The De Stijl art pieces were very odd, but in a very positive way. I believe that it was hinging on a more functional area of art, considering that I could see some of those pieces, or the designs in a doctor’s office. I liked the way that they used primary colors and stood on the basics of using minimal design aspects. Only emphasizing on crisp lines, primary colors and blocks of color. This makes De Stijl a very simplistic but powerful art movement. For me it is hard to deny the beauty in simplicity. Some pieces seemed to be lacking but when I imagined the process behind it rather than just taking it for face value, it resonated deeper within me that these artists were truly about their craft. Such as the piece with the blue gradient square. In contemporary day that would be easily done in photoshop or illustrator, but the materials that they were using DID NOT do the job for you. They did the work and they put their energy behind something that should speak for itself. It was truly a break away from the idea that images had to be this very complex and beautiful thing.

In every era I think design should have a role in the way it effects something such as a “social movement”. I think the design of this era has a big influence on a lot of how people think or feel. A lot of the artist used a lot of photo manipulation in a sort from what I can see to get their points across. It was a good way to show the connection with that ability. Design I feel plays a huge role in change no matter what kind of change. It is all around us so whatever we see and get used to seeing gets us to start thinking differently. Something as simple as color can influence someone in some way it’s all how it’s interpreted and as a designer we have audiences that we plan for. So I think that design can have a huge impact of the way people think. It’s just like the book I had to read for class “Do Good Design”. Reason it emphasizes on doing good design is because as a designer you can have so much influential power. People can be convinced by a message, image, color or illustration. It’s how powerful that piece is and how much it emotionally talks to the audience.

It is in this time era that I feel like we are just now starting to see the basics of Graphic Design. With DeStijl there is very geometric shapes with very basic colors which then moves over to Russian Constructivism which was then replaced by Socialist Realism. In Russian Constructivism used their art to provide a social change by using a combination of bold typography that captured the viewer then photo images to keep them interested in what they were reading and or looking at. Like the image for example:

Overall to get a point across. To send a message to the viewer and that is still seen today. One of my favorite artists is Banksy. Not only does it convey a message but it provokes a strong emotion with the viewer. One of my favorite pieces by Banksy would be this image:

Which is also one of his most known pieces. But it’s hard to pick a favorite of his work. I love it all.  It is because of this that artists should be a part in effective change in the world. They always say a picture is worth a thousand words and art is one of those ways of communication. Meaning art is worth a thousand words and in turn means design will help in making change in the world.

For an example on global warming: Banksy’s piece:

Before moving on to the artist of Sheppard Fairey. Where he focuses a lot on politics. One of his example of:

Wanting there to be peace and calm among one another if we were just to listen…

Russian Constructivism like to reject the art for art’s sake. They wanted to use art for social purposes. Artist wanted to make the viewer active in viewing the work. I want to say that the movement was successful, because it was still being done to this day. You cans see this in todays artist like Banksy. All of his graffiti art has something to do with a social issue that he wants to bring to the viewers attention. In my opinion I this that designers have a responsibility to play a role in trying to change the world. The work that we do does not always have to be on that issue. We have a skill that can help us communicate with others that words can not and that is important and we should use that to help the cause. If the design conveys the right message it can have a powerful effect it really depends on how it is displayed and which viewer they are trying to reach out to.

For this week, we had to discuss  designed used to support social revolution. One of the highlights of this discussion was the Russian constructivism, which of course everyone knows at this point – rejecting the idea of art for arts sake. They did this because they favored art as a practice for social purposes. I would think they were quite effective in making a difference in social change. Artists tried to create art that would take the viewer out of the traditional setting and make them an active viewer of the artwork. One such technique primarily found in this movement is collage. They collage together news photographs and painted sections. Similar to what you would find during the Dada movement, but not quite as destructive. They used bold typography and abstract design with cut-outs of photographs. This is called photo-montage. Photo-montage was used to transform the consciousness of the viewer to a more enlightened state of being. It was a way to disrupt the passive reception of photographs and unleash revolutionary potential of modern images.

(Photos: The use of photo-montage to create social movement).

Do I think designers should play an active role in effecting change in the art world? I would say that depends. I don’t think everyone should be obligated to create artwork for change, but it’s definitely a good trait to have. I’m one of those artists that likes to create emotional artwork that creates an impact on the viewer, but do I want to do it all the time? Probably not. Find a good cause and do something that creates change at least once in your life, in a big way! It’s definitely effective in revolutionary change. Our work has a huge impact, especially with the way social media is today being so instant and readily available to millions of people!

Artists in the current day were for sure influenced by this movement. I particularly like this piece by Banksy. His work connects to viewers, it’s quite moving.

Artists in this time used their work to affect social change by using the different styles. The De Stijl artists were focused on finding a utopian ideal of spiritual harmony and order, so they carried that into their work. They avoided symmetry and used only primary colors along with black and white. The constructivists said that their ideology was “scientific communism, based on the theory of historical materialism”. They used techniques like photo montage, and that included typography and was very abstract.

I do believe that designers should play a part in changing our world. So many of artists want change, and this is a great way to do that! Design can definitely be effective in changing our world, if we market and advertise it in the correct way.

This week’s blog post is a bit harder for me to wrap my thoughts around than the others. The main group of artists from this week that I related to are those who were inspired by Dada-ism. I can relate to wanting to use art in a cathartic and seemingly random way in response to literal chaos around them. I’m not exactly convinced that their work made social change or any sort of difference because I view Dada as a form of self-directed art therapy. I do see a few connections to people like Banksy as they also use an element of absurdism in their work as a response to the chaos in our world today. Here are examples of Dada:

These works are chaotic and have a lot of symbolism involved that can evoke a feeling or emotional response from the viewer; they also seem to have been produced in a haphazard free-form expressive sort of way. Banky also included symbolism in his work in response to chaotic events or ideas:

In the above piece, we see that he’s contrasting a protester who typically would do a violent act by giving them flowers, which is not a violent act. This sort of piece is designed to make the viewer think about that contrast between violence and non-violence. I’m on the fence as to whether I think designers should play an active role in effecting change in our world. While I do think design is and can be effective in creating change, I do not think it is every designers’ responsibility to try and make social changes. Design is one of those types of art that shifts between being an applied art (creation of something useful, like designing a package that holds shampoo), and being fine art (designing a shampoo bottle that convinced people it is the most economical shampoo bottle and buying this bottle can save the environment). I think it is up the designer what purpose they would like their design/art/Art to have.

This week we learned about how design was used to make a social revolution. Russia was a country that practiced constructivism, so they just make art for art’s sake. As such, it was forced onto the people of Russia and was a very active force, until it was replaced by the Socialist Realism. Before that constructivism was used in Russia mainly for propaganda, which was very effective for their movement.

Kasimir Malelvich was a Russian painter who began an uprising of Suprematism. He was a great artist who joined with other Suprematist artists, and used geometric abstract art and originated the Avant-garde Suprematist Movement. Given how much influence he had as a designer, I do believe that most designers in general should have a helping hand in changing the world. Seeing as how design has created movements all over the world and not just the Suprematist Movement. From the way I see it, the world has been revolving around design for a very, very long time. Design itself has a huge influence over people and the way that they think. As such in a way that changes the way everything works. So design can be very effective in changing the world, it just depends on how people go about doing it.

Artists used their work at this time to influence social change in many ways.  Art was being created that was directly related to social issues.  Also it was directed at very target specific audiences to get their points across.  A lot of art had to do with anger and frustration towards society and depicted a want for less violence.  I do think the art being produced at this time did help create change.  Even if the change was not in mass amounts, it still made people aware of situations and that started the ball rolling on getting change to happen.  A lot or rioters were influenced by this art as well.  they felt powered and moved by the art and wanted to then create a more forceful and effective and active push for change.  Of course there are still some connections between the work being done then and the work being done now.  The work being produced then was strong and harsh and that carries over well to movements going to today.  It also is an easy way to get a reaction out of people because it is so aggressive in nature and so impactful.  I don’t think designers should be obligated to play an active role in trying to change the world.  I think it is up to individual artists to decide if that is what they want to do with themselves.  They should not feel pressured to do so.  It should be something driven by passion.  I do however think that is a designer chooses to create art that causes change, it can be cause change to occur.  But again I think it should be something the artist ha passion about and they should be making the art for them, not out of obligation.

https://www.google.com/search?q=artist+creating+change&biw=1920&bih=955&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiq3tfvltPLAhXCWD4KHQ0hBIQQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=impactful+political+art&imgrc=45825QbrVSOHsM%3A

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