Klimt....Or Loos....

This week lecture was mostly about Gustav Klimt and Adolf Loose.. Here I am only summarizing what I've learn just to test my understanding on these subject. .....

 

Gustav Klimt~

Gustav Klimt is one of the founder of the Vienna's Secession Group.
The club consist of young artist that reject the past and concentrating on the present and future. The Secession is Vienna's version of Art Nouveau.

Gustav uses symbol and design into his painting. Most of his subject matter is female's body. His father, Ernst Klimt was a gold engraver and this passion for gold was later use by Klimt in his work. His painting was controversial because of his use female nude body and visibly phallic symbol. 


There is one man who opposed the Secession group. He is Adolf Loos.

Adolf Loos

 Adolf Loos was born in Bruenn in 1870 and died in 1933. He completed his technical studies in Lieberec. He was disowned by his mother when he contracted syphilis in Vienna and he later stayed in  America for three years. He returned to Vienna in 1896 and fast becoming the most preferred architect of the Vienna's bourgeoise. 

He wrote an essay in 1908 - repudiating the florid style of the Vienna's Secession.  It's called "ORNAMENT & CRIME" 

What Loos was opposing is, the ornamentation of everyday object and in architecture. To him, too much decoration is a waste of craftsman's energy and time for the trend will soon be replace by another. But if function and simplicity is the main focus then the object will be more advance and up to date. 


So the issue for this week is which one of this artist do I relate to in my major~ hand drawn batik. 


My main focus now is contemporary / modern batik. Through design history I noticed that more and more of contemporary batik designer is using  modernism style and some from the Art Nouveau movement.

sample of modern design batik that uses geometric design.

For me it is better if a batik design is modern but still retain the batik essence. In this I mean the design must not be too simple with just lines and geometrical. There should be the elements of batik, for example floral motif or the crackle design.

What I love about Klimt's gold engraved painting is that its unique and  very eye catching some may say that its to heavy with pattern design but to me that's what makes his painting different from others..   


But I agree with Loos that an object should be created to be up to date and long lasting. This should be true to textile design also,  but it is quite hard to find that kind of design, since textile goes along with trend and fashion. The challenge for a batik designer like me is to create a design that can withstand the ever changing design in batik industry. That is why many batik designers like to add black and white design to their collection because somehow that color is everlasting, people will still buy it no matter what the trend is. (but the design must not be too crouded).

Marilyn Monroe ~ wearing a black and white dress.

Today's artist wearing black and white dress....

So  in my opinion both concept is acceptable in batik design. You just have to balance it out using fashion.

For example if the design of a shawl is full of flowers than you should use it with a plain colored cloth...:) 

See...? like this.. hahah problem solved......

That's all for now.
Assalamualaikum.







 

~~JoY OF ArT NoUVeAu~~

SUNDAY
23/01/2011

Assalamualaikum and hai again....before this I talked about Joy Of Work right..?.. 
well today..I would like to elaborate more on the relation of "the Joy Of Work" to Art Nouveau....


Ok to begin I would like for you to imagine yourself in the era of industrialization in the 18th century..... 

Picture a place where there is many factories, and picture instead of men working there, replaced by women and children..see their sad and tired face while working..
what do you think they were feeling at that time....why were they working so hard..and the children wasn't they suppose to go to school?

children working in a cotton factory

Well the answer is the obvious, for money of course..  the lack of it anyway..this were the situation during the industrialization era.Unfortunately this situation is still happening right now. In our era. There are still child labor in some part of the world today.

Jainal works in silver cooking pot factory. He is 11 years old. He has been working in this factory for three years. His work starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 6 p.m. For his work he gets 700 taka (10 USD) for a month. His parents are so poor that they can not afford to send him to school. According to the factory owner, the parents do not care for their children; they send their kids to work for money and allegedly don't feel sorry for these small kids. Dhaka 2008 

for more info on this please visit the website here akash-child-labor.html


ok coming back to our topic you can clearly see the frustration people felt on working with machine, They take away your life...they suck away life out of you. They started to protest for their right..for proper wages,  proper working hour and all the privileges we enjoy as a worker today.


~~During this time, the people such as crafman the people that belong in the applied art world feels that machine should be used like tools not the other way around. Where is the creativity? and where is the human spirit~~THE SPIRIT OF IMPERFECTION?~~

machine made circle

 

handmade circle..well not really but you get the idea......

An English textile designer named William Morris started Arts and Craf Movement. Its a movement that value the process of making a product rather than the end product. this movement is against machine. Morris is a socialist so he prefer human to do the process of making thing, especially arts. He insist that people should take over the mass production...
Effort were made to show that man made product is better..their goal is to create the design by the people for the people.


However by the time this idea is acknowledge, it is clear that it is to expensive for mass marketing, so in the end only the rich people can appreciate the craftsmanship and their skill.




ok so now, ... say you agree with this movement, but you also accept the fact that the world is changing...machine will always be around doing mass production. But you don't like the end product of a machine....they lack the artistic value that you love so much..


how to solve this problem...
Well in 1880 a new art movement were born, ART NOUVEAU- 


" It was a way of thinking about modern society and new production methods. It was an attempt to redefine the meaning and nature of the work of art. From that time on, it was the duty of art not to overlook any everyday object, no matter how utilitarian it might be. This approach was considered completely new and revolutionary, thus the New Art – Art Nouveau name."

   

info from, http://contemporarypractice.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/art-nouveau/





This movement is solution to the problem above. Well not really...the solution was made by Walter Gropius~ The founder of Bauhaus Art School. We will be discussing on the topic of Bauhaus later on...I have videos too...:)...(excited to share)

The Art Nouveau (from here on shall be stated as AN) term were first used to described the work of a group of Belgian artist- ~Les Art NouveaU~ 


AN follower is group of artist that break all connection to classical times, they bring together fine art and applied art. ( Fine art ~ painter and sculptor~..while applied art ~~textile textile designer, ceramic maker,etc.)~~Redefining the meaning and nature of work of arts. As mention above their work will take in all aspect of everyday life, imagine our life is a canvas and our everyday activity is art..everything is design as one whole art. The chair we sit on, the spoon, your pants, or even your carpets all of this is the object of art.




owh before I forget, the style for AN is - 

1. flat colored with decorative patterns,
2. interwined organic form,
3. elimination of 3D-by reducing shadow,
4. principal subject- lavish birds and flowers, insect and polyformic famme fatale.

AN flourished in Europe and called by different name on each country.

1. French---Guimard Style
2. Italy------Floreale
3. British---Liberty
4. Spain----Modernisme
5. German--Jugenstil

The famous artis in this movement is :-

Antonio Gaudi

Hector Guimard

Victor Horta

Rennie Mackintosh

There are other famous AN artis such as Henry Toulouse Loutrect, William H. Bradley, Eduard Colonna and many more. You can check it out at Art Nouveau Artists
  
Here are some examples of artwork that is influenced by Art Nouveau.

 As you can see most of the work have the element of vines that of AN. But it is getting simpler. The work doesnt have to be symmetrical, It's up to the artist to do the design as he pleases. For example the work of Antoni Gaudi -Casa Batllo and also from Macintosh who replaced the whiplash with vertical grid. 

casa battlo -gaudi

a colonial building - gaudi

Mackintosh- stained glass. ~he replaced the whiplash with vertical line.~

The most important point I am trying to say is the artist is not constricted to some rule of symmetrical or depiction of grandness or what ever principal they had to follow by the classical art. Its free for them.. they can do whatever they feels is right. That is what I think is the Joy Of Work.


But....I feel I must include in this  about The Bauhaust Art School. Because it plays a major role in our modern art industry especially for the industrial design. Because I belive the Bauhaust is the one who started Industrial design. Well its what I think anyway...

Lets see this video first.....

Bauhaus is a movement (1919-1933) of design that was turn into a school to create a productive workshop. Founded by Walter Gropius in Wiemar, Germany. It contained workshop for carpenters, metal, weaving, printing, mural, wood and also stone carving. 

The basis of this school is to embrace machine and to prepare object of all media for mass production. This shchool would be the foundation for most of art school in the world today. The creative proses that seek function, simplicity, light, craftsmanship and form are the base of our modern design.


This for me plays a major part in the joy of work that we experience today. It all comes down to the way we fell doing the art and the satisfaction of the end product that is truly artistic and functional for everyone to enjoy.


Gropius wanted everyone to apply to get a chance of getting in, he said that in creating art everyone is equal....and guess what many women applied. So much more than men actually..:) yeay!!!

to be continue.

Arthur Lasenby Liberty

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Margaret MacDonald

Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo

Louis Majorelle

Hermann Obrist

Joseph Maria Olbrich

Bernhard Pankok

Richard Riemerschmid

Fyodor Shektel

Gustave Serrurier–Bovy

Louis Henry Sullivan

Louis Comfort Tiffany

Henri Toulouse–Lautrec

Henry van de Velde

Read more about Art Nouveau Artists and Art Nouveau Designers by www.antique-marks.com

Arthur Lasenby Liberty

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Margaret MacDonald

Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo

Louis Majorelle

Hermann Obrist

Joseph Maria Olbrich

Bernhard Pankok

Richard Riemerschmid

Fyodor Shektel

Gustave Serrurier–Bovy

Louis Henry Sullivan

Louis Comfort Tiffany

Henri Toulouse–Lautrec

Henry van de Velde

Read more about Art Nouveau Artists and Art Nouveau Designers by www.antique-marks.com

what is Joy of work for me....

Joy = Happiness + pleasure.
Work = Job+ labor.....

~~ how can anyone possibly enjoy working? In truth I dont like to work, I'd rather study than work.. Isn't it great to study as a job... emm what i meant to say was to have a job of studying stuff.... hei...A Researcher...heheh......maybe  not!.  Anyway what I am saying is  that I will enjoy my work if i can do it the way I want it..:)

That's it!!~~ In order to enjoy your work you have to..I hate to use this word~~LOVE ~~your work. You have to be passionate about it.

Hey if that is the case then I would like to be a manga artist!!:P ... heheh like that is gonna happen...i don't do cartoon.... but I like cute cartoon...(~K, ajar aku lukis katun comey(~~,) ..

Ok anyway enough playing around..( i am sleepy..and when aisyah is sleepy...she likes to do or write stupid stuff....wahahahahah).....

Ok . the thing about work is definitely your passion , or the soul that you put to it..for example me as a batik designer it is a joy for me to be able to do my batik design using my own creativity without ant restriction from my employer or lecturer or anybody else. The joy of creating...the process of creating ...uninterrupted

see how happy I look...? heheh

..especially if I insert a certain feeling inside of the design... I remember when I was in my degree program.. I was drawing a langkasukan woodcarving motif when I remembered a certain someone that made me angry...( i still do if I think about it)..

.I unconciously apply red color direct from the tube to the drawing paper.. i continue on doing this with other color and ...WaLLaaH!!

...huhu the drawing was one of my Lecturer's favorite.. that is when I was unknowingly used expressive stroke in coloring... but it feels good to be able to express yourself like that.... I am thankful for art Nouvoue movement.. because without it we would still be restricted to repeating art from various history...no freedom to do what you want....

I guess all my friends who is majoring in animation is lucky ..I mean to be able to create anything that they want and animate it. For me its priceless.. the joy of creating from nothing to something..Well the process is not easy I know but as long as you enjoy the whole creative process then its worth it..Right?...Yup..Maybe the grass is greener on the other side?..What do you think?....Comment plezz..Minmin...Kobal,...Ted...Apip..Achid ..Cha, Masyi...Ebean..Daus.H...plez comment....

haa ko pon same Sahar....ko pun Faizul...sume geng kat J.O... silelah komen k...Pn Suzie pon HEHE..just kidding..

Hana pon (~~,)

da..
to be continued~~

                                           ~Rene Descartes~

Assalamualaikum and hi again..

For those who are wondering  about the picture above, well he is the famous French Philosopher that created the quote "Cogito Ergo Sum". (for those who already know him , bear with me, since I am but a new lover of art thank to my Ath assignment :)...)

Rene Descartes was born in 1569 and died in 1650. He was a rationalist philosopher that question everything, one that look at the world in a different perspective and leaning more on science.

The meaning of this famous quote is ~~ " I Think, Therefore I Am". This is derived from his Discourse on Methods (1637).It is a philosophical and autobiographical treatise. The full title is Discourse on the Methods of Rightly Conducting One's Reasons and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences. Rene originally wrote it in frence ~~Je pense, donc je suis~~, it was later translated to latin,  hence ~cogito ergo sum. The simple meaning of this phrase is if you ever wonder that you really exist, then in doing so you does exist. 

From my understanding of the french revolution, the public then was in utter chaos after the downfall of the french monarchy.  That is when the philosophy was widely used. The people started to think for themselves without relying to the monarchy or  the church..

This era really is a  learning process for human being as whole. I mean the people back then really knows how it felt to be oppress and rise to solve the situation.. They experienced the industrial revolution where machine were created, urban dwelling , and all the problems that came along with the industrialization.

  

The understanding of the importance of irrigation, construction and , infrastructure in an urban dwelling. this sort of thing really help generate the mindset of western people especially. But the most important thing is really the motivation to create and design new invention. 

There is an documentary on French Revolution on youtube check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EvakM9Waus

Tukar Blog~lalalalala

ps..Ini blog baru hahah...ada masaalah dgn blog yg lame..:P

Monday, January 10, 2011

hi ..
This is the first time I'm blogging, the reason I start this blog is actually because of a class i'm taking which is "Design History".
~~~~

See.. the thing is, i have to make an essay about the things that I learn during class for at least three thousand words.  But I am not exactly good with essay so I'm gonna have to do a short essay to 'buck up' my writing.
So this is just an intro cause I guess I wanna do it on words first cause I really want to do it right.
~~~~~~~~
ok , that's all for now.

FreNcH RevOLutIon....Or KiLLinG RevolutioN??

 17th Jan 2011
Monday

 I've come across a series of documentary of French Revolution.. it is interesting to watch history being told rather than reading it. From these documentary i've learn the real horror behind the French Revolution, the people behind the revolution, the execution of the monarchy. It describe how Mary Antoinette were feeling before the execution and many sordid detail of the gruesome events during the revolution. So many...many.... death. I am glad our country doesn't have to go through this sort of thing. You can check it out at the link below

French Revolution short documentary~click Here~

Here are some of the things included in the video ~(sort of a summary~)

The Wedding -The bride & the groom.
starting from the wedding of King Louis the 16th to Mary Antoinette from Austria , the 7 years without producing an heir, (king Louis have phimosis-heheh korng cari sendri arr maksud dia :) to the state of the french citizens that lived in  poverty due to mismanagement of the monarch.

King Louis  is not a natural born leader, he is so clueless and doesn't know anything about governing a country and he is inept in making decision.

His bride only focus is to live a life of luxury that her title can give her. She especially like making weird and bizarre hairdo. Even though the country is in financial crisis she keep on spending like nothing is wrong. Mary Antoinette was given the nickname "Madame Deficit. "   

one of the weirdest hairstyle of Mary Antoinette.

Is that a ship??

Mary Antoinette was oblivious to the suffering of her people. She was later on chase by a mob of angry working women in her own castle, she and her husband were force to fled to France to be a prisoner of the revolution.


The Guillotine
 

~The Guillotine~

 

~the beheading~

The French revolution gives birth to Guillotine.
So many life were taken by the sharp razor of the Guillotine. The Killing started in 1789 when king Louis troop went to France to capture the rebels. That is when the citizen fought back by forming the National Guard and they seize control of the prison ~Bastille~(because  there is where the gunpowder were stored) The governor of the Bastille ~Bernard de Launay~were dragged by the angry mob to the street... he was stabbed and kick until he shout " let me die". The crowd were eager to oblige and he was shot and stab. A revolutionary tradition was born his severed head was paraded on a pike. Later on most of the killing lead to beheading and the guillotine were use to represent fear and as warning to those who oppose the Revolution..... It soon earn a nickname ~The National Razor~

~Bernard de Launay's head were paraded on a pike~

Can you imagine this sort of thing happening in  our own country? People just willingly killing other people, riot all around........
Eventually the killing became the solution to any problem they encounter. If you even express sympathy to the victims, you will be next. Even the revolutionist such as Robespierre eventually succumb to the Guillotine.

to be continued...