Constructivism

As a result of the Cosmonauts exhibition, and seeing what a huge influence Russia had on the USA and the world with space exploration, I wanted to look at some Russian art styles and posters related to their space ventures. This was of course, dominated by Constructivism, an unmistakably Russian art style that started an entire art movement and has influenced so many artists and designers since. Throughout the Cosmonauts exhibition hung a number of constructivist posters and propaganda items from the Russian space race era, presenting a message of hope and innovation, showing Russia as a pioneering nation, heading for space.

The very early paintings and illustrations from the beginnings of the space race, featured at the start of the exhibition, have very constructivist qualities and have obviously influence constructivist artists, helping it evolve into the unique style that it became. These posters are very angular and sharp, with very harsh lines and very minimal colour palettes. This gives the posters a very futuristic look, perfect for representing the Russian space age and the scientific advancements that they were making, way ahead of the US and the rest of the world.

After visiting the exhibition and having been heavily influenced by these propaganda posters, I decided to look at some other examples of Constructivist design, not necessarily related to space. One of the most well known Constructivist artists, and one of the founders of the movement itself, was Alexander Rodchenko. Although not related to the Russian space advancements, as he worked and died before most of the space race happened, his early style still has that strong, powerful look and is immediately recognisable as Constructivist art. It still also has very futuristic elements to it and still appears to show the movement as an innovative and pioneering one. It is easy to see how the propaganda posters from the exhibition have been directly influenced by Rodchenko and his unique new style that is so recognised and admired today.

I have always been very fond of Constructivism, as I love the simple but very strong effect that they have, appearing extremely powerful and futuristic. I think they work perfectly as a means to present space travel, and taken into a modern day setting I think would be very effective. These original propagandas posters were used to portray the innovation from Russia, doing things that had been deemed impossible before; exactly as SpaceX are doing; meaning that Constructivist influence in my own posters would be very useful and I think would be very successful for branding the company.

Cosmonauts

In search of more sources of inspiration and for more information about space travel and the history of it, I visited the Cosmonauts exhibition at the Science Museum in London. This exhibition presented the history of Russian space programs and missions, from initial test flights and satellites to sending the first people into space and sparking the space race between Russia and the US.

Personally, I found this exhibition incredibly interesting, not only for my brief but because I have a strong interest in space and ideas about space travel and exploration. I also found the exhibition very informative, as I learnt a lot about the history of Russian space research and exploration, much of which I was never aware of before. I knew of course that the first human being to be sent to space was Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet Russian Pilot and Cosmonaut. However there is much much more the the Russian space programmes than I knew, and that I was ever taught.

Russia were pioneers of space travel and were the first nation to actually venture into it and invest in space research, and this was shown throughout the exhibition, starting with very early concept drawings and research, ranging right through to examples of space suits and space crafts actually used by Russian cosmonauts. Included in the exhibition was a number of replicas and examples of different crafts and satellites; including Sputnik 1, the very first artificial Earth satellite launched into orbit on October 4, 1957.

With the success of Sputnik, Russia launched many more, increasingly ambitious missions including sending a few dogs into space (The dog’s space suits/tanks were also on show in the exhibition). In the midst of the cold war, this caused panic in the USA and sparked the space race, in which America began pouring funds into space programmes to compete with the success of Russia. The success of Gagarin’s mission into orbit, and the rapid progress of Russia struck fear in America. President John F Kennedy responded by committing the USA to land an astronaut on the moon before the end of the decade, which of course resulted in Neil Armstrong becoming the first human being to walk on the moon.

Yuri Gagarin: The first man in space.

The main thing that I took from this exhibition was how much Russia actually accomplished that i never knew, and how big an influence their activity had on the rest of the world, especially the USA. Without Russian space innovation and pioneering, the USA may have never, or at least much later on, landed a man on the moon, and we may not be as knowledgable or as able to explore and venture into space as we are today. As a result SpaceX may not even exist and I would be working on a completely different project. When Russia started, they were the first to be doing any work of this kind, and they were starting from scratch as bold pioneers of a new frontier. The way I see SpaceX, they are almost doing the same thing, pioneering something brand new that has always been doubted (reusable rockets) to help reach another planet, something that has never been done and is an entirely new frontier once again. Because of this, I feel that it would be relevant and successful to include some kind of Russian influence in my work, looking mainly at Russian constructivism and propaganda art used in the 40’s/50’s/60’s, when Russia were progressing and succeeding in researching and breaking the barrier between Earth and space.

Pick Me Up

A little while ago I visited the Pick Me Up design festival at Somerset House. It showcased a range of young, up and coming designers, graphic artists and collectives in an exciting, bustling exhibition that featured designers’ stalls with work available to purchase and with designers working on live briefs.

I thoroughly enjoyed my day and I found it interesting to see the range of different work and to get a glimpse into the way that these designers work and create art. The first area was held downstairs in a gallery style space, exhibiting a selection of works from various designers each varying in styles and processes.

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One artist that I found particularly interesting was Hattie Newman, who creates 3D models using card and other materials. These models often depict landscapes, places or objects. These models are then photographed and presented as an image that appears to be digitally created. This is done with the clean appearance of the materials and the way that they are photographed. I think this is an incredibly clever process and I think she does it very well. Had it not been for the exampled of the 3D models in the exhibition, I don’t know if I would have been able to figure out how the pieces were made.
http://www.hattienewman.co.uk

Next I ventured upstairs to an area that felt much more like an art fair than an exhibition. This area was a lot more bustling and full of energy. This is where the designers’ stalls and working designers were placed. I immediately found this exciting and ran straight in. As I wandered around more and more I started to notice a certain style that was fairly prominent in all of the works. The theme seemed to be a strong use of bold, bright colours and simple, block illustrations. The whole space was a bombardment of colour and bold works which I personally loved. Whilst there was a lot of similarity in the styles and ideas of many of the designers, I think it was still clear to see the individuality within the works and to see the way these designers have put their own spin on the styles and ideas. There were a number of illustration works and also typography works that I loved and I feel I have found some potential inspiration for future works.

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One stand that stood out in particular was Sope Inc. who had brought a printing press and a collection of plates, allowing people to chose a design and a background and create their own personal print.

‘Sope Studio is formed of four practising designers, each having a specialised creative area and using new technologies with hand-crafted techniques. Brought together over the past 5 years by circumstance and a mutual appreciation of each others talents, the studio collaborates to join skills and feed off each others energy.’

http://www.sopestudio.com

I thought this was a brilliant idea and immediately drew my attention as I have always had an interest in printmaking. After speaking with the man making the prints I found that they were part of a collective of designers and artists, each with varying skills and interests, but which all compliment each other, making for some exciting, unique work. I couldn’t help but buy a personalised print of my own.

I feel that going to Pick Me Up has helped me gain more understanding of what is going on with new designers and what seems to be popular now. Whilst I don’t think there is a huge amount of diversity in the work that was presented, I feel like I can still take inspiration from this and feed it into my own work to create something which is well received, but is also very different and stands out from the crowd. This is something I want to do with my online portfolio, and so I think visiting Pick Me Up has helped me to understand this more and has given me some more ideas about where I can go with my design.

Typography and Tattoos in London

To gather resources and imagery for the type tour poster, we visited London and walked along the Strand, photographing the very typography that would be looked at on the type tour.

I was quite surprised at how much interesting type there was to find along the walk. I wanted to try my best to avoid photographing typography on big name shop fronts, and focus on the more unique, interesting type that is only found in that area. Some examples that I really liked were on signs and boards outside pubs. I thought the text for these was very decorative and exciting, and would be unique to that pub. I found that some of the most interesting examples of type were slightly more hidden, and that I needed to look harder, and in more discrete places to find it.

At the end of the Strand we visited Somerset house to look at ‘Time: Tattoo Art Today’, an exhibition looking at current tattoo artists. I personally am very excited by tattoos and tattoo art so I thought this exhibition, yet small, was brilliant. I was happy to find that some of my favourite tattoo artists had been included such as Chuey Quintanar and Angelique Houtkamp.  I love traditional tattoo styles mostly. I love the bold black outlines and the bright, simple colours. I think this exhibition helps to shine new light on tattoo art, proving that artists can create beautiful work on paper as well as just in tattoo form.

Forever is a long time, Angelique Houtkamp

Timeless Beauty, Chuey Quintanar

Erzsebet, Theo Mindell