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Forgotten Superhero of Design

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Fig 1. Comparison of number of men and women taking design courses at major polytechnic

The figure above compare the number of men and women taking courses at a major polytechnic. It indicates the stark number of female students taking graphic design compared to industrial design. These figures from the 1980s show that more women studied graphic design than men. However design at this time was still heavily dominated and influenced by men. Therefore women studying and practicing design are all considered marginalised.

Sexual stereotyping has played a huge role in the marginalisation of women. Today the field of graphic design is open and welcoming to people of all sexes. While there is a great number of impressive women who stood out during the 1980s, what’s more impressive are the women who made a name for themselves before this period.

Cipe Pineles (1908-1991)

Cipe Pineles was born in 1908 and had tremendous contributions to the field of graphic design during the 1940s. During this time the design industry too was male dominated.

Men advertised products that targeted females whereas female designers struggled to get their foot in the door. Pineles encountered “the same obstacles many of her female colleagues experienced in the workplace… only through sheer determination was Pineles eventually able to find work as an illustrator/designer.” [1]

Pineles was one of the first female figures in graphic design. Therefore her achievements are ever so incredible and inspiring. She was the first female art director at a major magazine, the first woman admitted to the New York Art Directors Club (NYADC) and was even inducted into its hall of fame.

Pineles worked for magazines including Glamour, Seventeen and Charm. And she is best known for her pioneering editorial work. “Compared to the sentimentalised style adopted by her predecessors, she championed a more modernist-inspired approach to editorial design.”[2] Pineles always brought a keen level of thought to her work and would hire fine artists like Andy Warhol to illustrate stories.

Pineles had an “understanding of how to create magazines that would speak to what women needed to know and really wanted to read about.”[3] She tapped into the teenage girl market and saw them as young women rather than silly girls. Her magazine acknowledged that teenage girls did not want to dress like their mothers and that women wanted to step away from traditional roles as wives and mothers.

Pineles was also aware that during the time in America, women were beginning to take control of their own lives and joining the workforce. And as a proto-feminist, she used her art direction to portray women as such.

The graphic design industry “was viewed as a male trade” [4] creating a struggle for women to speak up about gender equality. It’s shocking considering “women have consistently comprised over 50 per cent of graphic design graduates.” [5]

Throughout her life, Pineles had many men throughout her life that were successful art directors. Her first husband Agha called out NYADC as they refused to let her join the club. She had been nominated for 10 years in a row and was finally accepted. “The majority of (design) firms are established by men, the majority of awards are presented to male designers and the majority of senior positions are held by men.” [6] So it is clear to see how the contribution of female designers were buried through the marginalisation towards women.

Cipe Pineles innovation completely changed the style of magazines. She fought for women’s rights through her creative direction. And although she was recognised eventually for her work, she still struggled to start her career in the face of sexism. In the field of graphic design she was revolutionary, and as a marginalised female individual she was a true superhero.

Bibliography

[1] Journal of Design History, Vol 12, No. 4. 1999, The Design History Society. p383.

[2] Fussell, Grace. The Influence of Women on Graphic Design Over the Last 100 Years. Accessed April 12, 2019. https://design.tutsplus.com/articles/the-influence-of-women-on-graphic-design-over-the-last-100-years–cms-30617

[3] Riechers, Angela. Print, Spring2015, Vol. 69 Issue 2, p74

[4] Connory, Jane. Plotting the Historical Pipeline of Women in Graphic Design. p2

[5] Connory, Jane. Plotting the Historical Pipeline of Women in Graphic Design. p1

[6] Bruce, Margaret. Lewis, Jenny. Women designers – is there a gender trap? p119

Redefining Australia’s National Identity

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The perception of Australia’s National Identity has traditionally come from the perspective of ‘the White’. However the addressment of social inequalities and the need for proper cultural representation is so important with Australia’s continually evolving identity.

Challenging Assumptions

In Australia modernity emerged with a Eurocentric core, controlling the national identity and shaping perceptions of normalcy. This is similar to the history of war being told through the eyes of the victor, or how the story of the lion’s hunt glorifies the hunter. Australian history is remembered through the perspective of white men. Men who cast themselves as “true cultural heroes”[1].

The role of the Australian Indigenous Design Charter (AIDC) is to “improve and maintain high ethical standards of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s representation in design practice”[2]. Designers ought to be mindful of their moral and professional responsibility. And those who are often required to represent national identity narratives are usually unsure of how to do so in a respective manner and tend to avoid the work out of fear of misrepresentation and offending. So the AIDC has rules for designers to adhere to which all revolve around respecting the rights of Indigenous peoples and their land. In order to represent indigenous people’s history in designer’s works, it’s essential to work in conjunction with those people who have been personally affected in some way by the subject matter of the work.

Therefore art and design made by indigenous Australians which depicts their stories and history of the topic is so beneficial towards the continually evolving Australian identity.

An Instrument for the Voiceless

The latest exhibit at the NGV Ian Potter Centre in Melbourne, Australia called ‘From Bark to Neon’ explores significant works by Indigenous Australians. Artists such as Trevor Nickolls, Alec Mingelmanganu and Emily Kam Kngwarray have created forms of expression celebrating indigenous cultural practices. More striking though are the artists who’ve pushed the boundary of traditional indigenous art through the exploration of new materials and mediums. And one of the most standout artworks is that of Wiradjuri nation, Sydney born Brook Andrew’s neon installation titled Buuga-Buuga.

Buuga-Buuga. Brook Andrew. 2000

‘Buuga-Buuga is a neon work which comments on the continual beating up of Aboriginal subjects, culture  and people by non-Aboriginal perceptions which continue to define Aboriginal people in a negative light. Buuga-Buuga literally means “very rotten meat” in the Wiradjuri language. Buuga-Buuga also refers to the Walt Disney cartoons, which show kangaroos and pygmies chasing each other with the pygmy screaming out “ooga booga”. Hence the animated neon boondi (club) slams down and sparks up the text “BUUGA BUUGA”.’[3]

Brook Andrew’s installation Buuga-Buuga uses word and symbolism to give instrument to suppressed Australian voices. ‘Buuga-Buuga’ refers to Walt Disney cartoons and gives the artwork a playful tone. But Andrews’ works are notorious for their “ambiguity and cheekiness”[4]. The indigenous text also means “very rotten meat” which is a derogatory stereotype of Aboriginals from colonial, post-colonial and neo-colonial assumptions. “Since colonisation, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have borne the brunt of extreme prejudice, discrimination and misunderstanding.”[5] The drum stick is hard hitting in its political message. It’s hitting of the text references Indigenous Australians striking down negative perceptions. Furthermore, the striking nature of marginalised Australians can be seen through the colour of the artwork. Red, yellow and black being a reference to the indigenous Australian flag and blue referencing the current Australian flag or European flag.

Andrew has taken the language of indigenous art and fused it with popular street culture “to challenge the romanticised stereotypes of Indigenous people and to comment on post-colonialism”[6]. This evolvement of indigenous art challenges the assumptions of what indigenous art is supposed to look like and mean. Additionally, the tone of the artwork illustrates Andrew’s and other indigenous Australian’s anger towards white’s perceptions of indigenous peoples. Andrew’s approach to stopping the bashing of indigenous identity by bashing the bashed identity (bashing the derogatory slang) is ingenious.

The overall perception towards indigenous peoples needs to shift in Australia’s continually evolving national identity. Historically indigenous peoples have been perceived as savages or “very rotten meat” and it’s that negative perception that’s marginalised those people. The artworks exhibited at ‘From Bark to Neon’ address social inequalities and reflects on the decolonisation of Indigenous peoples. These respectful designs and artworks amplify the voices of the oppressed.

Bibliography

[1,4] Christine Nicholls, “Brook Andrew: seriously playful”. Realtime. Accessed April 12, 2019. https://www.realtime.org.au/brook-andrew-seriously-playful/

[2,5] Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria (IADV), Design Institute of Australia (DIA), Deaking University – Institute of Koorie Education (IKE), – School of Communication and Creative Arts (SCCA), “AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS DESIGN CHARTER – Communication Design’. Protocols for sharing Indigenous knowledge in communication design practice.

[3,6] From Bark to Neon. Exhibition Labels https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/From-Bark-to-Neon_Large-Print-Labels.pdf

Christoph Niemann – Creativity at it’s finest.

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Christoph Niemann is an artist, author and animator who is a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale. Although he is more of an illustrator than a designer, I aspire to one day achieve his level of creativity. He takes every day objects and scenes and turns them into works of art, even if the outcome is incredibly simple.

Niemann’s work regularly appears on the covers of The New Yorker (fig. 1), National Geographic and The New York Times, and has also has also appeared in various museums. However, there are many people who have no idea who Niemann is or what he does, even though they have more than likely seen his work at one point in their life.

Figure 1: Christoph Niemann, “Coffee Break”, Cover for New Yorker Magazine, November 16, 2015

The above cover is an example of something that i’ve seen at one point and had no idea whose work it is, and i’m almost positive there are plenty of other people out there in the same boat as me.

After watching his Netflix documentary “Abstract”, I immediately felt inspired to try and be more creative. I followed his Instagram page “abstractsunday” and now I see his work on a weekly basis to try and encourage me to think outside the box.

He illustrates for a wide array of platforms and has adapted for the forever-changing world of design. He started off with still images for magazines and illustrations, and now has added animations and augmented reality to his repertoire. My personal favourites are his works where he uses images and videos from real-world locations and adds his own artwork to it to give it a whole new meaning. This includes his work “Traffic Light” (fig. 2), which is a perfect example of Niemann’s style and probably my favourite animation of his.

Figure 2: Christoph Niemann, “Traffic Light”, Hermès Paris, Janurary 3, 2018

However, Niemann is not a well-known designer in himself, but his work is well known in the design industry. If you were to mention to someone who doesn’t know design “Frank Lloyd-Wright”, they would probably have a higher chance of knowing who he is than Niemann. This is because Lloyd-Wrights work is highly regarded in the design industry as being one of the best American Architects to have ever lived.

Niemann’s work serves a purpose, and that is to keep creativity alive. In a world dominated by minimalism and modernism, where things like smartphones and becoming increasingly minimal in terms of raw design and every second new house looks like a box with windows, it is really great to see artists and designers such as Niemann keeping creative and always coming up with new ideas.

Figure 3: Christoph Niemann, Sketch 1
Figure 4: Christoph Niemann, Sketch 2

The whole reason why I chose Niemann as the artists/designer to write about is his “abstractsunday” Instagram account. This is where I first discovered my love for his work. A lot of his sketches are untitled so i will refer to them as “sketch #”. I find a lot of Niemann’s work rather relaxing, and this shows that, at least in my opinion, a lot of his design is done in good taste.

“It is not appropriate to simply express a taste-related opinion; one must also show that the thoughts behind that opinion are adequate to count as an expression of taste.” (Christoforidou, 2015)

The above quote is especially relavant to Niemann’s work because he has made it clear that with a little bit of creativity, literally any object or image that you can think of can be turned into a creative masterpiece. In Sketch 1 (fig. 3) you can see that with the use of perspective, photography and illustration, Niemann has created an image on a bicycle out of two rolls of masking tape and some white paint. It takes a very creative mind to even think of doing something like this, and proves that Niemann’s taste when it comes to art and design is very refined. It shows again in Sketch 2 (fig. 4) where he has used an iPhone showing a white image as the inside of a fridge.

I believe that we need to steer away from super-minimal design and start getting creative again, especially in architecture and industrial design. At the rate we are going, in a few years every building will look the same and every piece of technology will look the same.

We should strive to be more like Christoph Niemann, who strays away from the norms of design and lets his inner creativity shine. Take a page out of his book and you never know what you might come up with!

References:

Christoforidou, Despina: “Good Taste vs Good Design: A Tug of War in the light of Bling”, The Design Journal, April 28 2015, p185

https://www.christophniemann.com//

Images & Animations

https://www.christophniemann.com//

‘Forgotten superheroes of design’-women designers who made great contribution in industrial design field.

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Figure 1, Yang Metamorfosi (2000), Carlotta de Bevilacqua.
Figure 1, Yang Metamorfosi (2000),Carlotta de Bevilacqua

Yang Metamorfosi (Figure.1) was created by Carlotta de Bevilacqua, an Italian architect and designer. This an electrical lamp, which combines with many materials including methacrylate, polycarbonate, emitting diode (LED). Indeed, compact fluorescent globes are contained within a transparent, polycarbonate csing and emit colored light through dichroic filters of red, blue and green.( Simon LeAmon,2018)

According to Roberto Verganti, he believed that most of designers understand the appearance of a product is just one of the way to express a piece of information to the users. (Roberto Verganti，2003）As many users know, the product’s meaning is more important than itself emotional and symbolic value in, except the product function.（Roberto Verganti，2003）

Yang Metamorfosi （Figure.1）is exactly appropriate to support the former opinion.

At first, Roberto Verganti claimed that this lamp is a result of a radical innovation of meanings.（Roberto Verganti，2003） It premises that light is responsible for emotional conditions, thoughts, even memories.(Roberto Verganti，2003）

Therefore, this lamp intimately related to the user’s health. Secondly, this lamp produced a “human light” through it properties of color and light control. Hence, the users will prefer to buy it for feeling, rather than style. In addition, designers minimize the lamp form through a physical object and give more value to the product’s message.(Roberto Verganti，2003）

However, Carlotta de Bevilacqua is a freelance architect and her lamp belongs to furniture category. According to Callen Angel, furniture making was unacceptable for women to do furniture design or wrought-iron work and ‘architecture was considered an all-male province’.(Callen Angle,1979) Also, a universal attitude thought that, women designers involved tradition area not include the furniture making and wood engraving, were dominated by men.(Margaret Bruce,1990)

So, Carlotta de Bevilacqua’s occupation and her lamp were against the rule during that time.

Figure.2, Genesy, Zaha, Hadia, 2009.

Genesy (2009) was designed by Zaha Hadid, an Iraqi-British architect who born in 1950. Genesy lamp is result of her studio’s research into the evolutionary systems of the natural word.(Simone LeAmon,2018)

Firstly, there are one black lamp and another one is white lamp in the Figure 2.

Both lamps made use of open forms and be employed by contrasting color such as black and white. Secondly, this is a leading proponent of deconstructive architecture and department. (Margaret Bruce,1990) So, Zaha Hadid’s artwork has been omitted from the traditional design cannon of modernism due to complex and geometries structure.

After that, Hadid created her architecture studio in London in 1979.Thirdly, the medium of Genesy lamp is metal, lacquered polyurethane and light-emitting diode (LED). Those materials combine together and become two simple lamps with modern style. What’s more, Hadid was the first female architect to be awarded the illustrious Pritzker Architecture Prize.

According to Margaret Bruce’s opinion, women designers are excellent as well as male designer in design field, but sexual stereotyping issue and social closure affected women designer’s current situation in their occupation, even made women design not always been acknowledged.

If the government not had interested in design as a help to the recovery of manufacturing industry, the women designer career position will not be improved after government policy.

Bibliography:

Designing Women

Designing women NGV International

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Photography: Overview of Designing women NGV International
photographer: Tom Roll

An exhibition of Designing women was hold in the National gallery of Victoria. This exhibition collects a range of artworks from different women designers. Spanning the years 1980 to 2018, women designers played an important role in shaping contemporary design practice and culture.(Simone LeAmon, 2018) )There are over seventy artworks from NGV collection across various creative fields, including fashion, industry, jewelry, graphic and so on.(Simone LeAmon, 2018)

In fact, this exhibition divided into four theme sections, Leadership, Community, Teamwork and Research respectively. These overlapping stories provide fresh perspective on women designers who made a contribution on different design practice and this exhibition shows the professional of design over the past four decades(Simone LeAmon, 2018).As explained by Simone LeAmon when describing how Designing women present artworks:

By focusing on the work, histories and achievements of designing women, the exhibition reveals that female designer, often overlooked in a male-dominated industry, are producing sophisticated, iconic and thought-provoking work. So, in this blog, I want to focus on Flyaway, bracelet ,1987 (Figure.2) to discuss how this bracelet related to the reading titled ‘Women designers—is there a gender trap’.(Margaret Bruce, 1990)

Figure.2, Flyaway, bracelet(1987), Susan Cohn.

Flyaway, bracelet (1987) is an anodized aluminum created by an Australian designer called Susan Cohn. This bracelet was inspired by concept of urbanism, pop culture and technology.(NGV collection,2019) The anodized aluminum was placed on the frilled fabric. Besides that, Susan uses the body to make links between objects and everyday life.(NGV collection,2019)This object was collected by National Gallery of Victoria and it belonged to contemporary design department.

Figure.3, Susan Cohn

Susan Cohn (Figure.3) was born in 1952.She is an Australian well-known Jewelry designer and artist. As a jewelry designer, she always produced a vast body of jewelry, tableware and installation work, from the handmade and one-off to machine-made and mass-produced.(Simone Leamon, 2018) According to Simone LeAmon’s comment, he pointed out that:

Susan craft and design work display a neo-modern aesthetic, and demonstrates a mastery of aluminum fabrication, as shown in Flyaway, bracelet(Simon Leamon, 2018)

Actually, Flyaway, bracelet is one genre of craft, so this bracelet is considered as a paradigm of neo-modern artwork.

In Margaret Bruce’s article(Margaret Bruce,1990) he claimed that women have a real equality of choice and opportunity when deciding on their design specializations.(Margaret Bruce,1990)

At first, he found that career opportunities for women designer are affected by professionalization. Then, Margaret and his research teammates use a three-hurdles model to present their solution for unbalanced designer gender quantity, particularly in graphic and industrial design field.

Moreover, Margaret found that there are three elements, which including qualification, job occupation and promotional awards will affect women designers get an equal right of making choice and chance when their making a decision on design specializations.

Fortunately, Susan Cohn do not have two previous obstacles in her career area. Firs at all, Susan Cohn has a ‘Doctor of Philosophy degree in Fine Art Theory’(Art Jewelry Forum,1997) so she not need to concern about her education qualification problem. Meanwhile, she is a senior director of Workshop 3000 and is represented by Anna Schwartz Gallery (Melbourne,Australia) .Therefore, she does not have a big problem about getting a decent job.

However, the majority of company are set up by men, the majority of awards are presented to male designers and the majority of senior positions are held by men.((Margaret Bruce,1990)That might be a problem, because it is no easy to communicate with male colleague or superior. As Margaret Bruce explained why women designer need a promotional award as below:

If the organizational culture is male dominated, women get the subtle message that they are not really expected to do those things, or at least to do them well. They may react by withdrawing from competition and working even harder at their design tasks.[

Although Susan Cohn is a senior director, but this third hurdle which is come from male superior might be a potential reason to affect her work in the firm. In addition, Susan is a jewelry designer. According to Margaret’s statement, the traditional skills include jewelry design. Therefore, the last barrier plays a critical role for female designers to encourage women designers into industrial or product design.

In conclusion, Designing women exhibition at National Gallery of Victoria draws on the gallery’s developing collection of design artefacts produced by women.(Nicole Kalms,2019)All the artefacts display different designer’s concept through their visual artworks. What’s more, this exhibition also emphasized the dynamic and critical force of female designers in shaping contemporary design culture. It celebrated contributions of female designers since 1980 to present.

In my opinion, I think this exhibition is value to visit and it provide me a channel to understand the contribution of women designer. Also, this exhibition pushed me to explore women design deeply with a historical perspective. Thus, that is the reason I will suggest in here to my audience who see my blog and then make a time to visit this exhibition.

Bibliography:

  • Jenny, Lewis, Margaret, Bruce, “Women designers-is there a gender trap.” Design studies,114, Butterworth &Co,114, United kingdom, Butterworth &Co, Ltd,1990.

[2] Ibid.


Comparing My Own Work with Seymour Chwast

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As I grew up with a lot of paintings at home and a lot of Disney movies, kids cartoons, and comics, i was intrigued to create a narrative design or art. Through the idea and the selection of elements, my work is really influenced by traditional design. In order to create a deeper meaning, i like to integrate some elements in my design and have a tendency to create a narrative focusing on the elements, colours, texture, and sometimes typography.

For me, the definition of art is exactly as what Shiner wrote,

“Art was predominantly seen as a unity of truth, beauty, and goodness and as such endowed with both a functional purpose and the power to heal society and transcend ordinary life to experience the symbolic and spiritual world. “ (Shiner 2001) 

Interesting to note, when looking for precedents in other artists work, I find some similarities in Seymour Chwast, an American graphic designer and Illustrator, who also likes to combine some design disciplines. He is very well-known for his playful illustration style. His work is mainly published on posters, magazines, books, and advertisements. He emphasise his personal concept into his design, breaking out from the unitary and mechanism from the tradition of creation (Chwast 1985, 101).

In one of my projects for University last year, the poster of Melbourne Cinematheque, it can be seen that the illustration brings the viewer to the past with the representation of a vintage iconic figure as the content of the movies. The aesthetic elements of this is delivered through the composition, where the viewer can feel they’re watching a film, without a screen.

The reflection of my interest in colour theory is poured onto the exploration of the colours in my design. I have no preferences in the types of colour, as long as the viewer is able to feel and sense my design or illustration. Similarly, this is also the case with texture, which i am also interested in, even though not all my designs contain it. For me personally a work with texture is a more finished work.

In one of Chwast’s work of Bach’s 300th birthday, he integrated the elements which bring sense of humour by the idea of the birthday cake as his hair. This humorous poster aesthetic evokes a classical sense through the use of traditional colouring technique, as well as the typeface for the headline. It’s playful techniques indicate the appropriation of time as Chwast once claimed, “rather than mimicking the past, i was more interested in adapting, integrating the elements and making it contemporary.” (Chwast 2004, 16). This particular illustration is considered to be an example of him where he was influenced by Paul Klee (1879-1940), a painter from Switzerland whose work is highly individual and influenced by different art movements which include expressionism, surrealism and cubism (Chwast 2004). His illustration touches a comprehensive knowledge of traditional design, style and forms (Chwast 1985, 103).

source: http://seymourchwastarchive.com/collection/happy-birthday-bach/

One poster of mine, a one-month-away reminder of Ramadan, shows a a lot of influence from Islamic traditional style through the use of ornaments and calligraphy. This poster, made using collage technique from some islamic paintings around the world, integrates the elements of Mosque, and cutlery. What i always have in mind is to highly value both the aesthetics and the use mainly because the poster is meant to remind people that Ramadan is coming in 30 days. Ramadan is a month when it is obligatory for a Muslim to fast. The form of a Mosque, represents one of the meanings of Ramadan; a month which has a strong connection with the Mosque, a serene place where people spend hours worshipping. This poster was distributed by youth Islamic organisations in Melbourne in 2017.

To conclude, after comparing and contextualising the design of my own with the one from Seymour Chwast, similarities can be drawn by the way we pour our ideas through conceptualisation and communicate the meaning by integrating contemporary illustration and design. Meanwhile, the differences comes from the illustration itself; where my work emphasises the meaning and spirituality of the whole image while Chwast’s works create a really lively cartoon character as well as emphasising the concept for the whole design. His variety of design style reflects his brave and confident personality through its deep considerations to the concept. Now that i have learned and understood the importance of confidence and experimentation, I believe that this will guide my art to a stronger identity.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chwast, Seymour. 1985. The Left Handed Designer. Chronicle Books; F First Edition.

Chwast, Seymour. 2004. The Push Pin Graphic: A Quarter Century of Innovative Design and Illustration. Harry N Abrams Inc.

Asian Art Archive: The Development of Artistic Pedagogy Practices within the Process of Social Transformation

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https://www.monash.edu/muma/exhibitions/exhibition-archive/2019/Shapes-of-knowledge/asia-art-archive

Touching on a variety of learning methods, the revelation of how art and learning transform each other is presented through the engagement of artists and audiences in the exhibition of Shape of Knowledge in MUMA. The artistic pedagogy practices are evidence of any social transformation process through the contribution of Asia Art Archive, one amongst other important socio-pedagogic, knowledge-making art projects.

Asian Art Archive is a non-profit organisation initiated in 2000 to document, open and make accessible for any art historians in the Asian region. Within Shape of Knowledge, Asian Art Archive demonstrate how the activity of art school can influence the history of art by investigating the schools and pedagogy’s role in the development of Asia’s modern and contemporary art. The investigation is focusing on three institutions in Asia; Gendaishicho-sha Bigakko in Japan, the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in China and the faculty of Fine Arts of Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in India.

“They even worry about your making a living!”, from the Weekly Playboy, 9th of June in 1970. Gendaishicho-sha Bigakko is a private art institution in Jimbocho district, founded by a radical publishing company created by Kyoji Ishii.

Bigakko is said to be one of the most important schools in the history of art, ever-since its experimental program of art education served as a role-model as an alternative art school, which complies with contemporary aesthetics and ethics in relation to the context of current socio-politics (footnote). Another thing that makes the school extraordinary, is not only because of “the lectures and workshops program are derived from cutting edge and thinkers of the 1960s”, but with an anti-modern and anachronistic approach to art education (Yoshiko 2019).

A realistic image of Monalisa, hand drawn during a painting class taught by a well known painter; Nakamura Hiroshi. 

Regardless of the skills which the students have, drawing exercises emphasise the need for concentration, as they are excessively restricted (Yoshiko 2019). Nakamura adopted western classical techniques for his workshop which contrasted with the modernism “that dominated Japanese art academies at the time” (Yoshiko 2019). Anachronisms is a ‘genre’ that Nakamura brought in his class.

Its curriculum encouraged students with learning methods adopted from western modernism; ‘tewaza’, or as we call it: handwork skills. It also encourages a closer relationship between student and teacher, as “students are to obtain the teacher’s aesthetic ideas’’(Yoshiko 2019).


The illustration of the image on the book cover shows a successful appliance of the adoption of western classical techniques, while the elements of the illustration itself are coming from the west; the architecture style, the cupid, and the ornaments.

“Surchronism might be the better word for this method, as surrealism means transcending the real.” added Nakamura.” (Yoshiko 2019).

Contrary with Japanese modern art, China was once heavily restrained and forced to use the genre of Socialist Realm within the regime of Mao, who strictly restricted the use of modernism (Ding 2018). A sketch of a propaganda poster, by Zheng Shiengtian in 1977, is an example how they used traditional painting techniques. The poster, on gouasche poured on paper, depicts a detailed face of a human, which shows light and shadow elements. While the strokes are not bold, it is evident that only the colours chosen by Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing, are present: “red, bright, and shining”, the colours of the Central Revolutionary Group (Ding 2018). With the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976 and the reformation of the Chinese economy, Zheng Shengtian began connecting national artists to the international art community in 1980 and established an international library of foreign books (Ding 2018). Chinese artists finally freed from the restriction finally embraced modernisation which can now be seen in almost all aspect of society, which now reflects art fuelled by experimentation. 

Zheng was a student of Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (ZAFA) in the 1960s. ZAFA is important for the development of contemporary art in China because it had a history of openness and experimentation, especially in comparison to the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing (Ding 2018).

In accordance with freedom, the third case study is coming from the Fine Arts Faculty of Baroda, which was established on Independence day, 1950, in India. Under Hansa Mehta, the visionary vice-chancellor, the faculty is believed to be highly influential in shaping the current art in postcolonial India (Ding 2018). The curriculum, shaped by artists from different “school of thought”, draws from the best models of pedagogy available. Therefore, new design initiatives and innovative methods are obtained from the artists themselves, such as Sankho Chaudhuri, N.S. Bendre and K.G Subramanyan (Ding 2018).

The invitation cards of the Reproduction of the Fine Arts Faculty Fair, 1967, shows the uniqueness, cultured graphic design using bright orange and the simplicity of the human body. 

The knowledge of modern and tradition practices, artistic techniques and the teacher’s assurance for a new art, briefed by modernism and vernacular culture, became deep-rooted in art education in Baroda (Ding 2018).

To sum up, Asia Art Archive lets us draw and examine the artworks within the archive by showing how each school is important throughout history through its approach, its communities and legacies, and its philosophy of the relationship between the students, the teachers, the staffs, the art histories and the artworks themselves. It also gives us a look at how the three institutions developed their artistic pedagogy practices and is proof of the extensive processes of social transformation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ding, Liu and Yinghua Lu, Carol. From the Issue of Art to the Issue of Position: The Echoes of Echoes of Socialist Realism. Tate Research Publication, 2018. Accessed 12 April 2019. https://www.tate.org.uk/research/research-centres/tate-research-centre-asia/socialist-realism.

Yoshiko, Shimada. Gendaishicho-sha Bigakko: Alternative Art Education in Post-1968 Japan (The Art of the Sublime). Asia Art Archive. Accessed April, 12 2019. https://aaa.org.hk/en/programmes/programmes/shimada-yoshiko-gendaishicho-sha-bigakko-alternative-art-education-in-post-1968-japan/page/3

Forgotten superheroes: Nicole Monks

/ Katrina Butts / 1 Comment
Nicole Monks

Nicole Monks is a trans-disciplinary artist and designer who draws upon her intersectionality and diverse cultural heritage within her works. Branching across the fields of Industrial design, Communication design and contemporary art, Monks seeks to showcase her Wajarri Yamatji background, and utilises words from this language throughout her works in an effort to keep the language alive, along with philosophies inherent in aboriginal design centering on “sustainability, innovation and collaboration” [3] Her commitment to collaboration is accentuated through the blackandwhite creative, of which she is a founding member along with her solo practice.

The connection between language, culture and land highlights the intrinsic spirituality at the core of indigenous communities. Language is an avenue of understanding, providing the avenue to learn skills and techniques from the past that have been in use for thousands of years. Onafuwa’s Allies and Decoloniality [1] touches on the four categories of the Colonial Matrix of Power: Land ownership and usage rights; institutional and authoritarian control; gender and sexuality; and control of knowledge. In understanding the nuances of these modes of power, the pervasive levels of oppression faced by indigenous people is expanded upon, explicating the insidious effects of coloniality, and elucidating how a lack of respect and desire to understand ‘the other’ leads to hatred, discrimination and violence, causing the massacre of not only individual people but of culture.

The Walarnu chair, Wajarri Yamatji for ‘boomerang’, is reminiscent of the irregular shape of a hunting boomerang and utilises negative space through the repetition of curved metal rods wrapping vertically to create the contours of the chair. The piece was influenced by her Wajarri Yamatji heritage, wherein upon discovering her family was part of the Stolen generation, she returned to her family’s community and was inspired by boomerangs used by the elders in the community.

This way of connecting with her heritage flows along the narrative of celebrating indigenous culture and casting light on the rich legacy following many years of oppression and erasure, which began from the arrival of white Europeans into Australia. Using her native and increasingly endangered language attempts to keep the language alive, in turn highlighting the vast number of languages and cultures that have become extinct or have very few people who still speak.

During the 1830’s arrival and settlement of the British in South Australia, the language of the Kaurna people was silenced after only a few years of missionary efforts to study and encourage its use, during which a school was built for learning and continuing the Kaurna language and was subsequently closed down 5 years later by Governor George Grey, who also banned the language itself. Despite the number of Europeans who had attempted to study and document the Kaurna language, original source materials and records are inaccurate and difficult to interpret, mostly due to their lack of linguistic training and experience in learning an Australian language. The resulting documentation is regarded with scepticism and concerns of how representative it is of the whole Kaurna community, and not just the males who made up the vast majority of people talked to by linguistics. [2]

This case of documenting and attempting to learn an indigenous Australian language is rare, and unfortunately many indigenous languages are completely lost. “Language is culture and culture is language” [2], the loss of one leads to an inherent destruction of the other. Aborigine culture is performative, passed down verbally from generations through stories, discussions, songs and through dance. By silencing a community’s voice, so too their culture and inherent way of life is silenced and drastically altered. Taking away a community’s right to speak in their own language takes control over their knowledge [1] and further elucidates the power imbalance between indigenous Australians and European settlers, and the degree to which they were oppressed. Monks’ reclamation of a repressed language, one that has been greatly affected from the removal of people within a community, shows a defiance towards the oppression and suffering of the past and alludes to a hope for revitalisation of language and culture within indigenous communities.

“Language helps to revive, restore and culturally reaffirm Aboriginal people in our identity. Our language is linked to our land. It is intrinsic to our culture. It gives us the clues that tell us about our environment, the meaning for our existence.” – Ngarrpadla Alitya [2]

Marri Ngurang (2015) ( collaboration between Nicole Monks, Uncle Chicka Madden and Urban Furniture Organisation)

The Marri Ngurang (2015) (meaning ‘Large Place’) collaborative installation depicts the story of a Gadigal man standing on the shoreline of the south head welcoming people of the Gadigal clan to the Eora nation. The angles of viewing the installation piece illustrate different elements of the story, highlighting the various features. Looking directly and the face of the way shows kangaroos moving across a plain, but from the side the uneven edges of the wood show resemblance to the rocky, mountainous surface of the land. Written in the slab next to the artwork is a short description of the piece and further insight into its meaning and importance. “The use of animals in rock art contained essential information regarding their spiritual and totemic meaning interconnected with ceremony, art, story, dance, food and place.” In this manner the installation is used as a vessel for storytelling, the documentation of and passing down of cultural information. It is in descriptions and short summaries of meanings in which we can further appreciate the cultural heritage through a deeper understanding of its meanings.

  1. Onafuwa, Dimeji. “Allies and Decoloniality: A Review of the Intersectional Perspectives on Design, Politics, and Power Symposium.” Design and Culture 10, no. 1(Feb., 2018): 7-15. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/stable/pdf/30042184.pdf.
  2. Power, Katrina. “Welcome to Kaurna Country” Guardian (Sydney), No. 1645, 02 Jul 2014: 7. https://search-informit-com-au.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=391153149258000;res=IELAPA> ISSN: 1325-295X.
  3. http://nicolemonks.com/marri-ngurang

Images

  1. http://nextwave.org.au/artist/nicole-monks/
  2. https://www.domain.com.au/living/australian-style-meet-designers-forefront-contemporary-australian-design/
  3. http://nicolemonks.com/marri-ngurang

[cited 12 Apr 19]

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From Bark to Neon:

/ Katrina Butts / Leave a comment

The Bark to Neon exhibition showcases more traditionally recognisable and practiced indigenous art against contemporary reimaginings, which branch out from the more commonly associated earthy palette and natural materials such as bark and logs, to the display of vibrant and intense hues and more modern materials like neon lights. A wide array of indigenous subjects and perspectives are divulged into, varying from cultural memory, to photorealism, to conceptual works. Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula’s “A Bush Tucker Story” (1972) aligns with a ‘traditional’ understanding of indigenous works, layering brushstrokes and dot work over and over creating a beautifully detailed and careful rendition of the transformation of the desert following a bout of rain. To understand this story being conveyed, one is required to have a deeper knowledge of the symbols used and its meanings; how the placement of such informs the nuances of the story, representing seeds, flowers and grasses against the clouds, lightening, rain and hail.  For someone without prior knowledge of these symbols, this painting may appear to be a beautiful abstract picture, purely an aesthetic explosion of dots and lines as an artistic expression.


Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula’s “A Bush Tucker Story” (1972)

It is in this lack of understanding which is displayed when art is copied and reproduced in an exploitative manner, depicting indigenous art as an outsider perceives it, leading to illustrations void of any deeper meaning than a bunch of symbols haphazardly placed upon a canvas or onto products such as souvenirs. Thus, exemplifying the importance of the Australian Indigenous Design charter, and its primary role to “facilitate accurate and respectful representation of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture in design and associated media.” [1]

  • Brook Andrews ‘Polemics’ (2000)
  • Brook Andrews ‘Buuga-Buuga‘ (2000)

Misunderstanding of language is explored in Brook Andrew’s work ‘Polemics’, defined as ‘the practice of engaging in a controversial debate or dispute’. The neon words are written in two different languages and can only be fully understood by those who speak both English and Wiradjuri. This work highlights the cultural divide that Andrews experienced in his own life from his indigenous Australian and Scottish heritage, and attempts to draw attention to the silenced language, and the high number of indigenous languages which have been silenced and no longer have fluent speakers. Of over 250 languages that existed before European arrival in Australia, less than 120 are still spoken, many of which are in danger of being lost.  This issue is illustrated and expanded upon in another of his works, “Buuga-Buuga”, a Wiradjuri word meaning “very rotten meat.” The words are written in neon lights and are depicted as being beaten with a club in a cartoonish, slapstick manner. The work represents the continual beating of aboriginal subjects, objects, culture and people by non-aboriginal perspectives in a very negative light. This ‘history of inappropriate representation and misuse of Indigenous culture’ [1] is the fundamental problem which the design charter attempts to combat and avoid in the future. By promoting the collaboration between indigenous and non-indigenous designers, the charter endorses cultural exchange and rejects the silencing of indigenous culture.

The wording is also a play on the cartoon words, ‘ooga-booga’, referring to shows in which indigenous people and cultures are presented as primitive and unrefined, proclaiming ‘ooga-booga’ as a poor representation of a language and culture that is not understood by those creating the cartoons.

It is in this misunderstanding that because a culture is different, that they are inherently wrong or less advanced. The indigenous Australians were seen to be savages; uneducated, uncivilised and undeserving of respect and of the land they live upon, similar to the perception of native Americans by white European settlers. A 1979 missionary wrote of Indigenous Australians that “they correspond to the palaeolithic era”, “primitives who remained dwarfed to the bare essentials of human existence”, “undeniably immature, of unsound mind and members of a decomposed society” [2] It is a narrative that has been repeated throughout history and across nations, one that is predicated on a lack of appreciation and desire to understand and respect the differences between diverse cultures and the various ways in which a community can function.

This damaging and wrong view of indigenous people as being less intelligent and less evolved, is a precursor to the hatred, violence and erasure that the Indigenous Australians would experience well into the 20th century, and which still exists in many respects today, causing aborigines to become outsiders in their own country. The ways in which indigenous people live from the land, their culture of passing information down through word were perceived to mean that they had no real ownership to their own land and no rights. “Australia was classified, in the language of political anthropology, as a stateless society, one where the inhabitants have no [apparent] organs of executive, legislature or judiciary” [2] as with stolen generation where children were torn from their communities to be raised in the European way, what was the “right way”, subsequently tearing apart their connection to their families and to their land.

Michael Cook – Invasion series (2018)

Michael cook’s Invasion Series subverts the arrival of white European settlers into Australia by imposing oversized native Australian animals invading the streets of London in a manner similar to that of 1960’s sci-fi movies. One such work shows possums atop UFOs, shooting laser beams to the people below as they attempt to escape. Highlights how indigenous culture was interrupted, their peace attacked by outside entities, neither side with prior knowledge on their behaviours, their way of living. It highlights the bloodshed, the massacre of life in a comedic way that is recognisable for people to understand the sheer amount of terror and damage caused. The animals are presented as callous, alien beings only interested in the destruction of the world they have landed on and not on understanding those who currently live on the land.

It is in the fourth item on the design charter, deep listening, that hones in this final point to “Ensure respectful, culturally specific, personal engagement behaviours for effective communication and courteous interaction are practiced. ” [1] It is only by listening, by respecting and attempting to understand one another that we can hope to avoid such injustices against one another, and put an end to violence against people and communities simply because they are different.

  1. Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria (IADV)Design Institute of Australia (DIA)Deakin University -Institute of Koorie Education (IKE)-School of Communication and Creative Arts (SCCA)
    , AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS DESIGN CHARTER -Communication DesignProtocols for sharing Indigenous knowledge in communication design practice
  2. Tatz, Colin. Genocide in Australia [electronic resource] : by accident or design? / Colin Tatz [online]. 2011 Availability: <https://search-informit-com-au.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=u417778;res=AIATSIS&gt; [cited 11 Apr 19].

Callaghan vs. Me

/ ferguseaton / 1 Comment

The Inkahoots was a “public access poster collective” (Berry, 2012) that was influenced heavily by previous groups such as Earthworks. The collective sought to shine light on issues and controversial topics that mainstream designers would not have the guts to pursue. Michael Callaghan was one of the members that produced numerous works that tackled issues such as the Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Peterson, who had extreme rules, particularly related to protesting in public. I believe that their overall tone from most of the works that were produced from Inkahoots and the previous collectives were cynical and sarcastic.


Figure 1: Inkahoots, “Help! Joh!”, 1991, stencil, screenprint, 90.0 x 48.0cm

Tone

Although I may not have been part of Inkahoots, I can easily relate to the tone that came out of their posters. The tone used in this poster by Michael Callaghan is clearly Sarcastic. Its passive-aggressive nature helps to convey the message clearly that the people wanted him gone and clearly thought of him as a joke. In comparison to my work, Fraser Anning is currently a very controversial figure after his comments following the mass shootings in Christchurch. As a whole, the people of Australia were not happy with his comments, going to social media and trying to make it clear that Fraser Anning does not speak for us. I tried to impersonate the tone used by Inkahoots by dressing him up as the Joker to make it clear that he is the bad guy in this situation when it comes to media. Although this may not be the opinion of the whole of Australia, I felt at the time that my stance on the issue was shared by the majority of the Australian population. By going with the sarcastic and cynical tone, I feel I encapsulated the tone towards the situation of the majority of Australians

Poster Designed by me in response to Fraser Anning’s Comments on the Christchurch Shooting

Colour

Michael Callaghan, being a part of the Earthworks Poster collective and later on part of the Inkahoots, was fairly limited in how they produced their posters. Callaghan used screen printing to make most of his posters, which resulted in bright, punching colours. I tried to replicate this in my work, and although I was not able to use screen printing, I was able to produce a similar effect by painting over the top of an existing image. Callaghan used bright colours and a tight colour palette to make his work punchier and more meaningful.

Context

Inkahoots posters were originally the type of posters that were put up on walls in built up areas and on street posts. At the time, Queensland’s Premier, Joh Bjelke-Peterson had turned the state into a “cultural wasteland, in which cultural and intellectual life was deeply demoralized.” (Poyner, 2013) Back then they did not have the means to get instant recognition of their work, like we do today. For a poster to circulated into society, they would have to be printed, then distributed then talked about by people. These days, we can get instant recognition for our work whether its good or not, through the form of social media. Although I did not post my creation anywhere online, I’m sure it would have sparked some interesting conversations in the comments section of Facebook or Instagram. These days, people flock to social media and can become sensations overnight, whereas Michael Callaghan had to work at it over a much longer period. If I wanted my work to get seen by people around the world, I would simply post it to Instagram, add a few hashtags and within a few minutes people around the globe will have seen it.

Personally, I do not post much of my work to social media, because I don’t like people judging my work and it poses the issue of copyright. The only things I post are photography, because I believe it is that safest form of art and design, because you are capturing the essence of what it is, not manipulating it. Photography, for me, is where I feel most at home in terms of art and design. I like to think I am critiquing the design of the places and objects that I take photos of.

Photography vs Callaghan

Photography as a style of art and design is highly contrasting to what Callaghan was doing at Inkahoots. Callaghan’s posters that he created along with the rest of what was created at the time at Inkahoots and Earthworks were all very aggressive in nature and got directly to the point that they wanted to make. In contrast, my design work can be seen as an observation of my surroundings, and in a similar way to how Callaghan functioned, can critique a wide array of issues.

Overall, my work is very different to what people were doing back in the late 80s and 90s, in particular Michael Callaghan. However I believe that other forms of art and design can be just as effective if not more, without being aggressive and attacking towards its target. With design moving towards going digital, it becoming increasingly easier to get publicly recognized for your work (even if you don’t plan to). I believe this is the reason why posters that emerged from the collectives such as Inkahoots and Earthworks was so radical. They had to capture people’s attention immediately and get them talking about it, rather than just “liking” something on Facebook or Instagram

Poynor, Rick. 2013. ‘Inkahoots and Socially Concerned Design: Part 1’. Design Observer. Accessed April 12, 2019. https://designobserver.com/feature/inkahoots-and-socially-concerned-design-part-1/37948

Berry, Jess. 2012. ‘Earthworks and beyond’. In The Design Collective: An Approach to Practice, ed. H. Edquist, & L. Vaughan, 182 – 197. UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012