted the rebellious punk fashion. Before the mid 1970s, women were seen as objects, expected to be thin, being defined by their bodies. expected to look like supermodels, with the idyllic ‘barbie doll’ image. Punks created the rhetoric of desirability. It questioned self values and attitudes. Makeup, jewellery and clothing re-signified what it was to be a women, promoting feminism in society and standing for equality and what was right. If someone did something new, it questioned and mocked an original ideology.

 

By learning about these subcultures it had prepared us to learn about how our own individual styles in the present day have been influenced by these past styles and how we have combined these styles from subcultures to create our own identities. Ted Polhemus in 1997 described post-subculture as a ‘supermarket of style’. This had perfectly summed up what elements of design were made up of today as to why, where and when they were taken from.

Referring to how ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ has related to ‘New Materialisms’, I think my experiences with ‘A Model of the Body‘, ‘The Greatest Gift; sight‘, ‘The Mighty Tool‘, AND ‘Plastic Brains‘, all relate in some way to what I have learnt from this term about attitudes, styles, and ideologies of people from different subcultures. I felt I have learnt more from this term than my first term because of how I can put so many relative ideologies and theories to context with my own work instead of how I feel and what others might feel about different elements of all subject matters in the world.

Regarding my summative assessment, I intend to explore how photography has had an impact on the way people think in and of society. I will read key texts on photography linking it strongly to how I think about my practice and what influence subcultures have had on photography.

 

Purple Haze

In the 1960’s, the style of Art Nouveau from the earlier 1900’s came back into style, with paisley patterns, swirls, and erotic imagery. Geometric patterns were generally out of the question, with people beginning to think more freely and moving on from mourning of the death and peril caused. The lecturer of the keynote explored her theory of how art nouveau artists had addressed and influenced artists and designers in the 1960s to create new posters and promotional material for music, fashion and propaganda.

To evidence her theory, she analysed the album cover for Revolver by The Beatles. The album cover was designed by Klaus Voormann and released in August 1966 across the globe. What drew us closer into the theory behind this were the many styles and influences that Voormann drew into the album cover. He had needed to conduct research into his practice to create this style of design for the cover.

Alphonse Mucha, born in 1860, Czech Republic, influenced many designers and artists heavily in the creation of new design and art work. His work was very nature inspired, with intertwining of humans and nature. He blurred the boundaries between different elements of his pieces and teased at notions of the nude form to create erotic, psychedelic and God-like pieces of work. These motifs symbolised sex, which was a ‘key subject of psychological and spiritual investigation’ (Wood and Greenhalgh, 2000, pg 82).

William Morris was another key influence of psychedelic art and design in the 1960s. His patterns were designed in the style of a paisley pattern, with nature inspired motifs recurring, similarly to the natural patterns produced in Mucha’s work. Morris’s patterns were designed for domestic wear on furniture, rugs and wallpapers.

Aubrey Beardsley was of extreme influence to designers and artists in the 1960s, and especially the album cover designed by Voormann. Similar to Mucha’s work, the images of women which were made in his work were very graphic and sexual. Sexual experimentation was stated through this imagery, and was taken forward with younger people in the 1960s, to experiment with drugs and sex.

The style of Beardsley’s work was modified for new designs and styles which were then used in gig posters. Merged with paisley patterns, the idea of the psychedelic art that was created was the visual notion of seeing more than one perspective and the effects of the consumption of drugs through whichever means possible.

The lecturer also looked at the style of clothing that Jimi Hendrix wore. He tried to create a ‘new style’ of fashion by taking art nouveau into the patterns he wore. Although Art Nouveau was a strong influence for artists and designers in the 1960s, other styles from different cultures at the time were also incorporated into creating new styles.

Hendrix often wore vintage and unique clothing that you would occasionally have found in charity shops and vintage stores in the street. Military jackets, velvet trousers, and other various patterned items of clothing were worn. Because Hendrix and other popular money makers were travelling the world, styles from cultures across the Middle East and Asia were incorporated into these new styles. This is called cross-pollination blending. This challenged contemporary political agendas and was a form of response to the Vietnam war and governments. It was safer to express opinions visually than verbally at the time as abstract art could be created to have the viewer come up with new interpretations and meanings in art and design.

As far as my practice is concerned, from receiving this new knowledge, I will now improve my work in the future by conducting  research into different styles, trends and cultures and traditions to build a new style and body of work. This would make my work far more interesting by taking influence from past styles.

Madge in her element

Madonna (Madge), in her element on stage wearing Jean-Paul Gaultier’s masterpiece. Commissioned by Madonna this piece is the definition of a juxtaposition. The traditionalist views of the male and female genders have been shown clearly through the carefully thought out choice of fabric, colour and style to the song ‘Express Yourself’.

In a new study group in Constellation, the class were asked to describe and analyse a photo, relating to existing theories from existing practitioners and academics. By describing the photos we had looked at, we discovered what Gaultier’s and Madonna’s intentions were with creating the outfit for her Blond Ambition world tour in 1990.

We first looked at the parts of the masculine blue pinstripe suit that Madonna was wearing. Because of the colour, pattern and shape of the suit if gave the audience the impression and traditionalist theory that men are used to wearing formal and business like clothing.

The next feature of the outfit we looked at was of course the famous light pink silky corset with the extravagant design of the cups on the chest area. Corsets were introduced in the 16th century, however became very popular in fashion in the 18th to 19th century. Corsets were predominantly made of whale bone to tighten the waist and lift the cleavage up. The design and concept of the corset was to tighten the stomach to make the waist significantly smaller. The stomach fat would be pushed up to the chest area to reveal the cleavage and make the breasts seem larger. Because of the strong whale bone that was used to tighten the waist, the ribcage would be pushed in and ultimately crush the organs making it hard for the wearer to breath.

With the design by Gaultier, he designed Madonna’s corset so that it was effective and comfortable to move in. The costume needed to be designed this way to wear on stage for her tour because of the dance sequences being fast paced and expressive.

After describing the image and analysing the features of the costume, we tied them together into the analysis of why Gaultier and Madonna chose to juxtapose these. With the LGBT community up and rising into 21st century, Madonna wanted to make a statement through the lyrics in her songs and the costumes she wore on her tour in 1990. By slowly transforming people’s ideas of what she stated through her music, the choice of juxtaposition of traditionalist and stereotypical views of genders perfectly stated that men and women should be equal and that all genders should be accepted for who they are.

The sharpness of the shoulders on the suit jacket and the pointed cones for the bra on the corset, this represents the aggressive nature and the power that Madonna wants to convey of both sexes. The slashes in the suit jacket reveal what’s underneath, also representing the song ‘Express Yourself’, which is what she had worn to dance to the song on tour.

Gaultier’s creation of her outfit for the tour had inspired millions, both in the fashion world and in the real world on the issue of equality for both genders.

Paraphrasing a Quote

In Making: Anthropology, Architecture, Art and Architecture Timothy Ingold (2013) describes the process of making, instead, is a process of growth, by placing the maker from an outset as a participant in amongst active materials in the world. These active materials are what mankind have to work with. In the process of making man can ‘join forces’ with the materials, splitting them from each other, or even bringing them together. This synthesizing and distilling is anticipation of what might emerge (p. 21)

Plastic Brains

Having discussed the ways in which the human body has shaped through time to fit to different cultures, I now wonder what and how my body would have been shaped in a different country with a different culture, or even in a different century.

With an ever-evolving society, currently filled with technology, I speculate at how technology has changed so quickly in the past fifty years.

The Victorian Revolution had changed everything we knew of the world. Scientists, inventors, designers and artists changed society’s perspective of the world, constantly looking to impress and see a new light with what more human beings could fulfill in life. Human beings were no longer afraid to discover the nature of science, life, and explore the depths of the world. Through this time, peoples’ minds had been transformed, with more children being taught in schools around the world. Children were becoming more intelligent by molding their brains to suit new theories and sciences; which in some cases made these young people wonder even further to discover what others thought were impossible before.

Along with science and industrialism, came theory; theory of evolution. Many theorists believe that we had started as simple organisms and grew over millions of years to become what we are today; homo sapiens. Our brains and bodies grew to attain the change in climate, culture and inventions and discoveries of tools and farming. For example, farming has shaped our gut because of the change in bio-chemical nature. Another example is lactose intolerance, which dates back to 6500 to 7500 years ago. Another is processed food, where food had become easier to eat by changing the chemical structure of ingredients. This food has changed the structure of the jaw and teeth because processed food was softer and easier to eat, whereas millions of years ago, human beings had to manage with what they could find immediately to survive. Our lives would have been shorter because bacteria was so easily spread without advanced medicine and hygiene. However, bacteria has evolved as well. Some bacteria have become immune to what medicines we have used, which meant that further advances had to be made.

At the end of the presentation we had to choose an object which shapes our minds or bodies, mentally or physically. Me and my group chose the modern day mobile phone and how we grasp it in our hands. As you notice many people use their pinkie fingers to hold their phone upright in their hand, which overtime makes a dent in the middle of the finger because of how much we use our phones today. And mentally through social media, our minds adapt to what ideals of objects, human beings, and relationships are seen as approved. However, more cultures are being accepted today because of the growth and popularity in traditions.

This knowledge into the philosophy of history and evolution could be useful in my essay and to me as a practitioner in graphic communication. As a designer, I need to adapt to these changes to suit the eye of the public and what is seen as moral or ethical. I am not yet certain about how this will change the way I look at the world and what is around me. This certainly makes me weary of how quickly this generation could change because of technology. This theory could make human beings less aware of their surroundings making us less communicative and sociable with each other, considering how attached and reliable we are on technology. As a next step I need to be aware of how valuable communication is.

The Mighty Tool

Having experienced drawing and writing my entire life, I now question as to what tools I have yet to use and acquire, with them becoming part of my body, mind, thoughts, and life, and an extension of my own hand. Most importantly I have learned that these invisible inter-relationships I have with a pen, the extensions to a computer, a paintbrush, or a book of any context, I have thought even deeper about how these relationships have come so naturally to my process of working and producing artefacts.

Through time we have built new tools and machines to mould with the mind and make these tools as easily workable to the use of any man or woman. Depending on how we use these tools, it shapes how the users final outcome will look like. For example, we keep a firm grip on a pen to make curving or sharp and neat lines on the page. If we were to grab hold of a pen loosely, we would lose control of the pen where the ink would bleed further into the page because of gravity, and the nib would fall into random places because of this gravity. Muscles will have developed in our fingers, hands, wrists and arms and the bones would take hold of these muscles to move the pen effectively. I have significantly developed my understanding that these tools and machines that we use would not have the ability to understand our language. However we will gain the ability to understand theirs. This makes me feel vulnerable to wanting to learn to use other new tools and machines in the future. With the knowledge that things aren’t made but grown, I will try to incorporate this theory into every piece of my work with every new tool or machine that I use to create a product.

The Greatest Gift; sight.

As Pallassmaa quotes from Aristotle in his book The Thinking Hand: Existential and Embodied Wisdom in Architecture, 2005, pg.14

“…sight has historically been regarded as the noblest of senses…”

“‘because it approximates the intellect most closely by virtue of the relative immateriality of its knowing'” – Aristotle, as quoted by Pallassmaa

Sight is regarded is one of the most valuable senses and the most ‘exact’, according to Heraclitus, as Pallassmaa describes. The senses had also been described as relating to a hierarchical system during the Renaissance, and learning sight suppressed the other senses. I had learnt that ocularcentrism was the most prominent and sociable form of knowing the world, having experienced that vision and hearing was of course the competent and more commonly practised way of learning about the world, life, and beyond.

From further developing my knowledge and understanding into how fortunate a persons life is with the ability to experience sight, or even be fortunate enough to see colour as an influence into how we might feel emotionally or physically, this has significantly changed my thoughts in how these elements in graphic design can influence peoples’ minds.

We were asked to use our private senses of touching and smelling, to analyse an object without using our ability to see. This new experience opened my senses and we were asked to draw the object we felt in our hand. Only did I realise that my sense of touching, smelling or tasting were private senses because they were unconscious memories. I then drew the object by looking at it. I made very similar markings and shapes with the pen, and the drawing I made with the ability to view the object was much more detailed, based on my experience and knowledge of drawing an object accurately.

Experiences after experiences, every human being, depending on how fortunate individuals have been, we have all had our bodies develop a mind of their own. After learning for years we have developed a way of doing things our own way, by ourselves. If one were to lose a sense, their body would be reset to learn the world again in a new light.

A Model of the Body

The model of the body within graphic design has changed over years. Design and advertisement has become more prominent within the ever-changing and demanding world. Along with changes in technology, advances have been made into what is named as the idyllic and so called ‘perfect’ body. Today people have changed the boundaries for races, sexualities, ages, and religions, making it possible to manipulate minds through design, image and words. This is what is known as the Cultural model of the body. Mentioned on page 277 from ‘The Meaning of the Body’ by Mark Johnson, to ‘throw like a girl’ is a consequence of ‘social and cultural conditioning’ rather than the ‘physiological essence’. Some discriminatory statements like these from the past have generally had a positive effect on society, forcing those to stand stronger to prove others wrong. For women to prove they can ‘throw’ has come to the extent that Paralympians have been inspired to change others thoughts about what it means to be limited to what they can do. This change in theory has influenced the choice of words others speak and the way an image or collection of words is positioned and scaled on a page or a piece of media.