Dead in the Creativity Department

A blogpost in the search for inspiration

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I came to know about Olafur through Netflix’s ‘Abstract: the art of design’ series. He and his studio feature in the first episode of season 2. A M A Z I N G!!! That’s all I can say.

His work is simple, yet sophisticated. Using light, colour, geometry AND perception as the main characters in his art, he draws inspiration from nature. In fact, he has replicated it many times in large-scale exhibitions such as Beauty, Waterfall and The Weather Project.

Essential to his work is also the viewer, their ability to interact with the artwork and become part of it. For Olafur, the viewer collaborates in the making of the meaning of his pieces: ‘when you leave the exhibition, if there’s nobody in the room, there’s also no art’.

But careful, Olafur’s art is not just art for art’s sake. He is involved in a series of projects which aim to ‘turn thinking into doing’. Thus, for example, Ice Watch is a public installation designed to raise awareness about the severity of climate change using icebergs from Greenland’s disappearing glacier and Little Sun is a social business project that aims to provide light to people deprived of clean, affordable and sustainable energy worldwide. He is also involved in architectural projects exploring more organic, energy efficient and sustainable design: enter Harpa Reykjavik Concert Hall and Conference Centre and Fjordenhus.

to know more about the artist and his work, check out the official website:https://olafureliasson.net/

I promise, you won’t be dissappointed :-)

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Worksheet 2- On Contrast

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worksheet 1-visual communications: square-shape and square-line. These are proof of how dead in the creativity department I am (crying inside).  

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Worksheet 1 for Visual Communications: square-colour and square-point. first practice in photoshop.

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This is a picture of ‘Metamorphose’ by M.C. Escher, taken from a lovely book I have at home called ‘The Graphic Work of M.C. Escher’, by Taschen. It was printed using 29 wooden blocks between the years 1939-1940 and 1967-1968. 

He is famous for making ‘impossible drawings’ such as this one, in which he shifts between geometrical and organic shapes, ascending and descending shapes, playing around with perspective and depth. 

He made 448 lithographs, wood cuts and wood engravings and more than 2000 drawings and sketches. 

Fun fact: he was a lefty!

I believe Escher was an artist like no other, with a keen eye and a remarkable ability to manipulate form, shape, contrast and color to create otherworldly pieces, pieces that speak of a self-reflecting mind and a really rich inner world.

If you want to see some more, visit https://mcescher.com/gallery/.

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Picture: The Yellow Book, Volume I, April 1894. Taken from: The British Library website.

The Yellow Book was a periodical of the late Victorian era (1894-97). It was literary yellow and, though it looked like a book, it was in fact a magazine. It was published by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and edited by the American novelist Henry Harland and Aubrey Beardsley, who was the art editor and illustrator until 1895.

The Yellow Book was unusual for its time, not only for its cover: although it celebrated both literature and art, it placed them into two separate sections, broking further away from the printed media conventions of the time as well as from Victorian social values. Furthermore, it opened its pages to a wide variety of writers – including women and newcomers – many of whom were associated to Aestheticism, Decadence and Symbolism.

My verdict: a design that really fulfilled its aims: to be different, modern and avant-garde, and to attract attention. The yellow/black contrast is effective at catching one’s attention while helping to organize the overall structure of the design. The colour contrast is supported by a clever use of the line that breaks the structure into clear horizontal sections, framing the artwork in a central position as the most prominent element. The type – thin, stylish and subtle – positioned in the white space, gives the design its modern look.

If you’d like to flick through the first edition of The Yellow Book, follow this link: https://archive.org/details/yellowapril189401uoft/page/n9/mode/2up I must warn you, though: its artwork is amazing, but a bit naughty.